Psalm 113 this evening. And I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 2. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. You see that in verse 2? Blessed
be the name. The name of the Lord. The name
declares who He is. His name declares His character.
The name of the Lord, and notice that's all capital, L-O-R-D,
Jehovah, God our Savior. From this time, right now, from
this time forth, and forevermore, we bless His holy name. God has given Him a name which
is above every name, and at that name every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall confess, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. This psalm, Psalm 113, is considered
another hallelujah psalm. A hallelujah psalm. We had last
week, look back at Psalm 111. Verse one, praise ye the Lord. And that means, notice the marginal
reference, hallelujah. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. And then Psalm 112, verse one,
praise ye the Lord. And again, that's hallelujah.
Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly
in His commandments. And then Psalm 113, Praise ye
the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. It ends, this psalm, it ends
the same way it begins. Look at the last sentence in
verse 9. It begins with, praise ye the
Lord, and it ends with, praise ye the Lord. It's always the
right thing to do, to honor God by believing His Word. This psalm
is thought by some of the commentators to be the psalm that the Lord
sang after instituting the Lord's table. It said that those old
Jews during the Passover, they would sing this song, this song. And remember in Mark chapter
14, when the Lord gathered with his apostles to observe the Lord,
to observe the Passover and then to institute the Lord's table,
it says there in Mark 14, 26, and when they had sung a hymn,
a psalm, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So it could
be the Lord at the Passover They sang this song to the Lord. Now let's look at verse 1. Praise
ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the
Lord. That's what servants want to
do. Servants who are made willing in the day of His power to serve
the Lord out of love and gratitude. And then, O ye servants of the
Lord, praise the name, the name of the Lord. Believers do in
their heart. That word praise means to honor.
We do in our heart praise and honor and we glory and we celebrate
and we worship The Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lord our God,
the Lord our Savior. We glory in all that He is and
every attribute of His holy character. We praise the name of the Lord. Remember that book that we've
read so many times, and many of you have, Arthur Pink's book
on the attributes of God? That's a very good book. We glory
in every attribute of His holy character. every attribute of
His holy character, His sovereignty, His love, His mercy, His grace,
we do praise the name of the Lord for who He is and what He
has done for us. And notice it's a threefold,
it mentions three times in verse 1, the Lord, praise the Lord,
Praise, O you servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the
Lord. Why three times? Father, Son,
Holy Spirit. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord in the character
of the Trinity. Our God is revealed as God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The grand design
of the Lord and redemption And salvation is to the praise of
the glory of His grace. It's all about His glory. Not
the glory of man, but the glory of God. The glory of His grace
in election, the glory of His grace in redemption, putting
away our sin by the shedding of His blood, and then the glory
of in regeneration, raising us from the dead. Who gets the glory
in that? He gets all the glory, doesn't He? We praise ye the
Lord. Praise ye the Lord. It says here
that that's what servants do. O ye servants of the Lord. That's
an honor and a blessing to be called a servant of the Lord.
The Apostle Paul called himself, oftentimes, more than he probably
called himself the Apostle, he called himself, remember, the
servant. The servant of the Lord. It's
a high title. Believing servants of the Lord
are taken up and occupied in honoring the name of the Lord,
who He is. and what he has done. Call his
name. Remember Matthew chapter 1? Call
his name. What? Savior. Jesus. Who's the Savior? For he shall
save his people from their sin. We're taken up with his name. His name declares who he is.
You remember Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, and he is the Prince, Prince of Peace. He made peace for us with his
own blood. Those who are his servants, are
his willing servants. You remember, right across the
page, look at Psalm 110 verse 3. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of his power, in the beauty of holiness, from the
womb of the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. His servants
are made willing to serve the Lord with gladness, with gladness. God's people serve the Lord willingly,
cheerfully, with much pleasure and delight. God's people are
zealous of the Lord's glory, aren't they? They will not give
the glory to any but the Lord Himself. Being the Lord Himself. Now look at verse 2. So you servants
of the Lord were servants of Him. We serve him by serving
his people, don't we? Look at verse two, blessed be,
blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord from
this time forth and forevermore. If you hold your place there,
remember, turn back over here to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus
chapter 34 talks about the name of the Lord. And there's many
other scriptures we could read. Know of the name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. But Exodus 34, where
I want you to turn, look at verse 5. Exodus 34 at verse 5, the
Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed
the name of the Lord. Remember Paul said, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And the
Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord. Notice Jehovah,
God our Savior, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, upon the children's children, and
to the third and fourth generation. Moses made haste, bowed his head
toward the earth, and worshipped God for who He is, the Lord God
Almighty. God who is God, blessed be the
name of the Lord. Turn back to Psalm 103. This
is a familiar psalm. Look at verse 1 in Psalm 103. Psalm 103, verse 1. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. We do praise the name of the
Lord. God has highly exalted Him, our
Lord Jesus Christ, and given Him a name which is above every
name, that at that name every knee should bow, every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Holy and Reverend is
His name. Look right up the page. If you
have the Cambridge I'm looking at, in Psalm 111, right up the
page, Verse 9, the top of the page, He sent redemption unto
His people, He commanded His covenant forever, holy and reverent
is His name. His name is holy and reverent. We bless His name for who He
is. Who He is. Back in the text,
Psalm 113, verse two. Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time, right now. When is the time we should praise
the Lord and worship the Lord? Right now. From this time forth
and forevermore. That is the occupation of believers
now and forever. through all eternity. From the
beginning of time, let everything that hath breath praise ye the
Lord. From the time of our conversion
in grace, when we're made new creatures in Christ, in the time
when the Lord reveals himself unto us, it's time to Bless the
Lord and honor His name. I like what Paul says in Ephesians
chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed us. We bless Him
because He blessed us. with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ according as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world. We praise His name and
we bless His name as much as we can from this time forth and
forevermore. Forevermore, throughout all eternity,
our song will be worthy as a lamb that was slain to receive all
honor, glory, blessing, and power, both now and forever. Forever. We bless His name. Now
look at verse 3. He enlarges upon that. Bless
the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Look at verse 3. From the rising
of the sun. We're blessed with a sunrise every morning, aren't
we? We ought to thank the Lord. Another
sunrise. We see another sunrise. From
the rising of a sun, what should we do? Bless the name of the
Lord. Bless the name of the Lord. From
the rising of a sun until the going down of the same. Sun comes
up in the east, goes down in the west. All day long, we ought
to be mindful of who the Lord is and what He has done for us.
From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the
Lord's name, there it is again. He's making a lot of His name,
isn't it? His name is to be honored, praised,
and exalted. Not only in reference to time,
From the morning until the evening, the servants of the Lord then
includes all his people, delight to meditate and think upon his
name, his person, his person and his work all the day long. All the day long. But also in
place, in reference to a place. To a place. From the east to
the west. In other words, the name of the
Lord is be praised in the far east and the far west. Everywhere
the name of the Lord is to be praised. That's why the Lord
instructed his apostles to go into all the world, go into all
the world and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He has a people that he will
call out through this whole world, through the preaching of the
word, through the preaching of the gospel. Turn over here to
Isaiah 43. Remember this scripture? The
Lord has a people in the east to the west that he will call
out with the preaching of the word. Look at Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 verse 5. Fear not, for I am with thee.
I'll bring thy seed from the east. I'll gather thee from the
west, I'll say to the north, give up, to the south, keep not
back, bring my sons from far, my daughters from the ends of
the earth, everyone that is called by my name. I have created him
for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him." God's
jealous of his name. Jealous of his name. That's why
it said, don't take the name of the Lord in vain. The Lord
has a people throughout this whole world out of every kindred,
tribe, nation, tongue, and people under heaven. Now, we have some
reasons given in verse 4 and following why we should bless
the name of the Lord, why we should praise the name of the
Lord. Look at verse 4. The Lord is
high above all Now, how many nations are there in this world? There are a lot
of nations. A lot of nations, they think China, well they think
there's something, don't they? Russia, they think there's something,
don't they? All the different nations we
have all around the world, the Lord is high above. Turn back
to Isaiah again. Let me show you something interesting
here. Isaiah 40. These nations, they think they're
it. Even the United States. Now, I'm thankful we have a country.
I'm thankful to live, that we live in a country that we still
have some freedoms left. But all the great nations you
think of, China, Russia, India, that's a great nation, right?
Look at Isaiah 40 verse 15. They are counted to him less
than nothing. Vanity. Zero. That's powerful,
isn't it? Look back to the text again.
The Lord is high above all nations. High above all nations. All nations
are under the absolute sovereign control of God Almighty. They're not gonna do one thing
out of His control. They're under His control. The
King's heart in the hand of the Lord. And He turns it with us
wherever He will. Whatsoever the Lord is pleased
to do, that's what He does. So the Lord is high above all
people, all nations, all kings, all presidents. There's none
higher than Him. There's none higher than Him.
He's the Lord God Almighty. And then it says in verse 4,
the second part, and His glory is above the heavens. How high
is the heavens? How high are the heavens? We
see the air above the earth with the birds fly. Then above that,
we see the clouds, the sun, the moon, the planet, the galaxy,
all the different universes. The Lord is high above all things. You got the point there? He's
high above all things. Therefore, we have valid reason
to praise the Lord. You remember in Isaiah, we read
several times where he said, I am the Lord, beside me there
is no other. I am the Lord, the only just God and Savior. Our blessed Lord is higher than
the highest. He's called King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. Turn just one page, look at Psalm
115. You remember this? Psalm 115 verse one, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. There's that name
again. Can't get away from that name.
The Lord Jesus Christ. Unto thy name give glory, for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where now is their God? Our God is in the heavens. And he had done whatsoever he
had pleased. He's high above all things. Let me read this to you. Psalm
135. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. For I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord
is above all gods, whatsoever the Lord please, that did He
in heaven, earth, seas, and all deep places. Our God is God,
absolute sovereign over all things. But back to Psalm 113 again. The Lord is high above. Can you
preach Him too high? Can you preach Him too big? Can
you give Him too much glory? No. I'd like to be guilty of doing
that. Giving the Lord too much honor, glory, and praise. From the rising of the sun to
the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.
It's to be worshiped, honored, reverenced. The Lord is high
above. That's why. The Lord is high
above all nations, all people, all kingdoms. The government's
upon His shoulders and His glory above the heavens. Now, verse
5, who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high? And notice the marginal reference
on that word dwelleth. He exalted Himself. He's highly
exalted. Highly exalted. Who is like unto
the Lord our God who dwelleth? He dwelleth. He dwelleth on high. He dwells on high. There is none
like our God and our Savior. Listen to this scripture, Jeremiah
10. Jeremiah 10, verse 6. And there
is none like unto thee, O Lord. Thou art great, and thy name
is great in might. He dwells on high. I want you
to turn with me to read these. Turn back to Psalm 71, verse
19. Psalm 71, verse 19. High above. Psalm 71, verse 19. Verse 19, Psalm 71. This whole
Psalm is about the righteousness that we have in Christ. Thy righteousness
also, O God, is very high. Who hath done great things, O
God? Who is like unto thee? There's none like our God. None
like our God. Turn a couple pages over, find
Psalm 86, verse 8. Psalm 86, verse 8. Among the gods there is none
like unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto
thy works. All nations whom thou hast made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name, for thou art great and doest wondrous things. Thou
art God alone. Alone. Turn one page, Psalm 89,
verse 6. For who in the heavens, Psalm
89, 6, who in the heavens can be compared unto the Lord? Who
among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? God
is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to
be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord, God
of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness
round about? There's none like our God. What's he like? Well, we don't
have to guess about that or speculate about that. He told us in his
word who he is, what he's like, all of his attributes, all of
his characteristics. God is God and he's holy in all
things. The Lord Jesus Christ, after
accomplishing our salvation, where did he go? When he by himself
purged our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Who is like unto the Lord our
God, who dwelleth, he dwells on high. You know the blessedness
of the gospel is, he dwelleth on high and we dwell in him because
we're one with him. Where he is, we are. We read
it a moment ago, but our God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved. He's raised us up to make us sit together in the heavenlies
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward
us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is exalted and seated at the
right hand of God, right? And we're exalted and seated
in Him right now. As He is, so are we in this world. Let's look back to the text. Now here's an amazing, amazing
statement here. Our God is high above. He dwells
on high. There's none higher than Him.
Now look at verse 6. He humbles Himself. He humbled
Himself to behold the things that are in heaven. and in the
earth. He humbled himself. Speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ made flesh and dwelt among us. Turn
over here to Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. Remember
this scripture? I got to looking at that word
there. Humbleth himself. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians
chapter 2. He humbleth himself to behold
the things that are in heaven and in the earth. Philippians
chapter 2. Look at verse six. Who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself. You see that? Became obedient
unto death. even the death of the cross,
wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name,
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, the Lord
Jesus, Savior, every knee should bow in heaven, in earth, under
the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord through the glory of God the Father. Look back at Psalm 113. He humbled
himself to behold the things that are in the earth. He humbled
himself to be our substitute, didn't he? Not to be equal with
God, but he took upon himself the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Amazing grace, is it not? Although the Lord our God is
Savior, as Savior is the most high God, exalted above, He humbles
Himself to behold His creation. He humbles Himself to come to
save His people from their sin. It says in Psalm 138, Though
the Lord be high, yet He hath respect unto the lowly. Turn over here to Isaiah 57. Isaiah 57. I've got this written
down, but I want you to read it with me. Isaiah 57. Talking about what the old timers
called his condescending grace. Condescending grace. Isaiah 57,
look at verse 15. Isaiah 57, verse 15. For thus sayeth the high and
lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in
the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive
the heart of the contrite one. He's high and lofty and yet he
condescends to poor vile sinners. Now, look back to Psalm 113. He humbles himself to behold
the things that are in heaven and in the earth. And then look
what it says in verse 7. He raises up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth the needy out of
the dunghill. Now if you see the reference
on verse 7, 1 Samuel chapter 2, let me just read it to you.
1 Samuel chapter 2, you remember the prayer of Hannah? She was
a barren woman, and she prayed to the Lord for a man-child,
and she said to the Lord, if you give me a man-child, I'll
give him back to you. And Hannah prayed this, in 1
Samuel, Chapter 2, verse 8, and that's the reference on verse
7 there, you see that? The Lord killeth and maketh alive,
he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh
poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up. He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the
beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes. and to make
them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's. He has set the world upon them.
He raises the beggar from the dust. And that's what He does
in saving mercy to us. Where did He find us? Bankrupt
sinners in the dust. Dead in sin. And what did He
do by His grace? His purpose in grace? Giving
us in Christ before the foundation of the world? In time, He raises
us up. He raises us up from the dead,
you happy quickened who were dead and trespassed, and in sin,
that we might be glorified in Him. This is why He came. Look
over here in Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61. This is familiar to
you, Isaiah 61. The Lord quotes this in Luke
chapter 4 and says, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears. Look at Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. Because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, Isaiah
61 verse 1, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to point unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be
called trees of righteousness to planting of the Lord, that
he may be glorified. It all gets back to his glory,
doesn't it? That he may be glorified. Back to the text, Psalm 113. He raises up the poor out of
the dust. The dust can't do anything for
itself. A dead sinner can't do anything for himself. And he
raises us up and lifts us up, the needy. And David said many
times in other Psalms, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks
upon me. Now look at verse 8. That he
may set him with the princes, even the princes of his people.
Now, you remember Turn to Revelation chapter 1. And this is what he's
saying here. He raises up vile, poor sinners. And notice, they're not only
in the dust, they're in the dung hill. And you know what the dung
hill is, don't you? That's the manure pile. That's
where he finds us, on the dunghill of sin, depravity, and death. Without God, without hope, and
without Christ. He makes us new creatures in
Christ. That he may set him with princes, even the princes of
his people. Revelation 1, verse 5. Jesus Christ, who is a faithful
witness, first begotten of the dead, unto the prince of the
kings of the earth, unto him that loved us, washed us from
our sins in His own blood. Now notice, it's unto Him who
loved us and because He loved us, He washed us from our sin
in His own blood and made us kings and priests unto our God
and His Father. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Now, it's all about what
He has done for us. He humbles Himself. to be our
blessed Savior. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He raises up poor vile sinners
and lifts them from the dunghill of sin that He may set them with
the princes, even the princes of His people. You remember the
story of King David and the son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, that
poor cripple? David said, go fetch him and
bring him. I'm going to set him at my table, and he's going to
sit at my table as a king's son. That's what he's done for us.
Then verse 9. He makes the barren, the barren
woman to keep house, or to dwell in a house, and to be a joyful
mother of children. Praise ye the Lord. The Lord gives. The Lord gives
this precious gift. Now, a couple things here, and
I'll let you go. The Lord makes the barren fruitful. By nature, we are barren sinners,
and he makes us fruitful. You remember the story of Sarah,
Rachel, the wife of Manoah, Hannah, Elizabeth, They were all examples
of God's miraculous power, making the barren woman to have children
rejoicing in the Lord. But more so, those who by nature
are barren, without life, without hope, without God and without
Christ, by His grace, He makes us fruitful sons of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. Sons of God. Now who gets the
glory for all of our salvation? The last line in verse 9. He ends the way it begins. Praise
ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. He's given us life and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were barren on the dunghill
of sin, dead in the dust, and He'd given us life, life and
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And who gets the glory? Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name do we give glory
for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. You remember we read a
moment ago in Psalm 115, the whole of our salvation is unto
the praise of the glory of His grace, isn't it? If you read
Ephesians chapter 1, it talks about God's electing grace to
the praise of the glory of His grace. It talks about the Son
redeeming a people, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sin, all according to the praise of the glory of
His grace. And then when it talks about regeneration, we're sealed
under the day of redemption to the praise of the glory of His
grace. His name is a glorious name. He's our Savior. He's our God. And we do as much as we can in
this flesh. Now, think about this. One day,
when we drop this robe of flesh, and we rise to be with the Lord,
or when the Lord comes back and raises our body up from the dead,
We'll really praise the Lord without sin, without distraction. What a glorious day that will
be. Forevermore, praising the Lord, worshiping the Lord without
sin, without distraction. I look forward to it. Don't you?