Gladly. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Gladly. For A, abbreviation
for everything. gladly for everything. We adore
thee. This psalm is, you can see, entitled
A Psalm of Praise, David's Psalm of Praise. The reason we come
here, every time we come here, is to praise and worship our
God. That's why we come. And if you desire to worship
God and praise and we have every reason to, then listen carefully
and enter into this psalm. Those who love God will love
this psalm. Those who love to praise him
and worship him will love this psalm. Verse one, he says, I
will exalt thee, my God, O King. I will elevate, lift thee up,
praise thee, exalt thee. Do you ever get tired of hearing
our God exalted? Can we exalt him too high? Can
he be preached too sovereign, too holy, too glorious? That's
peculiar to his peculiar people. I will bless thy name forever
and ever. My King, my God. Is he your God? Is this God your God? That's
what Pharaoh said about Moses. He said, Moses' God is God. Joseph's God is God. Is this
God your God? Huh? I won't have any other,
David says. This God is my God. He's my king. David was himself a king, wasn't
he? But he said, God is my king, the king of kings. I will bless
thee thy name forever and ever. Verse two, every day will I bless
thee. Every day, regardless of what
comes about. God is worthy to be praised,
isn't he? This is a good way to forget your troubles. You
know that? We all have them. Man is more
of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Most days have some
sort of trouble. All days have sin trouble. But
this is a good way to forget your troubles. Just start thinking
about how our God is worthy to be blessed and praised and thanked. I will praise thy name for ever
and ever." If you want to hear this, and he teaches you Moses'
psalm, you'll be singing it forever. The saints in glory right now
are singing Moses' psalm. Verse 3, Great is the Lord, great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Our great God deserves
great praise, great preaching, great songs. That's why we won't
settle for just anything. I'm not going to settle for anything
that's less than great praise, giving great glory to our great
God. He deserves it. God is great
in his holiness. God is great in his justice. God is great in his love. God
is great in his mercy. God is great in his grace. God is great in his salvation. God is great. and greatly to
be praised. But David says his greatness
is unsearchable. We haven't commenced, we haven't
begun, we haven't commenced to begin to get started as the old
saying goes. We haven't waded ankle deep in
searching out the greatness of our God. It's going to take a
lifetime to just require, acquire a little knowledge. of his great. Unsearchable his ways of past
finding out one generation. He says verse four will praise
thy works to another. We've received this message down
through the years from fathers in faith and patriarchs. They're
called Abraham was the first one and God revealed himself
to Abraham and and went on and passed it down, he to his posterity,
Isaac, Jacob, Jacob, Joseph, and so on and so forth, right?
Levi, Moses, the prophets, the apostles, evangelists, pastors,
teachers, so on and so forth. Every generation has been passed
down. God has not left himself without a witness. And everyone
praises, verse 4, his works, his works, his works. It works. This whole psalm is about him. Not about anyone, but him. All about who he is, what he
has done. David doesn't ask for anything.
David doesn't say anything negative about anybody, except next to
the last verse about the wicked. But this whole psalm is a psalm
of praise. Can you spend a whole psalm just
praising God? Well, there's 150 of them that
declare it. And one generation shall praise
thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. The things that God hath done
are mighty, powerful, great. I will speak, he says, verse
5, of the glorious honor of thy majesty. Thy majesty. You remember the story of the
Queen of Sheba, don't you? Has anybody not heard that? You
remember that story? The Queen of Sheba went to see
Solomon, and she thought she was somebody, you know, a queen.
She thought she had some things. She thought she knew some things.
She thought she could do some things until she saw Solomon,
saw his kingdom, saw his power, saw his honor, his majesty. The straw that broke the camel's
back was when she saw him, Scripture says, his ascent where he went
up into the house of the Lord. And what a type Solomon is of
Jesus Christ and him crucified. And it says when she saw him
ascend up into the house of the Lord, no more spirit left in
her. She was just a nobody and a nothing.
Now, that man's a great man. Majesty. Well, a greater than
Solomon was here and is there. The glorious honor of thy majesty
and of thy wondrous work. The Lord Jesus Christ is so glorious
and so honorable and so majestic, no one on this planet, before
or since, is deserving of any real honor. You know that? And
once you've seen him, Once a person has really seen something of
the glorious majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll not be impressed
with one single son of Adam. You'll not be impressed with
anyone or anything once you've seen his glorious majesty. I have to laugh when they call
that old woman over in England, Her Majesty. Oh, my. She's no more majestic than you
and I am, or however you say it. But I tell you, there's one
who is glorious in his majesty, even while a man upon this earth.
Glorious in his majesty. Majestic in his life, majestic
in his death, majestic in his ascension, majestic in his reign
right now. Glorious majesty. My, my. And his wondrous works, it said. Wondrous works. His creation
is glorious. Wonderful, isn't it? God's creation
is full of wonder. wonder. Providence, God's providence
is wonderful, isn't it? How the Lord provides for us.
It's amazing. It's just full of wonder. Glorious
majesty and wonderful, wondrous works. And verse 6, And men shall
speak of the might of thy terrible acts. The might, power of God's
terrible acts should cause people to sit up and take notice and
start thinking about God, shouldn't they? His terrible acts. You know, this fellow, Osama
bin Laden, has taken up everybody's attention, hasn't he, for a long
time, hasn't he? And many other terrible men before
him. Well, those fellows are puppets in the hands of our great
God. And every day, God's sin, the heavens, the wrath of God
is clearly revealed from heaven. He ought to strike terror in
men's hearts. He ought to speak of God. He's
the one doing all these things, isn't he? He does terrible acts. Some do. But it says, look at
this, that I will declare thy greatness. Oh my, what is terrible
to the world, the saints call great. Death and destruction is terrible,
it's tragic and all that, but it's a mighty display of God's
great power. And like they call it Katrina,
I call it God. Don't you? This is what David
is saying. I will declare thy greatness. Thy greatness, your terrible
acts, are great proof of who you are." Verse 7, "...they shall
abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness." Every generation,
he said, of saints passes on the memory. The memory we so
easily forget, don't we? We need to be remembered. And
that's what Peter wrote in his epistle. I think that after my
passing, he said, I'm going to see to it that you remember.
He wrote a book. God wrote it down. Of God's great
goodness, the memory, verse 7, of His great goodness. His great goodness. And shall
sing of thy righteousness. His great goodness. How good
has God been to you? Nancy, how good has God been
to you? Great goodness, great goodness. It's inexpressible.
That's what he says, unsearchable. If you and I stopped and traced
our lives, went back and started really looking at, closely examining
our lives, everything that happened in our lives to bring us to where
we are now. Oh my, God is great in goodness toward us. And we,
God's people, sing of thy righteousness. David wrote there in Psalm 71,
I'll make mention of thy righteousness and thine only. Ours is a filthy
rag, not his, not his. Jehovah Sidkenu is our song,
isn't it? The Lord, our righteousness. Verse eight, the Lord is gracious.
Is this your favorite verse in the Bible? Tonight, verse 8,
the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger,
and of great mercy. Now, I have to read to you what
Brother Charles Spurgeon wrote on this, because I wrote some
things down, and then I went and read what he wrote, and then
I just scribbled out what I wrote. Just blotted it out, because
this could not be improved at all. Listen carefully, OK? He's
an eloquent man. But God is great, and he deserves
words like this. The Lord is gracious, he said.
Was it not in such terms that the Lord revealed himself to
Moses? Remember, Moses said, Show me your glory. He said,
I'll make my goodness pass before you. I'll declare my name, mercy,
and so forth. To all living men, this is his
aspect. He is gracious and full of goodness
and generosity to all. Yes, he is. Listen to this. He treats his creatures with
kindness, his subjects with consideration, and his saints with favor. Listen
up. His words and his ways, his promises
and his gifts, his purposes all manifest his grace and his free
favor. There's nothing suspicious about
him. There's nothing prejudiced. There's
nothing tyrannical or nothing unapproachable in Jehovah. He
is condescending and kind, and full of compassion to the suffering,
the weak, the foolish, the despondent. He's very pitiful. Full of pity, that's what that
means. He feels for them. He feels with them. He does this
heartily and practically. In God is fullness in a sense
not known among men. I continue. If he's full of compassion,
what an ocean of compassion there must be since it's in the infinite
God. I read on. He's slow to anger.
Love suffereth long in his kind, and God is love. I read on. And he's of great mercy, the
scripture said. This is his attitude toward the
guilty. When men repent, they find pardon waiting. Great is
their sin, and great is his mercy. They need great help, and they
have it through that great God. He is greatly good to the greatly
guilty. And God is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, verse
9. He's good to all. Though they don't see it, he
is. And his tender mercies are over all his works. Tender mercy. All thy works, verse 10, shall
praise thee, O Lord. All thy works. Heaven. God created
the heavens and the earth, and heaven praises him. Everything
in heaven praises him. The angels. Let the angels. Hebrews
1 says, Let the angels praise him. The seraphs praise him.
The saints in heaven right now praise him. We're having a hard
time. They're not. They're doing it
purely, perfectly, from the heart, forever, and never stop doing
it. My, my. And the earth, all his
works praise him. Verse 10. All his works praise
him. The earth, the birds, the birds
sing to him. I was out in the yard yesterday,
and there was a bird. I don't know what kind it was.
It may have been a mockingbird. There are so many birds, aren't
there? There are so many different songs, and they're all beautiful. But this one, he caught my attention. He was singing, and I heard him.
And I had to stop and wonder and listen to him. The birds
sing sweetly in the trees, the songs. And what are they singing?
God is great. God is good. The trees clap their
hands. Yes, they do. And the saints
who know more about him, or should, yes, they do, they bless him. It says, Thy saints bless him.
Blessing means attribute all things to him, attribute all
that they can say and do to him. Blessing means wishing well. wishing well, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done. That's wishing him well. That's
blessing him in. On earth as it is in heaven.
The saints blessing. In verse 11, they speak of the glory of
thy kingdom and talk of thy power. They, only the saints, speak
of God's glory, his power. How much glory? How much power?
How much glory and power do the saints give to God? All of it.
All of it. Who else do they give it to?
All glory and power belong unto him. This is what makes a saint
a saint. You know that? Saint means separated.
This is what separates the true God lover and the saint from
the worldly. Saints are separated. Our God
said in Isaiah 43, I've chosen you that you might know and understand
me and be a witness to me. My greatness, my power, my glory,
my honor, my kingdom, my majesty, my work, me, me. That's why he
created us, to show forth his glory. And the saints do just
that, chosen to show forth his glory. Verses 12 and 13, and
they make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious
majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The
saints make known to whoever will hear them his mighty acts,
the glorious majesty of his kingdom." Once again, this is what makes
the saints to differ from the world. This is what makes the
Israelites differ from the Egyptians. We give all honor and glory to
our God, and we witness of his acts and the majesty of his kingdom. You notice, I went through and
just underlined everywhere it said majesty and kingdom. It
says that over and over and over and over throughout it all. And
one of the last things, the epitaph that they put over the head of
our Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified was what? The King. The King. majesty, kingdom. This is what
the saints talk about. This is what the saints glory
in. This is God's glory. His sovereign
reign, his kingship, his rule, his sovereignty, his dominion.
What makes the world mad makes saints glad. The world says,
we will not have this man reign over us. All the saints say,
we will. Don't they? The world says, we
will not have him rule us. The saints say, reign over us
and rule over us. They love to have it so. They
not only believe it, they love it to be so. Reign and rule,
kingdom, majesty. And his dominion is an everlasting
dominion. It endureth throughout all generations. Moses' God is Roy Baldwin's God. He reigned and ruled, and his
providence led, guided, and protected Moses. He's doing the same thing
for Roy some 3,500 years later. Same God. He had dominion. Reigns
and rule. Who are we talking about? You
see, when we talk about God, we're talking about Christ. We
talk about the Son, we're talking about the Father. We talk about
the Father, we talk about the Son. Right? Believest thou not
that the father's in the son, the son in the father? When you
honor the father, you're honoring the son. When you honor the son,
you're honoring the father. You can't speak of one without speaking
of the other, because they're one. And so we, the kingdom,
we make known the kingdom to all who will hear us. Verse fourteen,
the Lord upholdeth. Now listen to all this. You're
going to love this. We're going to look at all that the Lord
does and who all he does it for. Do you notice how many times
it said all? all that the Lord does, and all that he does it
for." Verse 14, "...the Lord upholdeth all that fall." Now,
is there anybody in here that needs to hear that? Any fallen
sons of Adam? Brother Howard spoke from Psalm
34. Go back there with me, Psalm
34. He says, He upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all
those that be bowed down. David wrote Psalm 34 after the
most humiliating, the most shameful time in his life up to that point. Do you know the story behind
that psalm? When David acted like a madman,
remember? He's done a gaffe and he acted like a blooming fool,
an idiot. And he was ashamed. Don't you
know how ashamed he was of himself? He took a terrible fall, didn't
he? David wrote this psalm after that, and it says in verse 5,
verse 4, I sought the Lord, and he heard me. And he delivered me. David was
afraid maybe the Lord had cast him off, didn't he, for acting
like a booming fool, for taking such a terrible fall. Verse 5,
it says, They look unto him, all those that Exalt his name,
and seek him, and look unto him, and were lightened." That is,
they flowed to him like moths to a light. They flowed to him. And their faces, here it is,
their faces were not ashamed. Ought to be. Ought to be ashamed
of ourselves. Ought to be ashamed to call on
him, shouldn't we? But once you do, and he shows
you his face, you'll not be ashamed. You'll not be ashamed. He'll
receive you. That woman caught in that act
of adultery, you know, cast down at the feet of our precious Lord,
was so ashamed when it was all over. Everybody else was ashamed
but her. And she was lightened. The burden
was removed. And she was not ashamed. This
poor man cried. This poor excuse for a man cried,
and the Lord saved him. Look at Psalm 37. Go back there. Psalm 37. The Lord upholdeth
all that fall. Psalm 37. Oh, I love this. Love this. Verse 17. The arms
of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
Verse 23 and 24, The steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord. He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down. The Lord upholdeth him with his
hand. There she is. Now, how many times
do you intend to pick up Abby when she falls? How many times? Will there ever be a time that
she falls that you don't reach and pick her up if she needs
you? how much more your heavenly Father. All that fall, all that know
it, and all that call upon it, he upholds them. He picks them
up. Go back to the text. He raises them up. Strengthen
the weak hands and the feeble knees, he said. All those that
be bowed down, the head that is bowed in shame and repentance
will be raised up. Raised up. Verse fifteen. The
eyes of all wait upon thee. The whole earth depends on the
Lord to provide for them, and so do we. Yes, we do. The jobs we have, the Lord gave
them to us. The homes we live in, the Lord gave them to us.
Everything is from the Lord. That's right. Ask those who thought
they were secure in their jobs, and they were gone. As some who
thought there was no hope or no prospects for anything good
who were given wonderful position. The Lord provides for his own.
He provides. David said, I've been young and
I now am old. And he said, I've never seen
the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. Never. Never. Our God provides for his people.
You'll never let them go without. Now here's the thing. Food and arraignment. That's what he promises. That's
the necessity, isn't it? And you promised that. You'll
always have that. One day I was sitting in my study
and looked out behind me at the bird feeders, had two of them,
and they were empty. Both of them were empty and there
were birds coming and they couldn't find anything, they'd fly off.
Some more would come, they couldn't find anything out. I was busy.
I was preparing a message. I've got more important things
to do than to tend to those birds. And the more I wrote, the more
I thought, I've got to go out there and fill those feeders. So I can tell you this illustration.
Are you not worth more than many sparrows? Huh? Your Heavenly
Father did not a bird fall to the ground without your Father. Father cares for you. Don't worry
about it. It's easy to say it. Well, God
said it. He said it. You'll be provided
for. Are you not worth more than many
sparrows. Verse 15, Thou givest them their
meat in due season, and Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest
the desire of every living thing. Have you ever watched these nature
programs? Anybody? I've got a new one out
online called Planet Earth, the living planet or something like
that. Oh, my, it all just declares,
you know, they're talking Then they all talk about their mother,
you know. They praise their mother, but
we praise the father of this earth, don't we? Not father earth,
but the father, our father, who made it. That's who we praise. But it all is so marvelous, bountiful. We were watching one day up in
Alaska. You remember that? You remember those herds of caribou?
I think, how many did they say? Two million. And here were these
tigers and lions and polar bears and all that. Where are they
going to get something to eat? Two million. Why? God provides for everything.
Everything. The ocean. You ever look to those
programs at the ocean? There's more life under the water
than there is on the top side of the earth. Fish. Because if big fish need little
fish. Oh, he opens his hand and provides for them all, gives
them their meat and for every living thing. Verse 17, the Lord
and our meat. What is our meat? I mean, don't
miss this. What is the meat that he provides
his children? The thing they need desperately,
that they must live by. Man doesn't live by bread alone,
but what does man, God's people, what do they live by? Every word
that proceeded from the mouth of God. It's going to sustain
our life forever, ever, all life. Verse 17, the Lord is righteous
in all his ways, holy in all his works. The earth, the world
doesn't talk about the righteousness of God, do they? The holiness
of God. This is his distinguishing characteristic,
isn't it? This is his essential attribute.
The judge of the earth, everything about him is right. He's right. Everything he says is right.
We don't take issue with anything he says. He's righteous, isn't
he? Everything he does is holy. I
want to let God's people know something about this. I want
to let God's people love his holiness. He wouldn't have it
any other way. God's people can see why God's
going to burn it all up and create a new heaven, a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness, where nothing defiles it or makes a
lie. That's the way we want it. The
Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. The Lord, verse 18, is mine,
near unto all them that call upon him. He upholds all that
fall, he raises all that be bowed down, and whoever, all, whosoever,
calleth on the name of the Lord, he is nigh, he is near. Let me
once again bring up one of these mothers. I've forgotten your name. I just
said it. Melanie. Is your ear attuned
to that little girl's cry? You hear it when Wesley doesn't,
that's for sure. Is your eye open to her? Is there ever really
a time when you're around her, someone around her that you're
not conscious of her and looking upon her? Well, there is a time,
but you're going to go to sleep. But if you're that watchful over
her, if your ears are that attentive to her cry, he that keepeth Israel,
never sleep. He's not. He said, am I not a
God at hand? A very scripture says an ever
present help. Very near. We don't have to go
all the way to Rome, make a pilgrimage to Rome to see the Holy Father.
Just call. Just get in your closet or on
your bed or wherever on the job. He's very near, very near. very conscious of, his eyes open,
his ears open to their cry. Nine, all in the call upon him
in truth. In truth. Our Lord said that,
didn't he? John chapter 4, didn't he say
that to the woman at the well? True worshippers worship the
Father in spirit, from the heart, and in truth. Nine, them that
call upon him in truth. What is truth? How do we call
upon God? In truth. What is truth? Somebody? That's right. Christ,
we call upon him in Christ, by faith in Christ. In truth means
this, truly, that is sincerely from the heart, in Christ with
an understanding of who Christ is, by faith in him, as your
righteousness, as your sin offering, as your lamb, as your substitute.
We're still sinners, you know. We still need a lamb, don't we?
According to his word of truth, we call upon him according to
his word. He's promised some things, not
all things, but some things. You understand? What it is to
call upon him in truth is to call upon him for what he's promised
to give. That's what it means to call
upon him according to his will. If any man will ask anything
according to my will, to the Father's will, he'll grant it.
We know we have those things. But no, no, if we ask for a new
car, there's no promise of that. If we ask for this, ask for that,
that's not what we're to call upon him for. Anybody gets those
things. People will win the lottery.
Doesn't mean they know God. Huh? Oh, no. things that we call
upon are the things we need the greatest. And look at the next
verse, verse 19, that he will fulfill the desire of them that
fear him. The desire, not desires, the
desire. Anybody know what the desire
of God's people is? The one thing needful. You know
where that's found? I quote it all the time. Psalm
27. David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord. One thing. One desire. One necessity. One need. Morning, noon, night. Now and forever. One need. One
thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after. That
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
One thing. One thing. Those that fear him,
he'll grant that desire. He gave it to David. He'll give
it to us. He'll hear their cry. He also
will hear their cry. All that fear him, he'll hear
their cry. And we'll save them. There's
no ifs, ands, buts, or maybes in this psalm, is there? Anyway.
Somebody smile. There's no ifs, ands, buts, or
maybes in this psalm. No yay and nay. It's all amen. And sure, he will,
he shall, he hath, he doth. He will save them. He will hear
their cry. You ought to go out of here with
a lot more faith than you came in with. He will save them. Who? All that fear him. All that
call upon him. He will save them. I don't know
if the Lord will save me. If he calls upon him, yeah, then
he'll save you. Huh? The Lord, verse 20, preserveth
all them that love him. It doesn't say the Lord preserveth
all real good people that love him. It doesn't say the Lord
preserveth all those that, you know, that keep on keeping, that
do this, do that. All that love him. Do you love
God? Well, we've been talking about
God. Do you love what you've heard? We've been declaring God,
we've been extolling God, we've been honoring God. That's all
we've been doing tonight. You love this? The Lord preserveth all them
that love him. All that love him, he preserveth. You remember old Annie? That
old pound dog? She still ain't nothing but a
pound dog. You know that? You remember Annie? Barbara,
you remember Annie? Still got her. Didn't need her when I got her,
didn't need her when I bought her, but we purchased her. You remember that story, don't
you? We got her, saved her from sure death, brought her home
for my beloved Abner, for a companion, but we still have her. You know
where she is? Gave her to my only begotten to care for. And we still got her, and she's
not going anywhere, is she? She's not going anywhere. Dave,
you wouldn't cast her out for anything. We wouldn't by no means
cast her out. By no means. She's still a dog. She loves
us, though. Oh, she loves us. She knows who
saved her. And she loves us. And we're preserving
her. We're going to keep it. That
means we're going to keep it. When you put preserves in a jar, what does that mean?
We're going to keep it. Don't intend to cast it out. The Lord
preserveth all them that love him. He keeps them. He will not
cast them out. All the wicked, though, will
he destroy. Who's wicked? Anybody outside
of Christ. Plain and simple. Anybody outside of Christ. It
doesn't matter how moral. How sincere, how devout, how
pious, how devoted, how sacrificial, how whatever. Muslims are a lot more sincere
than the average so-called Christian. They give their lives, but they
don't know God. They don't know Christ. They're
not in Christ, so they're wicked. Workers of iniquity. What all
is not anything is not a faith, and Christ is sin. Verse 21,
he says, So my mouth shall speak. What are you going to preach
today, David? One thing. What are you going to say? What have
you got to talk about, saint? One thing. The praise of the Lord, Jehovah. And let all flesh, they ought
to. At least let us in here bless his holy name, his holy name. Young people, I can't stress
it enough. Once again, this is a sign of
the times. Don't get used to hearing it. Old people, don't
get used to hearing people take God's name in vain. It's getting worse and worse,
isn't it? It's a sign of the end. God's given people over
to reprobate. Don't get used to it, Anna. Never. May it make you cringe. The fear
of the Lord. God has taught us to fear His
name. To reverence His name. His holy name. God's people reverence
His name. Let all bless His holy name. Make mention that His name is
exalted forever and ever. Amen. Stand with me. Our God, we thank you for this
glorious psalm, and we ask your forgiveness for our poor representation
of it, our poor attempt at declaring it, our poor attempt at hearing
it and worshiping thee tonight. We beg your forgiveness. Our
greatly to be praised, deserving of everything that is within
us. O Lord, we're glad you're of
great mercy, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. Thank you, Lord, for
your abundant goodness and mercy and grace and kindness to us
sinners that we are. And we say all this through Christ.
Thank you for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that's on the
mercy seat. It's in Christ's name we've met
here tonight for your praise and honor and glory. Amen. Okay.