I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Psalm 100. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm
100 as we enter into our second week of what I have entitled
Choice Gleanings. I've told our men, I've warned
our men in our men's meeting on Saturday that when I get old
100 years from now, my prayer to God is that He would allow
me the assignment to teach for about ten years strictly out
of the book of Psalms because they are so rich. I think that
the Psalms are one of those secrets in this depository of truth we
have called the Word of God that we don't plumb as deeply as we
possibly could. However, there won't be anywhere
There won't be anywhere in the world where you can go where
the people of God worship God in truth, where the foundation
of their worship is not rooted in the Psalms. So the Psalms
are a very peculiar book. They are a category to themselves,
very much like many passages in the Bible when you do biblical
theology and you do systematic theology, you come to learn how
to deconstruct the Bible and see it in its parts and then
understand it in its integrated whole, where the Psalms are a
category to themselves. They have their own history,
they have their own genre, they have their own design and their
own purpose. And I might also say that the
Psalms are self-containing. If a man or woman had the eyes
of Christ, if God really gave you His Spirit by which you could
properly interpret Scripture, you could come to the truth of
all of God's attributes, both in terms of creation and redemption,
merely through the Psalms. The Psalms are written primarily
but not exclusively by David, the great hymnist, the great
psalmist, that king of Israel that loved God and worshiped
God and from his heart poured out many of the Psalms by which
the people of God have had Worship that was God exalting worship
that was honorable to God worship that filled the hearts of God's
people with a sense of reverence and respect due unto His holy
name and psalm 100 is one of those short five verse psalms
That allow us to focus in on and narrow our thinking down
to this one aspect of worship and that is Worshiping God from
a thankful heart. Worshiping God from a thankful
heart. The psalmist adjures the people
of God to enter into worship in verse four this way. You've
heard it. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. When you come to God in worship,
the disposition of the heart is that of thanksgiving. When
you come to God to worship Him, you are coming to God worshiping
Him because you know Him. You know who He is. You know
what He has done. You know what He has purposed.
You know what He has promised. And it means that because you
know Him, there's grounds for thanksgiving. Actually, this
is an imperative. In this unique Psalm 100 are
eight commandments. eight strict imperatives that
basically outline the way the people of the gospel are to worship
God. Now, you and I can traverse the
world and we can enter into multiple worship services all over planet
Earth and you will see worship often executed in different ways,
in different fashions, and you may feel like it's alright for
you to have a sort of designer worship service that fits your
temperament and your attitude and your characteristic. And
folks often seek for those kind of churches. You know, I like
a church where it's quiet. You know, I kind of like a church
where it's really jumping and making all kinds of noise. You
know, this is kind of a designer church thing. Well, when you
are taught of God, what you come to understand is this. You can't
worship God any way you want. And worshiping God does not have
as its ultimate criterium how you feel. If worshiping God has
as its ultimate criterium how you feel, you are a pagan. I've
taught our churches for years. Paganism is the idea that where
worship terminates is how we feel. How did that worship make
you feel? Now you are the center of attention. But if you pay careful attention
to the first line of Psalm 100, which I'm going to open up the
Psalms a little bit more for us today, it says, make a joyful
noise unto the Lord. The direction of worship is to
God. The object of our worship is
outside of ourselves. It's towards a person. What that
means is when we are worshiping the true and the living God,
we have an audience of one. This is why it is vain ultimately
for us to be so enamored with and wrapped up in numbers. For it doesn't matter if the
whole world worshiped under the same roof with you so that you
are preoccupied for the whole of the service looking to the
left and looking to the right. And as far as I could see, a
sea of people, look at all these people, is not worship if God
is not there. And it's not worship if the object
of the heart is not directed outside of itself to the audience
of one. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. All ye lands. That's an evangelical
call on the part of the church to tell everybody in the world
you ought to worship God. God ought to be worshiped by
everyone. He ought to be reverence. He
ought to be served. He ought to be praised by every
human being. Let everything that have breath.
That's what David said. What? Praise the Lord. It's interesting. Let's work through this a little
bit. When we talk about the Psalms, the Psalms are a compilation
or a division of writings from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150. They encompass
150 divisions. Are you with me? 150 divisions. And the way you understand the
Psalms is that they really are a resume. A resume that describes
a person. Psalms are a resume that describes
a person if you are looking at the Psalms carefully You'll notice
that the Psalm opens up with a man Psalm 1 verse 1 blessed
is the man that walks not in the council of the ungodly nor
stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful
and Psalms closes in Psalm 149 with the people you start with
a man and you end up with a people and The Psalms is describing
the fruitfulness of one man, the product of one man, the prodigy
of one man, the fruit of one man, the society and people of
one man. One man produced all these people
so that by the time you get to Psalm 149, God is taking pleasure
in his people who worship him because of that one man. Who
is that one man? Jesus. Psalm 1 describes a man. Psalm 2 coronates a king. The Lord has set his king upon
his holy hill of Zion. Psalm 2 describes a king. Psalm
149 describes a kingdom. By the time you finish the Psalms,
you not only have a king, but you've got a kingdom. these are
the people with the high praises of God in their mouth and a two-edged
sword in their hand executing vengeance and judgment upon the
ungodly according to that which is written when you read the
Psalms carefully what you read is a resume of a man who becomes
so fruitful so productive that at the end of his life he has
a whole kingdom under him it is these people that who now
are being called upon to worship God. Here's what I want you to
understand. When the psalm calls us to worship God, it presumes,
it assumes that we are the people of that man. It assumes that
we are the kingdom of that king. Are you guys hearing me? This
is the grounds and foundation upon it. And then we could, if
we wanted to, We could break the Psalms up into different
categories. Certainly all 150 Psalms do not describe the noble
virtue and disposition of the heart rooted in thankfulness.
Sometimes the Psalms is singing the blues. That's why I love
David. Y'all don't know the blues came
from the scriptures. Y'all just don't know. I can
get started now. David knows what it means to
go into the depths and cry out to the Lord. I am having a stormy
Monday. I am having a blues Sunday. I am toiling, oh Lord. I am depressed. I am distressed. I'm bent out
of shape. Oh my soul, why are you disquieted
in me? That's the blues, brother. That's
the blues. The Psalms know how to describe
the spectrum of human experience And here's what I will say if
you're going to understand the Psalms in a crystal centric God-glorifying
Bible based way you've got to understand that the Psalms describes
both the trials of the man and the king and the trials of his
people The Psalms describe the trials of the saints, the trials
of the man, the trials of the kingdom, the trials of the king,
but it also describes the triumph of the man, the triumph of the
king, the triumph of the kingdom, the triumph of the people. And
we are at that triumphant stage. In the latter part of the Psalms,
we are almost at what we would call the summit. 150 Psalms,
we are at Psalm 100. We are at the summit. And Psalm
100 is really a contracted psalm. It's a short, terse compilation
that actually is a crescendo of a portion of Psalms headed
towards what is called the ascent, where the people of God are worshiping
God because he is a glorious sovereign who sits on his throne
and rules the universe. Do you know, children of God,
that one of the reasons for which we worship God from our hearts
with joy and thanksgiving is because he's the one being in
the universe that don't move. He's the one being in the universe
that you can trust will be there all the time. See if you start
back in psalm 91 because this is where we hit it nine Psalms
is bringing us to psalm 100 by which by the time you get to
psalm 100 you ought to be shouting from the top of your lungs because
of a manifestation of the glory of this god psalm 91 tells us
about the man who abides under the shadow of the Almighty, hiding
in the secret place of the Most High God, trusting the God who
can keep him in the midst of all of these snares and all of
these traps and all of these djinns and all of these difficulties. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High God. You know you're good when you
have found the hiding place. You're good when you have found
the hiding place and then in Psalm 91 just ride with me I'm
just gonna give you the opening verses in Psalm 91 after the
brother has talked about how good it is to find the hiding
place in Psalm 92 we read in verse 1 now watch this it is
a Good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Isn't that what it
says? I and to sing praises unto your name, oh most high God,
to show forth your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness
every night. Now watch how David goes, here
it is, upon an instrument of 10 strings. Now you think we
something with six string guitars, David had 10 strings. Upon an
instrument of 10 strings, upon the psaltery, upon the harp,
with a solemn sound, for thou Lord, watch this, hath made me
glad through your word, I will triumph in the words of your
hand Psalm 93 verse 1 the Lord what the Lord reigns He is clothed
with majesty The Lord is clothed with strength wherewith he had
girded himself the world is established that it cannot move Psalm 94
verse 1 Oh Lord God to whom vengeance belongs. Oh God to whom vengeance
belongs. What is the psalmist saying?
I am not going to defend myself. I'm not going to take vengeance
for myself. I've got a God who sits on the
throne and he judges right. He'll take care of this matter.
My job is to wait on God. I'm going to keep my eyes on
God while he avenges me of my enemies. This is another form
of trust, another form of faith. another form of resting on God.
Even when the world is falling apart, when every man is against
his neighbor, I have set my eyes on the Lord, therefore my heart
will not be moved. I will wait on God to take vengeance
against my enemies. Why? Because God would have us,
listen, he would have you and I not to be distracted by the
topsy-turvy changes of life. See, the people of God are the
people who are fixed on that which is unmovable. The psalmist
is saying in Psalm 93, the Lord reigns, he's clothed in majesty. 94.1, he will avenge me of my
enemies. Now, I want you to hear this
last line. This is going to be a key as we go into Psalm 100.
I'm going to trust you to take care of my enemies, because vengeance
belongs to you. But God, I need you to do one
thing. Are you ready? Show yourself.
Show up, God. Reveal yourself. Manifest yourself. Declare your glory. Act. Oh, Lord. Do you ever feel that
way sometimes? Because you know, this pagan
world will constantly test us with the question, where is your
God? Where is your God? Won't they do that? Where is
your God? These policies that they're writing up and placing
on the job to scare Christians off. You know what they're saying?
Where is your God? This is what you answer. He's
on his throne. He's where he has always been. And in fact,
no one has ever in the universe at any time, eternity past or
eternity future occupied this throne. This is the throne of
God. He's ruling over all things good, bad and ugly. And in fact,
you may not know it, but he rules over you too. Where is your God?
He's right where he always has been. What's that? In full control. God's on his
throne. But now it takes faith to believe
that. Because sometimes in secret Christians go, okay, God, where
you at? Now, you know, Lord, I didn't told him you're on your
throne, but I don't quite see you. That's why David is saying, Lord,
show yourself, show yourself to a brother, show up. But then
after he gives the plea of his human weakness, he realizes that
he can trust God. And you know what he does? He
calls the saints again. worship. Psalm ninety-five verse
one. Oh come let us sing unto the lord. Let us make a joyful
noise to the rock of our salvation. Do you see it? Psalm ninety-six.
Oh sing unto the lord a new song. Sing unto the lord all the earth. Psalm ninety-seven. The lord
reigns. He's standing again. The lord's
on his throne. He's running the universe. Let
the earth rejoice. Why do we rejoice? Because the
lord reigns. Look at Psalm 98 verse one. Oh,
sing unto the Lord a new song for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand, his holy arm
has gotten him the what? That's why when we get to Psalm
100 after Psalm 99 verse one, the Lord reigneth, let the people
tremble. He sits between the cherub, let the earth be moved.
I'll talk about that in a moment. When the psalmist calls us to
make a joyful noise, Unto the Lord he is declaring to us to
respond in what is the only appropriate way When you have come to know
God in his power See, let me define thankfulness again as
we go on thankfulness is that studied response of the soul
It's a studied response. It's not simply a capitulation.
It's not simply us just out of sort of an extemporaneous moment
saying, thank you, Jesus. Now, we do say that, but it is
from a studied place of recognizing that we know God. God has revealed
himself to us. He's made himself known. And
that revelation is glorious to me. More than that, it is a studied
response to this reality that God has manifested himself to
us in the person of Jesus Christ. And the work of Jesus Christ
has secured my soul for all eternity. I, therefore, can thank God no
matter what goes down in my life. Because this is what I know.
He loved me enough to give his son for me. His son died for
me. His son atoned for my sin. His
son redeemed me from hell. His son secured me for glory.
There's nothing that can happen to me eternally because God has
secured that. Here's the last reason for which
you and I ought to be thankful. Exercising a steady response
of gratitude, of thankfulness, of awe, of humility, of praise,
of adoration, of reverence, of respect, of honor, of exaltation
to God. Are you ready? Because God has
promised to take care of us. You know what that means? When
the God who can't lie, change, or fail promises to take care
of you, you ain't got nothing to do but be thankful all your
days. Are you hearing me? So thankfulness
is rooted in, hear me now, a knowledge of God. You cannot be thankful
for what you do not know. You cannot be thankful for who
you do not know. You can only be thankful for
what you are secure in your understanding is to be the real case of the
situation. This is why Job could say, even
though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I know my Redeemer liveth
and he shall stand on the last days. I know that in my body
I shall see the Lord, even though worms eat this flesh. I know
the God that has revealed himself to me, he knows the way I'm going.
And when he has done testing me, I'm coming forth as gold.
Job could say that in the midst of his trials because God has
promised him. Now I'll tell you something,
Job is something else, isn't he? See, that's thankfulness
welling up from God revealing his gospel to Job and letting
Job know he has eternal life. He is eternally secure, even
though all hell is breaking out around him. Are you guys hearing
me? Thankfulness, therefore, when it's manifest in the context
of giving, because the word is thanksgiving, when we are giving
thanks, we are expressing this attitude of our heart that is
based upon a knowledge of God. When we are rendering thanks
or expressing thanks, we are saying, Lord, I am so glad you
have revealed your glory to me. Let's work through these four,
these five verses just to capture an essence of what the psalmist
is saying. He says in verse one, make a
joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lads. You guys see that?
That's an imperative. Make a joyful what? a joyful noise. So then David, tell me, how do
we do it and why do we do it and what's the purpose for which
we are to make a joyful noise? Now the word joyful derives from
the concept of thankfulness. When a person is filled with
joy, they are basically filled with gratitude. So the character
of the noise that we are to make is rooted in joy, all right?
Because you can make a noise and be mad. You can make a noise and be insane. But when you are a child of God
and you are actually worshiping God in the context of worship,
what pleases and honors the King is the noise that comes from
the joy of the Lord that floods the soul. It's going to actually
shape and characterize our noise. In other words, our noise is
going to have a certain tone to it. It's going to have a certain
character to it. that when other people hear the
what? Noise. They're going to say,
oh, those people are making a what? Joyful noise. Some noise is nothing
but cacophony. Chaos. And it hurts the ears. Other noise is intelligible. It's rational. And it's actually
evangelical. And that's what this is. The
noise that proceeds from the people of God is rooted in the
presence of the kingdom of God that's in their heart. Now remember,
the kingdom of God is what? Righteousness, peace, and what? Joy in the Holy Ghost. So when the world hears the people
of God sing and praise and exalt their Savior, what they hear
is joy. Now the word noise, It means
noise. Just in case we got some of our
quiet brothers whose decibels don't rise any higher than that.
I've had people that I've known for years who, in their soul,
they exalted in God like I don't know what. But outwardly, in
their flesh, this is how they look. I thought something was
wrong. They said, no, pastor, we are
really rejoicing. It's just on the inside. I would
go, OK. I'm glad you told me. But now
watch this. Now watch this now. Watch this
now. That's cool. But I am so glad that God said
make a joyful noise because some of us are just loud by nature.
Your pastor is loud by nature. My kids are loud by nature. I
didn't have one child that wasn't loud. Fortunately, they all know
how to sing. So our house is often filled
with joyful noise. So they never bothered me because
I've told you, even when our kids were very little, they would
stay up till 11, 12, one o'clock at night and they'd be singing
the hymns. And it was a joyful noise to
a brother. Are you hearing me? A joyful
noise, but it's a noise. And I want you to understand
why it's a noise. because the people of God are not some mystical
institution hiding under a rock somewhere, kind of just trembling
and waiting for their savior to come. The people of God are
a kingdom. They are a kingdom. And wherever
there is a kingdom, there is a king. And when the king shows
up, the people shout for joy because of the presence of the
king. Psalm 100 is a contracted Psalm
that can be more understood in Psalm 95. Go back to Psalm 95
so you can see this. In Psalm 95, you will see in
the first seven verses the essence of Psalm 100. Psalm 95 will also
fill in and augment and explain why we are called upon to make
a joyful noise, verses one through seven. And notice what is inserted. What is the foundation or reason
for which we do it? Oh, come let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us make a joyful noise. Now here's the expanded version,
to the rock of our salvation. To the rock of our salvation.
Remember I told you God is immovable? I told you he's steadfast. I
told you he doesn't change. The metaphor is that of a what?
A rock. Now when we have a rock of salvation,
there's every reason then to rejoice, isn't it? Now he says
make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation. Let us
come before his presence with what? There it is again. And
make a joyful noise unto him with what? Psalms. Psalms. Psalm 1 through Psalm
150 is what David taught all of the Hebrew people who were
part of the priesthood and part of the music ministry to sing
unto the Lord. Now, do you know what a psalm
is? A psalm, not a poem, a psalm is biblical theology. put in the context of music so
that if you really were to look behind each hymn, each psalm,
Psalm 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, you would actually have scores, you would
have measures. and you would have staffs and
you would have temples, you'd have meters, you'd have everything
that we have in theology, music theology class. You would have
that behind each one of these Psalms because they were to be
sung unto God. Are you hearing me? A Psalm is
biblical theology that rightly represents God and the people
of God in relationship. And it is a response to who God
is, every Psalm. And David says, we are to sing
unto the Lord a joyful noise with psalm. Here's the reason
why. For the Lord is a great God and a what? Great king above all gods. In his hands are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
his. The sea is his. He made it and his hands have
formed it. Now, here are the two verses that tie us together,
tied together where we are in Psalm 100. Oh, come, let us worship
and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord
our maker for he is our what and we are the people of his
pasture the sheep of his head See it the reason for which we
are to worship God Saints go back to psalm 100 because I want
to unpack this is because God is present among his people as
king And all long ago in the days of the Israelite people
kingdoms lauded their king. They honored their king. They
exalted their king. It is for this reason as I am
talking to you and I this year about thankfulness, I have been
trying to explain to us over the several weeks that thankfulness
cannot actually be something that you manifest where you are
ignorant of the presence of the invisible king. When you and
I are bereft of a vision this king who is high and lifted up
you remember how Isaiah put it in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 in
the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and lifted
up sitting on his throne in glory and his train filled the universe
Isaiah had a vision of the glory of the invisible King And until
you see God in His glory, worshiping God with all your heart makes
no sense. It makes no sense. But where
the people of God are sure that the King is present, what they
know is the only appropriate way to worship God is from a
heart filled with thanksgiving. And it's going to come out and
a joyful noise. Is it not? The term noise, don't
let it bother you. God means for the world to know
he is present. Do you get that? God means for
the world to know he is present. And if the world doesn't know
he is present anywhere else, they'll know he's present in
the church. When they walk by, they should know he's present
in the church. When they drive by and their window is down,
they ought to hear the joyful noise in the midst of the church. It ought to drive them and compel
them to wonder who it is that these people are lauding, honoring,
praising, exalting. The character of thanksgiving
manifested in a joyful noise coming from the collective body
of Christ is a evangelical tool that God uses to call attention
to the people that are on the outside of the kingdom. Those
people are in there worshiping, watch it now, someone. It's an
evangelical device. You need to know that. It's an
evangelical device. In fact, it's not something that
is confined to the Old Testament either. I know a lot of times
what we will do, depending on our faith traditions, is we will
divide the Old Testament from the New Testament and basically
worship in a really radically different format in the New Testament
than in the Old Testament. I would advise you never to do
that. Understanding biblical theology in a God-centered way
means that from Genesis to Revelation, the whole Bible is the Word of
God. Not one precept can be broken. Nothing in the Scripture is inferior
to the other. It is all a cohesive, linear
revelation of the glory of God that has its ultimate manifestation
in Jesus Christ. In fact, the people that are
talking in the Psalms about the King who is present, that King
is Jesus. As he was present in those days,
in the Shekinah glory, as we saw in Psalm 99, Psalm 97, the
Lord is in his holy temple. He dwells between the cherub.
So our king today dwells between the cherub. He dwells in the
holy place. He dwells in the holy of holies.
Do you know where that is? It's in my heart. It's not this
building. Come on now, when I leave, God
leaves. You missed that. When I leave,
God leaves. Listen, if when we leave, all
six, 700 of us leave and you drive by and the building is
empty and you hear noise and praise and worship, them is either
angels or devils, okay? And the point is this, What was
done in the Old Testament was typical of the reality that would
be manifested in the New Testament. And you and I are the temple
of the living God. You better get a hold of that.
That is a profound indicative. Do you understand what that means?
That means when the scripture says, make a joyful noise unto
the Lord, it's talking to me, the temple of the living God.
the dwelling place of the Most High God, the citadel of the
King. He reigns in my heart. And guess
what? He's given me a gate and a door
by which the world can know He's present. Do you know what it
is? It's my heart and my mouth. Lift up your heads, all ye everlasting
doors, and let the King of glory come in. Let the King of glory
come in and let everybody know the King of glory is in the house. In fact, I like it like this.
The word noise, when you bring it over to the New Testament,
what was wonderful about what we call the gospel, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, is that when John the Baptist and Jesus
showed up on the scene, Noise began to emerge everywhere. Look
the word up. It was noise that John the Baptist
was conceived in the womb of his mama. It was noise abroad
that Zachariah and Elizabeth are having a son. And it was
noise abroad that when he was born and he grew up, he a little
eccentric now, you know, John was a little bit weird. But it
was noise the broad that this man was full of power and the
Holy Ghost and everybody was coming to him from Jerusalem
and Judea Everywhere noise the broad guess what it says concerning
Jesus. I love this is in the gospel
of Mark Jesus shows up after John baptizes him sends him into
ministry Mark chapter 2 says and it was noise the broad that
Jesus was in the house and From that point on, everywhere he
went, it was noise abroad. It was noise abroad that he was
opening the eyes of the blind. It was noise abroad that he was
healing the sick. It was noise abroad that he was
raising the dead. It was noise abroad that he was
preaching the gospel, explaining the scriptures, rebuking the
leaders, protecting the sheep. It was noise abroad that Jesus,
the King of glory, was present. Do you think it stopped right
there? When Jesus Ascended on high he told his disciples you
Terry in Jerusalem, and I'm gonna make some more noise Because
I'm going to send the third person the Holy Ghost and he gonna make
some more noise And we read in Acts chapter 1 and it was noise
abroad That the upper room was the place where the church was
burned and from that point to today When you read the last
verse of Psalm 100 God has been faithful. from generation to
generation to generation to generation, even to right now, to his word. Hasn't he been faithful? God
has been faithful to his word. God has kept his word, hasn't
he? God has always had a people to testify to his glory, even
to this moment. Oh, may we be the people of God
who testify to his glory. Make a joyful noise, all ye lands. And notice what verse two says,
serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with
what so we got two things going on here. One is attitude Attitude
has to do with the gladness told you that's a trial because some
folk love to live in the dungeon Some folks love to live out in
the garage with the cobwebs and the spiders some folks love dwelling
in the caves For some people being in the realm of dooming.
I'm telling you the truth I'm telling you listen to me Some
folk are far more comfortable in isolation, in darkness, in
caves than they are in the light and walking in a fashion in which
it depicts that God has delivered you. And that for you is your
own defrauding. when you and I have experienced
so glorious a salvation and have been met by a God of grace. In fact, the Bible calls him
the God of all grace. And he has delivered you with
so great a salvation. There's no reason for you to
be always living in the cave. See, to live in the cave is to
deny his glory. Can I help you? The first word
in line two is serve. Serve. This is where lazy folk
get in trouble. Serve. That's one of the verses
right there. One of those words in the scripture
that give folks the hives and the heebie-jeebies. Serve. You
want to be saved, but you don't want to serve. Can I share something
with you? When you come to know the God
of glory, everyone who meets the God of glory becomes his
servant. His servant. And they are glad
to be so. I'm so thankful I'm God's servant,
aren't you? Listen, I don't care what you
say, you serving somebody. Either you're serving the devil
or the king of glory. You may call yourself serving
yourself, but if you're serving yourself, you're still serving
sin. And here's the reason why he says, serve the Lord with
gladness. Are you ready? I'm going to give
you three reasons why. First, we have become subjects of the
king. The reason why I serve him with
gladness is because now I am a subject of the king. The king
is glorious. He is worthy to be praised and
all of his subjects are to adore him. We sang it last month. Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him. Christ, the newborn king. We
just be talking though, don't we? We just be talking. But when
we are subjects of the kingdom, our job is to adorn the glory
of the king. It ought to give your heart great
contentment, great satisfaction to know the king has come and
got you. Subjects of the king. Here's
also what we are. You ready? Slaves. That's what
the word really means. But see, in this politically
correct age in which we live, slavery is a bad taste in people's
mouths. Don't use the word slave. Why
not? You're a slave. Can I help you understand something
if you don't already know? If you're a child of the living
God, you've been born of God. If you're part of the kingdom
of God, God has redeemed you. You're a slave of the Redeemer.
The Holy One of Israel bought you, lock, stock and barrel.
He paid for you. Are you hearing me? You're a
slave of the Redeemer. He liberated you out of the house
of bondage, out of slavery to sin. He freed you. He paid a
ransom for you. He liberated you. How are you
going to not call Him a glorious Redeemer? I'm the slave of a
liberator. How are you? That's what the
Bible tells us in Romans chapter 6. When you were the slaves of
sin, you were free from righteousness. You didn't know God and your
life was full of evil and the end thereof was death. But thanks
be to God who delivered you out of that bondage and made you
a slave of righteousness by which now you bring forth fruit unto
holiness which glorifies God. Isn't that something to be thankful
for? to be a slave of the Redeemer. I'm a subject of the King. I'm
a slave of the Redeemer. I don't mind walking around letting
people know I'm a slave. You know how the Bible does it?
It puts it this way in the book of Revelation. In Revelation
7 and in Revelation 14, there's a tattoo. You know how y'all
like putting tattoos all over your body? God puts a tattoo. This is gonna get some teenagers
in trouble. Mom, I'm sorry. God puts a tattoo on all of his
slaves. You know where he puts it? On
our forehead. on our foreheads. You know what
it's called? The seal of the living God. You know what it
represents? The presence and power and preservation of the
Holy Ghost. When God bought us by His blood,
redeemed us out of hell, He sealed us with the Spirit so that no
one could mess with His product. No one could mess with that which
God purchased. No one could touch, listen now,
the product of the King. Now he stuck it on our forehead
so we wouldn't walk around like secret Christians pretending
that we're not on. See, when a slave master bought
a slave, he would tattoo him, brand him, on his butt, on his
foot, on his back, if he wanted to be sort of careful about his
emotions. But if he didn't care about him,
he would brand him on his neck. He would brand him in the back
of his head. He would brand him on his arm anywhere that he could
be visibly known to be owned by that slave master. God brands
us in our forehead so that the world can know we are slaves
of God. And because the forehead represents the mind. See, when
God saved us, made us subjects of the King, when He redeemed
us, made us slaves of the Redeemer, He also redeemed our mind. He
redeemed our heart. He redeemed our thinking so that
we think God's thoughts after Him. We have the mind of Christ. It's a public notice. I am owned
by God. Not only am I a subject of the
King, not only am I a slave of the Redeemer, I am a servant
of the living God in the context of worship. I am a priest of
the highest order. God has made you and I kings
and priests. This is where we are in the context
of worship right now. Slaves of the king, kings and
priests of God. We are also sheep. Isn't that
what he says? Listen to Psalm 100 again over
in verse three. Know ye that the Lord, he is
what? It is he that hath made us, and
not we ourselves, we are his people and the sheep of his pastor. Do you see that? Now see, again,
this is one of those terms where proud and learned and accomplished
people don't quite like. This is a derogatory term, to
be a sheep. But I'm here to tell you, if
you live five minutes outside of Christ, you are dumber than
a sheep. You are dumber than a sheep.
A sheep got more sense than you if you live five minutes outside
of the protection, of the provision, of the salvation, of the security
of this great king. If you live in your own stupid,
idiotic ways, and we all have, have we not? Trying to traverse
this world, live in this world, do this life without a shepherd,
you are dumber than a sheep. But I'll tell you why. When God
owns you as his sheep, you have every reason to rejoice. Am I
telling the truth? The Lord is my shepherd. I won't want for anything. And
in fact, I can rejoice in everything because I know he's going to
lead me to living waters. I know he's going to protect
me. I know he's going to provide for me. I know he's going to
bring me through. I don't have to worry because he's always
with me. My shepherd is a good shepherd.
Is he a good shepherd? He's a great shepherd, isn't
he? He's a cheap shepherd. In fact, he laid down his life
for this dumb sheep to bring me out of hell and take me to
glory. How good is he? He placed me
on his shoulders and he's carrying me all the way. Do you feel that
way, you dumb sheep? Do you feel like God's carrying
you? Now watch this. You know that you try to wiggle
and get off his shoulders from time to time. You try to tell
God, you know what? My leg ain't broke no more. I
learned my lesson because what he does is he breaks your leg
and binds you up, sticks you on his shoulder because the journey
is long. The journey is long. And then
after about a year or two after we made that real dumb mistake,
we try to talk to the master and say, master, you know, I
think I can do this one now. Would you let me down? And in his goodness,
he don't let you down. Because if he lets you down,
you'd run off again with your dumb self. Am I telling the truth?
You'd run off again. You'd run off again. get run
off again because we are dumb by nature dumb sheep all we like
sheep have gone astray we've turned to our own way if it wasn't
for the lord who was on our side and picked us up and put us on
his shoulders again listen to me this is the reason why worship
must be adorned with thanksgiving And Thanksgiving is rooted in
a knowledge of this glorious God. A knowledge of this glorious
God. It's absolutely crucial. And
I want you to grasp this now. Grasp it. The attitude, the attitude
is gladness. The audible, the audible, the
vocal is singing. Enter into his gates with gladness. Sing unto the Lord with a joyful
noise. Turn in your Bible to Colossians
chapter 3. Let's look at what the hymnist said over in Colossians
chapter 3. I just want you to get this before we wrap this
up. And what I'm getting at, children of God, is this. That
thanksgiving is not simply a pattern of expression in the context
of some circles of worship by which it's just a predilection
because that's the kind of people we are. They're just happy people.
That's the reason why they sing like that. No, thanksgiving is
rooted. In a full and comprehensive knowledge
of who God is. We thank God. For all of his
mercy and his goodness and grace to us, and listen to what David,
I'm sorry, Paul says in Colossians 3, 14 through 16. Are you there?
Let me start at verse 12. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God. Holy and beloved vows of mercy
kindness humbleness of mind meekness and long-suffering forgiving
one another Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if
any man of a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you
Also, do ye do you see the ethic in the Church of God? Do you
see the ethic? Get this husbands and wives brothers
and sisters sons and daughters friends and relatives the ethic
in the Church of God is patience and forgiveness because God was
patient with you and because God forgave you and the heart
of the gospel is forgiveness that's the heart of the gospel
how on earth am I going to walk around holding grudges against
people who when i have been liberated from the one who has forgiven
me all my sins all my iniquities all my transgressions you know
what david said in one psalm 107 we are to bless the lord
and give thanks unto the lord for all of his benefits towards
us one of which is he forgives all our iniquities now if we're
children of the king and the king forgives, ought we not to
forgive? Now watch this now. This is going
to liberate you. Forgiveness is going to liberate
you. I wrote this in an article a couple of weeks ago. The reason
why we forgive, are you ready? The reason we forgive is because
relationship is important to us. Did you guys read that? Oh, no, y'all didn't read. Y'all
don't even read the bulletin. I wrote five reasons for which we ought
to forgive because forgiveness underscores the importance relationship. Do you understand where you would
be right now if God didn't forgive you? You'd be in hell. Do you
understand that? The reason God forgave us in
Christ before the world began and secured it at Calvary 2,000
years ago and penetrated our heart with the reality of his
love when he saved us through the gospel is because for God
relationship is important. When he saw me in eternity past,
living the hell that I live, he said, I better forgive that
boy if I want to have a relationship with him, because otherwise I
got to send him to hell. Forgiveness underscores the value
of relationship. Sometimes, this ain't even part
of my message, but I guess I got to go here. Sometimes people
we care about hurt us bad. BAM! And the only thing you can
do is let them go. Because they're too dumb to know
how valuable you are. You're something else. You are
special. How on earth are they going to
treat me this way? Don't they know that I'm special? Well, you are. I'm just simply
saying, you've got to forgive them because there's no other
option. Now, if they keep acting a fool,
keep your distance. You don't let a fool hurt you
now, but you forgive because you value the relationship. I
also taught that in that forgiveness component, there's four categories.
What forgiveness does is it gives opportunity for people to think
through the error of their ways. See, listen, when we're forgiving
people, we're not saying to people, you're right. No, we're just
saying you're so stupid, you don't know you're wrong. Can I be pastoral today? See,
sometimes you got to forgive people because they're so dense
in the head that they don't even know they're wrong. I'm telling
you the truth. So, so you forgive them because
it takes a revelation from God for people to understand how
offensive and how rebellious and how disobedient and how hurtful
they can be. Am I telling the truth? So you
got to forgive them. You go on about your life and
you wait and one day they come knocking on the door. Hey, sis.
Hey, bro. I'm so glad that you was patient with me. Because
you know what? I have finally come to myself.
Oh, prodigal. Have you? Have you, prodigal? See, the father forgave him even
before he left because he knew he had to make full circle. And
sometimes people have to make full circle. And in the house
of God, you've got to understand that people get offended just
because it's cold. And then an offense takes place
between two people and there is there's the rift for days
and weeks and months And sometimes years don't tell me we're not
stupid. We are stupid We hurt relationships because we're cold
because we got an attitude problem and it goes on at length ad nauseum
And the only remedy is forgiveness if god's wisdom is to forgive
us in order to have a relationship with us We actually have to do
the same thing and mean it and mean it listen to what he says
in verse fourteen and above all these things put on charity which
is the bond of perfection watch this and let the peace of God
rule in your heart to the which you are also called in one body,
in what? Be ye thankful. Do you see what
Paul said? You better be a thankful people of God, letting peace
rule in your heart, dictating your decisions. See, if you're
one of these people who love chaos, and I've told you this
before, there are some people who get really irritated around
peace. Don't you know them? They just
get fidgety when everything's going all right. They just love
trouble. I don't know what to do with
myself, man. I mean, everything's going all right. I got good health. I got a good job. Man, it's just,
you know, I, I need to, I need to do something. I need to mess
up something. I need to kick somebody. I need
to start. This is the mayhem commercial. You know, the mayhem
commercial, this is, this is, these are mayhem people, mayhem
people. You know, I don't feel alive
unless I'm fighting with somebody. Listen, you are carnal as all
get up. Carnal. You're way on the wrong
side of the track. When God saves you and I, our
hearts are ruled, the word is referee, by peace. In other words,
the decisions we make are geared towards peace. We're peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers.
You're not scoring points by fighting with everybody you see.
And winning fights is not the aim. It's restoring and securing
and establishing relationships. Am I making some sense? That's
the nature of the kingdom. And see, when we got people operating
out of that ethic, when we come to church, worshiping God out
of a joyful, thankful heart is easy. See, I don't have to work
you up to be happy in Christ. Do I we come in happy in Christ,
right? We come in expecting the Lord
of glory to be in this place to manifest his glory to read
to redeem our thinking once again to Manifest his promises in our
heart. So we go away after worship with
our hearts filled Once again with the promises of God and
it stirs up our joy doesn't it and this here is not fabricated
It's the consequence of the presence of the king, which brings us
to our next point. Notice what it says going back
to someone. Oh, let me start with, let me
look at one more word here. Verse 16, after we operate out
of a thankful disposition as one body, because peace rules,
because we are forgiving one another, because we're being
patient with one another. Paul says, let the word of Christ
do what dwell in you niggardly niggardly. I know some of y'all
fell off the back of your chair right there. But see, I'm going to challenge
your education from time to time. Can I do that? So how many in
the house know what the word niggardly means? Now watch this. That's less than 5% in the house. that knows what the word niggardly
means. It's not N-I-G-G-E-R, it's N-I-G-G-A-R-D-L-Y. And it's a word that means sparse,
or small, or little, scarce. It's an old English term. They
the ones started that thing. But to be niggardly simply means
to be cheap. You got that? Now make sure when
you use the word nigger, put the D on the end, niggardly okay
don't just go nigger go niggardly all right I want to help you
now well if you want to try to pretend
to be intelligent go now that was a niggardly way to put it
you want to be intelligent okay you want to be intelligent so here's what the scripture says
And this is going to wrap you up for 2013 again, because I
have to always get on my brothers and sisters who think you can
take a shortcut to maturity in Christ. That's the vast majority
of you. You think you can take a shortcut
to maturity. You get told all the time that you ought to redeem
the time, that you ought to make the kingdom of God a priority,
that you ought to seek the kingdom of God first, first, first, first. everything else will be added.
You know the Bible verses, right? You know this. But then you still
immerse yourself in all kind of secular carnal activity, consumes
most of your day. You don't read your Bible until
Sunday morning. There's no way you can fulfill verse 16 that
way. Let the Word of Christ dwell. That means situate itself. Take
its place in your heart. Find its way in every room of
your heart. The garage in the cellar in the basement in the
kitchen in the bathroom in the little cubby holes in the cabinets
The word is supposed to find every nook and cranny of your
soul and have dominion there That's the only way your mind
gonna change your mind will not change Where you are small in
your knowledge of Christ, it won't change I was gonna write
this in the out in the in the bulletin, but since y'all don't
read it anywhere. I'll just tell it to you It's
possible for your head to be thinking one way while your body
going another way. And you keep doing that, you're
going to break your neck. Am I telling the truth, brother
Ed? It's possible for you to be thinking one way and going
another way. Do you know why? Because you're not bringing your
volition, your will, the core of your being into subjection
with what you know. This produces a conflict in you
because you know what's right but you don't do what's right. You're going to break your neck
and you're never going to make it to your destination because
God can't lie. He can't change. He can't fail.
If you're not serious about the word of God dwelling richly in
you, all you're going to be is a poor, poverty stricken, wannabe
Christian. I'm just telling you, can I tell
you the truth? We're in 2013. We may not make
it to the mall. All you're going to be is a poor, desperate, wannabe
Christian where the Word of God does not dwell in you richly,
where you are not committed to biblical truth taking over your
life, where you are not committed to the pursuit of the knowledge
of God by which you can worship God from the bottom of your soul
because you know Him. You can't cheat God in where?
I'm just telling you y'all already know that and so what he says
is let the word of Christ dwell What richly in all what wisdom
now, here's the methodology teaching and admonishing That's what your
pastor does. That's what our teachers do.
That's what our teachers do. We teach we preach we admonish
one another ah Here's some of the instrumentality psalms and
hymns See, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-based, cross-centered theology
should dominate and saturate our hymn singing, our praise
worship. Am I making some sense? When
we open our mouth and sing unto God, what should come out is
the Word of God. That's all. Nothing should come
out of our mouth but the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation,
Christ in His glory, the truth of God. That's all that should
come out of our mouth. And that's what God expects.
After all, that's how the Psalms depict it. You ladies will see
this in biblical theology. But in any event, what we are
saying is when you and I are talking about being thankful,
the mechanism in worship is that of hymns and psalms and spiritual
songs. Watch this singing with what
in your heart? Grace, not conflict, grace, not
bitterness, grace, not anger. Grace, not discontentment. Grace,
not fear. Grace, not anxiety. Grace, not
unbelief. Grace. Grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace, the unmerited. Favor of God poured upon you
because of the sacrifice of Christ. Grace! God looking at you in
Jesus Christ and saying, I love you for Christ's sake. Grace! God being able to say, nothing
will separate you from the love of God. Come hail our high water.
Grace! Should be filling your heart.
That's the only way you're going to sing right. Are you hearing
me? That's the only way you're going to sing right. Pastor,
how do I get that? Get your butt back in the Word! Let the word of Christ dwell
richly in you. Richly in you. Singing with grace in your hearts
to the Lord. This is why some folk are not jazzed by the singing. Am I telling the truth? Your hearts are too filled with
carnal things. Pastor, are you telling the truth?
I had to do that one for myself. Go back so I can close up. Psalm
100. Let me wrap this thing up right
here. Let me wrap this up right here.
Psalm 100. When the psalmist says, know
ye that the Lord, He is God, there's two things I want you
to get out of that. Know ye that He, that the Lord, He is God,
means for you to learn of Him. That's our Hebrew word across
the spectrum, yada. And it means to penetrate into
the knowledge of God in such a profound way as would connote
the intimacy between a man and a woman. I told you, in the biblical
context, sex is what? Knowledge. And this is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. And what that means is you cannot
know God when you give seven days a week to the flesh and
the devil and carnality and five minutes to this God. Fellas,
if you spend that kind of time with your wife, you're out on
the streets. Am I telling the truth? You're going to disappear
all week long and then going to show up and knock on the bedroom
door and say, I want to know you. You know what she's going to
say? I don't know you. My point is, the knowledge that
God is talking about is a pervasive knowledge. It's a penetrating
knowledge. It's an expansive knowledge.
It is a knowledge that progresses. It abounds. It increases. It goes deep. It extends high. It expands wide. It permeates. You and I are called to this.
This is why the verse says, enter into. Did you get that? Enter into. I ain't even got
to you enter into know ye that the Lord he is God the other
way you want to understand the word no is to acknowledge acknowledge
to everybody that God is Lord see now this is the witnessing
component to knowledge when you and I actually gain a knowledge
of God if that knowledge is right guess what you cannot help but
tell somebody he's God What the psalmist is saying is know who
the Lord is and tell everybody he's Lord. In fact, Israel and
its disobedience to worshiping God would often have to be chastised
by God. And you read frequently in the
book of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God would say this. And after
I have done this and after I have done that to you, then you shall
know that I am the Lord, your God. Remember that? Now why does
he say that? Because they are going to know
experientially how holy he is, how righteous he is, how just
he is, how patient he is, how kind he is, how forgiving he
is, how he holds to his covenant, how he keeps his promises, how
he's going to bring you to glory even if he tears you into 50
pieces and then puts you back together. You're going to know
that he's Lord. Now watch this. And you're gonna
be willing to tell people that he's lord too. See by the time
you get ready to go to glory You're gonna be willing to tell
everybody. Hey, he's lord. He's lord. He's lord Am I making
some sense? That's good stuff, right? Know
ye that our god is lord and that he hath made us See now we are
getting into the redemptive component See, when you come to know God
in the truth, here's what you know. He created us out of the
dust of the ground, breathed into our nostrils the breath
of life, man became a living soul. But He has ultimately recreated
us new creatures in Christ Jesus. Men and women that know God in
a saving way know him as having redeemed us, having made us born
again. The word made there is a very
advised term. It means he formed us out of
a covenant scheme by which over the expanse of time, he assumed
a human nature so that he became like us, so that by his death,
burial and resurrection, he could have a people that looks just
like him. When they say He hath made us,
we are talking centrally about the incarnation, death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Except the seed go into the ground
and die, it abides alone. But if it goes into the ground
and dies, it brings forth what? Much fruit. We become the byproduct
the atonement of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ
and we come when we come into the reality of that we are telling
men and women God made us this church was made by God the Saints
are made by God we are the workmanship of God in Christ Jesus created
unto what good works this is what they're saying they're not
simply saying that we acknowledge him as a creator we are acknowledging
him as our creator see Israel is Before they knew the true
and the living God were slaves in Egypt. Before they knew the
true and the living God, they were not even a people. In fact,
in the original language it goes, know ye that the Lord, he is
God, he hath made us when we were nothing. What a word. Can I keep talking
to you for a second? When we were nothing. He made
us. Before we had a being, He conceived
of us. Before we had any existence,
He knew every one of our members. That's what David said in Psalm
139. Before the world began, God schemed, purposed, drew up
in His counsel who you were, who I was, who we were. and purposed
us in Christ Jesus. Every part of our being, every
part of our... He knew us in all of our ways,
all of our actions, all of our thoughts, all of our failures,
all of our faults. He knew us as intimate as a man
and a woman would know us. He gave His Son for us in order
that He might make us part of His body. We were made by God
when we didn't have a being. How glorious is that? When we
were nothing. When we were nothing, He chose
us in Christ before the world began. And He saw us perfect
in His darling Son before we had even committed one sin. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? He loved us. That's what the
word means, He knew us. To know us in the biblical sense
is to love us before we even came out of the womb. He knew
we were coming out of the womb backwards, upside down, with
our head twisted, ready to go to hell. But he had already secured
us in his darling Son before we had a being, when we were
nothing. Isn't that good? When we were nothing, he made
us his people. Those are shouting words. Hallelujah! We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. See, that's humble, but it's
just true. Me and my brother was talking about it last night.
His wife told him that they were driving to men's meeting last
night. And he said, you know, honey, a couple of nine or 10
years ago, right about now, playoff term, I'd be rushing over to
San Francisco to get high and chase down some chicks. And he
said, and for us, that was worship. She says, you know, the Lord
has been good to you. you get ready to go now and worship the
true and the living God with the brother on Saturday night
you know you got to be born again to come to a bible study with
a bunch of rusty men on Saturday night you you you you and he
was thanking God and so were we so were we Because we knew
where we came from. We knew the God we worship before
God revealed his glory to us. We are the sheep of his pastor. We are his people. That's why
we enter into his gates with praise. Do you see? Enter into
his gates with thanksgiving. Into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him. Be thankful unto him. And bless his holy name. Bless
you God. Bless you, Lord. Bless you, Father. Bless you, Son. Bless you, Holy
Ghost. Have your way in our life. You are good. You are holy. You are righteous. You are just. You are merciful. You are kind. You are loving. Your truth endures
unto all generations. A thousand tongues can't sing
your praise. That's the God we serve. Amen. Amen. Amen.