Psalm 147, it's making me kind
of sad that psalms are almost over. I guess that's a dumb thing to
say. They continue with whatever. Psalm 147. This is one of these last five
psalms that begins and ends with a hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord, for it is
good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant, and
praise is comely, beautiful. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken
in heart and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number
of the stars. He calleth them all by their
names. Great is our Lord and of great
power. His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth up the meek
He casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord
with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto
our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain
for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He
giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which
cry, He delighteth not in the strength of the horse. He taketh
no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Praise the
Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. For he
has strengthened the bars of thy gates. He hath blessed thy
children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders
and filleth thee with the finest of wheat. He sendeth forth his
commandment upon earth. His word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool. He scattereth the hoarfrost like
ashes. He casteth forth his ice like
morsels, who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his
word and melteth them. He causeth his wind to blow and
the waters flow. He showeth his word unto Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel, he hath not dealt
so with any nation, and as for his judgments, they've not known
them. Praise ye the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that by your grace
we might be enabled to do, as the psalmist says, to praise
you. Lord, please, for Christ's sake,
enable us to do that from our hearts to praise your holy name. What a blessing it will be if
you enable us to do that. Lord, we're dependent upon you
to cause us to do what we should do. And we're asking you to do
that for us and in us. For Christ's sake, we ask that
you would increase our faith, increase our love to you, our
love to one another. Lord, we Ask for the forgiveness
of our many sins for the Lord's sake. Cause your gospel to be
preached in the power of your spirit. Be with all your people
wherever they meet together in Christ's name we pray, amen. I love the way he says, Praise ye the Lord for it's good
to sing praises unto our God. It's pleasant. It's comely. Of this, I am sure, I don't praise
the Lord enough. I'm just sure of that. Praise is good. It's pleasant. It's comely. He is worthy to
be praised. And this is something done in
the heart. You know, people use the term praise the Lord to show
off quite a bit. We hear that from religious people.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. But I'm talking about what God
sees in my heart. A genuine from the heart praise
to him for who he is. Not even for what he's done,
although we're very thankful for that, but for who he is. Praise ye the Lord. The Lord, verse two, doth build
up Jerusalem. Another way of saying this is
where the Lord said, upon this rock will I build my church. The Lord is the builder of the
church. He doth build up Jerusalem. Jerusalem represents his church,
the place of his peace. You know, when people talk about
being church planters, I just think, That's just weird. The Lord builds Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts
of Israel. Now I think this is interesting.
How are these people referred to by the psalmist? The outcasts
of Israel. Now this is not talking about
somebody marginalized by society. There are people who consider
themselves outcasts, different from society, just on another
level. This is not really what this
is talking about. Here's what an outcast is. Somebody who feels separated
because of their sin. That is what he is talking about.
Separated, a far off. I think of what Peter said to
the Lord when he found out who he really was. He said, depart
from me, O Lord. I am a sinful man. Now that is this outcast he's
speaking of. And what is amazing, this is
the healthy state of a believer, to be an outcast. to be downtrodden
by your sin. And this is not just wallowing
in the mire and feeling depressed all the time. This is not what
that's talking about. This is talking about a believer's attitude
toward sin. Well, he gathers together the
outcasts of Israel. There's a gathering right now
of the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. Now everybody's had their heart
broken on many levels, but the level he's talking about is a
heart that's broke. It doesn't work. It's no good. Here's what a heart broken is
to him that worketh not. His heart doesn't work. It's
no good. A broken and contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. A heart that is broken. It can't do the things that it
ought to do. It's no good. That's what David
was speaking of when he spoke of his own heart, a broken and
a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Creating me
a clean heart, O God. Mine's filthy. And this is the
broken heart, but what does he do? He healeth the broken in
heart. By his stripes, this is the only
thing that heals. By his stripes, by his death
on Calvary's tree and what it accomplished, we are healed. He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. Verse four. He telleth the number of the
stars. How many stars are there? Well,
I read that in the observable universe, there are 200 billion
trillion stars. That many stars. A trillion is a million millions.
A billion is a thousand. I mean, that's beyond comprehension. And he numbers every one of them
because he made them. He calls them by their names,
the universe, the Lord's control of his universe. There's something
very powerful about that. He tells the number of the stars.
I can think of the psalmist maybe laying out at night, looking
up before there was all this stuff in our environment that
caused the stars to not be seen as clearly. The psalmist looking
up at the stars on a night and saying he he knows every one
of them is named. He. Knows the exact amount. Verse five. Here's the reason
for all this great. Is the Lord. We bow. That's what it means to believe
in his greatness. We bow down. Great is our Lord. Don't you love being able to
call him our Lord? Lord said, you call me master
and Lord, and you say, well, For so I am. He's my Lord. He's my God. Great is our Lord
and of great power. Omnipotence. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? No. He's of infinite power. His understanding is infinite. He's omniscient. He's never learned
anything. I love to think about that. He's
never informed of anything. He knows everything. He's all
wise. His understanding is infinite,
and we can just trust that. I don't know what he's doing,
but he does, and I'm fine with that. I don't need to know what
he's doing. His understanding is infinite. The omniscience
of Jesus Christ. By his knowledge shall my servant
justify many. By his knowledge, oh the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse six, the Lord lifteth up
the meek. He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Now who are these people, the
meek? The Lord lifteth up the meek,
that refers to every believer. That is third beatitude, blessed
are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Now the world
looks at meekness as weakness. I realize that. He doesn't stand
up for himself. He just lets people run all over
him. He doesn't try to control his
environment. He's weak. Meekness is strength. God-given strength. Meekness
is an attitude toward God that really believes he's in control
and whatever he does is right. and so you don't murmur against
it. Whatever he does is right. He lifts up the meek. He lifted
them up when he was raised from the dead. He lifted them up as
he ascended back to heaven. They're with him right now, and
they're here. The meek, whatever he does, it's
associated with humility. The meek, he lifts up. But here's
everybody else, the wicked he cast down to the ground, the
wicked and the meek. Verse seven, sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Now this is something done in
the heart. Yes, when we sing these hymns, we're singing as
unto the Lord. When we hear these specials,
the people who do these specials, it's to be as unto the Lord for
his glory. But what he's talking about right
now is something that's done in the heart. Singing unto the
Lord in your heart. Singing and making melody, Paul
says, in your heart to the Lord. What a blessed privilege to be
able to do this. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving.
You're thankful for who he is. You're thankful for all of his
glorious attributes. You're thankful for his salvation.
You're so thankful that salvation finds grace. You're so thankful
that everything he requires of you, he looks to Christ for,
so you've got everything. You're so thankful that you're
complete in him. This is something going on in
the heart. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto
our God, an instrument. Now, I can't play any instruments,
but I can play these instruments in my heart. I'm a great musician
in my heart. Every other believer is. This
is what is done. Now, verse eight. Who covereth
the heaven With clouds, it's cloudy day, isn't it? Been that
way for several days. He covers the heavens with these
clouds. Cloudy day, but what's underneath
it? Who prepared the rain for the
earth? Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains? Ye fearful
saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread.
are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your
head. Trust not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. Cloudy day, nothing but good
comes out of it from him whom we trust, who always brings good
out of evil. That's who he is. Oh, for the
grace to trust him, even when I don't understand, I trust his
character. Oh, would to God that you and
I can just trust his character. It's the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Verse 9, he giveth to the beast
his food and to the young ravens which cry, and you can be sure
of this as he does this for the beasts and the young ravens,
he provides for us. Verse 10, he delighteth not in the strength
of the horse, He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. Now, the
strength of the horse is for man's good. You can plow a field
with a horse. That's what they use them for.
You can be mighty in battle with a horse. What a benefit a horse
is. I mean, the more horses you have, the more military might
you have, you're in good shape with horses. The Lord doesn't
take any pleasure in that. Not at all. The legs of a man
is the strength of a man, his sturdy legs, his power. The Lord
takes no pleasure in the strength of a man. We do. We're proud
of it. You know, we watch their athletes do all that kind of
stuff. And the Lord doesn't take any pleasure in that. He's so
glorious. What does he take pleasure in?
Verse 11. The Lord taketh pleasure. And that ought to stop us right
there. The God of glory who knows the stars all by name because
he made them. He takes pleasure in them that
fear him. And this is not the fear of mistrust.
This is not the fear of the unknown. This is that fear of God. That's the beginning of wisdom.
This is that awe and reverence for his person. That's faith,
really. awe and reverence for his person. And I'll tell you when you fear
God, when you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ as everything
in your salvation, that is the fear of God. Looking to Christ
alone. Find me somebody that looks to
Christ alone right now in their hearts. I'll show you somebody
that fears God and I'll show you somebody that God takes pleasure
in. He taketh pleasure. in them that fear him, in those
that hope in his mercy. Now, these two things go together. I've got a hope that I'm gonna
be standing before God on judgment day and be accepted. And I have one reason that I
have that hope. My hope is in his mercy in Christ
Jesus. It's not because of something
about me that makes me think, I'll be there. No, my hope is
in his free, sheer, sovereign mercy. That's my hope. He's a merciful God for Christ's
sake and all my hope of salvation is in his mercy. Verse 12, praise the Lord. Oh, Jerusalem, praise thy God. Now, this is the direction to
the church. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem. Zion. And the following verses,
he gives more reasons why we are to praise him. Praise the
Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God. O Zion, for he
hath strengthened the bars of thy gates." Now, this is our
protection. He has strengthened these gates. And because of that, nobody can
bust them down. That's how protected and secure
you are. Every believer can say, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not
lack anything. And these gates that he strengthened,
it is the protection of every believer. No one can bang down
the gates he's put up. He had blessed thy children within
thee, and notice this blessing is limited to thy children within
thee. This is the blessing of all of
God's elect, but he hath blessed us, Paul said. He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. He hath blessed us. He, verse 14, maketh peace in
thy borders. Now what are your borders? Christ. In Christ. That's my borders. I only want to be found in him. And I'm so comfortable in this
place. And in my borders, in Christ, there's peace. He made
peace by the blood of his cross. Now, outside of him, there is
no peace. But in the borders of the believer, which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, in him there is perfect peace. All that
God requires of me, I have in Jesus Christ. What peace within
his borders. And he filleth thee with the
finest of wheat. Verse 14, that's the gospel.
That's what we feed on. We feed on the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the gospel of his grace. What a meal, what a satisfying
meal this is. You know what? looking to Christ
only, I'm satisfied. I'm not hungering and thirsting
for anything else. I'm satisfied with him alone. And that is the finest of wheat.
That's not some bare bones minimum. That's the most glorious food
there is. Christ alone. And that's the finest of wheat
that we feed upon. Verse 15, he sendeth forth his
commandment upon the earth. His word runs very swiftly. Speed of light. And I love the
way he sends his commandment on the earth. David said in Psalm
71, thou's given commandment to save me. And his commands
in that sense are always obeyed. Now as far as his commandment
by way of you need to keep this commandment, they're never obeyed.
Not once, not one time has one man ever kept one of his laws
perfectly. Hadn't happened. But, um, salvation
is by his command. Thou has given commandment to
save me. And his word runs very swiftly
at the speed of light. It never returns to him void. Verse 16. Now he talks about
cold weather. Cold weather. You know, the older
I get, the more difficult cold weather is for me. I wear a hat
in the house during the winter. When you're bald, you got to
do that. It's uncomfortable. He giveth snow like wool. He scattereth the hoarfrost like
ashes. He casteth forth his ice like
morsels. Who can stand before his cold?
This is really not talking about cold weather. This is talking
about coldness of heart. That is the chastening of the
Lord. When your heart is cold, you
can't hear the gospel as you would. It may be blessing somebody
else, but it doesn't seem to be blessing you. You're cold
in heart. That's a horrible feeling, isn't
it? When you're just cold, and you know it. That's a lot better
than being lukewarm, when you don't care one way or the other.
Cold is miserable. Hot is miserable. Cold is miserable.
But lukewarm, that's the state of not being hot or cold. I'm
great. I'm good. I'm in good shape.
I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. The
Lord said, you don't know that you're miserable and poor and
blind and wretched and naked. But this cold, this is the chastening
hand of the Lord. Somebody says, what brings on
its chasing? Well, probably a whole lot of things, you know, in our
sinfulness and we become cold and it's miserable. Who can stand
before this cold? I can't. You can't. But look
what happens. He sendeth out his word and melts
them. That's always going to happen
with a believer. He sendeth out his word. What
is it that melts your heart? A word from him. Not a word from
a man, but a word from him. That melts the heart. He causes his wind to blow and
the waters flow. They were frozen, but now they
flow. And he sends forth his wind,
the wind of his spirit. He, verse 19, showeth. His word
unto Jacob. His statutes and his judgments
unto Israel. Now, if you believe it's because
he himself showed you his word. He taught you. He revealed himself
to you. That's an awesome thought, isn't
it? To think that the Lord himself
Revealed his word to me, his statutes, his decrees, his judgments,
the judgments of the cross. Lord's revealed this to me. Why
is it I believe? Why is it that I rejoice in this?
Because the Lord has revealed it unto me. The Lord's been my
teacher. He showeth his word unto Jacob,
his people, the elect, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
The church, remember, they're not all Israel which are of Israel.
The children of the promise are counted to the seed, the true
Israel. Now, look what it says in verse
20. He hath not dealt so with any
nation, only Israel. The other nations were given
no word from God. They were not given the covenant.
And the psalmist understood this. He's picked us out for some reason
in his unscrutable sovereignty. He didn't do this for anybody
else. Now, my attitude of that is not one of pride. Look, he
did this for me. But why me? Why me? He didn't deal with other people
this way. Why me? I hope every one of us are asking
that question. Why would the Lord Show such
mercy where he's revealed his word to me, his statutes, his
decrees. I love him. His judgments, the
judgment of the cross, his accomplishment, justification. He's revealed
them to me. He's not dealt so with any nation
as for his judgments. They've not known them. They
don't even care about it. Not even important to them. They've
not known him. Well, here's the way to end this
thought. Praise ye. the Lord. Amen.