A Call to Praise the Great, Good, and Eternal King

Introduction

I hope that you have enjoyed the time that we have spent together this summer walking through the Psalter. Of course all we have been able to do this summer is to get a sampling from this book of the Bible, there is much that we left untouched.

But as we come to the end of this time together in the Psalter I think that it is only right to finish with one of the Hallelujah Psalms.

The last five Psalms in the Psalter are referred to as the hallelujah psalms and I think that it is apparent why this is the case.

Look at v.1 in all the psalms.

The psalter takes us through the trials and the difficulties of life.

We saw the raging of the nations in psalm 2

There is the cry of psalm 13, how long O LORD will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

There is the difficulty of , My God, My God why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?

There is the peace of , the Lord is my Shepherd and the hope that the Lord will Shepherd us safely home at the end of , shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

We could go on and on of the journey that we take as we walk through the psalter

There are enemies out to destroy the anointed of the LORD, to destroy the people of the Lord

And then there is the difficulty of personal sin so that David cries out to God

Remember not the sins of my youth

Have mercy on me oh God, Wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from me sin!

There is the cry of the Psalmist

How can a young man keep his way pure?

My soul clings to the dust! Give me life according to your word!

Lead me in the path of your commandments

Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things

And Look on my affliction and deliver me!

And maybe one of the lowest places in the psalter

Psalm 41:9 ESV

Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

And then there is the Psalm that we looked at the week before last

Psalm 130:1 ESV

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

Psalm 130:1–3 ESV

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

And then finally we get to the end of the Psalter and all is Praise!!!

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord

It is almost as if we have made it safely home and now we are on the shores of glory.

We hear nothing but the praises of our God in these last 5 Psalms

It is a reminder to us that all of life is headed to the Glory of Jehovah, that at the end of the day Jehovah will be glorified and His people will enjoy His eternal glory

It is like we get a taste of what John points us to in the eternal state!

Revelation 19.

Revelation 19:6–8 ESV

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

In this Psalm we have a call to praise the Lord, a call to trust the Lord and I hope that we will see at the end that the trustworthiness of Jehovah is the fuel that feeds the fires of our praise.

A call to praise (v.1-2, 10b)

begins will a general call to praise the Lord just like the other hallelujah psalms.

Hallelujah is simply a transliteration of the Hebrew text

Halal is the verb used here and this verb can mean:

to sing one’s praises, to praise, to celebrate

Psalm 104:35 ESV

Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

We see this call again and again all throughout the end of the psalter

Beginning with this phrase is used 23 times

, , , , , 113

So this call to all to praise the Lord

And then here in the Psalmist exhorts himself to praise the Lord

Praise the Lord oh my soul

It is the hypocrite that exhorts us to praise the Lord but does not stir up his own soul to praise the Lord.

And then there is the commitment of the Psalmist in v.2

I will praise the LORD as long as I live

Literally this phrase can be translated with my living, or in my living, or even by means of my living

It is hard to know if the psalmist is talking about the length of his praise or the thoroughness of his praise

The LXX seems to support the later

In other words it may be the Psalmists commitment to make all of life a life of praise

And then again in v.2 I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

My understanding of v.2 is that the Psalmist is committing to praise the LORD in every part of his life an all of his life.

In other words the Psalm is calling us to let our praise to the Lord

Permeate all of life

and

Be permanent in our life

Permeate all of life

Christian, all of your life is to be lived making much of Yahweh,

If you are only praising the LORD on Sunday mornings then you are missing what we are called to

Your life as a student, as a business owner, as an employee, as a parent, as a child, as a spouse

All of it is to be lived in a way where you are making much of our God

The LORD and His glory is to be central in all that we do

Paul says

1 Corinthians 10:33 ESV

just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Cor. 10.

What is the chief end of man?

To enjoy God and glorify Him forever!

Believer, are you intentional in living to the glory of God?

Believer, do you live to praise God? Does your life make much of God?

Do you celebrate who God and what He has done for you in Christ in all that you do?

Do you live in such a way that people recognize that your life is a life of praise to our God?

And again notice the psalmist does not say I will praise God when i feel like it or when things are going my way or when i am not going through a difficult time

But I will praise God while I have my being, that is in every season of life

In the good times and in the bad times

Notice that the last line is a line again calling us to praise the Lord

And in the middle is this call for us to trust in the Lord, to hope in Him, to look to Him for help and then we are given the reasons why

I point that out now and we will come back to this, because I think one of the points of the Psalm is that praise naturally rises out of heart when the heart trust in, treasures, or hopes in something.

Listen brothers and sisters we are built in such a way where the heart naturally sings the praises of that which it treasures.

Have you ever been around a new parent or a new grandparent?

Have you ever been around someone who is newly in love?

Have you ever been around someone who is a huge fan of a ball team before the beginning of the season?

The heart naturally praises that which it has set its hopes upon, that which it looks to with adoration.

A call to trust (v.3-10a)

This is more than a call to trust, it is a call to treasure, to look to for help and for hope.

A call to turn one’s hopes and affections away from one thing and to set one’s affections where they belong.

Who we should not trust (v.3-4)

How many times do you reckon that someone has put their hopes in a political leader or a religious leader only to be disappointed?

The reality is that everyone of us in here have been disappointed by someone that we looked up to at some time in our life.

Parents disappoint

One of the biggest marriage problems that i have had to deal with when counseling couples is this romantized idea of love when one expects their spouse to be everything for them.

The reality is that the best of men or just that they are men and there is no salvation in man.

The best of men is simply a dependent being and one day his breath will depart he will return to the earth and all of his plans will perish.

Listen to me,

When you put all of your hopes in a person that person will let you down

The greatest of men cannot be trusted

Do not trust in anything in all of creation, anything in creation can and will let you down

Who we should trust (v.5-10a)

This is the last beatitude of 26 in the Psalter

Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob

We began with

Psalm 1:1 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

And we end with 146.5

Again this word can be translated, happy

Happy is the one who help is the God of Jacob

Happy is the one whose hope is in the Lord his God.

This one who trust in the Lord will not be disappointed, he will not be let down; instead he will see that the Lord God is faithful, that He can be fully trusted because He is fully true.

The psalmist reminds us of the greatness and the goodness of Jehovah God.

Oh let us hope in the Lord, let us be reminded of the greatness and the goodness of our God so that we will live lives of praise to the Lord God

When your trust is in Jehovah God, when you are depending upon Him, you are trusting

The One who spoke all things into existence and the One who sustains all things every moment of every day.

He is faithful, He is consistent, He can be trusted.

He is no mere creature that is depending instead He is fully independent.

He does not need anyone or anything

He keeps faith forever, that is He is always faithful

In v.7 we see that He is just and He is good. He helps the poor the week, the needy.

In other words you don’t have to have something to barter with Him, you come to Him empty handed and He brings everything that is needed.

Again we see more of the goodness of God in v.8-9.

Let me ask you this morning, do you feel that you cannot come to God and trust Him because you are have nothing to offer Him?

Don’t you see in this passage that He delights in helping the broken, in those who have nothing to offer Him, those who understand their need for grace and mercy.

One of the things that stuck out to me reading this passage is it’s similarity to .

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Isaiah 61.

Remember this is the passage read by Jesus in

Luke 4:16–21 ESV

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4.

I point that out to say, Jesus is the fulfillment of these truths right?

How is it that God is grace and merciful to the oppressed, to the hungry, to the prisoner, to the broken, to the sojourner, to the widow, to the fatherless?

Is it because they deserve it?

No, it is because God through the redeeming work of His Son Jesus Christ can be just and the justifier of all who are broken and look in faith to the love of God revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord!

But not only that, notice v.10 the power, the greatness and the goodness of God will never come to an end!

Throughout all eternity the God’s good and gracious reign will never be challenged, it will never come to an end.

The goodness, the greatness, the faithfulness of God will only become more and more beautiful throughout all eternity.

So what does the Psalmist call us to do?

By faith to remember who our God is and what He has done for us in Christ.

To set our hopes on that.

Not to let our heart get distracted by others.

Hope in Christ, meditate upon His power, His greatness, His goodness, His glory

If you do that do you know the kind of life that you will live?

You will live a life a praise.

May we be a people of praise as we meditate upon these things!

What is the chief end of man? Why were we created?

To enjoy God and to glorify Him forever

Oh brothers and sisters may we live lives that make much of our great God!