Psalm 115. Read the first few
verses. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Not unto us, O Lord,
Not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. You could hardly find a sentiment,
an expression, which is more opposite and which is more contrary
to the natural attitude of man's heart. to the prevalent thought
and attitude of man's heart, especially in the days in which
we live. Mankind by nature, and especially
man as we live in this day and age, we see it all around us,
man by nature loves praise, he loves attention, he loves glory,
he loves to be thought well of. He loves others to think well
of him and to praise him. He loves the adoration of others. He loves the applause of others.
Our natural inclination is to be thought well of, to have some
credit, to have some praise. We like to think well of ourselves,
and we like others to think well of us also. The natural heart,
man's nature, man's fallen sinful nature is proud, is arrogant,
is selfish, is self-glorifying. It wants to be popular, to be
praised, to be thought well of. Yet here the psalmist writes
with a very different attitude. Here the psalmist writes, not
unto us, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Not unto
us. Don't give glory unto us. Not
unto me, Lord, but unto thy name. Yes, this sentiment cups across
our pride. It cuts across all of our desire
for applause, for credit. Our natural sentiment, if we
were to write down our thoughts, if we were honest, we would say,
unto me, Lord. Unto us, Lord. Give some praise,
give some credit. Friends, men, give me some praise. Surely I have done this, surely
I have done that. That's the natural sentiment.
Yet here the psalmist cuts right across it. Not unto us. Not unto us. This is very true of man's heart
in the world. Man in the world wants praise
and glory. But what is true in the world
is true of man in religion too. Most people who are religious
loved some praise and some glory. They loved some praise and some
glory. Even those who speak of the Lord
Jesus, even those who profess his name, they might utter the
words when they read this psalm, not unto us, O Lord, but deep
down there's some hanging on to us, There's some glory that
wants to be held on to. They want to share some of the
glory that's due unto the Lord. As Christ says of many who will
come unto him, he says in Matthew 7 verse 21, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven,
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? Have we not done this? Lord, have we not? And yet he
says, and then will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken unto a wise man
which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house. And
it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. Yes, there are many who will
say, Lord, Lord, but who go on to say, have we not done this,
and have we not done that? There's a claim for praise, a
claim for credit, a claim for glory. and yet such build their
house upon the sand. Because to build your hopes of
salvation upon your own deeds, upon your own will, upon your
own efforts, upon something in you, is to build upon sand. For the natural man is but sin
through and through. And we by nature are stained
by sin in everything we do. And the best of our deeds which
we may bring before God, and take some pride in, and take
some glory in, in his eyes are as filthy rags. To build our
hopes of salvation upon such things is to build upon the sand. But the psalmist here has a house
which is built upon rock. For the psalmist looks entirely
away from self. He knows that he himself is a dead and a fallen sinner
by nature. he knows that in his flesh there
dwells no good thing he knows that the best of his deeds his
righteousness is those filthy rags he knows that there is nothing
good in him He knows that there is nothing he can bring before
God. He knows that there is nothing
he does, has done or can do, which is worthy of any merit
or any glory. And having been brought to that
state, having been shown that, having been made to see that,
he can say in praise, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory for thy mercy for thy truth's sake. You'll not get far in this psalm
if you can't get past these opening words. The rest of the psalm
is as it were shut to us if we cannot say with the psalmist
honestly from the same broken heart with the same contrite
spirit, with the same humility, with the same spiritual awareness. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name. Give glory. These opening words
stand, as it were, as an entrance, as a gate into this psalm. They stand as a narrow, as a
straight gate, There's a narrow entrance into this psalm into
which few can pass. For as I've said, the natural
sentiment of man, the natural sentiment of you and me, is to
take some credit, to take some pride, to take some glory in
ourselves and in our deeds. And we get to the entrance of
this psalm with some glorifying in self, And we'd read the words
not unto us, O Lord, and find ourselves barred from entry,
for we still have some measure in which we seek to take some
credit and some glory unto self. But not so the psalmist, and
not so all those who are brought into the same place as the psalmist,
who've had the same experience, who've had self stripped away
by the Spirit of God, as the Spirit has come unto them in
the gospel and declared unto them their state before God,
that they are nothing but sin from head to toe, that they are
nothing but lepers from head to toe, that they are nothing
but depraved by nature, black from head to toe, rebels, wayward,
that they are nothing, nothing, nobody's, that there is nothing
in which they can glory, nothing in which they can take praise
or credit unto themselves. This is where the psalmist was
brought before ever he penned this psalm. Is this where you've
been brought? Can you say, out of a heart which
has been broken down by the Spirit, can you say with a heart which
was once stony, which was once cold, which once shut out the
truth of God, can you say that that heart has been broken up,
has been smashed as it were with a hammer, has been broken down,
and that you have been brought to your knees before God, and
that you will confess before God that you are nothing, that
you are nothing and that you can do nothing and that you deserve
nothing, that you are nothing but sin. Has your heart been
broken and made soft and tender? Has the light of the gospel shone
in through an entrance which has been made by the Spirit,
as the hard heart has been broken, and as an entrance of light into
your heart has been made? Have you been given a new heart? Have you, as one who has been
broken by the Spirit of God, as one who has been convicted
of your sin and your rebellion, Have you been brought to that
place of crying out to God for mercy? And have you heard the
wondrous words of the Lord saying unto you that he has forgiven
you for Christ's sake? For Christ has stood in your
place and Christ has taken away your hard heart and Christ has
taken away your sin. and washed them away in his own
blood upon the cross, when he came and stood in your place,
and died in your place, and suffered in your place, and agonized in
your place, for your sins and for your rebellion. As he washed
them away, as he washed them in his own blood, as he said
unto you, here is my blood shed for you, a sinner. Has he washed
you in his blood? Is that you? Can you come unto
this psalm with the psalmist, with the same sentiment? Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory,
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. What do you know of the
mercy of God and of his truth? and of the glory which is due
under his name and his name alone. For you see, you cannot get far
in this arm unless you first come there. I hope you've come there, my
friend. I hope you've come there. The heathen may say of such ones,
where is now their God? They may despise them and ridicule
them. They may see such a broken people,
such a contrite people, such a people who know their weakness
and their poverty and their helplessness. They're heathen in all their
pride and arrogance of the pride and arrogance of life, of the
pride and arrogance of the fallen human nature. The strong heathen. The strong rebellious in this
world may come and laugh at the Lord's people. They may come
and despise them. They may come and see this poor,
broken, contrite, weak people, few in number, mindful of their
own poverty before the Lord, and they may stand alongside,
and they may laugh, and they may scoff, and they may despise
them. And they may say unto them in
ridicule, Where is now your God? Where is he? Look at you. Look how helpless you appear.
Look how few you are in number. Where's your God of whom you
speak? But the child of God has an answer. The child of God who can say,
not unto us, not unto me, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory. for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. He has an answer to such scoffing. He cries out boldly, my God,
our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. You may not see him, you may
scoff at me a week, poor sinner upon the earth, who you ridicule,
you may scoff at us few in number, but we know, we know in our hearts,
because the Lord has given us faith to see, we know that our
God is in the heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased, he hath. Our God is in the heavens, He
rules over all. He brought the earth into being. He put mankind upon the earth. And though man rebels, and though
man has fallen, and though man multiplies in wickedness upon
the face of the earth, and though in appearance things might seem
otherwise, though man in his rebellion multiplies upon the
earth, and raises up leaders, and builds his cities, and builds
his armies, and builds his nations, and builds his idols, and builds
his places of worship to such idols, and vaunts his might and
power. And though the heathen in such
vaunted might, might scoff and say, where is now their God? Nevertheless, the poor despised
Israel of God, the poor despised church of God, the Lord's people,
the Lord's children, can look beyond what is seen with the
natural eye, can look beyond what the heathen look upon, and
can look into heavenly things with God-given faith, and they
can say with sure certainty, our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And whatever might be
the appearance, we know, we know that all things work together
for the good of those that love the Lord, for His called according
to His purpose. We know our God is in the heavens. He placed us upon this earth.
He has a people whom He has redeemed, a people whom He has redeemed
by blood. a people for whom he sent his
only begotten son into this world, a people for whom the son died
and offered up his life upon the tree, a people whom he surely
justified, whom he surely saved, whose sins have been surely blotted
out, a people whom he has ransomed from the grave, a people who
are his, the sheep, all his people who are in his hands, who will
never be plucked from his hands, who will never perish whatever
might come upon them. He is building his church and
the gates of hell, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it, whatever might be the appearance however scattered that people
might be in this day, however few they may be in number, however
weak and poor in appearance they may be in the eyes of the heathen,
nevertheless, in faith, however weak that faith may be, such
a people can rise up in faith and say that we know, We know
that our God is in the heavens and He hath done and He does
whatsoever he hath pleased. For our God is the one true and
living God, the one sovereign, all-powerful, all-mighty, all-glorious,
all-knowing God, the one true God. He is in the heavens and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. And such a people can
look upon the heathen and say of their idols which they worship,
that their idols are silver and gold, the mere work of men's
hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not. neither speak they through their
throat. And they that make them are like
unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. Yes, the heathen may rage against
God. Yes, the heathen may scoff at
the Lord's people and laugh and say, where is now their God?
But such fools bow down in worship to idols of their own making. Dumb idols, the works of their
own hands. Idols with mouths that cannot
speak, ears that cannot hear, noses that cannot smell, hands
that handle not, and feet that cannot walk. They're dumb makings
of their own hands. They do nothing. They're helpless
and they're hopeless. They cannot save. They cannot
save those who trust in them. All those who trust in such idols
will perish with them. Yes, the child of God is not
swayed by the laughing and the scoffing of such a people. These idols may come in many
appearances, many trust in riches, many trust in their own might
and their own strength. But like I said, the might of
man is a sinful and a fallen might. And the good of man is
a corrupt so-called goodness. The best that man can do is filthy
in God's eyes. and any who trust in their goodness,
any who trust in their strength, any who trust in their deeds,
will have an awful shock when they come to stand before the
Lord Jesus Christ on that great day of the Lord, when they may
come before him and they may even say unto him, Lord, Lord,
for he will say unto them, depart from me, I never knew you. The strength of man will perish
The intellect of man will perish. The might of man and the wisdom
of man will perish with him, for it is foolishness which rejects
the revelation of God in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is folly to reject his gospel and his truth and to trust in
any other thing. Many follow idols of religion,
whether it be Hinduism, Muslim, Islam, Buddhism, their idols
will not save them, there's no salvation in these things for
they all to a man ultimately worship their own wisdom and
their own strength and their own works in following such religion. Many follow a similar religion
that they call Christianity but again They build up an idol named
Jesus, whom they have made and whom they worship in their own
strength. And ultimately their idol is
themselves, their own works, their own efforts, their own
will. But their idol does nothing.
It cannot walk, it cannot stand, it cannot hear, it cannot see,
it cannot taste, it cannot speak. they worship themselves and they
come before the lord on that last day saying lord lord have
we not done this in thy name and he looks upon their doing
and despises their filthy rags of righteousness their filthy
rags which they think are righteousness for which he looks upon as sheer
iniquity a sheer self-indulgence, selfishness, pride, arrogance,
self-glory. They that make them are like
unto them, and so is everyone that trusteth in such idols. But the psalmist speaks otherwise,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but unto thy name give glory
unto thy name for his God and the God of all the Lord's people
their God is other than these idols their God is not a dumb
idol their God is not of their making and though the heathen
may scoff at him They know that their God is in the heavens,
and He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased, and all glory is
due under His name. For they know that they have
done nothing to merit anything from the hand of this God, and
yet this God has shown them such wonderful mercy, such wonderful
mercy such wonderful grace and such wonderful salvation and
as such they can say that unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy true sake yes their god the god of the psalmist here
is not dumb he does have a mouth and he does speak he does see
he does hear he does smell He does handle, He does walk. He
doeth whatsoever He pleaseth. He hath done whatsoever He pleaseth. He is the living God. He lives,
He acts, He wills. He is sovereign. He wills to
do what He wills. He purposes and does all that
He has chosen to do from all eternity. Nothing stands in His
way. Nothing prevents Him. Nothing
prevents all His purposes. He has purpose from all eternity
to save a people. And nothing ever prevents the
salvation of anyone of that people whom He has chosen to save. He
chose a countless multitude in His Son before ever He created
the world. He knew each and one of them
by name before ever they were born. He elected every one of
them under salvation. He chose them. They were named
in His Son. He brought them forth upon this
world from the lines of Adam and from their parents, the descendants
of Adam. He brought them into being. He
watched as they turned to sin. He watched as they were born
in iniquity. He watched as they went forth
from the womb, speaking lies. But He watched in mercy. He watched
in long-suffering as each one of His people turned against
Him, rebelled against Him, lived with their thoughts far from
Him. He watched. And He gave His only
begotten Son as a sacrifice for their sins, whether they were
born before His coming or wherever they were born after his coming,
wherever they are in history, he gave his son to wash them
from their sins. And though they went forth in
rebellion, he watched over them. And there came a time in each
one of their lives when he would send the gospel unto them. He
would send forth the spirit in power with that gospel. And when
he would seek them out, wherever they were, wherever they had
gone. If you're one of his this day
and you know him not, he will come unto you at a time appointed
by him. He will bring his gospel to your
ear, and he will come at an appointed time and declare his gospel in
power unto all his people, including if you are his unto you. And
he will make his gospel and his salvation known. and He will
bring you to know that you are a sinner. He brings all His own
to know they are a sinner before Him, and bringing them to their
knees, convicted of their sin, convicted of that judgment which
is to come, which is their due, He brings them to cry out unto
Him in the depths, in the depths of darkness, in the depths of
helplessness, in the depths of their poverty, bankrupt, ruined,
lost, penniless, having nothing to pay, having a great debt of
sin above their head, having a mountain of guilt, ruined by
the fall, ruined. They cry out for mercy and crying
out he hears the cries of every one of his people. He hears their
cries in mercy, he hears their cries and He's long-suffering
to them, and He hears all the cries of all His people, and
He points such a people by His Spirit to the One who took away
their iniquities, to the One who took away their sins, to
the One who took away their guilt, to the One who from all eternity
set His love upon them. and he says look unto my son
i have given my son a ransom for your sins i have given my
son the price the redemption price to set you free i have
paid the price i have judged your sins already i have laid
them upon my own son who loved you, who loves you, who saved
you, who died for you, who has washed your sins away in his
own blood, and he makes his mercy known, and to such a guilt-driven
people, and he says, fear not, fear not, my wrath is not upon
thee, for my wrath was poured out upon him, that I might make
my peace and my love known unto you who were guilty, but in Christ
are now innocent, free from all guilt, perfect and innocent in
my Son. Oh yes, he hears his people for
mercy's sake, for mercy's sake. And such a people hear of such
a wondrous salvation, freely given, freely made known, undeserved,
unmerited. They know there's nothing they
could have done to deserve it. They know they deserve the eternal
wrath of God against their sins. They thought that was coming
to them. They could have fallen down upon
their knees upon the floor and cried out to the Lord to slay
them even now. They knew it was theirs, they
knew it was coming. And yet in awe and wonder they
heard the Lord's voice come unto them in the gospel, saying, Fear
not, I will not judge thee. I will not pour out my wrath
upon thee, for I have poured it out upon mine Only Begotten
Son in my place. He has taken it away. There is
no more wrath, for there is no more sin. Thou art perfect and
righteous in him. I have washed you in his blood. And they know and hear of such
mercy and such truth. the truth of God's justice, upheld,
in that he judged their sins justly. None were overlooked,
none were dismissed, none were put to one side, but every last
one was judged in order that he might show mercy unto those
that deserved it not. And such a people cry out in
awe and wonder, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. How could any glory and praise
be unto us in the light of such things? Not unto us, but unto
thy name. Give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Yes, all glory is unto God's
name. All glory is due under his name. He's glorified in creation. He's glorified in providence,
in his goodness, in his long-suffering to his people. even when they
were in the waywardness and folly of their sins, even when they
were in the depths of their rebellion, He long suffered them, He put
up with them. All glory is due unto Him for
His righteousness, for His justice, for His holiness, for the way
in which He upholds His justice in salvation, for all His mighty
works and wondrous works. But most of all, glory is due
under his name, for his mercy and his truth's sake, which is
made known unto all his people in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who through his death gave himself as an offering for their sins.
Oh, the love he showed to such a people, so undeserved, so unmerited,
so free, What love, what grace, what mercy He has shown unto
such a people. He does this for His people,
for the us of whom the psalmist speaks, for the us, for Israel,
for the house of Aaron, for the house of the Lord, for His chosen
people in Christ. The psalmist says, O Israel,
trust thou in the Lord, He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their
shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust
in the Lord. He is your help and your shield. If you're His, if you're one
of these who've been brought to an end of self, who can truly
say that you deserve no praise, no credit, no glory. You who
would come unto the Lord, not putting anything that you have
done before Him as worthy of praise. You who would come unto
Him saying, Lord, I am vile by nature. I can claim but one thing
and one thing only, the blood of thy precious Son. You that
fear the Lord and His judgment and His wrath outside of Christ,
you that fear the Lord and know His mercy and His truth as it's
made known in Christ, you that have been given faith to trust
in Christ alone for salvation, you that fear the Lord, I say,
trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord for he is the
Lord's people, he is your help and your shield. You'll find
help and protection in none other place than in the Lord and in
him alone. The Lord has been mindful of
us, he will bless us, he will bless the house of Israel, he
will bless the house of Aaron, He will bless them that fear
the Lord, both small and great. He will bless us, who? Only those who know Him as their
Saviour, only those who know they are nothing. But all those
who know they are nothing, all those in Christ, all those that
fear the Lord, all those who give praise to Him and Him alone,
All those who know that He has done all to save them, that their
salvation is entirely of Him, and owes nothing to their works,
owes nothing to their strength, their wisdom, their intellect,
their will. All such a people, all such who
fear the Lord, the Lord says unto them, the psalmist says
of them, ye that fear the Lord, Trust in the Lord. He is your
help and your shield. The Lord hath been mindful of
us and he will bless us. He will bless us. Why will he
bless us? How will he bless us? As it says
in Romans 8 and verse 32, he that spared not his own son but
delivered him up for us all, all his people. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Are not all spiritual
blessings in heaven made known unto the children of God? If
he was willing to give his own son, the one in whom he dwelt,
the one in whom the fullness of God dwells, the one who laid
in his bosom, if the father was willing to give up his own son,
if he was willing to give the greatest price to redeem his
people, if he slew his own son, if he went to such an extent
that his own son was slain, that he forsook him upon the cross,
when he bore the sins of his people when he was made sin,
if he took the flaming sword of justice and drove it into
his own son, and slew him and killed him, and did that out
of love for his people, if he could do that and offer such
a price, will he then neglect such a people? Will He not also
give that people with Christ freely all things? If He can give them His own Son,
if He gave His own Son out of love for them, will He not also
give them all things? Will He not bless them richly? Will He not? Would God slay His
own Son and then not bless those for whom He died? Will He abandon
them when He has already gone to such lengths to save them? Do you feel abandoned by the
Lord? Do you really feel that He will
abandon you, neglect you, cease to bless you? Will He abandon
you? Of course not! Of course not! He is our help and our shield. As it says, the Lord have been
mindful of us. He is mindful of us. He thinks
about his people. He's aware of where his people
are. He's aware of their state. He's
aware of their circumstances. He's aware of their trials and
their troubles. He's aware of the hardness of
the way and the pilgrimage through which they pass. He's aware of
the opposition that they face. He's aware that the heathen come
alongside. Such a small paw despise people
and scoff and say, where is now your God? He's aware, he's mindful,
he knows. When they hurt, he hurts. When people despise them, they
despise him. When they are scoffed, he is
scoffed. When they are derided, He is
derided. When men laugh at them, they
laugh at Christ. When they treat them harshly,
they treat Christ harshly. Oh yes, the Lord is mindful of
His people. He dwells in the midst of His
people. He walks with His people. He
feels their ups and their downs. He feels their trials. He knows
how they feel. And in response, He will bless
them. He does bless them. He will bless
them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall
increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed
of the Lord which made heaven and earth. It may not feel like
it at times. The heavens may seem dark, the
way before us may seem hidden, the path may seem hard, but the
Lord never, never, never abandons his own. He leads them, he keeps
them, he blesses them, he sustains them, he feeds them, he watches
over them, he is their help and their shield. Do we worship a
dumb idol? Do we? No. But what of our doubts and our
fears and our unbelief? Sometimes we walk as though we
do. We think the Lord has abandoned us, he doesn't hear, he doesn't
walk, he doesn't meet with us, he doesn't do what we hope he
will do when we hope he will do it. And yet despite such a
thing, The Lord has never abandoned His own. He will bring them to
a point where He tests them. He will withdraw to show them
their need of Him, their need of Him, but He never abandons
them. Will the Lord reward us for our
doubts and our fears and our unbelief? Will He judge us for
them? No. He may chasten us. He may bring us to see our need
of Him. He may bring us to cry out before Him. He may bring
us to pray for His presence. He may bring us to cease to look
unto self in any way, to cease to take any pride in any of our
deeds. He may bring us again to that
point, to that straight gate into this psalm, to that narrow
way of having to cry out with the psalmist, not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us. but unto thy name give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. He may bring us there,
but he will never judge again those sins which he judged and
blotted out in Christ when he took all of our sins away as
far as east is from the west. They are gone. He sees his people
in Christ and he blesses them for Christ's sake and Christ's
sake alone. And in Him and in Him alone He
will freely give them all things. All things. Who is this that
blesses? Why, He is the Lord which made
heaven and earth. Yes, Him. If He can make the
heavens and the earth, if He can do that, if He can sustain
and rule over this world, can He not bless us also? in the minutiae of our lives,
in our small trials and difficulties, in our small afflictions which
seem so great to us, in those things which we pour out our
hearts before Him over. Can He not, will He not bless
us? Of course He can, and of course He will, and in Christ
He does. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. The heaven, even the heavens
are the Lord's, but the earth have He given to the children
of men. Praise the Lord. And yet we read
near the end here, the dead praise not the Lord, neither any that
go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this
time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Well, do you
praise the Lord? Do you look outside of events
in time and natural circumstances? Do you look by faith to that
One who is in the heavens, who has done and does whatsoever
He have pleased? Do you consider His wondrous
works, His mercy and His truth, His salvation in Christ, His
offering up of Christ? Do you praise the Lord? Are you
amongst the living, those that fear the Lord? The dead praise
not the Lord. Well, the dead don't, do they?
They can't. How can the dead and those that
go down into silence praise Him? They're dead. They don't know
Him. They can't see Him. They don't
understand Him. They can't comprehend Him. They
may worship their dead idols, but they're yet dead in trespasses
and sins. They're blind. They're deaf. They're like their idols. They're
dumb. They're helpless. And the dead
praise not the Lord. They can't see him or hear him,
let alone praise him. No, the dead don't praise the
Lord. But the living, the living, he shall praise thee. The living,
the living, he shall praise thee, it says in Isaiah 38. Well, are you living this day
or are you dead? Where is your praise? Of whom
do you praise it? Of whom do you glory? Do you
take glory unto self? Or is all your glory unto the
name of the Lord, for his mercy and for his truth's sake? Where
is your praise? If you're the Lord this day,
if he has brought you into his kingdom, shown you his Son, applied
his blood to your heart, washed you in that blood, washed you
from your sins, made known his salvation unto you, declared
his truth unto you, shown you his mercy and his everlasting
love. If you're his, then know this
day that he is your help and your shield. He is mindful of
you. He will bless you. Then praise
him for it. We will bless the Lord from this
time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. O can you say
with the psalmist, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake.
Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. We will bless the Lord from this
time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord. Oh man.