Lessons this morning will come
from Psalm 100. 100 Psalms. This psalm's entitled A Psalm
of Praise. If you've got a margin, you'll
see it's a psalm of thanksgiving. We'll begin with verse one. And I must tell you, with the news of Brother Cody's
passing, in the weakness of this flesh, looking at this first
verse, I wondered about the appropriateness of this song. It says, make a
joyful noise unto the Lord. Our hearts are heavy. Time of
trouble, but David said, make a joyful noise. Make a joyful
noise before the Lord. He doesn't ask the question,
would you make a joyful noise? He doesn't say, do you feel like
making a joyful noise? David says, make a joyful noise. before the Lord. In good times,
in what we would call bad times, in times of joy, in times of
sorrow, make a joyful noise before the Lord. You know David. David knew something of sorrow.
David knew much of sorrow. Over in 2 Samuel 12, His son died, that child that
he had got with Bathsheba. And we read that David besought
the Lord. He prayed on behalf of his son. He fasted. He did all those things. But after seven days, that child
died. That child passed away. And it
was such that David's servants, they were afraid to even He would
tell David. They didn't want to tell him.
They didn't want to go to him and say what had happened. And
yet we read over there in that passage of Scripture that when
David found out that his son had passed away, that he arose
from the earth, he washed and anointed himself, he changed
his apparel, and then listen, listen to this. It says he came
into the house of the Lord and he worshipped him. I pray that
the Lord would enable us to do that this morning. That we would
gather into his house to gather some people and do just that. Worship, worship the Lord. In
a time of sorrow, no doubt David's heart was broken. Broken over
the death of his son. Broken over his sin. But it says he He worshiped the
Lord. Well, let's look back here and
again at our text. In verse 1, make a joyful noise
unto the Lord all ye lands. Give thanks. Give thanks. We have much to be thankful for. Give thanks for His creation.
Consider the works of His hands in creation. His work of redemption. the forgiveness of sin, give
thanks for his providence. These many things that we don't
understand. You know, at the beginning of
the week, we thought Frank was going to be going to Pennsylvania
to preach to a group of people. And yet, God in his providence
determined that Frank would be home in his bed this morning,
resting. Our brother Cody had work in Mexico. So many things,
so many things that we wonder about, we question, but we thank
God for His promise, knowing that He worketh all things, all
things after the cancel of His will. We give thanks for His
grace, His grace and His mercy to His people. We give thanks
for all His blessings and the salvation of His sheep. a joyful, give thanks unto Him. Verse 2, we read, serve the Lord
with gladness. Come before His presence with
singing. This thing of service, being
a servant, I was thinking about the, remember the prodigal son?
Remember when he had went away, used up his life in righteous
living, and says he came to himself. As he was sitting there eating
those husks left over from what the pigs had eaten, he said,
I'd be better off as a servant in my father's house. And we
know that his father received him. His father received him
with gladness. He said, bring forth the best
robe and clothing, bring some shoes and put on his feet, put
a ring on his hand and killed a fatted calf. There was a sacrifice. My son has returned home. Before he could even say to his
father to make him, serve the Lord, serve the Lord with gladness. I wonder, I wonder, when that
boy returned home, when that prodigal boy returned home, I
wonder what kind of servant he was to his father after he returned. After he had been away and again
lived in that sin and riot, what kind of servant was his father
to his father then when he received him unto himself? Consider the Lord Jesus Christ.
What has He done for His people? He's clothed us in His righteousness. Almighty God sacrificed His own
Son in our room and stand. Serve the Lord. Serve the Lord
with gladness. Hasn't He given us much, much
reason to serve Him, to be thankful? Turn over to Philippians 2. Philippians 2, beginning with
verse 5. Here we read, let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant. Made in the likeness of man and
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Our Lord himself took
upon himself the form of a servant. Serve the Lord with gladness. Oh, that we would be willing,
obedient servants. He said to the children of Israel,
You know, God had delivered them out of Egypt, He had delivered
them out of bondage, He had provided manna, He had provided the quail,
and delivered them at the Red Sea. He had provided for every
need. And yet they were thirsty for a split second, and they
were ready to stone Moses. But isn't that a picture of us? There's a pretty clear description
of us as people today. Oh, that we would serve the Lord
with gladness. One other thing on this thing
of being a servant. I kind of debated on this, but
our young ones are in here. I want you all to consider this. On this topic of serve the Lord
with gladness. You look around you. You look
around you. These people in this room, your
parents, they work. They work hard jobs. They put a lot of time in. And I promise you this. I promise
you this. When things don't go their way,
they don't curl up on the floor and throw a fit. Okay? Some of
these things that you're seeing on TV, He says, serve the Lord with
gladness. Nothing wrong with being a servant. And this thing of working and
being a servant, keep in mind we brought this upon ourselves.
That's a result of the fall. Look at Genesis 3. Look at Genesis
3. Genesis 3, beginning with verse
17. And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow thou
shalt eat of it all the days of thy life, Thorns and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till
thou return to the ground. For out of it thou wast taken,
for dust thou art, and dust thou shalt return. This again, again,
this thing of work, this thing of, it's a result of, it's a
result of the fall. God said, you're going to work.
You're going to work with sweat of your brow. And it's going
to bring forth thorns and thistles. We don't only walk around with
a smile on our face. There's a consequence of sin,
a consequence of the fall. Turn with me to one more passage
of Scripture. Look at Colossians. Colossians 3. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Look at Colossians 3 beginning with verse 17. Whatsoever you do, For deed, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it's fit
in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and
be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in
all things. For this is well pleasing unto
the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest
they be discouraged. Servants, servants. Obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh, not with eye service, not just when the
boss is watching, not as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing
God. And whatsoever you do, whatsoever you do, whatever the Lord lays
at your hand to do, you do it, you do it heartily. You do it
with all your heart, not as to men, but as to the Lord himself,
as if you were working for God himself. Serve the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness. Serve Him with a thankful heart. Back to our text here in Psalm
100. Come before Him. Come before
His presence with singing. In Colossians 3, 16, we read
this. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart. Come before
Him with sin. Come before Him with sin. Back
in the, I had read this back in the late 17th or 18th century,
there was a, Mike, you probably know about this, but there was
a, there was a debate. There was a big conflict over
when the, when the church would sing songs, if it should be Psalms
or if it should be hymns. And they come up with this compromise
that they would sing hymns. When everybody was there, they
would sing hymns to start the service, or psalms, I'm sorry,
the traditional psalms. And then at the end of the service,
they would sing hymns. And if anybody didn't like that,
they could just leave. They'd just walk out and not
have to be offended by it. But Isaac Watts wrote that song. Let those refuse to sing that
never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King may speak
their joys abroad. Come before him, come before
him with sin, give him thanks. Verse three, know ye the Lord,
he's God. Jesus Christ is God. And as God, they said, call his
name Emmanuel. Call His name Immanuel, meaning God with us,
as God. He has the right, He has the authority, He has the
power to do with us what He will. He can save me, or He can condemn
me. He's God. He's God. And there's
one thing for us to do, and that's follow His feet. Follow His feet. Remember the leper over in Luke
5? He came to our Lord. Turn over there to Luke 5, beginning
with verse 12. Chapter 5, verse 12. It came to pass when he was in
a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus
fell on his face and besought him saying, Lord, if you will,
if you will, you can make me whole. He put forth his hand
and he touched him saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately
the leprosy departed from him. I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. Lord, you have the power to save
me. You have the ability to save
me. You can save me if you will. If you will. Or you could pass
me by. The Lord, He is God. He's Almighty God. And listen,
back to our text. It's He that made us. It's He
that made us and not we ourselves. Listen to a few of these things
that He has made us. Just a few scriptures. He's made
us free. He's made us accepted in the
beloved. He's made us meet. He's made
us qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints.
He's made us kings and priests unto God. He's made us. He's made us. He's made us. Let's read on. The work, that work is His. He made us. Read it on text. It says that it's He that has
made us and not, not we ourselves. You know, I had, I'm going to
say something to you. I had absolutely nothing to do
with my birth. No, that's true about everybody.
You had absolutely nothing to do with your birth. You contributed
nothing to your birth. Well, same is true of spiritual
birth. Nothing to do with it. Contributed
nothing to do with it. He hath made us. He hath made
us. Not we, ourselves. I can't make
myself free. I can't make myself righteous
before God. I can't make myself accepted.
It's all of His grace. He has made us, and not we ourselves. We contribute nothing, nothing. It's all of Him. And David goes
on to say we are His people. We're His people, the sheep of
His pasture. Turn with me to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 12. Here we read, the Lord will not
forsake his people for his great namesake because it hath pleased
the Lord. It hath pleased the Lord to make
you, to make us his people. It pleased him to do that. He'll not forsake his people
for his great namesake because it hath pleased him to make us
his, pleased him to make us his people. He's made us His people
by choice, chosen of Christ before the foundation of the world.
He's made us His by covenant, a covenant that's ordered in
all things and sure. We're His by purchase. The church
got purchased with His own precious blood. And we're His by the power
of His grace. We're His. We're His. We're the
sheep of His pasture. Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, He knows his sheep. He gave his life for the sheep.
His sheep hear his voice. We're his. He gives his sheep,
we read he gives his sheep eternal life. Listen to this. I love this. He said this, he said, no man,
no man can pluck them out of my hand. I remember as a, I remember
as a kid, I had an uncle, and he had a grip like air, and he'd
put a quarter in his hand, and he'd say, okay, you get it out,
and it's yours. I tell you what, if I'd had a
crowbar, I couldn't have pried his hand open to get that quarter. That's the hands of a man. Our
God says this. He says, no man, no man shall
pluck them out of my hand." That's secure. That's secure. Keep these things in mind. The
Lord, He is God. He made us, not we ourselves. We're His people. The sheep of
His pasture. Look at verse 4 of our text.
Enter into His gates. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Israel wasn't allowed
to enter into the children of Israel. They couldn't go into
the Holy of Holies. But God's sheep, we're not only
to enter in, but we enter in with the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul over in Hebrews, he says
this, he says, let us therefore, not just approach, but come boldly,
boldly under the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. He says, enter in, enter
in, and be thankful. Bless His name. Bless His name. For the Lord, the Lord is good. Now this is in contrast to man. Over and over in God's Word,
we read this of man. There is none good. And in case you were wondering
about it, he says, no, not one. There's none good but the Lord.
The Lord's good. Over in Matthew, that rich young
ruler, he said, good master, what good things shall I do? Our Lord said to him, why call
us me? Good. There's one good, and that's
God. The Lord is good. He's the good
shepherd that we read about in God's word. That good Samaritan
that poured in wine and oil, he pictures our Lord. God told
Moses over in Exodus 33, he said, I'll make all my goodness to
pass before you. I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. The Lord, he is good. Consider his goodness as it's
revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our righteousness,
our sin offering, our substitute, our savior, The Lord, He is good. His mercy, His mercy is everlasting. We're all undeserving sinners.
Any goodness He shows to us is mercy. He's merciful. God chose a people and redeemed
us in Christ in that eternal covenant of mercy. He's merciful. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not concerned. His mercy, His mercy is everlasting. It's everlasting. Be thankful. Bless His name for the Lord is
good. His mercy is everlasting. And listen, His truth, His truth
endureth to all generations. His truth, His faithfulness endureth
to all generations. He's faithful to the father that
appointed him. He's faithful to the covenant
that he made with him. He's faithful to his people,
keeping him and delivering him. The Lord is good. His mercy,
everlasting, his truth, his faithfulness endureth to all generations. You know, Thursday's a national
holiday for Thanksgiving. God's people, for God's people,
every day, every day, should be a day of thanksgiving.