Now we're looking this evening
at the last Psalm, Psalm 150. And I'm entitling the message,
because it says there on the first verse of Psalm 150, Praise
ye the Lord. And the marginal reference says,
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Which means, Praise
ye the Lord. So I'm entitling the message,
The Hallelujah Psalm. The Hallelujah Psalm. in these
six verses we read praise him or praise the Lord 13 times in
these six verses each in each sentence in each phrase it has
that word praise him or praise ye the Lord this indeed is the
life and the light of the believer praise worship and giving glory
unto God alone for His great salvation. This is just not something
that we do, that believers do, it is what we do. It's just not
something we do, it's what we do. We delight to honor and praise
the Lord. As it says here in that last
verse of Luke 24, And they worshipped the risen Lord and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple
praising and blessing God. He is worthy of all honor and
all glory. That is what believers delight
to do to honor our great God. Now we've seen this repeatedly
through the Psalms. Look back at Psalm 34. Psalm
34. we could turn to others, but
we'll look at this Psalm 34, verse 1. This is what believers delight
to do. It's not a put on or a sham. This is what believers delight
to do. Psalm 34, verse 1. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. It's in my mouth
because He's in my heart. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify
the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Isn't
that our desire? To honor, to glorify, to worship,
to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. Worship, think about this, worship
the Father, seek as such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Worship is the effect of the
revelation of the glory of God to our heart, isn't it? Because
He's revealed Himself unto us, we worship Him and we desire
to worship Him. And that's how it describes a
true believer that circumcised in the heart, we worship God
in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Worship is true worship now.
You're only a believer only a believer can worship God. That's right. Only a believer can truly worship
God. God seeketh such to worship Him
in spirit and in truth. Now in each of these last five
Psalms they all begin and they end with praise ye the Lord. I pointed that out before. Obviously
and certainly the Lord Jesus Christ is a beginning and end
of all things in creation in providence and in salvation for
of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be
glory both now and forever that's Romans 11 36 the Lord Jesus Christ
is the author and finisher of our faith And of all of our salvation,
for we know that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation comes
from Him. As I said the other day, salvation
is not from the bottom up, from the top down. It's of the Lord. It's of Him. Of Him. That means it originates with
Him. He's the executor of salvation. He is the applier of salvation. He is the sustainer of salvation. Everything is from Him and to
Him and for His glory. One old preacher of the past
said this, Jehovah, God our Savior, the one and true and living God
should be the one object of our adoration. The one object of
our adoration. To give the least particle of
His honor to another is shameful treason. To refuse to render
it to him that is all honor and glory is heartless robbery."
And it is. He demands, and rightly so, all
honor and glory. Now the book of Psalms in Psalm
1 begins with the blessed man. the blessed man who delight is
in the word of the Lord and the last psalm end with what blessed
man delights to do worship and praise our great God he is worthy
of it and we started our study in the book of Psalms way back
in October of 2009 it seemed like a while back that And now
this evening, we conclude our study in the book of Psalms. And I thought about trying to
go back and pick up some highlights to the book of Psalms, but that
would just take too long because we could turn to every Psalm.
But we've had a delightful journey. It has been a delightful journey.
Many of these Psalms that I preached here on Wednesday night, I preached
also in Kingsport on Sunday night. Why'd you do that, preacher?
Well, it was worth repeating. It was
worth repeating. And I trust the folks found the
Psalms a blessing as you did here. The Psalms, we've learned
this. We've learned this about the
Psalms. They're all about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
aren't they? They're all about the gospel
of Christ. Our Lord said, we just read it a moment ago in
Luke 24, all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law
of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning
Christ. And then it says, He opened their
understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. Oh,
that God would be pleased to open our understanding, to enlighten
our mind, that we might In thy book revealed we sang, in thy
book revealed that we might see the Lord. What a blessing that would be
for God the Holy Spirit to take his word and to reveal the Lord
Jesus Christ unto us again and again and again anew and afresh
over and over again. So the Psalms are all about the
gospel of Christ. How the Good Shepherd, how the
Good Shepherd, everybody knows Psalm 23. but I'm afraid that
most folks who read Psalm 23 don't know the Good Shepherd.
I hate to be negative, but that's just the way it is. They don't
know the author. They know the Psalm, but they
don't know the author. They don't know the Good Shepherd.
You see, the Good Shepherd provides totally for the sheep. The Good
Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Great
Shepherd of the sheep. He provides for the sheep completely
and totally. You see, the Psalms are about
the Lord Jesus Christ, His person. The Psalms are about His substitutionary
death, satisfying God's law and justice for us. All about Him. Psalm 22, the Psalm of the Cross. Psalm 69, the Psalm of the Cross. And then when David talks about
the blessed man in Psalm 32, to whom God imputeth not iniquity,
we know that's because our sin was reckoned to the Lord Jesus
Christ as a believer's substitute. So the Psalms are all about the
Lord Jesus Christ, His sacrifice for us. Psalms are all about
the righteous obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ for us. His
righteous obedience. You remember that Psalm that
talks about His righteousness so much back in Psalm 71. Turn
over there. Psalm 71 verse 1 and 2. In Thee,
O Lord, do I put my trust. Psalm 71. Let me never be put
to confusion. Deliver me in Thy righteousness. You see that? And cause me to
escape. Incline Thine ear unto me and
save me. and then look at Psalm 71 verse
15. My mouth shall show forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day for I know not the
numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness
even thine only. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without work. The Psalms are all about
Christ. You could take that one theme about the righteous obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ and how that is made unto us, our
righteousness, all the way through the Psalms. The righteousness
of Christ. You see salvation is not, is
not what we must do for Him. That's not salvation. Salvation
is what Christ has done for us. Now, Psalm 57. You remember this verse I think this is one of the key
verses it is to me in all the Psalms Psalm 57 verse 2 I will cry unto God Most High
have you got this one marked I will cry unto God Most High
unto God that performeth all things for me and then Psalm
92 turn over there Psalm 92 Psalm 92 verse 4 For thy Lord hath made me glad
through thy work, I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O
Lord, how great are thy thoughts, are thy works, and thy thoughts
are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not, a
fool doesn't understand, but his people, they do. Look at Psalm 98 verse 1. Salvation is what He has done
for us. It's not what we must do for
Jesus. Salvation is what He has done
for us. Psalm 98 verse 1, you remember?
O sing unto the Lord a new song for He hath done a marvelous
thing. His right hand, His holy arm
has gotten Him to victory. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He wins,
we win. He's the head of the body. Think
of this, the whole reason of everything that our great God
does is to the praise of the glory of His grace. Right? The
glory of His grace in Christ Jesus. Remember Psalm, or rather
Ephesians number one, Ephesians the first chapter, talks about
the Father choosing, electing, and predestinating And you remember
what it says, to the praise of the glory of His grace. And then
it talks about the work of the Son in whom we have redemption
through His blood. The forgiveness of sin according
to the riches of His grace, to the praise of the glory of His
grace. The work of the Father, choosing. The work of the Son, redeeming.
And then it talks about the work of the Holy Spirit, in sealing,
in calling. And again it says, to the praise
of His glory. Everything the Triune God does
in accomplishing our salvation is to His glory and His praise. God has made it to be so. Now whether We serve to glorify
His justice. We will either serve to glorify
God's justice or we will serve to glorify God's mercy. One or the other. Everything
will serve God's greater glory. You'll either magnify His holy
justice and eternal condemnation or you'll magnify His holy mercy
to eternal salvation. But He's going to get all the
glory. And rightly so. Rightly so. Now, with that lengthy
introduction, let's look at Psalm 150, verse 1 and verse 2. Praise you the Lord. Praise God
in His sanctuary. Now His sanctuary is a holy place.
The holy place. It was pictured back in the wilderness
in the Holy of Holies, where the mercy seat, the Ark of the
Covenant, Praise God in His sanctuary in the holy place. Praise Him
in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts.
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise ye the Lord. Well, you might say, who's interested
in honoring the Lord Jesus Christ? I tell you who is. Believers.
Believers are interested in worshipping Him. Worshipping Him. Look back at Psalm 146. Psalm
146. Verse 1 and 2. Praise ye the
Lord. Praise the Lord O my soul. While I live will I praise the
Lord. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. I want to praise Him and honor
Him. And then one other Psalm. Psalm
147 verse 1. Psalm 147. Praise ye the Lord. For it is good to sing praises
unto our God, for it is pleasant, yea, praise, and that is worship
as well. It is comely, it is right, it
is proper to honor and worship our God. Now back in Psalm 57
verse 7 it says, My heart, my heart is fixed, O God, My heart
is fixed. I will sing and give praise because
my heart, my heart has been fixed. You see, salvation is a heart
work. God done a work of grace in our heart. We'll talk about
that more in just a minute. Those who have a new heart given
in that work of the Holy Spirit within
us. He said, I'll take away that stony heart. I'll give them a
heart of flesh. a new heart. We are being, we
are believers are partakers of a new nature. Those who have
been made object of His everlasting love they delight to worship
Him for He has loved us with an everlasting love. We love
Him because He first loved us. The believer will worship and
honor the Lord in His sanctuary or in His Holy One Turn back
to Psalm 96 for a minute. Psalm 96. Believers will worship
and honor the Lord in His sanctuary, in the beauty of holiness, or
in the Holy One, that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Psalm 96,
verse 9, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear
before Him all the earth." Look across the page at Psalm 95 verse
6, Oh come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before
the Lord our Maker, for He is our God. We are the people of
His pasture and the sheep of His hand. He made us, you remember? Turn to Psalm 100. Psalm 100
verse 3 know you that the Lord he is God it is he that made
us not we ourselves We are his people and a sheep of his pasture.
He made us The believer will worship and
honor The Lord Jesus Christ he is the Holy One of God You remember
from our study in the book of Hebrews, God said, let all the
angels of God worship Him. And certainly that is directed
to believers. Let all believers worship Him,
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Holy One of God, isn't
He? He certainly is. Psalm 98, listen to this. Psalm
89, rather, verse 18. For the Lord is our defense,
and the Holy One of Israel is our King. So worship Praise God
in His sanctuary. Worship God in His sanctuary,
in the holy place. That is, how do we approach God?
In the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Holy One. Our Lord
said in Hebrews 4, come boldly unto the throne of grace that
you may obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of need. In the
Lord Jesus Christ was all the fullness of God and we're complete
in Him. So worship Him in His sanctuary. That is how do we approach God?
Only through Christ, isn't it? He is the Holy One of God. So
praise Him in the firmament of His power, of His power. Now notice this, the believer
will praise the Lord because of His holiness and the perfection
of His holiness It is only in His holiness in Christ, His righteousness,
that we're made accepted in the Beloved to the praise of His
glory. He is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Not only is that true, but this is also true. Notice, His holiness
and His power. These two are coupled together,
His holiness and His power. The believer will praise Him
in His mighty power, the power of His holiness. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and in earth. The one
who is holy is almighty. He has all power to save. You see, these two are married
together. Isaiah 63 verse 1, it says, The
Lord Jesus Christ is mighty to save. He's holy, right? but he's
also mighty to save. He is the holy, mighty Savior. In Matthew 28, the risen Lord
says, All powers given unto me in heaven and earth, go therefore
and preach the gospel. In John 17 2, he says, All power,
he has authority over all flesh, that he should give all power,
that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath
given him. He has all power. He has the
power of holiness. He has all holiness and all power. He is the mighty, holy Savior. If our God be not almighty, sovereign
and holy, infinite in wisdom and power, we have no hope of
true salvation. You see, what does it take to
save a great sinner? It takes a great, almighty, holy
Savior. He is God our Savior. John Newton. I've got an article in the bulletin
that I picked up somewhere. I think I've used part of this
before. But in this little article, John
Newton is old and he's on his deathbed and he writes to a dear
friend and he says, I have an incurable disease of which there
is no help. And he said it's called old age. And he says, as I get older,
two things come to my mind. I'm a great sinner and the Lord
Jesus Christ is a great Savior. And that's true. That is true. I have an incurable
disease, old age. But I know this, I'm a great
sinner and the Lord Jesus Christ is the great Savior. One other
preacher of the past said this, it is a blessed thing that our
God, that in our God holiness and power are united together. Holiness and power are united
together. Power without righteousness would
be oppression. Righteousness without power would
be too weak for usefulness. But put the two together in an
infinite degree and we have God our Savior. See what he's saying?
put the two together his holiness and his power to an infinite
degree and we have a good description of our Lord Jesus Christ who
is God our Savior. I remembered of another another
scripture over here turn back to Psalm 62 what talks about
his power and his mercy his power and his mercy Psalm 62. You remember
what I called Psalm 62? The only Psalm. But look at verse
11. Psalm 62 verse 11. God has spoken
once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto our
God, also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. Power and mercy. For thou rendest to every man
according to his work. Power and mercy. You know what
that is? That's sovereign mercy. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it's God that shows mercy. Aren't you glad he has all power?
That he is our holy God? And that he saves sinners in
such a way that he is a just God and Savior? That he is the
both just and the justifier of those who believe the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the glorious mystery
of the gospel revealed, isn't it? How God can be just, holy,
and righteous, almighty, and yet be a Savior. A just God and Savior. Now, having
said that, let's look at verse 2. Psalm 150 verse 2. Praise Him And it says this again, Him,
Him, Him, in Him, praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him
according to His excellent greatness. Now, praise Him for His mighty,
His mighty acts. His mighty acts. Reminded me of this Psalm over
back a page, turn back to Psalm 145. Look at verse 1 and following,
Psalm 145, I will extol thee my God, O King, I'll bless thy
name forever and ever. Every day will I bless thee,
I'll praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare
thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty, and thy wondrous works. Shall speak of
the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy Greatness
the greatness of our God praise him for his mighty acts now Two
things come to my mind two things for his mighty acts His decrees
his victories for us and in us for us and in And in us. His mighty acts for us. These are mighty acts. Substitution,
incarnation, resurrection. These are mighty acts for us,
right? And salvation is Christ in you. The hope of glory. Salvation
is the mighty act of God for us. Salvation is a mighty decree
of God, decreeing salvation for us. Don't turn. Let me just read
this to you. This scripture just comes to
my mind here. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, For
God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. For us. You see, that's His mighty act,
isn't it? His mighty act for us. God made Him sin for us who
knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. He was wounded for us. Our transgression
bruised for our iniquities. You see, salvation is God's mighty
act for us. In electing grace, who did the
choosing? He chose us. We did not choose
Him. Election of grace is His mighty act for us. Had the Lord not chosen us, we
never would have believed the gospel. We never would have loved
Him had He not loved us first. Salvation is the mighty act of
God for us in electing grace and in redeeming mercies to us. in whom we have redemption through
His blood. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood to the praise of the glory of His grace." You
see, it's His mighty act for us. It's not that we acted or
even reacted. He acted for us in the way of
mercy, in the way of salvation, as our substitute, as our surety. And then His salvation is a mighty
act of grace in us. In us. Christ in you is the hope
of glory. His mighty act of grace in us.
We call that regeneration. We call that quickening from
the dead. You had the quickened who were
dead. Making us new creatures in Christ
Jesus. I want you to turn and read this
with me. Turn to Philippians chapter 1.
Flipping chapter 1. If any man be in Christ he is a
new creation. Old things are passed away behold
all things are become new. Salvation is his mighty act for
us and in us. Flipping chapter 1, look at verse
6. Being confident of this very thing that God who hath begun
a good work in you will finish what he starts. What begins in
grace will end in glory. God who begun a good work in
you will finish it until the day of our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at Philippians chapter 2
verse 13 Philippians 2 verse 13 for it is God which worketh
in you in you. I could read many many other
scriptures for it is God which worketh in you both the will
and the do of His good pleasure making us new creatures in Christ
Jesus revealing the gospel unto us turn to Philippians or rather
I want Galatians chapter 1 turn over there Galatians chapter
1 revealing Christ unto us Galatians chapter 1 verse 15
but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood." His salvation is a mighty act of grace in us,
making us new creatures in Christ, revealing the Lord Jesus Christ
unto us, imputing unto us a justified righteousness." I quoted that
scripture a moment ago, but it's worth re-quoting. Romans 4, 6,
"...blessed is the man whom the Lord imputed righteousness without
works, and also imparting to us a divine nature that is holy
that cannot sin because it's given of God. Yes, we have that
old man, that old nature, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and yet in regeneration that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit, a new holy nature that cannot sin. Look over here
at Ephesians chapter 4. Paul talks about that several
places here, but let's read Ephesians chapter 4 Look at verse 24. We are partakers of a divine
nature, Peter calls it. In 2nd Peter 1, 4. But look at
Ephesians 4, verse 24. And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created. Wasn't there before. He created
a new holy nature and imparted that to you in regenerating grace. Put on you a new man see that
you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness a holy nature that cannot cannot sin Cannot
sin. Let me read this to you over
here in 3rd John Where it says whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin for his seed is in him and He cannot sin because
he's born of God. That new nature cannot sin. Now the old man, that flesh,
nothing but sin. But that new nature, it's a holy
nature. It's given of God and it cannot
sin. It's a divine nature. You see
what he's saying here? Imparting to us a divine nature. Now back to the Psalm. Psalm
150. All these things he does, I like this word here, verse
2. Praise Him for His mighty acts, His mighty decrees. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. That word according, according
to His excellent greatness. All things that our great God
does are according to His excellent greatness or the multitude of
His greatness. Now think about this verse over
in Philippians 4.19, but my God shall supply all your need according
to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. You see, it's according
to, it gets back to His doing, doesn't it? According to His
doing. And then, don't turn, let me just see if I can find
this for us quickly. I had this on the radio in the
radio message on Sunday From Galatians chapter 1 where it
says the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for us Galatians 1 verse
4 that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God our Father and And then it says, you know
what it says next? To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. It all gets down, the bottom
line this whole thing is, who's going to get the glory? Man or
God? Now you know who is. God Almighty
is going to get all the honor and glory for all things according
to His excellent greatness. His greatness. Psalm 95, we studied
this, verse 3, for the Lord is a great God, a great King above
all gods. He is great. You know everything,
I've said this before, and we've studied this in the Psalms, everything
about our God is great. Exceeding great. Exceedingly
great. His person, He's our great God. His love, His great love were
with, He loved us. even when we were dead in sin. His salvation is called so great
salvation. His mercy, Psalm 145, listen,
the Lord is gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, and
of great mercy. God is great. That is, He is
the greatest. He is greater than all, so great
that all persons and all things are little, yea, Nothing before
Him. The nations are the drop of a
bucket. Nothing before Him. He's that
great. Compared to Him, everything else
is less than nothing and vanity. Isaiah 40. Now in verse 3, 4,
and 5. Praise Him with the sound of
a trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery and the harp, stringed
instruments. Praise Him with the timbrel.
Praise Him with a pipe. Praise Him with stringed instruments,
the piano and the organ. Praise Him with the loud cymbals.
Praise Him with the high-sounding cymbals. Everything God has created,
everything God has given unto His creatures, all things are
to one end, to one purpose, and that's His glory. That's His
glory. Now, when he mentions here all
these different instruments, the trumpet, the sopry, the harp,
the timbrel, the pipe, the organ. Now, that does not mean that
our worship service ought to sound like a rock concert. A rock concert of ungodly men.
Or that we should try to make gospel songs sound contemporary. Or try to make them sound where
it would suit this world's fancy. Try to make them fit this world's
culture. You know they tried to take gospel
songs and put them to rap or rap music and rock and roll music
to try to appeal to the young people. That's ridiculous. All instruments can be used in
a way to honor our great God. That's why they exist. David
played the harp before King Saul. And he did it in such a way to
magnify and honor his God that Saul was happy. Happy. We'll see that as we study through
1 Samuel in the weeks and months to come. All instruments can
be used in a way to honor our great God. The piano, the organ,
the guitar, it can be used in a way that honors our God. That's why they were created.
The old confessions of those men written who were gospel preachers
of the past asked this question in their catechism. What is the
chief end or purpose of man? What is the chief end or purpose
of man? To serve God's greater glory,
to serve God's purpose, and to enjoy Him forever. That's what
it says in verse 6 in closing. Let everything, everything that
hath breath praise the Lord. Everything that breathes. Where
do they get that breath? I mean, if God doesn't give you
your next breath, your flesh is dead. Let everything that has breath,
let everything that lives and moves and crawls and have its
being, you remember in Acts 17, in Him we live and move and have
our being? Everything ought to praise the
Lord. I like to hear the birds sing
in the morning. I believe they're singing praise
to the Lord, their Creator. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord, praise ye the Lord. Every living thing created ought to praise the Lord, and
believers do. But this is especially true of
those made alive and quickened by the Holy Spirit, is it not? Only a believer that's been made
a new creature in Christ can truly praise the Lord and worship
Him. What a day it will be when all
things in all places unite to glorify the one only true and
living God. This will be the final triumph
of the church in Christ to the glory of our God. For we sing
that song in the revelation worthy is a lamb that was slain to receive
all honor, glory, and blessing both now and forever. Amen. You see, it gets down to the
who gets the glory in this thing. I believe that is really the
acid test for every sermon that is preached. Does that sermon
that is preached, does it give man some glory? Does it let the
creature glory in the flesh? Or does it rightly give all the
honor and glory to God alone? You remember in that last verse
of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where it talks about, But of him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption? And the next verse says, Let
him that glorieth glory only in the Lord. Only in the Lord. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, the humble shall hear her of and be glad.