glorious place to be among the
saints of God, to praise the name of the Lord. And that's
exactly how David begins this psalm. I believe it's a psalm
written by David. We don't know that for a fact,
but it would appear that it is, but regardless of who the human
author of it is, it is certainly an appropriate Psalm for us every
day. It begins in Psalm 135. It says,
praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord. Praise him, O ye servants of
the Lord. Ye that stand in the house of
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the
Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises unto his name, for
it is pleasant. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob
unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. For I
know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all
gods. whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places. He causeth the vapors to ascend
from the ends of the earth, He maketh lightnings for the rain.
He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries, who smote the firstborn
of Egypt, both of man and beast, who sent tokens and wonders into
the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants,
who smote great nations and slew mighty kings, Sihon, king of
the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms
of Canaan. and gave their land for an heritage,
and heritage unto Israel, his people. Thy name, O Lord, endureth
forever, and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations. For the Lord will judge his people,
and he will repent himself concerning his servants. The idols of the
heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They
have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Neither is there any
breath in their mouths. And they that make them are likened
to them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. Bless the Lord, O house of Israel. Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron.
Bless the Lord, O house of Levi. Ye that fear the Lord, bless
the Lord. Blessed be the Lord out of Zion,
which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. And so the psalm ends the same
way that it begins. Praise ye the Lord. And as we
read that, and I'm no Hebrew scholar by any means, but I can
look in Hebrew dictionaries and concordances and look and see
what these words are. And whenever you see the term,
praise ye the Lord, or praise the Lord, in the scriptures,
generally speaking, it's a, it comes forth as Two words here,
but in the Hebrew, it's actually one word, and it's that word
that we would say hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. Hallel, which
is praise in Hebrew, and Yah is the name of God, the highest
name of God. Praise ye the Lord, hallelujah. And so whenever Men say hallelujah,
now lots of times that word is just used as a general phrase that people say when things
go just like they want them to, they'll say oh hallelujah, everything
worked out great. You know, I can't speak against
people saying, I can say this, if you say that word, if you
say hallelujah, and you are genuinely desirous of giving praise to
God, then it is a good thing. Otherwise, it's to take the name
of the Lord in vain. You know, just to say it, because
it's just a phrase that people say. And so we need to understand
those things, that this is not just some phrase that somebody
cooked up, but it is a scriptural term. Praise ye the Lord. And then he says, praise ye the
name of the Lord. Now he said, praise ye the Lord.
And of course, the word for Lord there is Jah. When he says, praise
ye the name of the Lord, He said he uses the word for Lord there
as Jehovah. And so when he says, when we
praise the name of the Lord, that is the authority of God,
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of his authority.
When we say we do something in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's not
just a phrase. Sadly, it becomes just a phrase
in the minds of many when they pray and they say in Jesus' name. But prayer should be prayed in
Jesus' name, because in reality, that's the only way we can pray.
You don't have any authority to pray any other way, and so
when we pray, we pray in Jesus' name. But we should be mindful
that when we pray in Jesus' name, that we recognize that it is
in his authority that we come. He told us to come, did he not?
He said, come boldly to the throne of grace. And so it is that we
are to do so, but we praise his name, his authority. We rejoice
in his authority. See, a man cannot praise God
in a right fashion if he does not praise the authority of God.
And if he does not praise the authority of God, he cannot recognize
that God is a sovereign God. That's what the name of God is.
It is the God who is. That's who he revealed himself
to Moses, was it not? He said, I am. He's the self-existent
one. He's that one who doesn't need
anything. He's not standing lacking in
any way, but he is complete in himself. Had he never created
the world, men think they're so important. I mean, the Lord could have not
created us if it so pleased Him. He could have just went right
on and His glory would have been the same glory right on through
the ages, but it pleased God to create men. And so we praise Him. for his
creation, that he's done all things well. But he didn't have
to. It wasn't inevitable. I think sometimes that's kind
of the way that people look at things. Well, it was inevitable.
I mean, when I was growing up, we were often taught that the
reason God created man was because he wanted companionship. He wanted
somebody to, you know, to have fellowship with. How foolish.
How foolish is such a thing? God doesn't do anything out of
need. He does all things because it
pleases Him. And He said, I will have glory.
He says, I'm a jealous God. And He said, I will have glory
unto my name. His name's above every name.
And so it is that He's worthy to be praised. Praise Him. O
ye servants of the Lord. Now when David, and we've talked
about this before, in one of the Psalms, and I forget right
off the top of my head which number, but it said, the fool
has said in his heart, there is no God. Now, even a fool knows
there is a God. I would say that it is a very
minute number of people who absolutely do not believe there is a God. Now there are some, there are
some, and there's many that claim to, but you get them in the right
situation and they'll be calling out to the one they don't think
exists. So it is very unusual to find
somebody who absolutely does not believe in God. But what
David said when he said the fool has said in his heart there is
no God, the fool has said in his heart there is no authority. There is no God with authority
who rules over me. See that's what the man who says
there is no God, he's saying I won't bow to God. Now, there's
a multitude like that. In fact, I'd say that there's
many in churches today who are in that fashion. You know, they'll
serve God as long as He's like they want Him to be. I've had
men tell me, well, I wouldn't serve a God like you talk about.
And I'll tell you this, I mean, I hope to serve God however He's
pleased to be. And He's pleased to rule and
reign in the army of heaven. And among the inhabitants of
the earth, He's an absolute God. And we must fall before Him absolutely. There's nothing we can say or
do. For so it seemed good in thy
sight, O Lord. And so, may the Lord give us
grace that we might be a people who are indeed the servants of
God. Now, there's a measure and a
fashion in which we are saying we are not the servants of God,
we're His sons. You know, when you're considering
our relationship to the law, we don't serve the law because
of being in servitude to it, but we serve the Lord because
we love him. You see, that's what he said,
that's what the whole law is. To love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor
as thyself. I mean, the law summed up in
those things. And by the grace of God, the
man who recognizes the lordship of Christ is that one who is
a servant of God, because he does bow to that authority. He doesn't think himself to be
something when he's nothing. Ye that stand in the house of
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, Now he's speaking
to those who stand in the house of the Lord. He's speaking about
those priests, those who were in the service of God inside
the temple. And then he said those who were
in the courts. Now the courts were the outer
courts where the people other than the priest, that's where
they gathered. They could not go into the inner
part because only the sons of Aaron were those who could go
in there, who were the priesthood. And so it was that the Lord ordained
it to be that way. And he said, sing, and the courts,
and he says, but praise ye that stand in the house of the Lord
and those that stand in the courts. All of God's people. Because
you see, all of God's people We both go into, we're priests
and kings unto the Lord, but we're also in the courts. I mean, we're not those who have
any place of value or real anything that we can point to in ourselves
that causes us to be acceptable before the Lord. But yet he's
made us so. He's made us kings and priests.
And so we're in both positions. Those who are in the house of
God, in the very presence of the Lord, and yet those who are
in the outer courts. I mean, we see through a glass
darkly, do we not? I mean, we can't boast of having
some inside information. Now, there's a lot of these cats
on radio and TV that'll let you think that they've got some inside
track, that, buddy, they've got the secret. Well, I'm telling
you, the secret's already been revealed before they ever came
along. The mystery that was hid from
the foundation of the world has now been revealed in Jesus Christ. There are no more mysteries to
be unfolded in the earth. What a glorious Savior we have.
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. He is indeed good. Now, when we say he's good, you
know, you often hear people, I hear people, I got a little
ladybug here, he's sitting there, I don't know if he's listening
or not, but he probably isn't. But there's, people will often say, ain't
God good? And what they mean by that is
that something worked out great. And they were blessed. And we
should, when things go great, we should. But dear brethren,
God is good whether the things we look at as good occur in our
lives or whether those things are not good as we would describe
it. We don't consider God to be good
because of our way of what we define as good. but God is good. Every good and perfect gift cometh
from our Father in heaven. And all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are the called according
to his purpose. It doesn't say all things are
good. I mean, everybody can point to things in their life that
they wouldn't define as being good. But you see, those who've
been called by the grace of God to rest in the Lord, they can
say God is good, even though things don't work out just like
I want them to. Yet God is good. He's worthy
to be praised, whether I like things or I don't. Sing praises
unto his name, for it is pleasant. Now, I think you can look at
this two ways. I think it means, I think it's primarily speaking
about the name of the Lord is pleasant. It is a pleasant name
to the people of God, but it is also pleasant to sing praises
unto God. Is it not? I mean, isn't that
a delightful exercise? I mean, isn't it something that
fills our heart with joy and gladness and we rejoice that
we're able to praise the Lord? I mean, think about it. We who have nothing really to
offer unto the Lord, I mean, the Lord made us. We're His sheep. I mean, we're the people that
belong to Him. We don't have anything to bring
to Him, but yet He's pleased to receive our praise. I mean,
I often think of what a privilege it is that we often don't really
get the whole gist of it, that God has given us the privilege
to praise His name. What a glorious thing, and it
is a pleasant exercise, a delightful thing for the people of God to
do. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob
unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. Now, you know,
you can't read very far in the scriptures until you come across
the subject of election. Now we often mention it, and
the reason we often mention it is because it's often in the
scriptures. It's just there. You can't escape it. You know,
even people who will balk at the doctrine that we call unconditional
election will admit that the Lord chose the nation of Israel
out of all the nations on the earth. They'll give Him that
much. But they get worried, you know. Because they're more comfortable
with men electing God than they are with God electing men. See,
men like election as long as they're the ones doing the election.
When it's all up to them and they can do what they want to
do. But you see, when you put it in the hands of God, they
don't like that. But it is in the hands of God.
even as he chose Jacob unto himself. And we know that Jacob was chosen
because the Lord was pleased to choose him, not because of
anything good in Jacob. And the Lord has chosen his people
of whom Jacob is a representative for the same reason, for not
having done any good or evil. You see, a man can't point to
something in himself that caused the Lord to choose him. The Lord
chose his people because he loved them. before the foundation of
the world. I don't know how that, you know,
some people try to go into a great long explanation of trying to
explain how the relationship of God's people to him and all
this stuff. I don't know how it began, if
it began, where it began, but I know that we are hidden in
Christ from before the foundation of the world. What a glorious
thing, united to Christ. He came into the world to redeem
His people. He didn't come hoping to find
the people. He came to redeem his people. That's what the Lord sent the
angel to tell Joseph. He said, don't hesitate to marry
this woman for she shall bring forth a child and thou shalt
call his name Jesus. For he shall save, he shall save
his people from their sins. Not he's gonna try to save them.
He shall save them. Now brethren, if he's going to
save his people, he had to have a people, did he not? And this
is the same people of whom he's speaking here. For the Lord hath
chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. Why did he choose? Because it
pleased him. See, it's His peculiar treasure. Now the world looks
at the sons of God and they say, that's just a bunch of old sinners,
reprobates. I mean, there's plenty of folks
that's better than them. And they're right. As this world
goes, there's plenty of upright, moral people that are good folks
as far as the world goes. And men can say, well, wait,
you're not including all of them. Look, the Lord chose whom He
chose. And it's His peculiar treasure.
It's His treasure. You know, I have things that
are important to me. I value them. Other people look
at it and say, I like my old car. It's just an old piece of
junk to somebody. A lot of people, it's just an
old car. But to me, you know, it's valuable. It has worth to
it. I like it. It's a peculiar treasure. So are the people of God, unto
the Lord. He has a peculiar treasure. For
I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all
gods. God is great. When I was Just a child, I was taught to
pray a prayer, God is great, God is good. Let us thank him
for our food. And that's all it was to me as
a little kid was just something to say. But now that I understand
the truth of God, I see that was absolute truth. God is great. God is good. He is that one to
be thanked. For I know that the Lord is great
and that our Lord is above all gods. Now this word here for
gods, even as it is up in verse two where it says the house of
our God, when you see the word God in the scripture, usually
it is the Hebrew word for Elohim. And which means, or Elohim, and
it's just a word for God. Now a lot of people, there's
a lot of gods in the world. The scripture even speaks of
the god of this world. It is not talking about the absolute
god, but it's talking about the god of this world system, which
is the devil. Because he is the god in the
minds of those that would serve him and those that would serve
the world and love the world in the way of the world. He is
their God in that respect, but he is not the God. And the scripture
says here that the one of whom we're to praise, the Lord is
above all gods. Scripture speaks about many gods.
He said when Joshua was leading the children of Israel into the
promised land, what did he say? He said, you know, if it be evil
for you to serve the Lord, he said, the true God, the one God,
he said, well, I tell you what, he said, look over at the Amorites
and choose their God or choose the God of the Perizzites, whichever
one you want, any of those gods, they're all the same. You know,
people say, well, we all serve the same God. They're right.
Most all men do serve the same God. They're all the same. It
might have a different name, but they're all the same because
all the gods of the world are in their control. I mean, they're gods that can't
really do anything if they don't let them. You know, I can remember, it
sticks in my mind, I remember listening to Farrell Griswold
one time when he had been in an automobile wreck or in a motorcycle
wreck and he was laid up in a wheelchair for a long period of time and
he couldn't get out and he was listening to a fellow on the
TV one morning that was preaching and the man said that his subject
of his message was going to be, God has no hands but your hands. God has no feet but your feet.
And Pharaoh said he almost come up out of the wheelchair. And
he shouted out to his wife, he's going to preach on a wheelchair,
God! I'm telling you, our God's not
in a wheelchair. He's not as he's down here that
is spoken of who they have no hands, they have no feet. You
see, when you have a God that is limited by the will of men
in any fashion, he is not the God that's spoken of in the scriptures. Now, Brother Al read about the
one we're talking about a moment ago. He said, I kill and I make
alive. He said, I do all these things. There's not anything that anybody
can do to hinder or alter the purpose and will of Almighty
God. He is God, and this is the one
that the psalmist says to praise. He is that one. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that He did in the heavens and the earth. and
the seas, and in all the deep places. He causes the vapors
to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes the lightnings
for the rain. He brings the wind out of His
treasuries. He does all those things, but
most people would agree with that, wouldn't they not? You
don't find many people that wouldn't believe that God is the one that
causes the rain to fall, the lightning. Well, people are comfortable
talking about that. Well, we need to pray for rain. Why? Because God's the one that
causes the rainfall. See, men are comfortable with
that, but they're not comfortable. They're comfortable with God
controlling the nature forces out here in the world, but they're
not comfortable with having a God who is the God of life and death.
I'm talking about spiritual life and death. They'll even talk
about, oh yeah, we all got that appointment we got to keep. Most
people know that. They know it's their appointed,
their time of their departure is appointed by God. They know
they can't escape it. Most people know that. And they're
comfortable with it in some measure. Because they know there's nothing
they can do about it. But oh, when it comes to God's sovereign
purpose in the redemption of a people in Christ, they get
upset if you don't put that into the hands of men as to the ones
who will partake of it. But it's the grace of God. Just
like the rain falls on the just and the unjust, it's the purpose
of God to cause that rain to fall. And so it is the purpose
of God to save His people. Now I'm thankful that it is.
Because brethren, if the Lord left it up to me, I'd never serve
Him. I'd never care anything about
any of this. I mean, the Bible would just
be a book to me. It wouldn't have any work at
all. But by the grace of God, in His mercy, He opens the eyes
and hearts and minds of His people to see that the truth of God
is the truth of God. And to fall down and worship
Him. I can't explain it. I don't know how it takes place.
I know not how His Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing
Jesus through the Word, creating faith in them. I don't know how
it happens. But I know that it does happen. Because He's a sovereign God.
and he calls his people. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them and they follow me. What a glorious God he is. Who smote the firstborn of Egypt,
both of man and beast. Who sent tokens and wonders into
the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants.
Who smote great nations and slew mighty kings. Now, the Lord did
these wondrous things. I thought about it, who sent
tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt. Now, Egypt's
not the children of God, are they? I mean, in general. But
you know, the Lord may, no doubt, had a remnant in Egypt other
than the nation of Israel that brought out, that the Lord calls
to see these things and perhaps to worship Him even as He had
those in Jericho, Rahab the harlot. I mean, she was the Lord's own
in the midst of this pagan city, yet the Lord had this woman that
He called by His grace. Dear brethren, And in the midst
of Egypt, the Lord does give these wonders that the people
of God might see them and rejoice. But He sent these things primarily
for the nation of Israel, did He not? I mean, He sent these
plagues and things that they might know that the Lord makes
a difference between His people and those who are not His people.
He makes a difference. And he showed it. And the difference
was the blood on the doorposts and the lintels. Because the
Lord passed over every place where that blood was applied.
And so it is today, dear brethren, wherever the blood of Christ
is seen as a covering for a man's sin. The Passover angel, even in present
time, will not let a sinner die for whom Christ poured out his
precious blood. But he'll call him by his grace.
He'll woo him with cords of, and bring him with cords of love
and draw him unto himself. And even I was watching a program
the other night about the life of Charles Spurgeon. And of course
it was a dramatized thing, but Spurgeon in his autobiography
tells about how that as a young man, about 17 years old, on a
winter day, much like the song California Dream and how the
man went into this little chapel on a cold winter's day. Well,
on a cold winter's day, he couldn't make it to his grandfather's
church, I think it was, because it was cold, snowing, and everything,
so he stopped into this little chapel. And the man was up there,
preaching and he said he wasn't really a skillful preacher but
he nonetheless, he said, he kept saying the prayer, look unto
me and be ye saved. And Spurgeon says how the Lord
took that word and applied it to his heart and he called upon
the Lord and the Lord saved him. Now, did the Lord save him right
then? No, before the foundation of
the world, the Lord chose him unto salvation, but there was
a point in time when the Lord brought him out of darkness and
into the light. And that was the time. The Lord
delivered him. The Lord showed him. Now, did
he know everything that he came to know at that point in time?
No, he didn't know much of nothing. Well, he was a smart man nonetheless.
But anyway, the Lord The Lord does, how'd I get off on that?
He sent tokens and wonders, I don't know, but anyway. He smoked great
nations and slew mighty kings. Sihon, king of Amorites, Og,
king of Bashan. Now Og, I think it was Og, he
was the one that had six toes, wasn't he? Wasn't he the one? I believe he was. Or maybe he
was, there was one of those kings that had an iron bedstead. I think it might have been him.
But anyway, he was a mighty man. He was a giant. He was a big
man. I'm pretty sure he was the one
that had six toes. in six fingers. And there are people today even
that have that anomaly, you know, not a bunch. They would probably
have—they'd have an advantage in a test, wouldn't they? I mean,
you know, in a math test they would be able to do a little
better than the one with ten, but he slew these kings, and
he doesn't. The Lord doesn't hide that. I mean, he doesn't say these
men died. He said he slew them. He killed
them. Because why? Because he's God. And he can kill somebody today,
and what can a man say about it? Not a thing in the world. You know, some men lived, I was
reading the other day about a woman that was 120 years old. But some people die when they're
one year old. And they always ask these people,
well what's your secret to long life? And if invariably it'll
be some kind of thing that they do. And all that a man can really
say is it's just the grace of God. I mean, if you're given
two years or you're given 102 years, it's all in the mercy
of God to give you whatever life he's pleased to give. He's good,
he's great, and he's to be worshiped. But he slew these kings and he
gave their land, foreign heritage, unto Israel, his people. Now,
how did he give their land? If this land belonged to them,
can you go kill somebody and then you can then give their
land to somebody else? Can you do that? No, they'll
put you in jail. But you say, God, He can kill
somebody and give somebody their land. Why? Because it belongs
to Him. It's His land. He might let a
man put his name on a deed for a period of time, but don't forget
that God owns all these things. They belong to Him. They're not
yours. They're His. For the Lord will judge His people.
He will repent Himself concerning His servants. Now that's a strange
thing, isn't it? What does that mean? He will
repent Himself concerning His servants. What I believe that
it means is that the Lord will regard, He will not destroy His people just
like The scripture speaks about the Lord repented that he had
made man. Well, the Lord doesn't repent. The scripture even says, is God
a man that he should repent? No, he doesn't repent in the
ways that men do. But the repenting of God is that
he would hold off his destruction unto his people. Why? Because
he loves them. Now, we ought to be destroyed. We ought to be destroyed. I mean,
Noah should have been destroyed. You ever heard anybody say that?
Noah should have been destroyed. Most people say, oh, well, Noah,
he was a good man, so the Lord, you know, the Lord delivered
him, because he said, well, here's Noah, you know, he's a pretty
good old guy, I'm gonna help him out. No. The Lord should
have destroyed Noah right along with the rest of them, because
he said he saw the whole world. But you know what happened? The
scripture says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The
only thing that made Noah any different than any of those people
that perished in that flood was the grace of God. The only thing. The idols of the heathen are
silver and gold, the work of men's hands. And here it is. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Neither is there any
breath in their mouths. And they that make them are like
unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them. Powerless. See, a man that will trust in
a God who has no hands or feet, or he has no, essentially what
that saying is, that he's not able to do what he wants to do.
Now Dagon was like that. He was like that before the Lord
cut his arms and legs off, wasn't he? But the Philistines didn't
know it. See, they prayed because they
thought that when you prayed unto Dagon, it was just like,
it didn't really mean anything. See, most people, when they pray,
they go to church and whatever and they pray, but they don't
really think that it's going to do any good, but it might.
And so, you know, like a good luck charm, they want to cover
all the bases, and so that's one of the bases they want to
cover. And so they'll do those things kind of thinking that
prayer is something like magic. Like rubbing the bottle of a
genie, and maybe he'll come out and do what you want him to do.
But you see, our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. And prayer is the mechanism of
God to bring men into conformity with his will. That's why the
Lord causes us to pray. It's so that we might be brought
to the place where we say, Father, not my will but thine be done.
And then, You see, then the Lord is blessing a man when he's brought
to that place. But as long as a man lifts his
fist to God and he says, God, I want you to do this, and I've
got to have this, and if I don't have this, I'm going to be mad.
Well, you know, you're going to be mad, because the Lord doesn't
make deals with people. They don't have, he said, everyone
that trusts in such gods is those that wait upon men to do something. I had the picture as I was growing
up, and I guess this is why I'm so adamant about bringing this
stuff up all the time, but when I was growing up, I was taught
that God was kind of like sitting in a rocking chair somewhere
and he was wringing his hands and he was looking down over
the banisters of heaven and looking down at the earth and he said,
oh man, I just hope that these people hear this word and believe
it. And that's how my mind pictured
the Lord. But amazingly, the Lord brought
me to a place to see that the Lord's not waiting to see what
men will do. The Lord knows what men will
do. He knows in from the beginning. Because He is the one who is
the first cause of all events. And so the Lord is in the business
of saving people. He's not in the business of hoping
to save people. Or maybe, you know, if we get
everything right. No. Everyone that trusts in a
God like that is like that. They have no power. But Paul
said, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Because
of the fact that greater is he that's in us than he that's in
the world. And we have a measure of power
in this world, not due to ourselves, but because of Christ, because
he has taught us. You see, brethren, that man that
understands that God is a sovereign God, he's head and shoulders
above the rest of the world insofar as knowing how these things are
gonna turn out and how things work in the world. And he's brought
to a place where he trusts the Lord. That is power. That is power, when a man's trusting
the Lord. And the Lord alone's the one
that gives it to him. Bless the Lord, O house of Israel.
Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron. Bless the Lord, O house of Levi. Ye that fear the Lord, bless
the Lord. From the from the top to the
bottom, if you want to put it like that. The house of Aaron,
the high priest. Bless the Lord, O house of Israel,
the people of God. Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron. Bless the Lord, O house of Levi.
The Levites were those who were not the priest, but they served
in the temple and the tabernacle. Bless the Lord, O house of Levi,
ye that fear the Lord. Bless the Lord. That encompasses
all of the people of God. Ye that fear the Lord. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord's
beginning of knowledge. And what a great blessing it
is when a man's called to fear the Lord. All men shall ultimately
fear the Lord. I mean, that's what John said. He said, who shall not fear thee,
O Lord, and glorify thy name? All men's gonna fear the Lord,
but not all men will fear him with delight. See, we fear the
Lord, and it is our delight that the God with whom we have to
do is a God of all. He's the God that takes our breath
away. He's a God who is beyond our comprehension. He's a God
who does as He pleases. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Blessed be the Lord
out of Zion. which dwelleth at Jerusalem,
praise ye the Lord. We dwell in Jerusalem, the city
of God, the blessed place where the Lord is pleased to have his
residence. And then he ends just like he
began, hallelujah. Oh, that the people of God would
praise the Lord. He's worthy, is He not? Praise becometh the upright. It's a pleasant thing, it's a
good thing. It's a thing that causes them
to be adorned with beauty. May the Lord give us such.