We're looking here in Psalms,
getting close to the end of Psalms. You know, I was thinking as reading
these Psalms and then thinking in Scripture that Brother Al
had shared with us as Moses came to the end that the Lord had
ordained for him. And he has set our bounds that
we cannot pass. He knows our years. We live our
lives as a tale that is told, the scripture says. We're in
the midst of its telling, but it's been told. I mean, it's
not a thing that is random. And certainly all things in the
earth come to an end. That's part of the understanding
that the Lord is pleased to give us. This world we have here as
the men of old, as they confess their
faith, we have here no continuing city. There's not anything here
that we see at the present time that's not gonna pass away. And
everything has a life span. Everything has an end, as we
see with Moses. And as we see even in something
as the Psalms. You know, there's 150 Psalms.
There's not an infinite number of them. There's a certain number
of them. The Lord made those 150 Psalms
for a reason. And he said that that would be
the bounds of them. And nobody can come along and
add one to it. I mean, you can, you might write
a song if the Lord gives it to you, but it'll never be one of
the Psalms because it is, this is the masterpiece of God. He
has set it forth and he surrounded it. And the prohibition is given
in the book of the Revelation, which was the last of the books
of this grand volume and said that the curses of the book would
be upon all who would seek to add anything to it because it
is a finished work. It is done. And so it is that
we realize that the praises that the Lord is pleased to give us
They're finite in number. David desired to praise the Lord
while he had breath. As you know, the day may come,
or the day will come, when you will not have breath. The day
will come, you young people don't believe this, but the day will
come when you won't have breath to do a lot of things that you
used to. And even simple tasks take a lot more breathing than
they used to. And so it is, let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. Because that's the only time
we can praise him, is when we have breath. There is no praise
that they, I don't remember if Solomon said it or it's in one
of the Psalms that men don't praise him in the grave. I mean,
there's no praising God in the grave. That is the finiteness
of man on display. And so we're looking here in
Psalm 149, which is the next to the last Psalm, and one of
the Psalms of David, the Psalm of David, I might say. Psalm
149 says, praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song
and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice
in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. Let them praise his name in the
dance. Let them sing praises unto him
with the timbrel and the harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their
beds. Let the high praises of God be
in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute
vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people.
to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters
of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written, this honor
have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Now that seems a redundant phrase,
but how many times is too many times for us to remind one another
to praise the Lord. I mean, can we exceed The necessity,
if we just sat around all day long and praised the Lord, would
that be too much? I mean, how much could be too
much? Now, men often think that they
can devise means of praising the Lord. And they think that
they can come up with ways to praise the Lord. But there is
but one way to praise the Lord, and that is with the whole heart.
That's the praise of God, you see, is to come forth from the
whole heart. It's not with all the devices
that men come up with. And we think, well, you know,
we can really praise the Lord if we'll do such and such. No,
praise is the thing that is prompted by the Spirit of God and comes
from within as the Spirit of God moves upon us, as the Lord
causes all things to work together for good to them that love God
who are called according to His purposes. He works in His people
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now that is what
the praises of God are as they come forth from hearts made soft
by the Lord and made desirous of praising and magnifying the
name of the Lord. The man that does not delight
in the praise of God is a stranger to grace. Because when a man
knows himself to be without any help of his own, and he knows
that the Lord is the helper of men, then he cannot help but
praise the Lord. You can't keep him from praising
the Lord. Now if men think that it's something
to do with them or with somebody else, then they'll be praising
other men and they'll seek to exalt men. May we never lift
up anybody. Nobody is to be lifted up in
the congregation of the saints except the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the head. There's only one head and he's
to be forever exalted. There's no place for glory. We read about John, in the book
of John, I believe it's in either the second or the third epistle
of John, I think it's the third, he speaks about a man named Diotrephes. And Diotrephes loved to have
the preeminence. He wanted to be in a place of
power. He wanted to be in a place of control. And he wanted to
be in a place of honor. And there's plenty of sons of
diocreties today who want to be honored by men. And they take
unto themselves various titles. They put it on plaques, I'm Bishop
so and so, or I'm this, I'm that. The offices in the scripture
that we read about are gifts from God. They're not places
of preeminence. You know, they're just simply
those things that God has called men to do. And so we don't ever,
we hope never to be lifted up with pride because why, what
would we be proud of? I mean, what do we have that
we have not been given? We're proud of Christ. All of
our boast is to be in Him. So praise ye the Lord. Sing unto
the Lord a new song and His praise in the congregation of the saints.
Now we've talked about that, a new song. A new song doesn't
mean that you sat down and wrote one this morning. And now you
have a new song, that may be a new song, but see, you can
sing these songs that we sang there a moment ago. We can sing
them as a new song unto the Lord, because it is the praise of God
is ever new, if it's true praise. Now, if somebody just sits up
there and they're just going through the motions, and they're
singing it because that's what's written on the page, and they
have no thought to it, that's not singing to the Lord a new
song, even if they never heard it before. Because you see, to
sing the Lord a new song is a new and vibrant, living word of praise. And that is what a new song is. So may, as David said, sing unto
the Lord a new song. Our praises are new every morning
because His mercy is new every morning, lest we should be consumed.
So ought not our praise to be as alive and as vibrant as His
mercy has poured out upon us? I believe it will be. Sing unto
the Lord a new song and His praise in the congregation of the saints.
Now, can you praise the Lord by yourself? Well, absolutely
you can, and you should. But there is a special blessing
and command, I might say, to the saints of God to praise Him
in the midst of the brethren. And why is that? So that we might
encourage one another. Because you see, it is unto His
church that He came. It is there where He said, where
two or more of you are gathered in My name, there I am in the
midst of you. And if the Lord's in the midst
of us, will we not praise Him? I mean, is it possible? that
the Lord can be in the midst of a people and they not praise
him? I think not. I mean, how can that be? And
so it is that we desire not simply just to come down here and gather
together with one another. That's a good thing. I mean,
even in dry times, that's a good thing. But what a blessing it
is when the Lord is in our midst. What a blessing that is. And
when the Lord's in the midst, the praises of God ring out unto
him. And so we ought to sing praises
in the congregation as we come together, because we want to
encourage one another, build one another up in the most holy
faith, to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law
of Christ. And such is that which takes
place as the people of God praise him in the congregation of the
saints. So there is a congregation of
the saints. And it is a congregation in which
the people of God delight. David said, I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Now he
wasn't interested in just going up to the temple. or to the tabernacle,
but he wanted to go into the presence of the people of God.
That was the place where he found his greatest delight. In the
congregation of the saints as they come together, let Israel
rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. It is the Lord, we are the sheep
of the Lord's pasture, are we not? It is He, the scripture
says, that hath made us and not we ourselves. Now I don't think
that anybody thinks that they were physically made by themselves,
but it is quite common, is it not, for men to pat themselves
on the back and say, well I made something of myself. I did something. Look at me, at what I've done. Well, whatever you have done
is the gift of God. It is the Lord that has made
us and not we ourselves. He made us what we are unto his
glory. What have we got? Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, he said, what do you have that you've
not received? And if you've received it, why
do you boast as if you had not received it? And so let us praise
him, because it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves
that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. Now listen to this. Let them
praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him
with the timbrel and the harp. Now what these things are is
a manifestation of the joy of the people of God before him. You remember when David was bringing
the Ark of the Covenant back. You remember he had made the
plan to go get the Ark and he had a brand new ox cart built. for that purpose. And it was
a grand ox cart. Never anything had been put on
it. And he had oxen that had never been put in the yoke. And it was a grand and glorious
design. And he had the singers to go in the midst and the trumpeters. I mean, this was a grand procession. And if you're familiar with the
scripture, you know what happened is along the way, The cart hit
a pothole and the ark rocked and Uzzah reached back his hand
to, was one of the, and you see the Lord, David picked him out
two men, did he not? Fine young men, strapping young
men. they were those you know that
he put on a pedestal and he gave them the privilege of driving
this ox cart and they sat up there proudly I'm sure as they
went along the way and the ox cart hit the pothole and Uzzah
reached out his hand to steady it and the Lord smote him dead
and the procession stopped because the Lord spoke that day
and he said, I will not be praised by the inventions of men. I will not be worshipped by the
inventions of men. Now there was a means whereby
the Lord had given to the children of Israel a law stating how the
ark was to be carried. There was no mention of any ox
cart but it was to be carried by the Levites. And so after
the Lord chastened David over this matter, David was angry
with the Lord, but the Lord broke his heart over the matter. And then the time came when they
went back and they did, they brought the ark in the manner
in which it was supposed to be brought back. And the scripture
says that as that ark came, into the midst of the camp to
the tabernacle that they were filled with joy and David the
king was so full of joy and praise to the Lord that he had spared
them and that he had showed them the truth and that he had brought
this ark back to Jerusalem. The scripture says he danced
before the Lord. And his wife, she looked on him
and said, well, you're a fool. You know, you've been out here
and you're doing crazy stuff. So obviously this was a demonstration
of his great joy. Now, I don't believe it was a
choreographed dance. In other words, it wasn't like
the menuette or the, I don't even know some of these dances,
but anyway, it wasn't something that was planned out, but it
was that which David was moved to do. He danced before the Lord. And we look at that, let them
praise his name in the dance. I've even heard of some of these
outfits having like dance classes in the midst of the churches
so that they can, when they have their meetings, they can do all
these dances and all this stuff. Well, brethren, You know, I don't
find anything in the scripture that would teach us to do that.
And I don't think that David in this description here of letting
them praise his name in the dance, he had any thought towards that.
But rather, in the joy that would cause a man to dance before the
Lord. If you wanna dance before the
Lord and the Spirit of God moves you to do it, I'm not gonna tell
you not to do it. But, oh, don't do it to be seen
of men. David wasn't doing what he was
doing to be seen of men. I mean, his own wife said, well,
you act like a fool. I mean, he didn't have any consideration. Thought never entered his mind
that he was the king of Israel. He was just overjoyed in his
heart and moved to do that. And so it is. Let them praise
his name in the dance. If the Lord moves you to dance,
dance. I mean, if you're filled with
joy and you want to dance, dance, but don't do it for any other
reason than that you want to give praise to Him. Let Him sing
praises unto Him with the timbrel and the harp, with musical instruments. Now, you know, this has caused
a lot of controversy over the years. Some groups believe that
the playing of instruments is an evil thing. And some believe,
well, you can't sing if you don't have an instrument. Now, there's
no truth in either thing. There's no evil in playing an
instrument of some kind in praise to the Lord, if that's what it's
for. You know, if that's what it's for, now if it's done so
that men might see it, or if it's done, you know, to support
men in their ways that they have determined, well, this is the
proper way, then there is evil in it. Now,
it is interesting that there is no mention of any such thing
as that in the New Testament. There's no example of it. Now
the harp is mentioned in the book of the Revelation, but I
believe a study of that will indicate that there's not harps
that people are gonna be playing before the Lord, but the harp
we have is a sacred harp. It's the harp of the mouth. It's
praise unto God. And so it is that we praise God
with our whole being. And I believe this, the Lord
gives men talents. to play instruments, just as
he does give men talents to preach, to do any number of things. The Lord does do that. So it's
not that these things are evil, but they're not things that we
have to have either. They're those things that we
use unto the glory of God. And when it ever becomes anything
else, it ought to be abandoned. And so, to the glory of God,
let us praise Him with all that we have. Whatever the Lord's
given us, let us bring it back to Him. Let's lay it down at
His feet, just as John saw all of those laying those crowns
down at the feet of Christ. See, He's given us so much. Ought
we not to give the same back to Him? That's what praise is. Let them sing praises unto him.
With the timbrel and the harp, for the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. The Lord takes pleasure in his
people. Now that's a glorious thing,
is it not? How can that be? Brother Al brought up that scripture,
precious, in the sight of the Lord. is the death of his saints. The Lord takes pleasure in his
people, but he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That's
not a delightful thing to him, but he takes pleasure in the
death of the wicked. I mean in the pleasure of the
death of his saints, because they belong to him. You see,
he tenderly took Moses' body and he buried it. Now, why'd
he do that? Because he loved Moses. Couldn't
he have just left him laying out there on the ground? I mean,
who would have ever known the difference? The buzzards could
have come along and picked his bones and that would be it. But
you see, the Lord instructs us throughout His Word on many things.
And I believe that's one of them. How a body to be disposed of
when a person dies. Now this is a controversial thing
among many. I believe if you look in the
scripture, you only find one way that any of the children
of God are ever taught to do or given example. Even the example
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is to bury the body in a
tomb. I know it's cheaper to burn one
up. And certainly the Lord can reconstitute
a burned up body as simply as he can one that has gone to dust
in the ground. But if you want to find out,
if you want to look and see what does the scripture say about
such a subject as that, you won't find anything other than the
fact that the burial of the body is the proper disposal of it. Take that for what it's worth.
The Lord takes pleasure in His people. He will beautify the
meek with salvation. He gives it to them. And He beautifies
them with it. They are made beautiful. See,
salvation is a thing that causes the people of God to be lovely. Not necessarily to the world,
because the world looks on them and says, well, you're a bunch
of kooks. But you see, The Lord clothes the meek with salvation. And he causes us to delight in
one another's presence because he does give us a spirit of meekness
and humility because we don't go around boasting of what we
are when we're in our midst, the midst of one another, do
we? I mean, what would we boast of? Well, I didn't commit as
many sins as John did last week. I'm doing pretty good. No, we
know we're all sinners. We're unworthy of the least of
his mercy. We don't have anything to boast
in. If we did something, we only
did it because God enabled us to do it. If we did anything
of value. And so it is. He will beautify
the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their
beds. You ever sing in bed? Huh? Somebody
might think you cry. I've woke up before in the middle
of the night and be singing. That's kind of a crazy thing,
I guess, on the one hand, but how did I do that? I don't know.
You know, but that happens. But we ought to praise God upon
our bed. That is when we lay down at night. And when we wake
up in the morning, let's praise the Lord, because He is worthy
of praise. Let the high praises of God be
in their mouth. Not this, just some offhanded
praise, but the high praises. That is a magnification of the
Lord. Let our heart and mind be swell. Think of the glories of God.
See, I think sometimes people get too much into a rut And they
don't dwell and contemplate on the glories of God, the wonders
of God. Oh, that He might move our hearts,
that we might be moved to consider the high praises of God. He's
high and lifted up and His train fills the temple. I mean, do
you think that Isaiah had any problem praising the Lord whenever
he had seen Him high and lifted up? in the year that King Uzziah
died. I know he was brought down low
in the presence of God, which all men are. I often get a kick
out of, or I say a kick, I mean I'm amused by it, of all these
people that write these books about, talking about they went
to heaven and they saw the Lord and all this, and it's just,
they kind of just speak about it in an offhanded way, you know,
they had lights and all this different stuff, and it was just
a feeling of peace, And, you know, they want everybody to
go there with them and whatnot. None of that is what the, when
men have, there's only two examples that I know of, of men, well,
three, of men who've come face to face with the Lord, and in
every case, they fell on their face before Him. They couldn't
say anything. They said, oh, woe is me, I'm
a man of unclean lips. John fell at his feet as dead.
Now John was in the presence of one he had walked with for
three years. He was the disciple whom Jesus
loved. But when he saw Christ in unfettered
glory, when he saw Christ as he is, he fell on his face as
a dead man, apart from the Lord reaching out his hand and raising
him up. That's where it would have stayed.
But you see, the Lord would have us to have the high praises of
God in our mouth. And he says a two-edged sword
in their hand. Now what is a two-edged sword? The Word of God. The things contained
in this book, this is a two-edged sword. We're to praise God with
the high praises of God in our mouth. and the two-edged sword
in our hand. That is, we exalt Him in the
declaration of His Word. His Word is precious, is it not? To execute vengeance on the heathen
and judgments, or punishments, upon the people. Thus the purpose
of the Word goes forth. Convince the world of sin, righteousness,
and judgment as the Spirit of God sends it. And the declaration
of it. It does indeed execute vengeance
on the heathen. Now, they don't believe it, but
see, we want to tell the world the truth. Doesn't matter whether
people believe it or not. We want to bear testimony to
the truth before men to execute judgment and vengeance. To bind
their kings with chains, their nobles with fetters of iron.
Now, it seems, does it not, that the kings of this earth, they
have free reign to do whatever they want to. The scripture says,
however, that the Lord turns the heart of the king whether
so ever he wills. Just like a boat going down the
river and the rudder turns it to go this way or to go that
way. Every action of every leader in all the earth is controlled
and directed by the hand of Almighty God to accomplish his purpose.
And it's a terrible, he uses the terrible wickedness of men
to accomplish his purpose. Even as we see unfolded before
us over there in Ukraine, I don't know what the purpose of God
in all of that is. I certainly don't pat any of
them on the back for anything they're doing, but nonetheless,
all of these things transpire because God Almighty has ordained
them to occur for the judgment. of men. And so He does indeed
cause these things. He binds kings with chains and
nobles with fetters of iron as the Word of God is preached.
You know, when the Lord is pleased to send forth His Word with power, even a king is stopped in his
tracks. I think of Pharaoh. Is this not
illustrated for us with Pharaoh? He was bound, was he not? with
the Word of God. He couldn't do anything. To execute
upon them the judgment written, this honor have all his saints. What is the honor? To be able
to praise the Lord with a pure heart. See, anybody can get a
book and read praises. Anybody can say praise the Lord.
But this privilege, this honor, have all the saints, that is
to praise the Lord with their heart. Not just outwardly, but
inwardly. Because they delight in it. They
don't have to be made to do it. See, when I was a child, I was
made to go to church. I didn't have a choice in the
matter. I'd rather been somewhere else. I'd rather been playing, or I'd
rather been hunting, or I'd rather been doing something. But by the grace of God, He brought
me to a place where I delight in it. The praise of God. And
so it will. to those whom he loves. What
an honor it is. This honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. And so, we
end where we began as all of these Psalms do with that phrase,
praise ye the Lord. He's worthy to be praised. May
we ever praise him. And may we keep in our minds
this week as we come to the last of these Psalms, to praise Him,
even as He has given us the privilege to praise Him. Because it is
in the Lord Jesus Christ that all of our praises culminate. Because were it not that Christ
had redeemed us from the curse of sin, there would be no such
thing as praise in our mouth. But because there is a Redeemer
that has been shown to us, the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we rejoice in Him.