Psalm 147, 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! 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. 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. Now, of course, the Psalms are
written primarily with the purpose of praising the Lord. As many of the Psalms, the word
praise appears in the Psalms more times than it does in any
other of the books of the Bible and it certainly praise is the
scripture says in one of the Psalms says praise is comely
for the upright and so it is here he said and praise is comely
now the word comely means we could substitute the word fitting
if something is becoming to someone that means that it enhances their
beauty And so that when he says here that praise is comely, that
means it's a fitting thing. It's that which causes the sons
of God to appear in their most beautiful state. Now the Scripture
says that the Lord inhabiteth the praises of his people. He dwells in the place where
he is praised. He said, where two or more of
you are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you. And so the Lord is pleased to
dwell among His people as they praise Him. There is no higher
calling. There is no greater place for
the children of God to be found than praising the Lord. I mean,
that's not a secondary thing. Now, you know, whenever something
strange has happened over the years, And that is that the concept,
when most churches come together, they kind of think about the
singing of praises as being kind of like filler. It's kind of
like it's just something that we do. It's not really important.
Well, I believe, in reality, that the singing of praises unto
God is far more important than men standing up teaching one
another things. Now, it's a good thing to teach.
It's a good thing to hear preaching and that sort of thing, but the
church does not gather primarily for the purpose of simply preaching
or teaching or listening to preaching or listening to teaching, but
the church comes together primarily for the purpose of praising the
name of God. Now, hopefully in the course
of praising the name of God there is set aside time for the preaching
and teaching of the Word because that is a measure of where we
are at in our praise unto God. Now, you cannot have true and
full praise of God if you do it in ignorance. I mean, the
heathen, they make a noise, don't they? And a lot of people, and
what has happened in our present time, again, as we have moved
away, and I'm speaking in general terms of the religious nature
of men, is that they've moved away from a biblical-based praising
of God into just praising of God in a way that seems good
to men. That is, if somebody comes up
with a catchy tune and it sounds good, then by all means, let's
just do it because we like it. Now there's nothing in the world
wrong with liking a catchy tune. That's just natural that we would.
And there's nothing wrong per se with that sort of a thought. But when we come to the place
where we believe that that is what constitutes praise unto
God, then we have missed the boat. You know, because that
is not what the praise of God is about. The praise of God first
begins in the Word of God in knowing who it is that we're
praising. And Brother Al, I mean, has set
forth very plainly this morning, the very basis of what praise
is. This world belongs to the Lord. It's His world. And He is to
be praised and He has created men for the purpose of bringing
praise unto His name. Now we believe as we see the
unfolding of the whole purpose of God in the Scripture that
He has purpose to show forth praise unto His name in the redemption
of those people whom He has loved in Christ from before the foundation
of the world. And that is the reason that He
created man was so that there might be praise brought unto
His name in that which He has manifested in the earth that
He has set forth to do. Why did He create the world?
Did He need the world? No. He created the world unto
His praise. And that is the place that God's
people are called. Praise ye the Lord. For it is
good to sing praises unto our God. Now it is good to say praises. but it is good to sing praises
unto our God. Because you see, there is a medicinal
benefit to the saints of God in the singing of praise unto
the Lord that basically doesn't come to the people of God in
any other fashion. I believe that. I mean, singing
is not a secondary manner for the people of God. It is the
primary manner in which God's people minister one to the other. Now, we don't all minister one
to the other by standing up and preaching or teaching, do we?
I mean, that would be an impossibility. In fact, the Scripture even indicates
that there's only to be three, at the most four, who stand up
and do that in any case. The mind is not set up to receive
but so much in that way. But there is no limitation upon
the praising of God in the ministry one to the other. And so it is
that I believe the singing of praises among the people of God
is as much or more important to the life of the believer and
the growth of the believer in the grace of God is the singing
of praises much so as is the preaching. Now again, if we're
singing praises to God that aren't founded in truth, then what benefit
are they? None at all. So the praises of
God, in order to be true praise, have to have a basis in truth,
do they not? I mean, the Lord Jesus said to
the woman at the well that the Father seeketh such to worship
Him as worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so it is necessary
that the Spirit and truth be present. There is a spirit of
praise. That is, there is a gladness
in praise. There is a joy in praise. That is what praise is. It is
a joyful bringing to the Lord of the thanks that we have. Now, man can give thanks in a
measure without giving praise. But the giving of thanks with
joy is praise and that is what the basis of singing is. David
said, let the high praises of God be in our mouth. Now what
is the high praises of God? That is the ultimate form of
praise which we give unto Him without fault unto our own selves. That is without fault unto what
we are. It is not concern primarily with
the with the production of it. It is not concerned with the
manner in which it is done. Now, I think that a lot of times
God's people get too caught up in the manner in which things
are done. Now, that is not our purpose is to be caught up in
the manner in which they are done, but it is to be caught
up in the substance of what is being done. And the substance
of what is being done is that God Himself be praised. Not that
we be entertained, because the entertainment value of praise
is of no use whatsoever. Our praise is to be entertaining,
if you want to use that term, unto God. I mean, we are performing
for Him, not for the sake of men, not so that men might see
it and say, oh, man, they can really do it down there. Oh,
buddy, they really know how to do it. Well, no, that's missing
the point. But the high praises of God is
that which stems from the very souls of men as they gather themselves
together and join their voices in joy unto the Lord. This is
a beautiful thing. It's good to sing praises unto
our God. It's pleasant. It is a pleasant
thing. I mean, I can't think of anything
personally more pleasant to me than being involved in singing
praises unto God. It's a glorious thing. It's food
to the soul. It meets the needs of a man. And I believe that when men make
that to be a thing that they don't pay much attention to or
they set it aside, then they are missing that, which the Scripture
plainly says. I mean, this isn't hidden somewhere. The Scripture plainly says that
it is that which God's people are to participate in. It is
good to sing praises unto our God. It is pleasant and praise
is fitting, praise is comely. It's that which is appropriate. You know, some things are not
appropriate. Acting foolish is not appropriate. Now, some people
think that the more foolish you act, the more appropriate it
is, but that's not so. But praise is always appropriate. You know, when people are praising
God, that's never inappropriate. And it doesn't matter what the
form or fashion of it is. If it's true praise to God, it's
a comely thing. However, it is set forth. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathereth together the outcasts
of Israel. Now, it is in the comely praise
of the Lord that the Lord builds up Jerusalem. There is a passage
of Scripture, I believe it is in Habakkuk, that says the joy
of the Lord is your strength. And when God's people are praising
Him and the high praises of God are in their mouth and their
whole soul and heart and mind are caught up in that pleasant
experience, then they are strengthened. And that is what he says. Here
the Lord doth build up Jerusalem. We are to build one another up
in the most holy faith. The body is strengthened by that
which every joint supplies. And we are to praise Him singing
and making melody in our heart unto the Lord. Now some have
taken that passage of Scripture and tried to use it as proof
that there never should be any sort of musical accompaniment
in the assembly. And that doesn't speak to that
at all. But what it's talking about is
that that making melody in our heart, that is the very playing
of the instrument of our soul. That is the very being, whether
you have a guitar in your hand or sitting at a piano, or you
don't have one, it doesn't matter. You see, it is that which comes
from the heart. And the Lord is pleased to cause
to come to pass, and He builds up Jerusalem through the praises
of His people. He gathers together the outcasts
of Israel. Now, Jerusalem, of course, is
considered by the Jews as being the holy city. And well, it is,
because it is often called the city of God in the Scripture.
And the Lord did make Jerusalem a special place. Now we know
that Jerusalem is not a special place geographically considered,
but spiritually considered it is a beautiful place because
it is the kingdom of God. Jerusalem is that place where
God is pleased to meet with His people. And so it is that He
builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts
of Israel. He calls His people together.
from the four corners of the earth. He didn't just scatter
us out into the world and leave us there, but He scattered His
people into the earth and He called them unto Himself. Now
why did He scatter them? Because it seemed good in His
sight. Because He would demonstrate that it is not people from a
particular region or culture or understanding that He is pleased
to call, but men of Every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue in
the earth. And out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue in the earth, he has called forth that praise
might be shown unto him. He has built up Jerusalem, and
he has called the outcasts there, the outcasts of Israel now. Now,
he didn't call all the outcasts. There were plenty of outcasts
that he didn't call. And so we need to understand
that it is the outcasts of Israel. It is those who belong to the
Lord whom He has scattered that He will call. All that the Father
giveth me, the Lord Jesus said, shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He healeth the broken
in heart and bindeth up their wounds. He heals the broken in
heart. That is, he knows exactly what
they need. Now, he is the breaker of the
heart and the healer of the heart, because until a man's heart is
broken, it cannot be healed. And the Lord said that he came
to seek and to save that which was lost. And that is the purpose
of God in the Gospel is to call out those who are lost and those
who are broken in heart, those who have known what it is to
see themselves as sinners. He heals the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. He pours in the oil and the wine
like the good Samaritan. He heals those wounds. He bindeth
them up. Now, when you bind up a wound,
that doesn't mean it's healed automatically, does it? But you
bind it up so that it might be healed. And we have wounds that
we carry with us perhaps our whole life, but He has bound
up our wounds. We're not free from wounds. We're not free from heartache.
When you smash your finger or something and you bind it up,
It still hurts, doesn't it? Sure it does. But the purpose
of binding it up is that it might be healed. And the Lord has bound
up the wounds of His people. Then He says, He telleth the
number of the stars. Now this is speaking, of course,
of the grandeur and the glory of the creation of God. He telleth
the number of stars. He's the one that determines
the number of the stars. I don't know how many there are.
Do you? I mean, all that the scientists can do is tell us
the ones they can see. But that's all they know. But
the Scripture doesn't say He tells all the stars He can see.
It says He tells all the stars. He knows all the stars. Not only
does He know them, He knows their names. Now, I don't have that
many grandchildren, but sometimes I have a hard time remembering
their names. And that's only five or six.
And so think about all the stars. I know you do. You come up to
somebody and you know you've known them for your whole life,
but you can't think of their name to save you. And you just draw a blank. God
never draws a blank. Because He knows every one of
them. Because He made every one of
them. He put them in the exact place
that He wanted them to be. He numbered them. And He called
them all by name. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite. The amazing thing, you know,
men think they discover things. But men don't really discover
anything. God just reveals something to
them. Because those discoveries that
they make are not things that they caused to come to pass. They're just things God showed
them. I mean, when Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine,
that was no big thing to the Lord, because the Lord was the
one who had the polio vaccine. The same one that made polio
is the same one that made the vaccine to cure it. I mean, he
did it because it pleased him, because his understanding is
infinite. There is no point or place in any consideration where
his understanding does not precede the things that occur. Now a
lot of people look at how things come to pass and they think of
God as up here pulling these levers and, you know, moving
this over here and turning up the volume over there and He's
doing this and He says, oh, well, we've got to go over here and
spin this plate and He's just doing all these things all the
time. No, His understanding is infinite. He doesn't need to
pull any levers or do anything else because there are no contingencies
except those which He's designed. And the outcome of all contingencies,
as far as men can see. See, we say things as contingent.
Well, this has got to happen and that's got to happen. And
surely it does. I mean, you couldn't have gotten
down here this morning if you didn't go and get in your car
and ride down here. You wouldn't have just wound
up down here. There had to be a contingency
that had to be fulfilled. You had to get in the car to
come down here, but guess what? The Lord was the one that designed
all of those contingencies, and He's the one that caused those
things to come to pass according as He saw fit because of His
understanding which is infinite. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite.
Now, you know, when men... The design of the Lord for the world,
as far as you are concerned, is as if you are the only person
in the world. Everything that ever happens
in your life, there is an orchestrated world that every event that takes
place in that world takes place in that world for your benefit. I mean, to cause you to come
to the place that you do and whatnot. That's the same for
every individual. But you see, it's the same God
who makes the world that causes that to be that way. Now, as
we go through life, We are in the world and really the only
person we think, our thoughts are our thoughts, are they not?
I mean and as we are looking at things, we see things as we
see them. I cannot see things through your eyes. I mean I can
say to you, I know how you feel, but you do not. You do not know
how somebody feels. Now you might have gone through
a similar experience and you know how you felt, but you do
not know how they feel. Why? Because everybody is an
individual. The Lord made us that way. And
as far as we are concerned, every event that takes place in the
world takes place in our world unto us. But you see, that is
not a problem for God because His understanding is infinite.
Now it would blow my mind to think if I had two people in
the world that I had to control the events, that would bring
to pass all the things in their life. You couldn't begin to do
it. You couldn't even do it for yourself,
let alone for all of the creation. But He is that One who is of
great power. His understanding is infinite.
The Lord lifteth up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Now those are two contrasting
things, are they not? He lifteth up the meek and casteth
the wicked down." The contrast between the meek and the wicked.
Now who are the meek? The Scripture says, Blessed are
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Who are the meek? They are those
that know themselves to be sinners. Who are the wicked? They are
those who have no regard to it. What men call wickedness and
what God calls wickedness are two different things. The Pharisees
looked at the publicans and said, now there is wickedness. The
Lord looked at the Pharisees and said, now there is wickedness.
You see, what men consider to be wicked and what God considers
to be wicked are two different things. And so whenever men would
look at someone else and judge whether or not they are wicked
or not, They don't have the right basis upon which to look. Because
you can be sure of this, the wicked God will cast down to
the ground even though they might appear unto men to be righteous. How often do we see people who
do great and wonderful things. They do many benevolent acts
among men. And we look at them and say,
well, you know, surely they're good people. Well, and they may
be. I don't know. You know, insofar as I don't
know what their motivation or standing or whatever, all we
can do is look at what they've done. But you can be sure of
this. that there are plenty of people
in the world today doing good deeds whom the Lord shall say
in the day of judgment, Depart from me, I never knew you, ye
that work iniquity. Why? Because they do it for the
wrong purpose. They do it to be seen of men.
They do it for the betterment of mankind. That's a noble quest,
isn't it? Nothing wrong with doing something
for the betterment of mankind as long as we understand that
it is God that made man. And in doing something for the
betterment of mankind, our ultimate purpose is to bring glory to
God. Because you see, if our only purpose is to serve men,
then that is a wicked purpose. Even though it produces good
fruit, it is still a wicked purpose. Because the only purpose that
is pleasing unto the Lord is that wherein He is worshipped.
in it. Now he is pleased with the worship
of his name. He said so. So the Lord lifteth up the meek
and casteth the wicked down to the ground, saying unto the Lord
with thanksgiving, Sing praise upon the harp unto our God. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Again, back to that business
of singing praise. The singing of praise is not
a particular style. It's not a particular type that
the Lord is pleased with. It's not in a way in which the
Lord has ordained it's got to be done this way or it's got
to be done that way. He's pleased when His name is praised. Sing
unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the heart unto
our God. What is the harp of which he's
speaking about here? I believe specifically what he's
talking about is the harp of the mouth. You see, every man
has been given a harp. Every one of us can play upon
our harp. You see these pictures of people
sitting in heaven, sitting on a cloud, you know, strumming
the harp. Well, we do have a harp, but
we don't have to wait until we get there to have it because
we've been given a harp that we might praise God in the singing
unto His name. Sing praise upon the harp unto
our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain
for the earth, and maketh grass to grow upon the mountain. He
giveth to the beast his food, to the young ravens which cry."
So the Lord makes provision for all of His creation. He doesn't make a differentiation
in that respect as far as the general consideration is concerned. But remember that this comes
right on the heels of him saying that he casteth the wicked down
to the ground. Because you see, even the provision
that the Lord makes for the wicked, and He does, He feeds them hay
just like He feeds the horses of His own stall. He gives it
to them. They are fed unto the glory of
God. They are fed unto thanksgiving
and praise and thankfulness to the Lord. The other, he simply
receives it because he thinks he deserves it. And he has no
thankfulness in his heart before the Lord. And he is merely fattened
up to his own slaughter by the same food that fed the children
of God and made them fat with praise unto the Lord. 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 doesn't need men. He has no pleasure
in what you do. You know, people say, well, we're
going to do great things for the Lord. Somebody said, attempt great things for God
or something that this was supposedly a thing, certainly would not
preach against men doing things unto the glory of God, but not
in the measure in which a man says, I'm going to do this for
God. You can't do anything for God.
You can hope that He does something for you because He doesn't need
anything. And it's impossible for you to
minister unto Him except that He minister unto you. And so
He has no pleasure in the strength of the horse. The things that
men do, the things that the creation does, is not of any benefit to
Him. He takes no pleasure in the legs
of a man. But listen to this, the Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.
Those are the ones in whom the Lord is pleased. It's those that
hope in His mercy, those that know that in themselves they
can do no good thing, that in themselves they have no good
thing, that they see within themselves sin that overwhelms them, sin
that makes them unacceptable in His sight. Now, if that's
all that we ever saw, that would be pretty depressing, wouldn't
it? I mean, that's the only thing we ever saw. But you see, He's
already spoken about what it is that He does, that He said,
He raiseth up the meek. He lifts up the meek. He lifts
up those who are in such a state as that. He has no pleasure in
the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in them that fear
Him, those that hope in His mercy. He takes delight. in the man
that calls upon his name. He heard the prayer of that publican
in the temple, did he not? And he rejected the prayer of
the Pharisee. But you see, the publican was
heard in that he feared God, that he knew what he was by nature,
and that he desired to have that which only the Lord can give
in those that hope in His mercy, not in those that are sure they'll
have it. Now there's a big difference. You can talk to a lot of folks
today and they'll tell you, Buddy, I know I'm saved. Buddy, I know
I'm one of God's children. Buddy, I know this and Buddy,
I know that and all of that kind of stuff. That's not what David
said here. He said in those that hope in
His mercy. Dear brethren, we have reason
to hope in His mercy. He has taught us the gospel. He has given us a heart and a
mind to call upon Him, and He has surely said that the man
that calls upon His name, he will in no wise cast out from
His presence. But we are yet those who are
beggars at that mercy's door. We know that if we are received
into His presence, it will only be because of His mercy. not
because of something that we have. He places pleasure in those
that hope in His mercy. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise thy God, O Zion! For He has strengthened the bars
of thy gates. Now, you know, it's a good thing
to have a strong gate. It's a good thing to have a strong
door. You know, you can have a door on your house That's a
foot thick. I mean, it can be solid oak.
But if you've got a 25-cent door lock on it, I don't care how
thick the door is, it's not going to make any difference, is it?
He said, what did he say here? He says, I strengthen the bars
of thy gate. Not just the gate, but the thing
that holds the gate shut. You see, the Lord makes the bar
of the gate strong as well as the gate itself. for those that
fear Him. He has strengthened the bars
of thy gate. He has blessed thy children within thee." The Lord
blessed the children of God in Zion. Now, I believe that this
is an allusion to an allusion, not an illusion, but an allusion
unto the gathering of the saints of God together to praise the
Lord. by that which we minister one
to the other. May the Lord show us His truth
and cause us to be filled with praise unto Him, because anything
else other than praise, it doesn't say that many good deeds are
comely to the upright, though indeed good deeds are good, but
it says praise is comely for the upright. What should be more
fitting coming out of the mouth of God's people? Boasting of
who they are or praising Him for who He is? You see, that's
the place where our boasting is to be, is in Him and Him alone.