Okay, Psalm 138. I'm entitling
the message from what is said in verse 1. Wholehearted praise. Wholehearted praise. I will praise Thee, honor Thee,
worship Thee with my whole heart, and I'll do it before the gods,
before the gods of this world. So the title is Wholehearted
Praise. Now this is another blessed psalm
a Psalm of David, and it expresses, it expresses what every believer
wants to do, and desires to do, and delights to do, and that
is to praise and honor God who is God. It says in Psalm 103,
one of my favorite Psalms, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all
that is within me, bless His holy name. And then David said,
I will, verse 1, I will praise thee, thee, thee, the true and
living God. I will praise thee with wholehearted
praise before the gods of this generation, before the gods of
this religious world, before the idols of men. I will sing
praise unto thee. Now, of what value would half-hearted
praise be? or insincere praise. What value
would half-hearted praise and love and worship be? Well, it'd
be nothing but hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is not half-hearted. Not half-hearted. We believe
Him in sincerity and truth with all that is within us. Whole-hearted
praise. Now, we need a broken heart to
mourn over our sin. It says in Psalm 34, He's nigh
unto them of a broken heart, save it such as be of a contrite
spirit. But we need a whole heart to
praise Him. And this whole heart is a new
heart. A new heart that's given in regeneration. It's given in regeneration to
praise Him. to believe Him. He has to make
us new creatures in Christ to enable us to believe Him, love
Him, and worship the Lord as He ought to be. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. While our worship is not perfect, believers do worship in sincerity. not with hypocrisy. We worship
Him, and true worship has to be in spirit and in truth. There
is no true worship apart from the truth being declared. The
Father seeketh such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Our
new heart, regenerated by the Spirit of God, is one who thanks
upon the Lord. This new heart, and this is talking
about a new divine nature, given in regeneration, of which we
are partakers of a divine nature. This new heart, this heart given
by God's grace, thinks upon the Lord. He enables us, through
His Word, to think right thoughts of Him as He is. This new heart,
this regenerated heart, meditates upon His Word. We meditate upon
His Word. Look over here at Psalm 143,
verse 5. I remember the days of old, and
I meditate on all thy works. I muse or I ponder on the work
of thy hand. Psalm 143, 5. We think right
thoughts about Him. This new heart loves to meditate
upon Him, His Word, His Truth, His Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ. This new heart, given in regeneration,
this new heart sets its affections on things above. not on the things
of this earth. This new heart is given a right
understanding. Our understanding has been enlightened. He brought us out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. He has enlightened
us by His grace. And this new heart does pray,
Lord, Thy will be done in earth and in heaven as it pleases You. He worketh all things after the
counsel all things." The Scriptures make clear all things, not some
things. All things after the counsel
of His own will. And this new heart, this divine
nature, this believing heart given to us by His sovereign
grace, we do bow and submit unto the will of Almighty God. We
bow to His will. We do pray, Lord, Thy will be
done. Now, look what it says in the
second part of verse 1. Before the gods, before the gods,
before the gods and idols of men, David said, I will sing
praise unto Thee. Now David, David was not embarrassed. David, the king of Israel. David
was a sinner saved by God's grace. But David wasn't embarrassed
or ashamed to own God who is God, to declare and sing praise
to the Lord of Lords in the face of idols and the opposition of
men. He wasn't ashamed to own his
God. David, while contending for the
truth, you know what he did? He poured contempt upon the mere
idols of men and upon those that trusted in the mere idols of
men. He contended for the faith, and
in doing so, he poured contempt upon the idols of men. Now, you
remember from Psalm 115, and also from Psalm 135, turn back
over there. Look at verse 15 in Psalm 135.
You remember? He made fun. He mocked, like
Elijah did on Mount Carmel. Where is your God? Where is Baal?"
Maybe he's on vacation. No wonder he doesn't hear you.
No wonder he doesn't answer by fire. Pervent your heat. Maybe
he's sleeping. The idols of the heathen are
silver and gold, the work of men's hands. That's the God of
this world. That's the God of this religious
world. They have mouths, but they speak not. They have eyes,
but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't
hear. Neither is their breath, and their mouth are dead. They
that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusts
them." Impotent, useless, helpless gods of men. While David contended
for the truth, he poured contempt upon the idols of men and upon
those who Trust them. I've been criticized for being
too tough on false religion. Can you be too tough? You know when the enemy rails
back during the Civil War, you remember old Stonewall Jackson?
The enemy didn't want to see the the soldiers of Jackson coming
because he believed in giving them the bayonet. Why did he
give them the bayonet? Because the enemy feared that. What did they fear? We're going
to give them more of it. Give them the bayonet. Stonewall Jackson. Thomas Jackson. I stood at his
grave. Give them the bayonet. This word
here, praise, also has the meaning of confession. Our confession
of the gospel of Christ is wholehearted confession. It's a wholehearted
confession. We own all that He is. We own
all that He is. We own all that He does before
this ungodly world. Now, what does He do? Turn back to Psalm 135 one more
time. Verse 6, you remember from our
study in verse 6? Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
He's going to do all of His pleasure. That did He in heaven, O in the
seas and the deep places. Now let's just forget about the
earth. No, He's going to do all of His
pleasure in heaven and earth, the sea and all deep places. How important is publicly owning,
praising, and confessing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How important is it? Absolutely. The Lord has no secret disciples. Listen to this scripture, you
know it, Matthew 10. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, Him will I confess before my Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven." We publicly own Him
and confess Him as He is. And when the enemies of the gospel
rail against us, preacher, won't you just tone
it down a little bit? Can't you just take the fence
off? Not be so offensive? When they rail against us, should
we be silent? Should we tone it down? Should
we just curb our message a little bit? Oh no. If we preach to please men, we're
not the servants of Christ. Mark it down. Rather, we should, and we do,
plainly declare the truth. You know it's the truth that
sets people free, not the lies of men. God doesn't use the lies
of men to teach the truth. That's impossible. He teaches
the truth, David, to set us free. God is God Almighty. It says that. We've studied it.
We've read it. Isaiah 45, 46. He said, I am God. Beside me
there is no other. There is no other. I repeat what that clown said
on TV. God is not able to do His will. His God, His God can't. The God of Scripture does according
to His will in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places. His
will. Will the will of God be done?
Absolutely. He said, I've spoken it. I'll
bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I will do it. Now we've read that more than
one time. Isaiah 46, 9 through 12. Secondly,
look at verse Psalm 138, I will praise thee, I will sing praise
unto thee, verse 2, I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise
thy name for your loving kindness and for your truth because you've
magnified your word above all thy name. Believers worship and
confess his name. We worship as it says there toward,
we worship toward the Holy Temple." Now this is significant. David,
in his day, approached God in a prescribed manner with the
appointed priest. You remember there was a king
in Israel who went in and thought he could act like he was a priest? Uzzah? Was it Uzzah? No. Uzziah. The day that King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Uzziah went in and thought he
could act as the priest and offer a sacrifice. You remember what
happened to him? God smote him with leprosy and
he died. Even David, the king of Israel,
had to approach God the prescribed way. With the appointed priest,
with the appointed sacrifice, the appointed way, at the appointed
place, the holy temple. What was significant about the
holy temple or the tabernacle? The mercy seat. The mercy seat. Bled on the mercy seat, the appointed
place. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great high priest. He's the appointed priest with
the appointed sacrifice and He is the mercy seat. He is a propitiation
for our sin. The only way we can come boldly
under the throne of grace and obtain mercy and grace to help
in time of need is because we have an appointed priest, the
great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, who didn't bring the
sacrifice of bulls and goats, but His own blood, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. We also confess His name, we
worship toward that holy temple, and we worship God in Christ.
He's the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father
but through Him. And we pray, we confess His name. We confess His name, who He is.
God our Savior. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. We confess His name. The Lord Jesus Christ. We confess His
name. We own Him as who He is. He's
Lord of heaven and earth. Father has given Him power over
all flesh. He has absolute sovereign power
over all flesh. He's the Lord and He's our blessed
Savior. Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sin. We confess his name, his Lord,
his Lordship. We confess that he is the Savior
of sinners and we confess that he is the Christ. Peter, whom
do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. He is God our Savior and we own
him as he is. We own him who he is and what
he's done. We also confess and own and celebrate
His character, His nature, His attributes, for it says there,
for His lovingkindness, His mercy, His longsuffering,
His grace. He loved us with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness He does draw us to Himself. And
we confess His name, we own His attributes, His mercy, His lovingkindness,
And we confess His truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is full
of grace and truth. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now the last part
of verse 2, it says there, thou hast magnified thy word
above thy name." Now here's the reason why that we worship Him,
that we confess Him, that we own and celebrate His character,
His nature, all of His attributes, because the Lord God Almighty
has magnified the Lord Jesus Christ above all things. God hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that after
that name every knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess
that he is Lord. Thou hast magnified the Lord
Jesus Christ, highly exalted him, when he hath by himself
purged our sin, he sat down on the right hand of the throne
of God." That's pretty high, isn't it? Thou hast magnified
the Word, And that's Christ above or over all things. He is Lord to the glory of God
the Father. The incarnate Word, God Almighty,
manifests in the flesh, is magnified or glorified in all things. In
His incarnation, what did the angels sing? Glory to God in
the highest. In His crucifixion, to this world
is foolishness, but unto us is the wisdom and power and glory
of God. His resurrection, delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification, magnifies
the glory of His grace, the glory of His mercy, and the glory of
His love. He's magnified the Lord above
all things. And we confess Him, we own Him,
we worship Him, we celebrate His character, His attributes,
His doing. God is God. Now look at verse
3. In the day when I cried, you
answered me and strengthened me with strength. Now notice
what it says here, strength in my soul. Now, the Apostle Paul
was known as a very, he said, I was with you in meekness and
fear. The Apostle Paul was noted, I've
read the accounts of some, and I don't know how accurate they
are, but the Scriptures seem to kind of bear this out, that
he was a weak, scrawny, half-blind man. He wasn't a big, he wasn't
a... impressive looking person. He said, we have this treasure
in an earthen vessel that the excellency of the power may be
of God and not of us. And the day when I cried, David
says, you answered me and strengthened me with strength in my soul,
in my soul, in my heart, not in my bones, not in my muscles,
in my soul. in my real person." Here's one
of the many distinguishing characteristics of a true and living God. He
hears our prayers and answers them according to His eternal
and sovereign mercy, in due time. Because He is a living God, He
hears our prayers and our cries, and because He's the Almighty
God, He answers our prayers in the way that He sees fit. God
always answers our prayers. in the way He sees fit. That's why we're taught to pray,
Thy will be done. And He does give us strength
inwardly. Turn over here to Psalm 143,
again, verse 1. You know, when the Apostle Paul
prayed for the church over in Ephesians chapter 3, don't turn,
let me just see if I can get this. You find Psalm 143, verse
1. And let me read this to you over here in Ephesians 3. When
he prayed for the church, here's what he said, that he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man. This old man is perishing,
but the inner man is renewed day by day. Now, Psalm 143, look
at verse 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord, give
ear to my supplication. In your faithfulness, answer
me, and in your righteousness. In your faithfulness, and in
your righteousness. Don't answer me upon my faithfulness
and my righteousness, but upon yours. See what he's saying? Now look at verse 4 in our text. The day when I cried, you answered
me, all the kings of the earth. Verse four, shall praise thee. Every knee's gonna bow, every
tongue gonna confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Oh Lord, when they hear the words
of his mouth, when they hear his word, his command, they're
gonna praise him, either to the glory of his grace or to the
glory of his justice, but they're gonna praise the Lord. one way
or the other, because He's God, and deserving of all praise. Look at verse 5. Yea, they shall sing in the ways
of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Those who
are blessed to hear shall worship, praise, and sing of the ways
of the Lord in His great glory. In all the ways of salvation,
God bring great glory to His name. God's greatest glory is
my greatest need. Lord, show me Your glory. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. That's my greatest need.
God's greatest glory is my greatest need. I need mercy. Now, verse
6. Though the Lord be high, Can you preach Him too high?
Can you exalt Him too high? How high is the Lord? Just as
high as you can imagine. He's the most high God. But though the Lord be high,
yet He has respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knows are far
off. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. He's the Most High God, and yet,
He came to save the lowly, the lowly, the lowly, the lowly,
the lowly. You remember last week, Psalm
136 verse 23, Who remembered us in our lowest state, For His
mercy endures forever. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save the lowly, The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all exception, that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Paul said, I'm
the chief one. I want you to turn and read this
with me. Isaiah 57. Turn over there. Isaiah 57. Isaiah
57, look at verse 15. Isaiah 57, 15. For thus saith
the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy,
I dwell in a high and holy place with him also that is a contrite,
bruised, humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, to
revive the heart of the contrite one. He remembers our frame. He knows that we're but dust
back to the text. Though the Lord be high, yet
he saves sinners. That's why he came. Didn't come
to call the righteous, sinners unto repentance. But the proud,
now look at this, verse 6, the proud, he knoweth them afar off. The
proud, those are full of pride, religious pride. You know the
Lord had the sharpest rebukes for those who went about to establish
the righteousness of their own. He said to those on one occasion
you or they would justify yourselves before men, but God knows your
heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in my sight. The proud, the Lord
knows them. The proud, the self-righteous,
but He knows them at a distance. He does not know them with that
intimate love as He does His elect. The foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are
His. The proud, He says to them in Matthew 7, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. The proud, God hates a proud
heart. The proud, He knoweth at a distance,
so He knows them, but He doesn't love them. He knows them at a
distance, not an intimate relationship with those who are full of religious
pride. who promote the creature free will at the expense of Almighty
God. That sickens me. It sickens me. It sickens me. Well, we don't want to offend
sinners. I'd much rather tell the truth
and offend men than tell a lie and offend God. I don't want
to offend God. Look at verse 7. Though I walk,
I live. Verse 7. We can all identify
with this, especially us older ones. Some of you younger ones
just getting started on this walk. You want the head of you?
Trouble. Trouble. Trouble. Trouble's coming. Trouble's coming. I just mark
it now. Trouble's coming. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, I live in the midst of trouble,
yet thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me." Now give me just a minute here on this verse. Believers
are no strangers to trouble. You read through the scriptures.
The Lord had One son without sin, none without
sorrow. The Lord Jesus Christ, a man
of sorrow, acquainted with grief." We are either, listen to this,
I got this from Donnie Bell, we're either in trouble, coming
out of trouble, or going into trouble. I mean, that's just
where we live. We live in trouble. I walk through
the midst of trouble. Man that's born of woman, I've
been reading through the book of Job, Boy, what an interesting
book. We might do a study through the
book of Job in the coming years, Lord willing. Man that's born
a woman is few days and full of trouble. Full of trouble. Just as the sparks fly upward,
man's born to trouble. Few days and full of trouble.
Our Lord said in John 16, these words I've spoken unto you, that
in me you might have peace, because in this world you're going to
have trouble. I'll be a good chair." I've overcome. The Apostle Paul, blessed of
God, called of God, used of God in such a special way, but you
read through the book of Acts and read the epistles, here was
a man that was always in trouble. Every town he went to, there
was trouble. trouble, beaten, shipwrecked,
stoned, drug out of the city, dead, cast in prison, and finally
his head was taken off. Remember what we read in Philippians
chapter 1? What things happened to me happened unto me to the
furtherance of the gospel. God put him in prison that he
might write the epistles to us. Well, what a blessing. Now from
our perspective, why did God do that? Why did God put him
in prison? Here was a man all blessed of God. How about old
John the Baptist? What happened to him? Right in
the prime of his ministry, God took his head off. God took him
to glory, in a heartbeat. What a blessing. The Apostle Paul had his head
removed, and here's what he said, we're trouble on every side,
yet we're not distressed. We're perplexed. We don't understand
all these things. I don't. Don't claim to. I don't have all the answers.
I know who does. We are perplexed, but we're not
in despair. We're persecuted. You know anything
about that? You're God the monster. will
get ready to meet a monster. God is God. Persecuted, but not
forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. The trials we endure come from
the hand of our loving Father. That's why He calls them precious
trials. Precious trials. The Apostle
Paul enduring affliction." And you know what he said? He said,
these light afflictions, they work for us, but not against
us. For all things to the believer,
all things are working out, working to our eternal good. All things
work together for good to them who love God, who are called
according to God's purpose. Believers don't despair for three
reasons that's stated in that verse. Thou will revive me. God will. He'll take care of
us. He said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.
Paul and Silas, down in that Philippian jail, beaten, hated,
mocked, imprisoned. What were they doing? Singing
praises to the Lord. Thou wilt revive us in the midst
of bondage, the good shepherd He'll take care of his sheep.
And then secondly, he says, thou shall stretch forth the hand
against the wrath of the enemies. He will defend us. He will defend
us against our enemies. Look what he says in verse 24
of Psalm 136. You remember this from last week?
He hath redeemed us from our enemies. Because His mercy endures
forever. We don't despair because He will
revive us. He gives us life, life, and life. Regenerates us, revives us, enlivens
us, blesses us. He defends us. If God before
us, then tell me. Tell me! Who then can be against
us? No! And then he says, lastly,
the third reason, thy right hand. I like that statement. The right
hand. The man at his right hand. Thy
right hand shall save me. Yeah, I've got trouble. Yeah,
I live in the midst of trouble. But God will revive us. He will
deliver us and save us. Yeah, trouble's coming. But He'll
bless us. He'll never leave us. He'll never
forsake us. Because it says in the next verse,
verse 8, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will perfect it. He will perform it. He will complete
it. Have you ever started a project and
quit? Have you ever started a project and just kind of quit on it?
Yeah, I'll finish it later. Maybe you get around to it, maybe
you don't. Every project the Lord starts,
the project of saving sinners, He never, never quits until the
job is done, perfected. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. He will accomplish, He will perform
that which concerns all His people. One of my favorite Psalms, Psalm
57-2, says, God performeth all things for me. He'll never forsake the object
of His grace. He'll keep working on it, and
working on it, and working on it, and working on it, until
He takes us to glory, and it'll be perfect. The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever.
That's what Psalm 136 is all about. Forsake not. Now look
at this. Forsake not. Will He forsake the work of His
hand? Will He forsake the work of His
own hand? No. His mercy endures forever and
the Lord will never leave us. We are His workmanship. He made
us new creatures in Christ. I'm going to close by having
you read this with me. Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64. Look at this. Isaiah 64. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. He will not forsake the work
of His hands. We are called the sheep of His
pasture and the work of His hand. You look at Isaiah 64 there. Let me read this to you. You stay there in Isaiah. Know ye that the Lord, He is
God, it is He that made us, not we ourselves. We are his people
and the sheep of his pasture. Isaiah 64, look at verse 6. We all as an unclean thing, and
all our righteousness does are as filthy rags, and we all do
fail as a leaf. Our iniquities like the wind
have taken us away. There is none that calls upon
thy name. Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold, hold, hold, hold on there.
There is none that calls upon thy name. Well, I thought man had a free
will. He can just call him anytime he wants. "...there is none that
calls upon his name that stirreth up himself to take hold of God."
No man stirs up himself. Now, there's been some men stirred
by the power of God, and they've been made willing in the day
of His power, but no man stirs up himself to call upon God. to take hold of a true and living
God, for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us
because of our iniquities." Now look at verse 8, but now, O Lord,
thou art our Father, we are the clay, thou our potter, we are
all the work of thy hand. We're the work of his hand. We
say with the Apostle Paul, I am what I am by the grace of God. by the grace of God. Isn't that
a delightful psalm? That's a delightful psalm. Thou
wilt perfect that which concerneth me. He'll perfect all the matters
of salvation, righteousness, justification. He will perfect
all that concerneth me. His mercy endures forever. He
will not forsake the work of His own hands.