Psalm 150, and he says, Praise
ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of
His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. Praise Him with the sound of
the trumpet. Praise Him with the psalter and
harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and
dance. Praise Him with the stringed
instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the high-sounding
cymbals. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Now, of course, we've been looking
for a few weeks at these praise psalms. The word praise, I don't
know if I had mentioned this or not, but the word praise is
Hallel. And, of course, that's the word,
praise ye the Lord, or praise the Lord, is the term that we
use, hallelujah, because it's Hallel, praise to Jah, which
the word Jah is the Hebrew form of Jehovah. And that is generally
in the King James Version translated to the English with the capital
letters L-O-R-D, Lord. So Jah and Lord or Jehovah and
Lord is that which is the same. And he says, Praise ye the Lord. Now the word praise means clear. I mean, that's the literal meaning
of the word. It means clear. But it means
to vociferously and foolishly declare the praise of God. That's what the word praise means. It means to be foolish. Now we
understand that there is a foolishness in the flesh, and He is not telling
us to be foolish in the flesh. Now there is plenty of foolishness
in the world today that goes under the name of worshipping
God. I mean, you know, everybody and his brother comes up with
some new and exciting way that they say, we are going to praise
God, and most of it is foolishness in the flesh. There is a foolishness
in praise. It's foolish to the world. I
mean, the world has no desire to praise God. And so whatever
you do in praise to God, it would be foolish to them. Now, some
things are indeed, as we said, foolish, but there is a foolishness
in the praise of God, and we see that. We've used this illustration
before in David when he danced before the Lord as the Ark of
the Covenant was being brought back to Jerusalem. And his wife
looked out the window and she said, well, you're a fool. And
he said, I hope that I am. He said, let me be a fool for
Christ's sake. Paul said the same thing. We
want to be fools for Christ's sake. We want to praise Him foolishly. We want to be such a people that
when the world looks at us, they say, those people are nuts. That's
all they're interested in. I mean, the world likes a little
religion. I mean, the natural man, he likes coming to church
because it kind of lifts a load off his mind and he kind of thinks,
well, you know, I've met my requirement for the week. I may be my camp
this Sabbath or whatever. You know, he says such things
as that. That's how he thinks about it.
But he has, the natural man, considers that a man who is overtaken
with a desire to praise God, they kind of think, well, he's
kind of foolish. And he is in the eyes of the
world. But you see, that man who is
filled with a desire to praise God, he is no fool, though he
might act foolishly. And also means act clamorously. That is, you know, with a loud
noise. Praise doesn't necessarily have
to have a loud noise, but the word praise that's used here
means a loud noise. And of course as you read this
psalm and you see all the things that he says there, praising
with the sound of the trumpet, the psaltery, the harp, The stringed
instruments, the organs, the loud cymbals praising upon the
high sounding cymbals. I mean, that is a noise. And there is a shout that goes
up to God. Now, because somebody shouts
does not mean that they are praising God, but when a man is moved
by the Spirit of God, he might shout. You know, have you ever
felt like just hollering at the top of your lungs, Praise God,
from whom all blessings flow? I mean, you see, that's the movement.
Quite often I think that we in our staid ways, we kind of repress
those things. Now, I'm not saying that you
need necessarily to do that, but I'm saying at the same time,
why should we be repressed if indeed our desire is to praise
God. And so we looked at a passage
of Scripture when we were out in Batesville, and it says where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Now some people have
taken that to mean there is liberty to do whatever your flesh desires
to do. Well, that is not at all what
it is, but there is liberty in the Spirit of God. And we That's
something of what I believe Paul was saying when he said, Quench
not the Spirit, despise not prophesies. Because you see, there is oftentimes
in our flesh a kind of, we look around and we wonder whether
or not, you know, how's somebody going to think of us. Well, we
don't need to be thinking about how people are thinking of us
when we are considering praising the Lord, because He's worthy
of all praise. So it says, Praise ye the Lord.
Praise God in His sanctuary. Now, the sanctuary, that word
means holy place. Now God is in a holy place. The sanctuary of God is that
place where He dwells to which no man can approach. That is
what the Scripture says. It says He dwells in the light.
to which no man can approach. He is immortal. He is invisible.
He is the only wise God. The Scripture says that he inhabiteth
eternity. Now, eternity is only inhabited
by God. You will never inhabit eternity.
You cannot because you are a finite creature. And so you had a beginning
and you cannot inhabit eternity. You can have eternal life. by the gift of God. He does give
to men eternal life, and we shall dwell with Him unto everlasting. But you see, God alone is that
one who inhabiteth eternity. That is the place whence He is,
because He has no beginning and He has no end. Now, some might
say, well, I can't even comprehend that. Well, you're See, that's
what it means for God to be inapproachable is that you cannot comprehend
Him. If you can figure God out, then He's not God. Because you
see, God is beyond the scope of man's imagination or beyond
the scope of his understanding. The only thing we know about
God is what He has revealed to us of Himself. And He has revealed
to us. some glorious things. He has
revealed that it is His purpose to redeem sinners, and that's
a glorious thing. He has revealed to us His goodness,
and that's a glorious thing. But He says, Praise God in His
sanctuary. That is, praise Him as God. Now,
a lot of people praise God because He did something good for them.
They say, you know, something good happens, they say, Praise
God. Well, that's not what David's saying here. He didn't say, praise
God when good things happen. He said, praise God in His sanctuary. That is, praise God for being
God. Praise God because He does all things well, whether I like
it or not. Praise Him where He is, as that
one who's high and lifted up, whose train fills the temple,
that one before whom the heavens and the earth shall flee away. We were told somebody had, that
was a little more into astronomy and things, had been doing some
reading. This was a conversation we had
out in Arkansas. And they had said they came across
a, they discovered some planet somewhere that is like 10,000
times bigger than the sun. Now how they know all this stuff,
I don't know, but they've got ways, I suppose, they can measure
stuff like that. But anyway, they discovered this
planet that's 10,000 times larger than our sun. Now our sun is,
I don't know how many thousand times larger than the earth. But you pause and think about
the immensity of a planet 10,000 times bigger than the sun. And then pause and remember what
David said, what is man that thou art mindful of him? And
keep in mind that this is just one planet out of billions that
are out there. And so praise God in His sanctuary,
because you see the one who is in His sanctuary is the one who
made all this stuff here in six days. I mean, everything you
can see or think about, the Lord made in six days. And what is
man that thou art mindful of him? Praise him in his sanctuary
where he is high and lifted up. Praise him in the firmament of
his power." Now, the firmament, of course, Brother Al brought
that word to us over there in the study of Genesis. The firmament,
it literally means a plane or a space. And there is a plane
or a space where the Lord has seen fit to manifest His power. Now, we don't know other places
He may have manifested His power. We don't know because those things
that are revealed belong to men. The things that are secret belong
to God. Now, some people talk about this creation here as though
it's the only creation of God. I don't know that. Now, I don't
know that there is another one, but I know what God has revealed
to us concerning this creation. That's the only one we can be
concerned with. And this is the firmament of
His power. You see, that which He has revealed
unto men, the outworking of His power as He has set it forth
in the earth, as He has manifested His power time and time again.
And we ought to praise Him for His power. I mean, whenever A
tragic situation as we see it, let's say a tsunami comes and
destroys thousands of people. Now we're not to be callous in
considering the loss of life and the sadness that comes along
with that. But dear brethren, we're to praise
Him for the display of His power. Because there's nothing that
can transpire in the world that does not transpire according
to the ordained purpose of Almighty God. And so whether it's a tornado
that comes and sweeps through and destroys something, that's
just a little momentary thing. And it's just a small thing.
You remember when, I believe it was Elijah, it might have
been Elisha, I always get this messed up in my mind, but anyway,
one of them, I went up and the Lord came in a whirlwind and
it said that the wind was so strong that it ripped the rocks.
Now that is a strong wind there when it blows rocks apart, isn't
it? I mean when it splits rocks.
And there came a fire. It says, when the whirlwind came
and the Lord wasn't in the whirlwind, it says, and what it means by
that is that the Lord wasn't demonstrating His power in the
whirlwind, but it overwhelmed the prophet. And then a fire
came and said, just burn up everything within its place, but the Lord
wasn't in the fire. But then He spoke in a still,
small voice, and that was the Lord. Now, you see the Lord's
power is not just in all the things that we see, but the Lord's
power is in that still small voice that comes to a man who
is dead and trespasses and sins and speaks in his ear and shows
him what he is and teaches him who Christ is. Because you see,
that is the power of God. It is not the power of men. I
mean, who maketh thee to differ from another? It is the gift
of God that we should believe, that we should embrace the things
of God, that we should have the privilege to gather together
with God's people. It is the power of God. And we
are to praise Him in the firmament of His power, the display of
it, the mighty expanse of that power. Praise Him for His mighty
acts. We look at the things that God
has done down through time, and we see the ones that are recorded
for us. Now, this is kind of like, I
mean, the Bible is the thing that God would see fit to reveal
to us. But just like John said concerning
the acts of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said that, I tell you, if
we were to record everything that He did, even all the books
in all the world could not contain. the things that he did. Now if
that's what he did when he was upon the earth and he did many
mighty acts, think of the mighty acts that he has performed since
the beginning of time. Think of the mighty acts that
he performed in civilizations that never knew his name. You know, you think of all these
millions and billions of people that have lived in the earth
that never had the privilege of knowing who He is, and yet
His mighty acts have transpired even there. Praise Him for His
mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. Now, you see, that's the thing
that When we pause and consider the Lord and the mercies of His
hand, the excellent greatness of the Lord, that overwhelms
us. When we think that of all the
things that God is capable of doing, the thing that He has
shown us that He has done is come to sinners who know themselves
to be lost in sin and delivered them from it. What a good and
gracious God He is. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. I mean, the fabulous consideration
of how great He is. We look at men like George Washington
and we say, well, these were great men. No, they weren't great
men. They were men. They did some
good things, but they weren't great. Because, you see, there's
one that's great. And He is the Lord. I mean, His greatness is that
which we're concerned with and not that which is accomplished
by men who claim to be great or even who other men claim to
be great. And then He says, Praise Him
with the sound of the trumpet. Now, I'm not exactly sure that
this word that's translated trumpet here is a trumpet like we understand
it, like Al Hirt played or Phil Driscoll or somebody like that,
but it probably is a horn of some kind. And he said, praise
him with the sound of the trumpet. Then he said, praise him with
the psaltery. Now again, I'm not sure what
a psaltery is. I've got some conflicting information
as I've looked at these things as to what a psaltery was. Some
people think it was a bagpipe because the word literally means
a skin. I mean, if you just translate
the word, it means a skin. And so some people think maybe
it was a bag you know, a skin, like bagpipes, I guess, originally
were made with skin. I don't know if they still are,
but I don't know anything about that. But he said, praise him
with the psaltery. Some people say that it's like
a lyre or a lute, a stringed instrument, and harp, the psaltery
and harp. We know what a harp is, but again,
a harp can be many things. Some people call a harmonica
a harp. But normally we think of a harp
as a stringed instrument. Praise Him with the timbrel and
dance. The timbrel is probably a tambourine. And the dance, we talked about
that last week. Praise Him with the stringed
instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the high sounding
cymbals. Now what is He saying? Is He
saying we need to get an orchestra together? Now if He gives us the ability
to do that and He moves us in our doing of it to magnify His
name, that is what He is saying to do. But what He is really
saying here is Praise Him with everything that you have. Make
a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord
with gladness. Come into His presence with singing,
because He is the Lord. What would we hold back from
Him? And so we give Him such things
as we have. And as we said last week, praise
must begin in the heart. And when praise begins in the
heart, when it's moved by the Spirit of God, then those external
manifestations of it are the product of the Lord. I mean,
whatever it is that the Lord would stir us to do. Now, that
doesn't mean we can go out here and just figure out something
to do. But it means if the Lord is in the matter, then true praise
is going to come forth. And you certainly cannot say,
that a man cannot praise the Lord with these instruments of
music. It certainly can be. Now I would
say this, it probably seldom is that, because a lot of times
when somebody is playing an instrument, what they are really thinking
about is how good everybody thinks I sound playing the instrument.
That is like a preacher when he stands up, only by the grace
of God is this prevented. He is thinking, well, you know
how amazing I sound to all these people. I mean that is the way
of the flesh, is it not? the Lord is to be praised with
whatever we have. And knowing that we are sinful
people and knowing that these instruments are designed by sinful
men, yet the Lord says even with those things would I bring forth
praise unto my name. So we are tainted with sin from
head to foot. May our praise unto Him be that
which comes forth with all that we have. Basically what I believe
He is saying here is whatever your hand findeth to do, do it
with all your might unto the Lord. Whether it is playing a
trumpet or whether it is beating on a cymbal, or whether it is
playing on a guitar or playing on a harp or whatever you are
doing, playing a tambourine, playing the drums, whatever it
is, he said, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Now that covers a lot, doesn't
it? He said, let the dogs and cats
praise Him, everything that hath breath. Now he didn't say anything
about the trees, but there's a passage over in, I believe
it's in Isaiah, it might be in Jeremiah, where it says, And
the trees of the field shall clap their hands. So all the
creation is going to render praise unto the Lord. Now whether that
means they're going to literally praise Him in some outward fashion
or whether or not it's just that the creation itself, because
it is what it is, brings praise to the Lord. But He says here,
let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Now you can't
teach a dog to praise the Lord, can you? But the Lord can teach
him to praise Him. And you know, I've thought about
this before. Some dogs will howl at the moon.
And I believe that's the Lord is bringing forth praise. I mean,
he sees that moon. He doesn't know anything about
what the moon is. But the Lord moves him to praise.
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. I remember in
one of John Bunyan's books for children, He talks about how
the chicken, whenever he drinks water, he always lifts up his
eyes to heaven. And every time since I read that,
every time I see an old chicken drinking water, I think about
that because they don't have a swallowing mechanism, so they
have to hold their head back to let the water run down their
throat. But he said every time they do, they look to the heavens. and they give thanks. Now, God
ordains such things as that in His creation to manifest that
it is His creation and He can move the cows of the field to
low unto Him. He can cause the dogs to bark
and the cats to meow and all of those things, you know, because
it pleases Him that His creation He's pleased in his creation.
He said it's good. This is not an evil creation. There's evil in the world because
man has brought the curse of sin upon it. And the earth is
cursed. It's brought forth thorns and
brambles and all of those things. And the bugs come and eat the
crops and all of that. Why is that? It's because of
sin. But you see, everything that God has created, He said
it is good. And even as Al said, as he pointed
out to us there this morning, he said it is very good. The
Lord is pleased with His creation. He is pleased with all things
in His creation. There is nothing in His creation.
Even in this sense, He is pleased with the devil when it says,
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Does the devil
have breath? I don't know if angels breathe
or not, but I mean when those demons went into those swine,
I mean the swine was breathing. But I'm telling you, all those
things bring praise to the Lord, because you see the Lord has
designed all things for His own benefit, for His own purpose. The fact that He would be mindful
of us and that He would bless us, is an amazing thing because
what have we done? I mean, it's easy to think about
this when you think about an old dog out here. And you say,
well, why is the Lord even having a dog out here? I mean, what's
the purpose of an old mangy dog that walks around and he doesn't
do anything good? He turns the garbage can over
and he's just a pest. Well, what is the purpose? Turn
that around, what's the purpose of man? Because how much less
or not any more does man do in and of himself that is a glory
unto God. But yet men in their pride, they
say, well, we're better than them. Well, we are in the sense
that God created man in His own image. We are indeed in that
sense that He has been more mindful of us in the work of redemption
than He has the dogs and the cats and the angels and all of
that, but yet what have we ever brought to Him that is of any
value that He would say, well, I can't do without them? No,
the Lord doesn't need us at all, but He's blessed us. And how
much more should all creation, whatever it is, praise the Lord?
Now, like I said, you can't teach a dog to praise the Lord. You
can't teach a man to praise the Lord. You can tell him that he
should, but you can't teach him how. Because you see, only the
Lord can teach a man how to praise Him. Because only the Lord can
cause a man to praise Him. Because praise is a work of God
in the heart. And it is that which stirs within
a man that he says, I want to give glory to Him because He's
worthy of praise. Because His mercy has been shadowed
over me from the day that I first drew breath. And He has guided
my steps and marked out my path to bring me to the place where
I am. And if He does that, He will
bring me to the place that He'd have me to be. And as Job said,
though He slay me yet will I trust Him. And how can we do anything
less than praise such a One who is so great, so full of mercy
and kindness that He would create a world in which He would manifest
the glory of His grace in the saving of sinners. It's beyond
comprehension. It's not a thing we can even
imagine. Why should he do it? And yet he has. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. And then he closes this out.
And he says, Praise ye the Lord. Because you know it's one thing
when you think about, Well, these people ought to be praising God.
You know, I wish they was all praising God. Well, you can't
be worried about them. See, you can't make one man on
earth praise the Lord. But he didn't say cause these
people to praise the Lord. He didn't say make other people.
He didn't say lament the fact that some people don't praise
the Lord. He said praise ye the Lord. May the Lord be pleased
to give us such a mind and heart, fill our hearts and our minds
with rejoicing. and praise unto his name, that
we might be fools for Christ's sake, that men might see us and
say, I don't want nothing to do with them. See, you know,
in the early church, of course, people got this thing kind of
messed up there. In the early days of the church,
I believe it was right after the death of Ananias and Sapphira,
that it says, and no man doth join himself to I mean, they
were afraid. They said, we don't want nothing
to do with Him. May it be that the Lord would give us a word
of praise so much that we would be awed in the earth. Peculiar
people. He said we were. May He give
us such a mind and heart that our praise to Him might be ever
known.