Worthy of Praise
Notes
Transcript
Imperative # 1: Praise Him!
Imperative # 1: Praise Him!
The Commands - This gives us an opportunity to think about what it means to praise the Lord.
Shout - for joy
Praise (Implied) - because it is what we should be doing
Give - thanks
Make - melody
Sing - to Him a new song
Play - on the strings
THOUGHTS ON PRAISING THE LORD
What is praise?
OED: express warm approval of or admiration for, express respect and gratitude towards (a deity).
What does it mean to praise anyone? It means to make much of them, to draw attention to them, to express your admiration for them, to extend gratitude to them
When we think of it in this light it might make us feel silly for those that we have praised in the past.
Celebrities
Politicians
Athletes
Who should praise? - Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
Why do we praise? Psalm 18:3 “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised...”
How do we praise?
Music - Psalm 9:2 “I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”
Declaration - Matthew 21:16 “and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?””
The Recipients
The Righteous
The Upright
Those who are in a covenant relationship with Yahweh.
The Object
The LORD
Yahweh
The Rationale
“The word of the LORD is upright.” - What He says
“All His work is done in faithfulness.” - What He does
“He loves righteousness and justice.” - Why He does it
“The earth is full of His steadfast love.”- Why He does it
“He created the heavens with a word.” - How He has done it
“He gathers the waters of the sea in His hand and puts the deeps in storehouses.”
Imperative # 2 Fear Him!
Imperative # 2 Fear Him!
The Commands
“Fear”
“Stand in awe”
Explanation:
Hebrews 12:28–29 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” - This verse essentially defines the fear of the Lord. “To worship God with reverence and awe.”
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Deuteronomy 10:12 ““And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
The Recipients
“all the earth”
“all the inhabitants of the world”
If unbelievers truly knew who God is and what He is like they would fear Him. However, outside of Christ they cannot know Him. They should fear Him they just don’t know it.
What is perhaps more mind boggling is when Christians who do know Him lack fear of Him.
The Object
The LORD
Yahweh
“I am who I am”
The self existent One
Yahweh is the covenant name for the God of Israel. In Exodus 3:15, as Yahweh speaks to Moses, He says that He is also the God of the patriarchs. Then He says, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them” For those before Moses, the fulfillment of God’s promises remained distant, and their view of the character of God was murky. That was about to change with the exodus, as God delivered His people with great miracles and kept His promise to Abraham. Other names for God might be considered descriptive, but Yahweh is personal. It is by this name that He covenants with and leads the nation of Israel.
Jesus is Yahweh
The Hebrew form of Jesus is Yeshua which means “Yahweh saves”
Yahweh essentially means “I AM” which is what Jesus claimed to be in John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””
The Rationale
His power to create v. 9
There is perhaps no more tangible proof that we should fear God than His creation.
The unbeliever should observe creation and fall to their knees in worship of the God who created.
As usual pride gets in the way of even the most logical conclusions that we should be making.
His power over nations v. 10-11
Kingdoms come and kingdoms go and eventually empires fall.
The truth is that God rules over them all.
Their counsel comes to nothing but the counsel of the Lord stands forever.
So whose counsel will you follow?
His sovereign choice v. 12
He sovereignly chose Israel to be His covenant people.
He sovereignly chose you to be in Christ. We should never forget that God didn’t have to save us; He chose to.
His divine throne v. 13-17
God watches us from His divine throne making kings and queens of ourselves.
But the king is not saved by his army nor the warrior by his strength. Placing our hope in creation rather than the creator is folly.
His parental care v. 18,19
His eye is on those who fear Him.
This is the language of a parent watching their children. They keep their eye on them.
Which is exactly what the child wants unless they are breaking the rules.
His steadfast love v. 18, 21
Notice how the Psalm is packaged with the steadfast love of God.
One way to view the nature and attributes of God is through the lens of one of His other attributes.
His justice is holy
His omnipotence is holy
His love is holy.
In this Psalm David views God through the lens of His steadfast love.
“He loves righteousness and justice”
“The earth is full of His steadfast love.”
“His eye is on those who hope in His steadfast love.”
This is God’s loyal and merciful lovingkindness.
It makes sense then that when David closes this Psalm he closes it with a request. “Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”