Let's open our Bibles together,
if you would, to Romans chapter 8. Romans, the 8th chapter. If you want to pick a task for yourself,
pick where you're going to stop, where you're going to start,
where you're going to stop in this chapter. For time's sake, I've selected
just a portion of the verses, beginning in verse 8. or verse
nine of Romans chapter eight. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you.
Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of
his. And if Christ be in you, the
body's dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of
righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we're
debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if
you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if ye through
the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons
of God. For you've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And the spirit himself,
that word itself is not properly translated. The spirit's not
an it, it's a he. The spirit himself beareth witness with
our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children and heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory but shall be revealed in
us. For the earnest expectation of
the creation, they've translated creature there, but the same
word down here is translated creation. You understand it better
reading creation. For the earnest expectation of
the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. Because
the creation itself also, shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, namely,
the redemption of our body. For we're saved by hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope, For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. We'll end our reading
there. All right, Sean. If you would, please turn to
song number 70, Holy, Holy, Holy. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee. casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling
down before thee, which word and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the
darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may
not see. Only Thou art holy, there is
none beside Thee, perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
All thy works shall praise thy name In earth and sky and sea
? Holy, holy, holy ? ? Merciful and mighty ? ? God in three persons
? ? Blessed Trinity ? Okay, and now if you would turn to song
number 216, Look to the Lamb of God. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on
Calvary. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts
and sears us in, Look to the Lamb of God. You in His strength shall over
all prevail. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary? Does the way
seem long? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill
your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your
pathway fall. Look to the Lamb of God. In joy or sorrow, Christ is all
in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Now open your Bibles to Psalm
148. Psalm 148. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye
the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise
ye him, all his angels. Praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon. Praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the
heavens. Let them praise the name of the
Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He hath also established
them forever and ever. He hath made a decree, but shall
not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth,
ye dragons and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy
wind, fulfilling his word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful
trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things
and flying fowl, kings of the earth and all people, princes
and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old
men and children. Let them praise the name of the
Lord, for his name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth
and heaven. He also exalted the horn of his
people, the praise of all his saints, even of the children
of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together. Our Father, we've gathered here
this evening with the heartfelt desire to do as the psalmist
has just instructed us, to praise the name of the Lord. To praise
the name of the Lord, Jehovah, God our Savior. And Father, we
have hearts that are full of thanksgiving. How we thank you
that you would condescend that eternal God would condescend
to become a man, to take on him flesh in order to save sinful
men and women such as we are. Father, how thankful we are.
Father, I beg of you tonight that here in the middle of the
week, as we've gathered together out from all the responsibilities
and things we have to do out there in the world, that we've
gathered together this evening to worship thee and to have a
refreshing from thy word. Father, I pray you give us a
word from thee. Don't leave us to ourselves. Don't let us just
go through the motions of religion. Feel better about ourselves because
we did something the world would call religious. But Father, speak
to us by thy word, we pray. Enable us to see the Lord Jesus
Christ. Have our hearts thrilled at one
more sight of him. Cause us to believe and rest
in him and his matchless name. Father, we have so much to praise
you for. You blessed us beyond all people.
Father, we're thankful. And Father, we pray you continue
to be with those who are in times of great difficulty, sickness,
sorrow. We thank you for the good report
we've had on some. And Father, pray you continue
to watch over your people, to bring them through these valleys
as you see fit. and cause us to rest and wait
on Thee, having some understanding that everything You do, You do
well. And Father, again, we pray Your presence would be upon us,
that You'd enable us to worship Thee in spirit and in truth.
Of course, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
pray and give thanks. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry, While on others Thou art calling, Do not
pass me by. Savior, Savior, Hear my humble
cry, While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by. Let me at a throne of mercy Find
a sweet relief Kneeling there in deep contrition Help mine
unbelief Savior, Savior Hear my humble cry While on others
Thou art calling Do not pass me by Trusting only in Thy merit I seek thy face. Heal my wounded, broken spirit. Save me by thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me. Whom have I on earth beside Thee? in heaven but Thee. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry, while on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Isn't that the the cry of all God's people.
Oh, don't pass me by. I don't want to just know people
who know the Lord, who the Lord's been merciful to. I don't want
Him to pass me by. I don't want to be found in a
pew or in a pulpit not knowing Christ. Don't pass me by. That's
outstanding. Thank you. Alright, I've titled
our message tonight, of God's elect. Maybe you noticed as we
read the psalm a little bit ago that David calls on all the different
parts of God's creation to praise the Lord. If you look in the
very last verse of the very last psalm, Psalm 150 verse 6, David
says, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise
ye the Lord. And he calls on everything that
has breath. He calls on some things that don't have breath.
in this Psalm 148, to praise the Lord. And I hope to show
you how the different parts of God's creation do praise Him.
But I also want us to see and understand and take part in this,
that the best part of praise is the praise of God's elect.
They praise Him the best. So first, David says, let all
the created heavenly beings praise the Lord. And that starts with
the angels through verse one. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye
the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise
ye him, all his angels. Praise ye him, all his hosts.
Now we don't know a lot about angels. We do know that they're
created beings. Verse five says that. Let them
praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were
created. God commanded them to praise him. He commanded, he
created them to do his bidding, to praise him. Now like I said,
we don't know a lot about angels. But we do know this from scriptures
that the angels fly about the throne of God, crying what we
sung, open the service. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. They're flying around the throne
of God with two wings. They, they fly with two, they
cover their feet and two, they cover their face, but they're
crying, holy, holy, holy. They're praising the Lord. We
know another time a host of angels appeared when Christ was born
in Beth That whole heavenly host appeared. What a choir that must
have been. Singing praises to God. Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth. Goodwill towards
men. And notice what the psalmist says here. Praise ye the Lord. Praise Him. Praise Him in the
heights. Angels don't praise yourselves
like men want to praise angels. People are fascinated by angels. They spend more time trying to
find out about angels than they do about the Messiah, don't they?
Angels don't praise yourselves like men want to praise you.
You've seen the works of the Lord, but don't just praise the
works of the Lord. You've seen the servants of the
Lord, but don't just praise the servants of the Lord. Praise
Him. Praise the Lord. Praise Him for
His character, for who He is. He's worthy of praise. And the
angels have seen that in person. We've seen it by faith, but the
angels have seen that glory in person. That's why they use two
of those wings to cover their face. They've seen his glory
in person. So they certainly should praise
the Lord, shouldn't we? Here's another reason for the angels
to praise the Lord. This is what we know from scripture. There
are fallen angels and there are elect angels. We know that about
angels. When Lucifer tried to take the throne of God, they
say that a one third of the heavenly host fell with him. They fell
into his rebellion and they were cast out of heaven with him.
And scripture says they're reserved in chains of darkness until the
judgment. And then there are elect angels.
Angels that did not fall. They did not partake in that
rebellion. Wonder why. Scripture calls them elect angels.
God chose them, did not permit them to take part in that rebellion. It was the Lord's choice that
kept them from falling and they know it. They know it. And I
don't know if any angels can still fall or not. Maybe so.
But I know this, if they don't fall, it's because of God's keeping
power. Look at verse six. He hath also
established them forever and ever. He hath made a decree which
shall not pass. And I know that applies to the
planets and the stars and the moon and the seas and things,
but also applies to these angels, this heavenly host. They won't
fall, because God's given commandment for them not to fall. He's kept
them. Can you think of a better reason
for them to praise the Lord? And then David says, let every
other heavenly body, the sun, the moon, the stars, let them
praise the Lord. Verse three. Praise ye him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,
and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the
name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He hath
also established them forever and ever. He hath made a decree
which shall not pass. Now, what applies to the angels also applies to the
sun, the moon, and the stars. God created them. He spoke and
created them. What keeps the sun hanging in
space in the middle of our universe, hanging on nothing? There's no
strings holding it up, no props holding it up. Why does it stay
there? What keeps all those planets
and the moons and the asteroids and all these things in their
appointed places? How does that all work together?
How does that thing just work like gears in a clock and it
just doesn't get any bit out of orbit, out of sync? How does
that happen? It's the Word, the decree of God. He created them
and said right there's your place and there they stay. It's the
power of God. And the planets and the stars
and the moons, they don't have a voice like the angels do. So
how can a planet, the sun, the moon, the stars, how can those
things praise the Lord? Well, the fact that they're even
there, their very existence praises the Lord. The fact that they're
there, that they exist, that praises God's creative power.
One day there was nothing in that vast expanse of space God
spoke and created all these planets and stars. There they are. Because of God's creative power.
And the fact that they stay where He put them, that praises the
power of God's Word. The fact that they keep orbiting
where they're supposed to, that just shows, you know what they're
doing? They're obeying God. His power keeps them right where
He told them to go. And those heavenly bodies, they
also praise the Lord Scripture gives them to us as pictures
of Christ and his church. The sun is given to us as a picture
of Christ, the son of righteousness. He's the center of the universe.
He goes about in his orbit, giving light and life to the earth.
The moon is given to us as a picture of the church. The moon reflects
the glory of the sun. What's the job of the church?
Reflect the glory of Christ our Savior. The stars, remember that
day God told Abraham, count them. Yeah, count them if you can.
You're up there on top of that volcano. Could you possibly count
them stars? Count them if you can. They're
a picture of that innumerable host of God's elect. So shall
thy seed be. That's how everything in the
heavens praises the Lord. The second, David tells us, let
all earthly creation praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the earth,
ye dragons in all deeps. Now that word dragons, it means
the great sea creatures, the whales and sharks and these great
fish that swim in the deep. We're, Lord willing, going to
go to the beach in the fall. And this is what Janet always
tells her family. There's no need for you to go
in the ocean. Sharks live out there. We live out here. But
that's where they live. God put them out there, didn't
He? There they are. They swim around. That's where they live.
And like the planets, those fish, the great ones and the small
ones, they praise the Lord by their very existence. They praise
God's, if I can use this term, creative genius. All those different
fish. I saw this documentary on these
fish that swim so deep. They live so deep in the ocean.
that the sun never reaches them, no photosynthesis, nothing down
there, no oxygen. They live off of poison. They live off carbon dioxide
that would kill us. Whoever created all that is a
genius. Doesn't that just praise the
wisdom and greatness of God to create such a variety of creatures?
They praise him that way. But this word dragons also means
this, a poisonous snake. poisonous snake, which in the
context, I'm sure refers to Satan, the old serpent, which beguiled
Eve with his venom. And you know, even Satan praises
the Lord. Now you'll think Satan's the
enemy of the Lord. The last thing he's going to
do is praise the Lord. Well, that's true. It's the last
thing he wants to do. But you know, Satan's failure
to accomplish his purpose, to take Christ off of the throne,
to rob Christ of some of his people, His failure in that purpose
praises the Lord. Now we would never say that the
Lord is the author of sin, but you know, the Lord willed the
fall of me. He willed it through Satan's
deception. Satan did exactly what he wanted
to do, but when he did what he wanted to do, he did what the
Lord willed for him to do. Just like those at Calvary did.
They did just exactly what they wanted to do. but when they did,
they accomplished cause eternal purpose. They did exactly what
God said before that they would do. The Lord will Lucifer to
try to take his throne and be cast out of heaven. The Lord
willed Satan to deceive Eve and the Lord will that Adam would
willingly sin. Eve was deceived. Adam wasn't
to see it. He went to see, he went to this thing with his eyes
wide open. He was a rebel. The Lord willed all that without
being the author of sin. That's right. The Lord willed
all of that to happen so that he would be praised in his redemptive
glory. See, none of the redemptive glory
of Christ could never have been made manifest unless Adam fell.
There had to be a fall before there could be redemptive glory.
There had to be that dark, dark, dark day before the redemptive
glory of Christ could be revealed. And Satan hadn't given up. You
know, he tried and failed at Calvary to get rid of the Son
of God. Satan did what he wanted to do, didn't he? I mean, he
moved men and got Judas and the chief priests and the scribes
and the Pharisees, the Roman soldiers, Pilate. He got them
all to do his bidding, and when they all did exactly what they
wanted to do, what Satan willed for them to do, he moved them
to do, you know what happened in the end of it all? Christ
won the victory. He crushed Satan's head. He redeemed
his people from their sin by his death as their substitute.
And that's how Satan, the old serpent, he praises the Lord.
It's in his failure to stop God's purpose, to stop God's purpose
of grace for his people. And like I said, Satan, he hadn't
given up. He hadn't given up. This is what he knows. If he
can steal just one, if he could just trick one, deceive one,
of God's elect, one for whom Christ died and steal them away,
he'll have the victory. He's not giving up. He's gonna
fail in that too. He's gonna fail in that too.
And in that day, when Christ comes to the Father and said,
Father, I and the children which thou hast given me, they're all
here. Satan's failure will praise the Lord. And you apply that
to every moment of darkness in human history, in every moment
of darkness in your life too. Look at verse 8. Fire and hail,
snow and vapor, stormy wind, fulfilling his word. Now fire
and hail, snow, vapor, the fog, stormy wind, all of that definitely
applies to different weather events. You see those different weather
events going on in our country. I know it's a large country,
One part of it's just flooding to death, and the other part's
in serious droughts, you know, and people say this reason, and
this is the reason, this is the reason, this is the reason. Well,
I'll tell you what the reason is. God sent it. God sent the
rain here and the drought here. That's the fact. All those things,
the different weather events, they go where they go at the
word of God, fulfilling his word, at his command. The Lord brings
every violent storm, every sunny day, every pleasant gentle rain,
whatever it is, he brings all of those things together to accomplish
his purpose. Now you and I can't see that
right now. We can't see it any better than
those at Calvary could see what God was doing. Those at Calvary,
they couldn't see the Roman soldiers and the scribes and the Pharisees. They were doing what they wanted
to do. They didn't understand. Those poor women sitting at the
feet, of the cross, sitting at the foot of the cross. They didn't
see what the Lord was doing. This is just a horrible, horrible
thing to them, watching their son, their master suffer. They
couldn't see what God was doing at Calvary until He was pleased
to show it to them. And the same thing is true of
you and me, of everything that the Lord's doing. We just, we
can't see it. We can't see what the Lord is
doing, but this is what we do know. The Lord's doing it to
accomplish His purpose. All these things are happening
at His command to fulfill His Word. But those weather events, more
importantly, they refer to the trials, the troubles, the tribulations,
the storms that God's people endure in this life. And it's
good for us to stop and think about this now and frequently. Several of God's children right
here in our congregation, many in other places, are suffering
deep, deep waters. I mean, they're suffering. And
we go through the fire, the furnace of trial. It's a fiery furnace. We're beaten down by the hail
that just falls on us. We're in a time of spiritual
winter. The cold just goes to the bone. Or we're in the vapor,
the fog. And we just can't see what way
to go. We can't see what way to turn, or we just can't see
our nose and our hand in front of our face. We just can't see.
We're tossed every which way in the violent storm of trial. You think you finally see it's
going this way. I mean, in a split second, it's going that way.
I mean, you just got no idea what's going on. When that happens
to you, and it will, take comfort in this truth. Now, it hurts. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt.
It hurts. There's no doubt about it. But
you take comfort in this truth. Somehow, even though we don't
understand it, somehow, Our Lord is working this together for
good, a greater good than you and I can imagine right now.
I promise you that's so. The plagues of Egypt must have
been very frightening to see. Very frightening. But that was
the very means that God used to bring his people out of Egypt.
The very means. We just don't know what the Lord
is doing. Well, we do know what he's doing.
We may not see the end of it, but he's working it for good,
isn't he? For good. In our times of trial, in darkness,
they're real now. The suffering is real. You just
can't call it a fiery trial unless it hurts. Our times of trial
in darkness, do you know they praise the Lord? They praise
the Lord by drawing God's people closer to Him. The rebel will
drive away. God's child driving closer to
Him. Our times of trial and darkness, praise the Lord. By teaching
us something about the Lord, we couldn't have known any other
way. They teach us to trust the Savior in a way that we couldn't
have learned to trust Him any other way. In that way, they
praise the Lord. Now look at verse nine. Mountains
and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, Beasts and all
cattle, creeping things and flying fowl. All these things are to
praise the Lord. Now the mountains are like the
planets. Janice's mother lives down in
the Smoky Mountains. I think about this every time
we go down there. I've been to the Rocky Mountains. I thought
this when I saw the Rocky Mountains. Those great mountains praise
the Lord simply by their existence. You know, you think of those
mountains. God didn't reach down and form those mountains with
his finger. He didn't take his finger and thumb, you know, kind
of pinch them together and create the mountains. He spoke. There they are. I mean, he just
spoke. He didn't have to use his finger.
How great. Those mountains tell us just
you got to get some idea of the majesty and the greatness of
the God that created these things. There they stand. Power of God. As long as this earth stands,
they're going to be there. Now they're just going to be there.
Fruit trees. Praise the Lord by giving sweet
fruit for His people to eat. Non-fruit bearing trees, like
the cedars. They praise the Lord by being
wood. Somebody can cut those things
down and use them for wood to build solid houses where people
can live. And the brute beasts of the field.
Creeping bugs that creep and birds that fly. You know, they
all praise the Lord. Those brute beasts, animals,
they praise the Lord. Scripture tells us they praise
the Lord by looking to the Lord to supply their food. I know
they gather and they hunt. Jan and I were talking about
this verse the other day when Solomon said, go to the ant, thou sluggard.
Now that ant works and works and works and works and carries
a potato chip 50 times its weight, you know, storing it away for
wintertime. But scripture tells us those animals know, that creeping
ant knows, look to the Lord to supply their food. The birds,
flying through the air, singing. People, what do they call them,
ornithologists that study birds say they're singing to draw mate
and all this. And I'll tell you what they're
doing, they're singing to praise the Lord. They're just singing his praises.
The ox, we think that ox is so mentally dull, don't we? The
ass, we think, is so stubborn. That ox and that ass, by nature,
are smarter than you and me. Men are on top of the food chain,
but that ox and that ass are smarter than us. The ax, or the
ox, it knows who his master is. It knows who his master is. And
the ass knows his master's crib a whole lot better than we know
God's our Lord and Master. And in that way, they praise
the Lord. Now here's the third thing. Let
every human being praise the Lord. Verse 11. Kings of the
earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth,
both young men and maiden, old men and children, let them praise
the name of the Lord. For his name alone is excellent.
His glory is above the earth and heavens. Now all of us, fit
somewhere in those verses. None of us are kings or princes,
but we're either old or young. We're either men or women. And
David says that everybody fits that category, and that's all
of us. Let them praise the Lord. And you just can't take it too
far. You can't praise him too high, because not only is his
praise above the earth, his praise is above the heaven too. His
name is so excellent. Now kings and Princes and judges,
David says here, should praise the Lord. And they should, shouldn't
they? They have their power. They have their authority by
the will of God. And they're usually slow to discharge
their duty to praise the Lord. They normally give themselves
all the credit for being where they're at. But I tell you, they
do praise the Lord in this way. Maybe they're like that unjust
judge. But they praise the Lord in this way. The Lord is using
to keep some sense of order in this world. There's no need for
believers to try to get into high public office, Senate or
President or anything like that. Let the potsherds of the earth
strive with the potsherds of the earth. Let the Lord raise
up a potsherd to govern this thing. That's not the believer's
job. The Lord just raises these people
up and gives them power to keep some sense of order in his world. And whether they acknowledge
it or not, that's what they're doing. Scripture calls them God's
ministers. God's ministers. And we who believe,
we praise the Lord by obeying them. Unless they tell us what
to preach now, just obey. Just be a good citizen. Now,
young men, young men and women, they should praise now the Creator,
their Creator in the day of their youth. This thing of faith, believing
Christ, knowing Christ, coming to Christ, looking to Christ,
it's a heart matter. It's a spiritual matter. But
now I'm telling you, it goes in through the head. Seek now
your creator in the days of your youth where you got a mind that's
sharp enough to seek the Lord. That's sharp enough to read the
word and have some understanding of it. You can get to the place
where you're alive, you're breathing, and you can't understand the
Word. You can't think a thought. Seek the Lord now. Seek the Lord
now. And simply by seeking the Lord
in your youth, that's praising the Lord. You know, we have some
young men and young women in this congregation who praise
the Lord. faithfully, faithfully showing
up in these services. I'm thankful, thankful for them.
That's praising the Lord. Then David talks about old men
and that includes old women too. Old men and old women should
especially be the ones praising the Lord. I want you to look
with me at Job chapter 32. I think this is very important
for us to get. I don't want to be a grouchy
old man. My family thinks it is my goal
in life to become like them two fellas on the Muppets, you know,
those two old fellas that sit up there kind of mocking everything.
But not really. I don't really. I don't want
to be a grouchy old man. I like to be an old man with
a little bit of wisdom, a little bit of wisdom and grace. Look
here at Job 32 verse one. So these three men ceased to
answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled
the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite, the kindred
of Ram. Against Job was his wrath kindled,
because he justified himself rather than God. Also against
his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they'd found
no answer, and yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited till
Job had spoken. because they were elder than
he. You can see this young man listening to these four old men
sit around and talk. He thought, I'm young. You thought
to speak last. And boy, there's a little bit
of wisdom there. You thought to speak last. He waited till
Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. And when
Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men,
then his wrath was kindled. And Elihu, the son of Berechel,
the Buzite, answered and said, I'm young, and you're very old.
Wherefore, I was afraid, and durst not show you my opinion.
I said, days should speak, and multitude of years should teach
wisdom. Now, here's this young man. He's
sitting listening to these fellas, and this is what he said. Days
should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. Older people ought to be the
ones speaking wisdom. We ought to be the ones, and
listen, not just speak it, teach wisdom. Teach wisdom. A lot of you say, that's what
I've been waiting on you fellas to do. You're supposed to know something
by now. You're supposed to be teaching me some wisdom here. Older people
should not be silent in the corner. That is a real weakness of our
society. We always make room for the younger
and push the older aside. Older people should not be silent
in the corner. Older people should talk and
should teach wisdom. And young people ought to have
the wisdom to shut up and listen. That's the way it ought to be.
And I say to us older, if you're older, have something to say. Look what Elihu says in verse
nine. Great men are not always wise. Neither do the age understand
judgment. That's not always true. Just
because you're old, you got some wisdom. Or because you're old,
you aged, you understand some judgment. That's not always true.
Well, make sure it's true about you. Make sure it's true about
you. Don't just complain about everything. You know, just don't be complaining
all the time about how this younger generation is doing this wrong
or that wrong. If they're doing it wrong, teach
them wisdom. Teach them wisdom. from the Word
of God. Teach them wisdom for your experience
with the Word of God. Teach them wisdom. Teach them
to trust Christ, who is our wisdom. When you get older, by this time,
you ought to be teachers. You ought to be teachers. Then
teach good things. Because this I can tell you,
you're going to teach something. People are watching you. And
you're going to teach something, good or bad. Teach them something
good. Set a good example. Teach the
younger to trust in the Lord. Teach them to be patient and
trust the Lord. Teach them to look to Christ
in all things. Teach them to look to Christ.
Don't just look to Christ when you can't figure everything out.
Look to Him first. Look to Him always. Teach them to be faithful. Teach them to be diligent. Teach
them to conduct themselves with grace. You men, teach young men
how to be husbands, how to love your wives as Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. You women, teach these young
women how to love your husband, how to love your children, raise
your children. You ladies know more about that than I do. Teach
them. Teach them. Teach them by word. Teach them
by example. I'm telling you, set a good example.
Teach these younger ones not to act like an immature five-year-old. That's just fine for a five-year-old. But not the rest of us. Not the
rest of us. Teach them that. And show them
that by your example. And David says here, you old
men and women, praise the Lord. And let the children praise the
Lord. Let children praise the Lord.
Now, how can a little child praise the Lord? Well, it's going to
start by somebody teaching them, isn't it? It goes back to the
old men, the old women. It starts out with them teaching their
children to praise the Lord. Teach them the Word. Teach them
the Word. Teach them those Bible lessons. Teach them those Old Testament
pictures of Christ. Teach them through the miracles
of Christ and the things that He did. Teach them those things.
Give them memory verses. Put the Word up here in their
mind. I always love watching those three, four and five year
old Sabrina's class. My kids were little and the ones
now see those little ones and they work, they work, they work
all week, you know, and they come in here and they say their
memory first. And that little three, four, five year old mouth
is just what's coming out of that mouth
is the eternal word of God. You think of that, teach them
the word, teach them to praise the Lord that way. Teach them
what faithfulness looks like. This family worships God. We
go to the worship service together. Teach them. Teach them to live
by faith. Live by the faith they claim
to believe. To act in holiness and honesty and kindness. And
here's a big one for little children. Teach them to be obedient to
authority. Now mom and dad are the authority. Teach them to
be obedient to mom and dad. Teach them to be obedient to
authority out there in the world too. Teach them this. No means
no. No doesn't mean I'm going to
count to three and then ignore it anyway. No means no. You might
save their life by telling them no. They start wandering out
in the road, you tell them no. They think they don't have to
mind you, they won't stop and get hit by a truck or something.
Teach them no means no. Teach them to mind the first
time. Teach them not to whine and complain. And that's not
being hard. That's best for that child. I'm
telling you that's best. Parents are God's authority.
in the home, and when a child learns to mind, that's praising
the Lord, recognizing God's authority. Every human being can praise
the Lord. I said all that to get here.
Here's the fourth thing. This is the best and highest form
of praise. Let all of God's elect praise
the Lord. Verse 14. Let me get back here in my text. Psalm 148, verse 14. He also exalteth the horn of
his people, the praise of all his saints, even of the children
of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord. Now this verse is talking about
God's elect. When he talks about the children
of Israel, that's God's elect nation on the earth. God chose
them, God dealt with them. He said, I chose you. Not because
you were the greatest in number, because you're the fewest. Not
because you're worth anything, because you're worth the least. God chose
that nation. He chose them to give them his
word, to give them the ceremonies and the priesthood and the types
and the pictures that pointed them to Christ. And that nation
Israel is a picture of spiritual Israel, God's elect, those that
God chose to save in his son. Now all of creation is to praise
the Lord, but nobody can praise the Lord like God's elect, nobody. The angels are told to praise
the Lord. And you think of an angel, these
mighty, created beings. I mean, they're a being that's
higher than us. They have to be so impressive.
But do you know the angels cannot praise the Lord like you who
believe? They can't, no. The angels have no redeemer.
The angels have no representative. Hebrews 2 verse 16 says, for
verily he took not on him the nature of angels, But He took
on Him the seed of Abraham. Christ took on Him the seed of
Abraham. He became a man. Not an angel.
A man. And He did that so He could be
the representative of His people. So He could establish righteousness
for them. So He could become the sacrifice for them. And the
angels are amazed. The angels desire to look into
these things. And you who believe have experienced
them. The angels can't understand it.
But you can. You can. Now praise the Lord. Can't you praise the Lord? He's
redeemed you with His precious blood. Can't you praise Him for
His electing love? The Lord chose me? The Lord saved
me? I'd have saved an angel, but
the Lord saved me. God's revealed Himself to me?
God's forgiven my sin? Praise the Lord. The angels desire
to look into that. Creation is beautiful. We saw
how it praises God's creative But your creation cannot praise
the Lord like you who believe. You have been redeemed by the
blood of Christ. That passage of Romans 8 we read
to open the surface. You know what creation is doing
right now? It's groaning. It's groaning under the weight
of sin, under the destruction that sin has put on this creation.
It's groaning, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of
God. It's waiting for those sons to be made manifest, because
when they are, God's going to make new heaven and new earth.
He's going to have a new creation wherein dwells righteousness,
no more sin, and this creation groaning, waiting for that day. Well, you who believe, you've
already got a taste of that. God's made you a new creature
already. Oh, we're groaning to get out
of this flesh, aren't we? But we've already experienced that
new creation. All people should praise the Lord. I know they
don't, but they should. But now what about you? You know
God, you believe God, you believe Christ, you believe his word.
With what you have, do you desire to praise the Lord? What's the
difference between you and those that don't? Come on, what's the
difference? The only explanation is God's
electing love. God's mercy and grace to us in
Christ Jesus. Now praising for it. Praising
for it. God's elect have been born again.
They've been given a new nature. And it's the nature of that new
man to praise the Lord. He can't do anything else but
praise the Lord. And they praise the Lord. Jehovah. God my Savior. They're thankful
for Him. But their primary praise for
the Lord is not material or spiritual blessings. It's praising the
Lord for who He is. to see Him exalted. And by God's
grace, they do. They see Christ exalted. Here
it talks about He also exalted the horn of His people. Now that
horns in Scripture have to do with power. God's people don't
praise the Lord because He's given us such great power. Here
He's talking about a person here. He says this exalted horn of
His people, the praise of all His saints. God's people aren't
praising things. They're praising a person. This
horn, the power of God, the right hand of his power, is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the praise of all God's
saints. God's elect see Christ exalted. They see him exalted as their
savior. They see him as exalted as their redeemer, their mediator.
They see him exalted as their king, their master. And they
praise the Lord. There is too many reasons to
try to list to praise the Lord, but David gives us three. I'm
going to give them to you briefly. Number one, praise the Lord. He's made you his saints. He's
made you holy. Think of that. Saint Abby. I know that makes you. What's
the difference in that Saint John? Not one blessed thing,
not one blessed thing. Christ is your holiness. You've
been made holy in Christ, and you who believe will never be
more holy than you are sitting right there in those chairs.
Even in glory, you won't be more holy than you are right now.
You'll lose this flesh, but the you that God's created is holy.
He's made you His saints. Christ is your holiness. Praise
the Lord. Can't we praise the Lord for
that? Second, praise the Lord because He's made you one of
His children. He said, even of the children, God's children
have been born into the family of God. They're natural born
children. They've been born in the new birth. And they've been
adopted into His family. His adopting love, His regenerating
love, His adopting love. They're His children. You parents,
we have some understanding of love for our children, don't
we? Is there anything that they need,
you wouldn't try to give them. If there's any danger, you wouldn't
try to save them. I mean, just anything. You leave
anything. We're just flesh. Think of our
Heavenly Father. Oh, what He's given for His children.
His love, His protection, His eye, His power is protecting
you, bringing you to Himself. He does that for His children,
for little ones. Oh, praise the Lord. And then here's the last thing.
Praise the Lord. Because He's made you near unto Him. This
people, David says, is near unto Him. The Lord came near His people. He wasn't born as an angel. He
didn't take on Him the nature of an angel. He took on Him flesh.
He took on Him our nature. And He did that so He could be
our kinsman redeemer. The kinsman redeemer had to be
near unto His people. He's got to be related to them.
Bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh. so that he's able
to be their representative. He's able to redeem them by paying
their redemption price with his precious blood. You reckon Ruth ever got over Boaz standing up
and saying, I'll redeem her? Naomi was so excited. She said,
he's a meerkat. He can be our kinsman redeemer.
Oh, how we can praise the Lord. He's made himself near unto us
to be our kinsman redeemer. The Lord comes near his people.
When the great shepherd goes out, he finds that lost sheep
and he gathers him up in his arms, carries him in his bosom.
That's being near, near to the heart of the Savior. The Lord
is near his people. When He fulfills His promise,
I'll never, no never, no never leave you nor forsake you. Oh,
the storm's gonna rage. The world's gonna forsake you.
Your flesh is gonna forsake you. He won't. He's always near. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. And the Lord is near His people by union with Him. He makes them part of His body.
He's the head and we're the body. And He dwells in the hearts of
His people Scripture calls God's people, his elect, the temple
of the living God, his dwelling place. That's pretty near, isn't
it? His dwelling place. Well, praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord that he'd do
such a thing for the lives of sinners like you and me. Praise
the Lord. Nobody can do it better than
those who've been redeemed by his blood. All right, let's bow
together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this Blessed passage of your word. How we thank you for redemption. It's in our Lord Jesus Christ
here. Unspeakable love. Mercy and grace for sinners to
make us part of your family. Children. Made near Oh Father,
how we thank you. Father, I pray for the. The grace
and the wisdom. The tongue, the opportunity for
all of us to live. Praising God our Savior. Of course,
in His precious name, we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right,
Sean. If you would, please turn to
song number 51. Praise the Savior, and stand
as we sing. Praise the Savior, ye who know
Him, You can tell how much we owe
Him. Gladly let us surrender to Him. All we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us. He for conflict fits and arms
us. Nothing moves and nothing harms
us. while we trust in Him. Trust in Him, ye saints, forever. He is faithful, changing never. Neither force nor God can sever
those He loves from Him. Keep us, Lord, O keep us, cleaving
to Thyself and still believing. Till the hour of our receiving
promise joys with thee. Then we shall be where we would
be, then we shall be what we should be. Things that are not
now nor could be soon shall be our own.