148th Psalm. This is the third of the five
Psalms that begin and end with praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights. Praise ye him all his angels. Praise ye him all his hosts.
Praise ye him sun and moon. Praise him all ye stars of light. Praise him ye heavens of heavens
and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the
name of the Lord. For he commanded and they were
created. He hath also established them
forever and ever. He hath made a decree which shall
not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth
ye dragons and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy
wind fulfilling his word, mountains and all hills. fruitful trees
and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying
fowl, kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges
of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children,
let them praise the name of the Lord. For his name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth
and heaven. He also exalteth the horn of
his people, the praise of all his saints, even of the children
of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are for
who you are. How thankful we are for all your
glorious attributes. How thankful we are for the glory
of your gospel, the giving of your son as a sacrifice for our
sins to make the way for you to be just and yet justify us
who are sinners. We give thanks. We ask that we
might be enabled to worship you. We ask that we might be enabled
to see something of your glory. We ask that you would be our
teacher and that you would give each person in this room faith
in thy dear son. Lord, that's above the strength
and energy of the flesh, but we ask that you would do this
for us and in us. We pray for our dear friends
that are sick. Lord, we pray for your healing
hand upon them according to your will. And Lord, we confess our
sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing
for Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. And Lord, give us the grace that
we could be truly thankful people who praise your holy name. In
Christ's name we pray, amen. Now the psalmist in this psalm
is calling all of creation to praise the Lord. And it's so
beautiful. stars, moon, sun, creation itself
that is not living as it were, but he still calls upon all creation
to praise God. Now praise is the worship of
God. I'm so interested in trying to
learn what it means, trying to enter into this thing of the
worship of God. Now, Praise is sometimes silent. Psalm 65 one says praise waiteth
on me and my marginal reading says it's silent before thee.
And there's something very awesome about that. You can't hear when
you're speaking. The best thing to do before the
Lord, the best response is silence. Speak Lord. Thy servant heareth."
What about when Joshua saw the man with the drawn sword and
I love that where he says, are you for us or our adversaries?
Neither. I'm the captain of the Lord of
hosts. I don't take sides. I'm God. And the scripture says,
he fell on his face and worshiped, saying, what sayest the Lord
to his servant? That's what I'm interested in.
I wanna hear what he has to say. But praise is also found in our
speech. Praise the Lord. What a blessing
to be enabled from my heart, not just saying it to make sure
other people can hear that I'm saying this, but I mean from
my heart, saying praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And I thought about he's calling
upon all creation to praise the Lord. Truly, the heavens declare
his glory and how offensive it is to fail to give God the glory
for creation. How offensive that is. He's the
creator. And yet men will try to take that away. That's evil. That's all you can call it evil. Praise God for his creation. The creation renders all men
without excuse. And he's talking about creation
right here. I love it where Paul says the invisible things of
him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead. You can look at creation and
you know somebody all powerful created this place. You know
that. And you know no one created him.
He's eternal. So then they are without excuse. Now, verse one, praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him. In the heights, now this is where
God dwells. He's not even talking about outer space at this time. He's
talking about heaven, the place outside the universe where God
dwells. Somebody says, explain that to me. I can't explain anything
like that. But he says, praise the Lord,
praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights, the
highest place. Praise ye him all his angels.
Praise ye him, all of his hosts." Now, I love to think about angels.
Do you believe in extraterrestrial beings? Yes, I do. Angels. I
love the way Paul called them the elect angels. Why did these angels not fall? Because they were elected by
God not to, and that's the only reason they didn't fall. You
see, any mutable creature is able to fall. And these angels
that he calls upon to praise the Lord, I think of the seraphims,
the six-winged animals. Somebody says, does that mean
literally six wings? I don't know, maybe. But with two, they covered their
face. They couldn't behold the Lord. No man can see my face
and live. With two, they covered their
feet, ashamed of themselves, ashamed of their creatureliness
before God. With two, they did fly, quick
to obey. It was Gabriel who came to Mary
and Gabriel who came to Joseph to announce the birth of Christ. I love the way the scripture
says they're greater in power and might than we are. But he
says, praise him all ye angels and all of his hosts. Verse three,
praise ye him sun and moon. Praise him all ye stars of light. I Googled how many stars there
are and I'd never heard this number before, a septillion. That is a one with 24 zeros beside
it. I don't even know how many that
is. And they say that is the estimate of how many are in the
observable universe. And he knows all their names.
He made them. Look in verse four of Psalm 147. We saw this last week. He telleth the number of the
stars. He calleth them all by their names. All creation. is called upon to praise him. And I love the way he's telling
the creation. Things that don't have consciousness.
You know, when people question the God of creation, one thing
I think of is, when did consciousness begin? Did some kind of chemical
all of a sudden develop into some kind of living being that
all of a sudden had consciousness? Well, that's crazy. He calls upon even the created
order of things that he created to praise him. Verse four, praise
him ye heaven of heavens. and ye waters that be above the
heavens." Now what's that talking about? Clouds? Maybe. Water and
outer space? I don't know, but whatever he
created, he's calling to praise him. Verse five, let them praise
the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. Now he's calling on all these
created things to praise the name of the Lord. Now, don't
ever miss the importance of this simple, yet glorious phrase,
the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, the name of the Lord is
the person behind the name. Rich, I've known you 40 years,
and when I see you, I don't see an R-Y-C-H, or however you spell
it, B-Y-R-D. I don't see those words. I know
the person behind the name. I know your characteristics.
I know your attributes. Unfortunately, you know some
of mine, too. But the person behind the name is the point.
When we call upon the name of the Lord, we're calling upon
him who is other, who is holy, who is altogether lovely, who
is absolutely just and righteous, who is love, who is absolutely
sovereign, who's independent, who has no needs. The Creator,
the God of glory, when we're calling upon His name, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm saying,
Lord, save me by an act of your will. Will my salvation as an
act of your sovereignty. Save me by your power. Make me
to be what I'm not by nature. So you're calling on all of his
attributes to save you. Now that's the name of the Lord
we praise. It's who he is. He has revealed
his character in this book. That's why we love this book.
It reveals who he is. And he's even calling upon the unconscious creation to praise
him. I think that's glorious. Sun
and moon and stars all created things. Let them praise the name
of the Lord for he commanded and they were created. Verse
six. He also established them forever
and ever and he has made a decree which shall not pass." Now these
stars, these galaxies, everything, he has decreed everything that
will take place with all these things and it's not going to
pass. God's got one decree. Thou art
my son, this day have I forgotten thee. I've declared the decree.
And everything that takes place is found within that one decree. And all of creation is all according
to the decree of God. I love that language, don't you?
God's decree. He's so powerful. He's so glorious. He's so all together. None like
it. I love that. He says, there's
none like me. And everything that comes to
pass, he decrees. Verse seven. Praise the Lord
from the earth. Now he'd been talking about the
heavens. Now he talks about the earth. Praise the Lord from the
earth, ye dragons and all deeps. I looked at the different translations
of dragons, some even said dinosaurs, some said whales, deep sea creatures,
whatever he means, he's talking about something very big that's
in the deep, in the ocean, and he's calling upon all the creatures
of the deep to praise the Lord. I love to think of all the fish
in the deep blue sea, they all praise the Lord. They all belong
to him. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein are called
upon to praise the Lord. Now I want you to think about
what an amazing blessing it is that the Lord's made himself
known to you. What a reason to praise this glorious being, the
altogether lovely one, has made himself known to you. He gave
his son to put away your sin and to make you perfect. What
greater blessing can there be than to know the Lord? Praise
the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps. Listen to this.
Fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind, fulfilling his word. I think it's interesting how
Insurance companies will say they're not going to be responsible
for an act of God. You know, when there's a hurricane
or a flood, this was an act of God. Everything's an act of God. Everything. And everything that
takes place is fulfilling his will. He talks about all these
aspects of the weather. Don't you love the way the Lord
said to the storm, peace, be still, and there was a great
calm. The weather obeyed him. And they said, what manner of
man is this that even the winds and the sea do obey him? Well,
everything that's going on is obeying him. He's so glorious. Verse nine, mountains and all
hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle,
creeping things. Flying fowl, all animal life,
praise the Lord. An insect, praise the Lord. You know, insects can be irritating
sometimes. You know that when they're in
your house, but even an insect is made by the Lord, is his creature. He says in verse 11, kings of
the earth, If anybody ought to praise the Lord, it's the kings
of the earth. He put them in the position they're
in for his purpose. So he says, kings of the earth
and all people, princes and all judges of the earth, both young
men and maidens, old men and children. That's everybody. That's everybody. Everybody ought
to praise the Lord. And someone who doesn't praise
the Lord is guilty of great evil because he is worthy to be praised. From my heart, he is worthy to
be praised. Let them praise the name of the
Lord. There, that phrase is again,
if I would call it that, the name of the Lord. Let them praise
the name of the Lord for his name alone. is excellent. He has no rivals. There's none
like him. There's none you can compare
him to. His name alone is excellent, is altogether glorious. Now,
think for a moment of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
cross of Jesus Christ. Remember, he's the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. The cross of Jesus Christ is
the manifestation of the name of God. Every attribute of God
is manifest in the cross of Jesus Christ. This is so altogether
glorious. God's holiness is seen in the
cross. More there than anywhere else.
his altogether otherness, that he would give his son, that he
would punish his son, what his son would accomplish. His wisdom
is displayed in how he's made the way to be just and justify
the ungodly in the cross of Christ. His independence has seen how
He doesn't need something from us to save us. He did it by Himself
on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. His immutability, His
purpose, His love, His grace, His omnipotence to make us to
be what we were not. He makes me to be the very righteousness
of God in the cross. Now, truly, His name alone is
to be exalted. His name is worthy. Verse 13, let them praise the
name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent. His glory
is above the earth. He also exalteth the horn of
his people. Now the word horn is power. That's
in verse 14. That's what horn signifies, the
power. Well, who's the horn of his people? Let me read a scripture
from Luke chapter one, verse 68 blessed. This is the words of
Zacharias. He says blessed be the Lord God
of Israel for he had visited and redeemed his people and he's
raised up and horn of salvation for us in the house of the servant
David. Talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he is the horn of
his people. Christ is the power of God. And
the power of God, the omnipotence of God is Only God can make something to
be not that was. You know, I've understood that
one's matters in the universe, it's there for good, it's not
going to be gone. The power of Christ is such that
he can make my sin, what I am, be no more. I've got a brand new history,
a history of perfection. Only God can do that. Give me
this new history. So when I stand before God in
judgment, I have no sin. I have no faults. I'm perfect
in Christ Jesus. He can cause me to be what I
was not. Perfect in Christ Jesus. I was
born dead in sins and he can, this is the almighty power of
God. We're blessing the horn of our
salvation. Christ is called, in 1 Corinthians
1, the power of God unto salvation. He is the mighty power of God. Verse 14, He has also exalted
the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints. Who do we
praise? We praise the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is our salvation. He's God. He's the second person
of the Trinity. He's the altogether lovely one.
We praise the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord gives us a glimpse
of who He is in our hearts, all we can do is bow down before
Him and really not say anything. Joshua, what sayest thou to thy
servant? You know what he has to say to
me is a lot more important than what I got to say to him. I understand
that. Speak Lord, thy servant heareth. Now he says in verse 14, he had
also exalted the horn of his people, the praise of all his
saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto
him. Praise ye the Lord. Now I think this is So interesting,
you can't read the Bible and not see that God has made a difference
between Israel and everybody else. The nation of Israel? I think of Exodus chapter 11,
verse seven, when God said against the children of Israel, shall
not a dog move his tongue? Against man or beast, that you
may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between Israel
and the Egyptians. The Lord made this difference. Now, you can't read the Bible
and say, boy, the Lord did make a difference between Israel and
everybody else. He made a significant difference. Well, there's a reason for that.
Israel only pictures spiritual Israel. The physical Jew only
represents the spiritual Paul said, we are the circumcision.
We're the real Jews. We are the circumcision. Philippians
chapter three, verse three, we are the circumcision, which worship
God in the spirit. And the only way I can worship
God is in the spirit. The natural man has no understanding
of the character of God. I have to be given a spiritual
nature, born of God, and able to worship him. A lot of times churches advertise,
come worship with us. No, I want you to come hear the
gospel, but you can only worship if you're a spiritual Jew in
that sense. And it's only the spiritual Jew. He is not Jewish outwardly, but
he is one inwardly. Here's the true Israel. We worship
God in the spirit. Now somebody says, what does
it mean to truly worship God? Let me tell you, I know the answer
to that. Well, the scripture gives us the answer to that.
We worship God when we rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now, the word
rejoice does not simply mean we're happy in him, although
we are. It means we glory only in him. We have confidence only
in him. We look nowhere but him. Now here's the person who worships
God. The person who says with Paul, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And do you
want to worship God? Look to Christ only. Don't look to yourself. Don't
look to your works. Don't look to your experience.
Look to Christ only. Don't wait for anything. Don't
wait to get better. Don't wait till you understand
more right now. Look to Christ only as all in
your salvation, as all in your acceptance before God. Understand
that everything God requires of you, he looks to his son for.
You rest in that. That's the worship of God. Now,
when does someone do that? When does somebody look to Christ
only and rejoice in Christ only? I love the simplicity of this.
We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit. rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. None. Nada. Zero. You do not, by the
grace of God, look to yourself for anything. You have no confidence
in any flesh. The carnal mind, the fleshly
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh, cannot please God. You have worshiped God. You've looked to Christ when
you have no confidence in the flesh. Even the children of Israel,
a people near unto him. Now, don't miss this. How near? united to him. That's how near, one with him. Now, if I'm one of these people
described, one of these children of Israel, a true Jew, a believer. Think of this scripture, 1 John
4, 17, as he is. How near is he to the Lord? Well,
He is the Lord. That's how near he is. He's one
with God. He is God. He's a distinct person. I realize that. In the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God as a distinct
person. And the Word was God. That's
how near he is. He's God. How near he is. Now, however near he is, that's
how near we are. As he is, oh, his nearness. As he is, so are we in this world
right now. As he is, so are we in the world. Something that Brother Mahan
quoted so much when he was preaching, and it's always been so, it's
part of a hymn. Near, so near to God, Nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. Believe that, because as he is,
so are we right now, present tense, in this world. Amen.