I thank the Lord for those of
you who are faithful on Sunday evenings. I know that many of
the churches have stopped having services on Sunday nights, and
I was speaking to a lady this afternoon who told me that she's
able, she lives in another state, but the church she attends, they
don't have a Sunday evening service, and so she's able to watch a
service in the eastern time zone, and then to watch us in the central
time zone. So she gets two messages on Sunday
evening. But I'm thankful that we're still
able to do this. I want you to turn, and we wouldn't
be able unless you were faithful, that's for sure. Let's turn now,
if you will, to Psalm 147. I want to speak to us tonight
from this psalm. The title of the message is Praise
Ye the Lord. Praise Ye the Lord, Psalm 147. In the New Testament, in Colossians
chapter three and verse 16, the apostle Paul exhorted believers
like this. He said, let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. If you notice in this first text,
we see these three things about praising the Lord, singing his
praises. Praise ye the Lord, for it is
good. It's good. We want to do that
which is good, don't we? Well, it's good to sing praises
unto the Lord. Second, it's pleasant. It's pleasant. You know, sometimes we hear songs
that I refer to as worldly songs, and some of them are beautiful.
But there's nothing like a hymn. There's nothing like a song that
is dedicated to the Lord. Just to hear the music sometimes
and you know the words because you've sung the hymn many times.
What a blessing it is. It's pleasant. And the third
thing, it's comely. You know, there's some things
which are not comely for Christians. It's just not comely to do certain
things, but this is one thing that is comely, and that is to
praise the Lord, to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant
and praise is comely. I have two parts to my message
this evening. First of all, let's recognize
it is the Lord It is the Lord that we are praising when we
sing. You notice, praise ye the Lord. And I would point out to us again
that the title Lord, each letter is in capital letters. That is, it's a large case letter. And that tells us that the translators
They did this to distinguish this title of God from another
title of His that is also translated Lord. The other title is Adonai. This title is Jehovah, Jehovah. The name Jehovah, God's name
Jehovah, is not in the first chapter of Genesis. We read in
the first verse, in the beginning, God, but it's not His name Jehovah,
it is His name Elohim. Elohim created the heavens and
the earth. And each one of these names or
titles of God tells us something about Him, reveals something
to us about Him. God's name, Jehovah, especially
speaks of His being, His acidity, His acidity. Austin, I watched
that video you recommended to me, His acidity, His being. And the pastor and the preachers
mentioned the fact that God is the only one, if I got this right,
who is Everyone else is becoming. Everyone else, every other creature,
we're all becoming. Not God. God is. And this title, Jehovah, especially
refers to that fact, his being, his eternal being, and speaks
not only of his being, his eternality, but of his life. He who possesses
in himself life. And he's the only one who does. He, God, Jehovah is the only
one who has life in himself. Remember the apostle Paul on
Mars Hill in Acts chapter 17, he said, in him, we live and
move and have our being. He gives us life. He gives everything
that has life, he gives life. He alone has life or is life. We're worshiping, we're singing
praises unto Him who is, who has no beginning and no change,
who's always the same. And in the Old Testament, we
see these titles many times through the scriptures, but let me refer
us to a couple. In Isaiah 43 and verses 10 and
11, This is what we read. I am He. Before me there was
no Elohim formed. Before me there was no God formed. Neither shall there be after
me. I, even I, am Jehovah. And beside me there is no Savior. There is no Savior. And we're
all familiar with the experience that Moses had It's recorded
in Exodus chapter three, when he saw that bush that was burning,
but it wasn't consumed. It was burning, but it wasn't
consumed. And so he turned aside to see
this phenomena, this miracle there in the desert. And when
he came close, God said, take off your shoes. Take off your
shoes. This is holy ground. Now what
made it holy? That bush? Of course not. It was Jehovah and the bush.
That's what we read. He who was in the bush. It was Christ, Jehovah. And of
course, Moses, he didn't want to go into Egypt and bring God's
people out. He knew the Job was way above
his qualifications and his strength and his ability. But God had
called him and God was sending him. And one of the things that
he used to try to excuse himself was, behold, when I come unto
the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God, that
is Elohim, the God. Well, there's all kinds of gods
in that world. the false gods, all kinds of
gods. And I'm going to go, Moses says,
I'm going to go and I'm going to tell them, as you have told
me, God, God has sent me. The God of your fathers has sent
me. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has sent me. And they shall say to me, what's
his name? Now he's not gonna say just simply
God. God is his name. No. He gave him the name I am that
I am. And that name that's translated
there by those words, I am that I am, is the same word that is
used in the name Jehovah. and the origin of that word that
God gave Moses there. When they ask you, what's the
name of the God who sent you? You tell them, I am that I am. Basically, I am Jehovah. We're declaring his existence,
the one who will always be. And not only his being, but he's
personal. The name Jehovah declares unto
us that He's personal. You know, we serve a God who
we can speak to, we can relate to. He's a personal God. He's not some big machine. up
there in the sky, you know, and that's the difference between
fatalism. Sometimes people, when they hear
what we believe and what we know the Bible teaches us concerning
God's ordination of all things before the foundation of the
world, they say, well, that's fatalism. No, no, no, no, no. It's not fatalism. Fatalism would
be some kind of machine like up in the sky that just orders
all things. No, it's not fatalism. It's God, a personal God who
orders and reigns and rules over all of his creation. It's not
like a machine. No, it's God, personal God, continuous. There's never been a time, and
that, of course, A word we can't really use when we talk about
eternity before time began. But when time began, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. He already existed and
has always existed and shall always exist. In Genesis 3, after
Adam disobeyed God, and was now a sinner, it was the voice, now
listen, we all are familiar that a voice came speaking to Adam,
Adam, where art thou? Whose voice was this? Well, the
scripture there tells us that it was Jehovah Elohim, Jehovah
God. It was Jehovah God who came to
seek Adam, where art thou? And we know in the fullness of
the time, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem us from the curse of the law. He came, in
Luke 19 in verse 10, he came to seek and to save that which
was lost. Have you ever been lost? Have
you ever been lost? He came to seek the lost. He
said, everybody's lost. No. You try to convince most
of your neighbors that they're lost. You're not gonna have a
very good success record. Very few people ever come to
see that they're lost. Why, that's the work of God,
the Holy Spirit, to convince a person that he's lost. That's a blessed thing, really,
when a person realizes they're lost. Why? Because he came to
seek and to save that which is lost. Why is a person lost? Why
was Adam lost in the garden? I don't know how large that garden
was. He was hiding among the trees,
trying to hide himself behind fig leaves, but he was lost. Adam, where art thou? Like I heard a pastor say many
years ago, when God asked a question, he never asked for information.
He never asked for information. Adam, where are you? He brought
Adam to confess, didn't he? Yes. But that was Jehovah Elohim. And we know in the New Testament,
especially in the Gospel of John, how many times do we read the
Lord Jesus Christ confessing, I am. I am the bread of life. I am
the light of the world. I am the good shepherd. I am
the true vine. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the resurrection and the
life. How many times? I don't know
how many there are, but there are several, right? I am. And people today maybe don't
realize what he was saying and what he revealed when he said
that. But the Jewish people who heard him, they knew exactly
what he was confessing. He's telling us he's God. And He is. He is. Only God could save a sinner. Well, that's the first part.
Let's recognize that we're singing unto the Lord, such a glorious
and high being. I want to point out in this psalm,
as I've read through it, four themes for our songs. The first theme, His greatness,
His greatness. Look at verses four and five.
This should be a theme of our singing, His greatness. 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. You see two of his characteristics
there, don't you? His attributes. His omniscience. He telleth the number of the
stars. Have you ever been in a place
where you could actually look up and see the stars? Maybe on
film. How many millions, maybe billions
of stars? And not only does he know the
number, but he has every one of them named. You know, as you
get older, I remember one of my grandmothers, and she had
quite a few grandchildren, but when she would start to call
my name, she'd go through about 15 before she got to me. As we get older, our memories
are not quite like they used to be, are they? But think of
this, he knows the number of the stars and he knows the name
of every one of them. And when we read of the week
of creation, we think about his greatness. This is one attribute
we see here of God. We should sing and celebrate
his greatness, his omniscience, yes, but also his omnipotence. When he created the heavens and
the earth, He created, as scripture says, a light to rule by day,
the sun, and a light to rule by night. And then it reads in
the passage there almost like an afterthought, and he created
the stars also. And he created the stars also.
Yeah. In Psalm. Psalm 62 and verse 11, we read,
God has spoken once, twice, have I heard this, that power belongeth
unto God. Power belongeth unto God. Man, man cannot add to his power
and cannot diminish his power in any way. He is omnipotent. Stephen Charnock, one of the
Puritans that wrote his book on the attributes of God, he
had this to say about God's power. The power of God is that ability
and strength whereby he can bring to pass whatsoever he pleases,
whatsoever his infinite wisdom may direct, and whatsoever his
infinite purity His infinite purity will may resolve. God is all powerful. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he was being tried, mock trial, of course, before the
religious leaders, he used that as one of the names of God. He
told that priest that When he saw him again, he would see the
Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power. Right hand of
power. And then we see, of course, his
infinite knowledge, his infinite omniscience, and his infinite
power in this passage. We should sing of his greatness.
Should be reminded as we sing, and that's one of the reasons
that I like that hymn we sing sometimes, How Great Thou Art.
You know, it begins, O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
consider all the worlds that Thou hast made. I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God to Thee, how great Thou art. Just seems like we ought to take
off our shoes. We're on holy ground when we
sing of His greatness and His power. A second theme, His kindness,
is something that I see in this psalm as well. Not only His greatness,
and I'm thankful that He's not only great, infinite in greatness,
but He's also infinite in kindness. Where do we see this? Look in
verses eight and nine. 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. I see God's kindness here
demonstrated by how he preserves and provides for what we would
call the brute creation. His creation, I should say. The message last Wednesday night,
we looked at a passage which told us about a famine in the
nation of Israel. And that famine came because
of the sins of one man and his bloody house. We are told there
in 2 Samuel 21. But God's kindness is seen in
his creation here as he supplies the needs of his creatures. How
much more do we sing of his kindness in sending his son? We see his
kindness in providing for all of his creatures the food that
we need, his kindness. But how much greater his kindness
do we see in the fact that he sent his son? His only begotten Son, He sent
Him. In Titus, we read, but after
the kindness, after the kindness and love of God, our Savior,
toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. A.W. Pink commenting on God's
loving kindness, his loving kindness. Not just his kindness, but his
loving kindness. We see that term. Pink said,
marvelous it is that one so infinitely above us, so inconceivably glorious,
so ineffably holy, should not only notice such worms of the
earth, but also set his heart upon them, give his son for them,
and send his spirit to dwell in them, and bear with all their
imperfections and waywardness as never to remove his loving
kindness from them." His loving kindness. I sometimes marvel at The patience
and the kindness that I see some people demonstrate towards children,
especially. And I'm amazed. But the loving
kindness of God, as Pete said, bearing with all our imperfections
and all our waywardness, and yet he never removes his loving
kindness from us. That should be a theme. We sing
of his greatness. We sing of his kindness. And
third, here's another theme, his sovereignty. Oh yes, we want
to sing of his sovereignty. Look down in verses 19 and 20. 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
have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. I see his
sovereignty here manifested in giving his word, here it's called
his statues, but giving his word, his judgments to one nation. How many nations have there been? over the history of this world.
I don't know. I think there's over 150 at the
United Nations. I'm not sure about that, but
I know there's a lot. But out of all the nations of
the world, God chose one. And doesn't that show his sovereignty? That he chose one nation to whom
he gave his word. He gave his word. Was it because
that nation was somehow more inclined to holiness or righteousness
or worshiping God? No, no. Was it because that nation
was a superpower? No, no. Why then? Because he purposed it, his sovereign
will. Look over to Deuteronomy chapter
7. These words of Moses to the nation
of Israel which bespeak God's sovereignty concerning them,
Deuteronomy chapter seven. Beginning with verse six. For
thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy
God has chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not
set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But, here it is, but because
the Lord loved you, And because he would keep the oath which
he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now, our text here
tells us that God chose this one nation and to them he gave
his word. It's referred to the oracles
of God, the word of God. Where would we be tonight if
we didn't have his word? Where would we be? The oracles of God that were
given to Israel. Paul said chiefly when that question
was asked in Romans, well, what profit is there then in being
a Jew? You know, Paul, you say the Jews are guilty just like
these Gentile dogs? What profit could there be in
being a Jew? How did Paul answer? Chiefly,
mainly, unto them were committed the oracles of God, the word
of God. What a blessing it is to us. The oracles of God, the word
of God reveals how a sinner might be just before God. It had to
be, it must be through a blood sacrifice offered by a substitute,
and that substitute had to be sinless, had to be sinless. That should be a theme of our
singing, God's sovereignty, his greatness, his kindness, his
sovereignty, and one other that I see in this psalm, his salvation. We're saying of his salvation. Look at verses two and three.
Psalm 147, verses two and three. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcast
of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. You know, in scripture, there
are two Jerusalems. You know that. There are two
Jerusalems. In Paul's letter of Galatians,
remember he gives an allegory between Abraham's two sons. One son by the handmaid Hagar
and the other son Isaac by his wife Sarah. And he tells us that
Sarah the handmaid, that her and her son is a picture, he
said, of the Jerusalem which now is and in bondage. In other words, when Paul wrote
that letter, the Jerusalem that then was with all the loss of
Moses that they were trying to keep and earn by their works,
their salvation. But then he said, there's a free
woman. There's a son by the free woman.
They represent two different covenants, don't they? The bond
woman and a son who represents a covenant of works. And the
free woman represents a covenant of grace. And he says that covenant,
he calls it the Jerusalem, which is above and free. So you see,
I say there's two Jerusalem. One Jerusalem, Paul says, is
in bondage. That was the Jerusalem with the
law of Moses and them trying to keep the law of Moses to earn
their salvation. But the other Jerusalem, now
I'm showing us this because our text here says the Lord doth
build up Jerusalem. And this second Jerusalem is,
he said, which is above and free. Two different covenants, one
of works and one of grace. Then in Hebrews chapter 12, he
tells us those of us who trust in Christ are come to Mount Zion. We're not come to Mount Sinai. That was on fire and smoking
and that loud noise. We're not come there. We'll come
to Mount Zion and into the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now in
this heavenly Jerusalem, that represents the church, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice it says the Lord does
build up Jerusalem. In Acts, there's a passage which
tells us, and the Lord added unto the church daily such as
should be saved. The Lord saves and adds to his
church. Our Lord said upon this rock,
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Yes, we celebrate in our singing
his so great salvation. And salvation is of the Lord.
Notice he gathers the outcasts. the outcast of Israel. I think of that infant in Isaiah
chapter, in Ezekiel chapter 16, remember the infant, which was
what? Cast out, cast out. No one cared for her. Wasn't
washed, wasn't bathed or cuddled or anything like that. It's common
to do with a newborn babe, it's just cast out. You say, what
does that represent? That represents a lost person. That's what it represents, one
that God is going to pass by like he did that infant and spread
his skirt over her and say, it's a time of love. Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Yes, he gathers the outcast. And notice the broken heart.
When our Lord began his ministry, you remember in Luke, he quotes from Isaiah 61,
I believe it is, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has
sent me to preach the gospel and to bind up the broken in
heart, release the prisoners, You know, when we speak here
of the broken heart, we're talking about that wound, that incurable
wound of sin. And there's only one balm, B-A-L-M,
there's only one balm that will cure that awful disease
of sin. You say, what is it? Well, you
don't get it at the drugstore. You don't buy it at the pharmacy,
do you? No, it's the blood of Jesus Christ
and only his blood. We should sing not only of his
greatness, of his kindness, of his sovereignty, but also of
his salvation. And we do. And sometimes we sing
this hymn, I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love
for me. On the cruel cross he suffered
from the curse to set me free. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. Sing, for it's good, it's pleasant,
and it's comely for God's people to sing and praise him. I pray
the Lord bless this message to all of us tonight.