A Psalm of Praise
Notes
Transcript
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness:
Come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord he is God:
It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
And into his courts with praise:
Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
And his truth endureth to all generations.
Introduction
Introduction
For many, tomorrow will merely be a day when family gathers together, eats an enormous meal, watches football, and, most important of all, it is a day when they do not have to go to work. I hope that it will mean more to us than that!
In truth, we must never wait until Thanksgiving to be thankful. We are to be thankful to the Lord every day of our lives. God goes so far as to say that being thankful to Him is His will for our lives.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
The problem is; we are a very ungrateful people! Children are ungrateful to parents, people are ungrateful to one another, and worse of all, people are ungrateful to God.
I was asked a question a long while back that has been invaluable in my Christian life. I hope it helps you like it has me…The question is this: “What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you had thanked God for today?”
Notice with me the seven imperatives in this Psalm:
“Make a joyful noise.”
“Serve the Lord.”
“Come before His presence.”
“Enter into His gates.”
“Enter into His courts.”
“Be thankful unto Him.”
“Bless His name.”
This Psalm is all about gratitude and thanksgiving. It’s an appeal to the entire world to unite in grateful worship of the Lord.
Look at the passion that is in verse 1...
The words “joyful noise” signify a glad shout, such as in given when a king appears among his subjects.
Our Holy God should be worshipped by a Happy people!
You can be serious without looking sad all the time. I talked about this back on Sunday, but there is too much gloom when you look at the many who profess to serve God. A pardoned people shouldn’t act depressed.
I get it ya’ll, I’m going to come down for just a minute and be completely honest; I know, really, I know, we cannot always sing, but you listen to me right here; we shouldn’t always sigh!
I said just a minute ago that a pardoned people shouldn’t act depressed…You want to know why we are told here to “Make a joyful noise until the LORD...”? It’s because of pardon!
The pardoning of God is worth singing about because:
It’s a Poor Man’s Pardon. It’s free! He paid the price.
It’s a Present Pardon. You can have it right now.
It’s a Profound Pardon. It reaches to the depths of sin.
It’s a Plentiful Pardon. It takes care of all sin.
It’s a Permanent Pardon. It can’t be forfeited.
If that’s not enough...
There are five things listed in this Psalm that will produce this type of praise and thanksgiving in the life of a believer:
His Presence (vs. 2)
His Presence (vs. 2)
The word "presence" means "face."
In the Old Testament, access to God was limited. The gate of Tabernacle led into an outer courtyard. It was there that sinners were confronted with an altar and a laver which spoke of their need for cleansing and redemption. Unless they were a priest, the sinner could not proceed any further into the Tabernacle complex. The Levitical priests could enter into the Tabernacle door and enjoy the table of shewbread, candlestick, and altar of incense, but they too, could go no further. Only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies once a year and offer the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The cross of Calvary has changed all of this. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we have access to God.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
When it comes to the Lord, the believer has direct access to Him. No appointments are needed. We do not have the red tape of going through a secretary or security guard. Our Lord is great at multi-tasking. He can give access to billions at one time, not just one at a time. He is God and can do anything. The access that the Lord has given to us gives us is a lot to sing about.
His People (vs. 3)
His People (vs. 3)
The psalmist said in Psalm 100:3, the Lord has made us and not we ourselves. The phrase "and not we ourselves" reads in the Hebrew language, "and His we are."
We have been made by the Lord and belong to Him. Understanding that we belong to the Lord will help us.
We do not belong to ourselves because as Christians, we have been redeemed by the Lord. The Psalmist says that "we are His people." We are His personal possession. For this reason, we are to live in such a way that we please Him.
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
His people should be holy people.
His people should be happy people.
His people should be heavenly people.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
His Pasture (vs. 3)
His Pasture (vs. 3)
Look at the last part of verse 3..This is a beautiful picture here.
It’s the shepherd’s duty to guide, protect, provide, and discipline the sheep. It’s the sheep’s duty to trust, follow, and obey the shepherd. Oh my, how we need to understand that we are the sheep of His pasture; He is the shepherd of our souls! My, my, my, what a picture this is of the relationship we ought to have with our shepherd.
His pasture provides us with food. He gives us His precious Word...
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
His pasture provides us with fellowship.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
His pasture provides us with freedom.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Truth goes hand-in-had with freedom and with fellowship…How do we know what the truth is?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Because of all this - right in the middle, the Psalmist says:
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
And into his courts with praise:
Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Then he picks right back up again…Thanks and praise are right in recognition of God’s goodness!
His Pleasure (vs. 5)
His Pleasure (vs. 5)
Verse 5 says “For the LORD is good...”:
He is good in His plans, good in His grace, good in His forgiveness, good in His covenant, and good in every aspect of His being!
The goodness of God should lead us to repentance.
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
The goodness of God should be one of the strongest barriers against sin. The goodness of God should lead us to do good unto others, and should inspire with confidence in His goodness to us in the world to come!
I don’t know everything tonight, but I know that God is good to you, and He is good to me!
His Precepts (vs. 5)
His Precepts (vs. 5)
his mercy is everlasting;
And his truth endureth to all generations.
Notice His Precepts in these last two statements; these statements prove that God is no fickle Being, promising and then forgetting.
His precepts are faithful.
His precepts are final.
His precepts are forever.
His precepts are for all.
A changeable God would be a terror to the righteous; they would have no sure anchor. But our hearts should leap for joy as we bow before One Who has never broken His Word or changed His purpose!
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
May the Spirit of God help us to get back to the basics, like I preached Sunday morning! To return this love in faithful and thankful service!
Spurgeon wrote, “So long as we are receivers of mercy, we must be givers of thanks.”