Grateful For This Place
Notes
Transcript
Handout
I don’t know about you, but I am extremely thankful for this place where we can gather together to learn of God, and worship Him for the great and awesome God that He is. Though a building or facility is not necessary for a functional church, it sure is helpful.
The Haven of Rest Quartet used to sing a song that sums things up very well:
And in this very room there's quite enough love for all of us,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all of us,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power to chase away any gloom,
For Jesus, Lord Jesus ... is in this very room.
Beyond the physical facility, there is definitely a lot, that makes this very room special. It is made special because of those who are here. You folks are very special to my family, and to me. And being here with you makes this place special. But more than that, Jesus is present with us when we gather for worship, and there is nothing more special than being in His presence.
The Haven of Rest Quartet used to sing a song that sums things up very well:
In this very room there's quite enough love for all of us,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all of us,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power to chase away any gloom,
For Jesus, Lord Jesus ... is in this very room.
Please turn in your Bible to as we conclude our Journey of Thankfulness. Though this psalm actually falls under the genre of a hymn, rather than a thanksgiving psalm, I have decided to study this today anyway. Let me try to explain why.
On Sunday afternoon, after the Lion’s disappointing loss, I came back over to the church to look at the list of psalms which I had previously chosen for this study (I couldn’t remember which one was next, and I was kind of anxious to get started meditating on the passage). I spent much of the evening hours reading two different thanksgiving psalms trying to decide which to cover this week. When I went to bed I had not yet decided which psalm to preach on, and so as I was saying my prayers, hoping for a goodnight’s rest, I also asked the Lord to direct me as to which psalm to speak on. On Monday morning I woke up with a song running through my mind which I had written in 2006 based on the first three verses of . So when I arrived at the office on Monday I started looking at this psalm and decided that this should be our text for today.
Though this psalm does not have a superscript which provides background information for our benefit, it does have a background. You see this psalm also appears in in conjunction with a couple of other psalms, one of which is in the genre of a thanksgiving psalm. And the setting has to do with when King David moved the Ark of the Covenant from the home of a man named Obed-Edom to Jerusalem, and the tabernacle that he had prepared for it. In other words David wrote this psalm out of a heart of gratitude for a place of worship.
The Lost Ark ...
We could spend a lot of time trying to describe the Ark and the Tabernacle, but time will not allow us to do so. The point is that they were an important part of the prescribed worship for the nation of Israel. However, for more than a half-century, the Tabernacle was missing its most important item, the Ark. Because of the foolishness of Hophni and Phineas, Eli’s sons, the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. Eventually the Ark came back to the land of Israel, but for some reason, as best as I can figure out, it never came back to the Tabernacle.
It was on David’s heart to bring both the Ark and the Tabernacle to Jerusalem, the city he had chosen as the capital of his kingdom. And so it was with a lot of festive celebration that he brought them to the City of David. And this psalm was written to be used as part of this festive celebration.
With that background in mind, let’s read .
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
As we look at our passage this morning we will see that God’s people are called to worship our Lord with a new vitality, for He alone is worthy of our worship; we worship Him by acknowledging His glory and greatness, and by looking forward to our final redemption.
Let’s look first at how:
We Should Worship the LORD with a new vitality
Look with me at verses 1-3.
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
This psalm begins with a three-fold admonition to sing to the LORD.
As we worship the Lord with a new vitality we should:
Sing a new song
This is where the idea of a new vitality comes into play — an old song can become a new song when vitality has been refreshed
Of course we should literally sing new songs as well
One concern I have is when congregations don’t sing with gusto and vitality
We are not called to sing with a beautiful voice
We are called to
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Next, we are called to:
Proclaim the gospel
Who is the message of the gospel for?
The gospel is for the lost
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
The gospel is for the found — for believers
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.
Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation,
if you have tasted that the Lord is good.
The gospel is for God
It seems to me that since the various psalmists often include the gospel as a part of their praise of the LORD, that He must take particular delight when His people reiterate it as a part of their worship of Him
Finally, we are called to:
Declare His glory
To declare His glory is a parallel thought to proclaiming the good news of the gospel. However, the psalmist does go on to state to whom His glory is to be declared: to the gentiles.
Israel did not normally want to share with other the nations the good news of the gospel of God. They wanted to keep it for themselves. Spurgeon noted that there is a missionary thrust that is behind this exhortation to praise.
Let’s turn our attention now to how
We Should Worship the LORD alone, for He is the Only One Worthy of our Worship
Look with me at verses 4-6.
For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Note first that the LORD is to be praised — Spurgeon wrote:
“Praise should be proportionate to its object, therefore let it be infinite when rendered unto the Lord. We cannot praise him too much, too often, too zealously, too carefully, too joyfully. He deserves that nothing in his worship should be little, but all the honour rendered unto him should be given in largeness of heart, with the utmost zeal for his glory.”
Note next that He is to be feared
The term translated “idols” literally means “good for nothing”
While the gods of man’s imagination are good for nothing, the LORD is:
The Creator of all
Honorable & Majestic
In the Hebrew there is an effective alliteration:
Majestic
hodh — honor
hadhar — majesty
Omnipotent
Notice the reference to the LORD’S sanctuary
It contains strength and beauty
The sanctuary is where God dwells — though it doesn’t literally reference the place which David had prepared for the dwelling of the Ark of the Covenant, I can imagine that was in his mind as he penned these words
Calvin wrote:
We cannot be said to know God if we have not discovered that there is in Him an incomparable glory and majesty.
Let’s turn our attention now to the fact that:
We Worship the LORD as We Acknowledge His Glory and Greatness
Look with me at verses 7-10.
Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
First note the thrice repeated admonition to Give to the LORD. These parallel the three admonitions to Sing to the LORD in verses 1-2. What does it mean to Give to the LORD? The idea is of ascribing something to God, giving lip-service to His attributes, acknowledging God for Who He is.
There are so many songs that come to mind which speak to the content of these verses.
All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell, come ye before Him and rejoice.
I sing the mighty pow’r of God that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day; the moon shines full at His command and all the stars obey.
What is it that we, as believers, are to acknowledge about God as we worship Him?
We acknowledge His mighty power
We ascribe to Him the glory that is due to Him
We bring an offering
O.T. freewill offerings
N.T. — Jesus Paid it All
Offering ourselves as living sacrifices
Offering to God the sacrifice of praise
We worship the LORD by living a holy life
NASB translated the beauty of holiness as holy attire
This could possibly refer, by extension, to the believer being clothed in the righteousness of Christ
We worship the LORD by acknowledging His righteous reign
Finally, let’s note that:
We Worship the LORD as we look forward to our final redemption
Look with me at verses 11-13.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
Note that the psalmist calls for all of creation to join in with worshiping the LORD
Creation itself was corrupted by the fall of man
Creation longs with eager expectation for its redemption
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Note the expectation of the coming of David’s greater Son in verse 13
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
We’ve seen that God’s people are called to worship our Lord with a new vitality, for He alone is worthy of our worship; we worship Him by acknowledging His glory and greatness, and by looking forward to our final redemption.
If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ then you cannot truly worship Him. If you sense the Lord is working in your heart this morning to receive Jesus as your Savior there are a few things you should consider.
God — The Creator and Owner of all
Man — Created for God’s good-pleasure, but fallen and radically corrupt
Jesus — The Word who is God and became man
Response — How do we respond to the gospel
If you have never responded to the message of the gospel to receive Jesus Christ, I invite you to do so today.
Believer’s, I invite you to consider your worship of God. Do you worship Him with vitality? Do you give God the glory that is due His name? Do you continually offer yourself as a living sacrifice to Him? Do you offer to Him the sacrifice of praise? Do you long for the day of your final redemption?
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: #792
For All These Things