Psalm 147. This is a continuation
of David's psalm of praise unto the Lord. Praise ye the Lord,
for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant
and praise is comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken
in heart and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number
of the stars. He calleth them all by their
names. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite.
The Lord lifteth up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto
our God. who covereth the heaven with
clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to
grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food
and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the
strength of the horse. He taketh not pleasure in the
legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Praise the
Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. For he
hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy
children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders
and filleth thee with the finest of wheat. He sendeth forth his
commandment upon earth. His word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool. He
scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice
like morsels who can stand before his cold. He sendeth out his
word and melteth them. He causeth his wind to blow and
the waters flow. He showeth his word unto Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation. And as for his judgments, they
have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. And so, as all of these Psalms
begin, praise ye the Lord, and fittingly so. And most assuredly,
as we have been given grace to understand and see the revelation
of Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners, ought we to praise
him the more. Now in all ages, and it is incumbent
on all men to praise the Lord. There's nobody that's ever lived,
drew breath in this world that does not owe a debt of praise
unto him who made him. Now, of course, you know, you
have many people who don't even believe that God made them, or
they say they don't. You know, I believe that actually
they are fooling themselves because the hidden things of God are
revealed in the creation. And a man cannot look upon these
things and not know that God made them, whether or not he
will admit it, or it doesn't fit his philosophy, or he's not
comfortable in talking about it. Nonetheless, it is true.
So we ought to praise the Lord. But more so, as a man is brought
into the awareness of who Jesus Christ is, we do praise Him. Praise, He said here, for it
is good to sing praise, praises unto our God, for it is pleasant
and praise is comely. Praise is fitting for the people
of God. It's a thing that fits like a
garment. You know, you can't wear the clothes of another.
You remember when David was going to go into battle against Goliath
and Saul said, well, here, let's put this armor on you so you
can go. Well, Saul was a big man, about
seven feet tall. David was just a lad. We don't
know how big he was. He was probably 14 or 15 years
old. And so he was not a great, huge
man. So the armor that Saul had wouldn't
fit him. It wasn't comely for him. It
wasn't that which was designed for him. But praise is designed
for the people of God. It is that which is a beneficial
used to the people of God. The Lord doesn't ever give us
things that are for our harm if we belong to Him. He said
He calls all things to work together for good to them that love God
who are the called according to His purpose. And so praise
is designed not simply that we might give glory to God but that
it might be a benefit to us. even as the Lord Jesus told the
Pharisees that the Sabbath was not made, the Sabbath was, or
man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for
man. I mean, that's the purpose of the rest is for the benefit
of the people of God. And so it is that men ought always
to praise the Lord. These things are fitting unto
him. It is pleasant. It's a good thing. A man that knows Christ desires
to praise Him. He can't be silent. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. It's within his bosom. He wants
to praise God. He doesn't have to be drawn out
of him, but he desires to do it. He delights in it. It is
a pleasant thing, and praise is comely unto the people of
God. It is fitting. The Lord doth
build up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts
of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. Lord is the healer. Now men,
in their attachment to this world, when they read about healing
in the scripture, they primarily think of it in terms of carnal
healing. and you've got all kind of folks
that run around the countryside getting people to believe that
they can bring down the healing of God on them in a supernatural
way. Now we do know that in the scripture
there was supernatural healing that took place. And I have no
doubt that there's what men would call supernatural healing that
takes place in the present time. One time somebody asked Lester
Roloff, if he believed in divine healing, he said, I didn't know
there was any other kind. And so, you know, all healing
comes from God. But the Lord is the one who wounds
and He heals. He's the one that sends the sickness
and He's the one that removes it. And so it is that these things
don't just happen by chance, but they all happen according
to the purpose of God. And so it is that he is pleased
to heal his people of their diseases, but the greatest disease that
man has ever encountered has nothing to do with these bodies. It has to do with this heart,
this sinful flesh that causes us to be in rebellion against
God in a way. That's a disease that has no
solution. Now, you know, they're coming
up with all kind of medicines and salves and vaccines and stuff
every day that they claim and tell us that this will heal the
maladies that arise in our bodies. But no man's ever been able to
come up with any solution to the problem of sin within the
heart of a man. The Lord alone is the only one
that can heal that disease. And he does heal that disease
by the power that he has. And that disease takes its flight
in men as by the grace of God they are taught to praise him
with their whole heart as they see Christ as their healer. Now
that's a medicine I wish that I could take and apply to every
person in here. But only the Lord can apply that
medicine. That's the salve that belongs
to Him. And He puts it upon the wounds that He's pleased to bring. Now, the Lord breaks a man's
heart as well as heals it. And that's a good thing, because
until a man's heart's broken, he will not seek the Lord. He
telleth, He bindeth up their wounds. He doesn't just do some
topical healing, he doesn't just put salve on it, but he binds
up the wound, he puts ointment upon it, and he keeps, remember
when the Samaritan left the man who was beaten by the robbers?
and he poured in oil and wine into his wounds. But he didn't
just leave the man there and abandon him, but he told the
innkeeper, he says, I'm gonna come back when I come back. He
says, I'll check on him. See, he was concerned about him,
even as the Lord is concerned about the needs of his people,
and he continues with his healing. He doesn't heal us just one time,
but he heals us continually. He telleth the number of the
stars, calleth them all by their names. Now you know scientists
tell us that as they look into the heavens that it's an infinite
thing, that it just goes on and on and on. The scripture does
not tell us that. The scripture tells us that there
is a bound to it. And the stars, you know, no man's
ever been able to count the stars. I mean, men have attempted. But
there's nobody, I mean, if you asked an astronomer how many
stars, he'd say, well, we don't know. It's just an infinite number.
But it's not an infinite number. Because it says right here that
the Lord telleth the number of the stars. Now, he hasn't told
me. You know, he hadn't told me, but he's the only one who
can tell it. That means he knows the number of the stars. How
does he know the number of the stars? Because he created every
star. Now, the purveyors of all the
theories of how the world came to be, they tell us, some of
them tell us, well, there was just one time there was a big
explosion. And all the particles and things
were flung out into space and that became the stars and all
that stuff. And it's just like a random thing
that took place. But the Lord put every star exactly
where he wants it to be. Not only did he put every star
where he wants it to be, but he gave them all a name. And
that's incredible if you pause and think about it. Now he gave
Adam the task of naming all the animals. That was a pretty big
undertaking, wasn't it? Well, that was just, that was
minute in comparison to considering that the Lord has named every
star that's out there. He knows every one of them because
he made them and he put them there. And so the detail of creation,
as well as the big part of it, belongs to God. Every microbe,
every bacteria, everything that is here belongs to the Lord.
And he made it, and every part of it moves according to the
ordained purpose of Almighty God. I remember Charles Spurgeon
said one time that the particles of sand moving in the wave as
it crashes to the shore, move in just as much a prescribed
orbit as do the planets around the sun. And that orbit is designed
by Almighty God. Now men scoff at such things
as that. And the reason that they do is
because they have no idea of the grandeur of the God with
which the psalmist is speaking here. He numbers the stars and
calleth them all by name. What a wondrous thing. But more
wondrous than that, We read in the scripture that known unto
the Lord are all of his children. He knows them that are his. You
see, the Lord knows his children. He calls them by name. How do
we know that? He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. How can we know who the sheep
of God are? We can't know them by any other means than that
they would be those who follow the Lord. That's what he said.
They call upon my name. He that calleth upon the Lord
shall be saved. I mean, that's what the scripture
says. That's how we know who the people of God are. No other
way. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite. His understanding, not yours.
Your understanding's not infinite, is it? Your understanding's very
limited. You only know what you know.
You can't know anything that you don't know. I mean, you can
try to know something you don't know, but you can't, because
that's just outside the realm of your understanding. Now, if
God is pleased to open your understanding, you might know something else
that you didn't know today, that you don't know today, you might
know it tomorrow. But it'll be because God in his
mercy showed that to you. It won't be because you and your
understanding gained it. And that's where men go astray
is they think by their own power that they gain knowledge. But
a man can't know anything. Except God shows it to him. And
so it is. His understanding is infinite.
Ours is that which is limited by his purpose. The Lord lifteth
up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Now that's a principle that is
throughout the scripture. The Lord said that he showed
the gospel to the weak and the beggarly elements of the earth,
but he hides them from the wise and prudent. A man who thinks he knows something
will never know anything as he ought to know. But the man who
casts himself upon the mercy of God and cries out, oh Lord,
help me. You know, I need you, I don't
know anything. I don't know how to go out or
come in, except you show it to me. The Lord helps the meek. Now, meekness, as we've talked
many times, is not weakness. Meekness is just a recognition
of who we are before Almighty God. You see, the man who's meek
is the man that humbly seeks the mercy of God. Man that feels
like he doesn't need the mercy of God. He feels like, well,
my religion's good enough. A lot of folks feel their religion's
good enough. Well, I've believed that all
my life. Many people will perish believing
that they believe the truth. But the truth is found only in
one place. That's in Jesus Christ. It's
not in your faith in Christ. but it's in Christ. See, there's
a difference. Now, the gospel that's preached
today tells folks you can have faith in your faith in Christ,
but you better not have faith in your faith in Christ, because
your faith will fail. Your faith's full of doubts and
fears. But you see, Christ is our faith,
and He is that one in whom our confidence is placed, and we
run to Him. We don't have anything else.
Lord, save us, we perish. Without thee, we're done for.
Lord, they told me if I believed that everything would be all
right. But Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Lord, I can't
believe. I don't have the power to believe. But he has the power to give
faith. And the only faith that God gives to men is the faith
which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. See, that is the ground
and basis of our faith, the object of our faith, Christ alone. The Lord lifteth up the meek,
those that know themselves to be sinners. He casteth the wicked
down to the ground. The Lord will destroy the wicked.
There's no doubt about that. You can't read the scripture
and not come to that conclusion. He will destroy the wicked. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto
our God. Now every man's been given a
harp. You've got it. You exercised it here this morning.
The harp that the Lord's given unto you is right here. And it's
an instrument of praise unto the Lord. Let everything that
hath breath praise the Lord. He gave us a golden harp, a sacred
harp. to praise his name, singing to
the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon that harp unto
our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain
for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He
giveth to the beast his food, to the young ravens which cry.
The Lord is the Lord over all of his creation, and he's good
to his cold creation. See, it's not the right of his
creation to eat. Now he made his creation with
an appetite, did he not? And a desire to eat. But God's
under no obligation to feed his creation, is he? Now a lot of
people would try to reason out and say that he is, but God has
no obligations. Because he does all things according
to the good pleasure of his will. none can stay his hand, or even
question his doing. See, most of man's theories about
God involve his questionings of God. Because he thinks that
he can come up with things that are parameters for God. Well,
you know, they don't hymn God in over here with this, or hymn
God in with that. Some men try to hymn him in,
and they say, well, you can hymn him in with his promises. Listen,
God cannot be him then. He's not obligated in any way
to the creature. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man that thou dost visit him? It's his
mercy. See, that's what causes us to
praise him is his mercy, is it not? Because he who doesn't have
to do anything for us does everything for us. Even the dumb creation,
which cannot praise Him, do praise Him. I mean, they're not given
an understanding as men have been given, but yet they praise
the Lord. You ever hear a dog howling at
the moon in the middle of the night? He does so because he
sees something that he don't understand. It's amazing to him. And the Lord gave him a tongue
or whatever part of the body he used it to howl. I don't know
if he used his tongue when he howls or not. Maybe Jenna can
tell us. But anyway, he howls at the moon. Why? Because God
made him for his purpose. And that brings praise unto the
name of the Lord. Whether men like it or not is
true. Everything is that which gives praise unto the Lord. He
delighteth not in the strength of the horse, and he taketh not
pleasure in the legs of a man. Oh, if I could, if we could take
any phrase out of the scripture and put it up on a banner and
put it behind one of these airplanes that fly around like football
stadiums and stuff with a banner, it ought to be that. The Lord,
and it needs to fly around every church house in the world today. Around and around, the Lord taketh
not pleasure in the legs of a man. and yet primarily most religious
organizations today, that's the one thing they're trying to do
is getting folks to do something for God. Is it not? I mean, you gotta
do something for God. Brethren, God does not take pleasure
in the legs of men. He doesn't need men. He uses
men. He's pleased to allow men to serve him. He's pleased to allow men to
do a lot of things. But he doesn't need it, nor does
he take pleasure in it. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags in his sight. I mean the best thing you ever
thought. Think of the best thought you ever had in your life. The
purest thing you ever dwelt upon. Think about that for a minute.
Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in his sight. He taketh
not pleasure in the legs of a man. You can't do one thing to gain
the favor of God. Can't do it. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear him, and those that hope in his mercy. That's where the Lord takes pleasure.
He said to this man will I look, not to the man who thinks himself
righteous, but he said to that man who's a broken and a contrite
heart. The Lord will not despise such
a man. When a man's heart's broken for his sin, now everybody in
here has had a broken heart from time to time on one level or
another. And the older you get, sometimes
the easier it is to get your heart broken. Now you can have
your heart broken romantically, you can have your heart broken
financially, you can have your heart broken in myriads of ways,
but that's not the heartbreak that God is pleased to heal. But you see, the broken heart
is that which is broken because of sin. Not what somebody did
to me. See, everybody gets heartbroken
sometimes for the ill things that people do to them. But that's
not the heartbreak that we need to be concerned about. Oh, that
the Lord might give us a broken heart, not for what people have
done and mistreated us. But oh, how we have mistreated
the Lord. The hand that has fed us, the
one who has shown us mercy every day of our life. See, he's the
one that our heart needs to break. As David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned, and none this evil which is in my
heart. See, our sin Though we sin against one another, and
we do things that hurt one another, yet that's really of no consequence
when we stand before Almighty God. Because our sin against
our brethren is a sin against Him. And David came to the place
where he understood that. You see, his heart was broken.
He said, create in me, oh God, a clean heart. Because he knew
that he did not have a clean heart. He knew that his sin was
that which separated between him and God. And he said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned. So the Lord takes pleasure. in
those that fear Him. Because you see, when a man is
brought to that place to know himself to be a sinner before
Almighty God, he cannot help but fear God. See, that's why
you don't find a lot of folks that really are what you would
call God-fearing people. Why? Because they don't believe
themselves to be a sinner. They think they can reason with
God. They think that somehow or other they can do something
that will cause God to take notice of them. They think, I can't tell you
how many, well God understands. I had a fellow telling me, well
the reason that he didn't need to go to church you know, and
assembled with the brethren, he claimed he was a believer,
but he didn't need to do that. He said, God knows, he says,
he knows my heart. Well, brethren, if anything ought
to strike fear into you of anything, that is a true statement. God
does know your heart. And when you understand that
God does know your heart, and that doesn't strike fear within
your heart, see, when you think that God knows your heart, and
you're saying, well, it's gonna be all right. No, it's not gonna
be all right. Because God knows your heart.
And your heart, whether you believe it or not, your heart is evil,
it's wicked. That's what Scripture tells us.
And not only does the Scripture tell us, but as God is pleased
to awaken a man and show him what he is by nature, He knows
it to be true. Whether you ever read it in Scripture
or not. Praise the Lord. Why? Because he takes pleasure
in those who fear him. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem.
Praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the
bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy children
within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders
and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. He sendeth forth
his commandment upon earth. His word runneth very swiftly. You see, all of the blessings
of God's people come to them from Him. Now you'll hear a lot
of people say, well, you know, if you'll serve the Lord, He'll
bless you. Well, they got that backwards.
Because the blessing of God is to stir men up to obediently
walk in His way. See, that is the blessing. The
blessing precedes the following. It causes the following. Say
the Lord's blessing is that which causes a man to pray. It's not
his prayer that brings about the blessing, but it's the blessing
that brings about the prayer. The blessing of God that causes
a man to call upon his name. It's the blessing of God that
cause a man to walk in obedience. It's the blessing of God that
cause a man to delight in the law of God. How else can a man
do so? He does all these things. He
sendeth forth his commandment upon the earth. His word runneth
very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool. He
scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice
like morsels. Who can stand before his coal? He sendeth out his word and melteth
them. He causeth his wind to blow and
the waters to flow. Now snow, is an amazing thing. I've only ever been in a few
times and seen snow that just covered everything. We were up
in Arkansas one time. And it had snowed up there for
several days, and fortunately, by the time we got up there,
the snow had stopped falling, but the snow was everywhere.
And I mean, you couldn't see anything but just white. Everything
was covered with white. Well, while we were there, as
it warmed up and the snow started to melt in various places, and
there was no more beautiful sight than when you looked out and
saw all that white just covering everything. But then when the
snow began to melt, and you can see the dark spots here and there,
and it uncovered all of that which the snow had covered. The
righteousness of Christ is like that snow. You see, when the
Lord looks upon his people who are covered in the righteousness
of Christ, he sees that beauty. But where that covering is not.
There's nothing to be seen that's beautiful about it. Because the
snow, actually, in the contrast to the brown of the weeds and
everything that's there, it's that which is not beautiful. It's a contrast, is it not? The
righteousness of Christ in the sin of man But oh, to be covered
in His righteousness is that which is a great blessing. He sendeth out His Word and melteth
them. He causeth His wind to blow and
the waters flow. The Lord is that One that thaws
out the frozen heart. He showeth His Word unto Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. Now listen to this. He has not dealt so with any
nation. And as for his judgments, they
have not known them. The Lord's blessing is upon,
I think he wants it. He's happy now he got what he
wanted. That's like we are, isn't it? He showeth his word unto Jacob.
Now he didn't show his word to the other nations of the world,
did he? Now, was that unfair? See, men
say, well, that, you know, it's not fair if God doesn't give
everybody a fair chance and a square deal, and doesn't give everybody
a chance to be saved. You ever heard anybody say that?
God's gotta give every man a chance to be saved. Well, salvation's
not by chance. If salvation was by chance, there
wasn't anybody ever be saved. Salvation is according to the
mercy and grace of God bestowed on men as he calls them out of
darkness and into the light. So it's not about God putting
some offer on the table and say, well, here it is. If you want
it, come get it. And some will and some won't.
No. It's that God, in his mercy,
has chosen a people in Christ from the fourth foundation of
the world, and he calls them, and they hear his voice, and
they follow him. And on the one hand, they can't
do anything different. People say, well, that don't
sound like man's got a free will. Well, show me in scripture where
he does. Like we said last week, I think
it was. I mean, you got a free will.
You can put on a pair of socks according to the color you want
to put on. Now, you do have free will in
that respect, but even that, the Lord has to give you a desire
to like a color, doesn't he? I mean, why do you like red rather
than green? Why is that? Did you decide that? No, the Lord called you to be
that way, according to His purpose. I don't know what that purpose
is. But I know this, that while a man can choose socks out of
the drawer, one thing that he cannot do, because his heart
is bound to sin, is to love Jesus Christ. He can't do it. You can't make a man do it. You
can't persuade a man to do it. Only the grace of God calling
his sheep, bring them out of darkness and into the light can
cause such a thing to come to pass. The glorious thing is that
he does do that. See, that's why we're here today
is because he is the savior of sinners. He calls his own sheep
by name and they rejoice at that sound. They're not trying to
argue against him, they just want to fall down and worship
him and give him thanks that he is full of mercy and kindness.
to those that call upon him. What a glorious thing. He hath
not dealt so with any nation. He hadn't dealt so with every
man in the earth there, brethren. It's a privilege to know Jesus
Christ. It's not a privilege that a man
can earn. It's a privilege nonetheless. Man can't boast in it. oh well
I'm such and such, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Presbyterian, well I'm
a this, I'm a that. It don't make a difference about
all of that stuff, you can have all of that stuff, you can belong
to this organization or that one, or you can be baptized by
this person or that person, or it doesn't make any difference.
The only thing that matters is do you know Jesus Christ? Is he that one whom your soul
delights? Do you understand yourself to
be lost without Him? The Lord has not dealt so with
any nation like He did with Israel. See, unto Israel was given the
oracles, the promises of God. The prophets of God were given
unto a particular nation. And that was so that we might
know that His promises in Jesus Christ are given to a particular
people. We are a chosen nation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation. He has not dealt so with any
nation. In other words, the Lord doesn't
just randomly do the things He does. He does everything that
He does on purpose. Just like he met with a woman
at a well that wasn't even thinking about him when she left her home
that morning. But the Scripture says he must
needs go through Samaria. He had to go through Samaria.
He determined to go through Samaria. He preordained his steps to go
through Samaria. Because he predestined a woman
to come to a well at Samaria. Now she didn't know anything
about it, but he did. And he loved her. And she didn't
love him. She didn't know who he was. She
was a wicked woman. She had five husbands and was
living with a man that wasn't her husband at the present time.
And she tried to hide her sin from the Lord. You never tried
to hide your sin from the Lord, did you? But you see, the mercy of God
was on display that day because she could not hide her sin from
him who came to Samaria that day to meet with that woman and
say to her, I that speak unto thee, am he. And so you see, when we preach
the gospel, That's all that we can do. Let's tell men that this
one, He's the Savior of sinners, and He saves such as call upon
His name. Oh, that He might show Himself
to us today. And we might know ourselves to
be sinners, and we might know Him to be the Savior of sinners,
because He is. What a glorious Savior. Praise
ye the Lord.