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All right. Well, beautiful singing. So I’ve not met you. My name is Aaron and I’m the preaching pastor here and glad you’re with us today. So if you have a Bible with you, if you’d open up to the book of Psalms.
So we just have a few more in our summer study of Psalms. So today our text of study is going to be from Psalm 145, Psalm 145. And if you don’t have a Bible with you, if you’re not, there are pew Bibles scattered throughout, and it’s on page three, 302. So Psalm 145. I’m just going to read just the first verse.
Okay. And then I’ll pray, ask the Lord’s blessing on a time, and then we’re going to get to work through this text. The sermon will cover the entire entirety of Psalm 145. So please hear the words of God. It’s a song of praise of David.
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. If that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you pray with me, Lord, thank you for this time, Lord. Thank you for the book of Psalms. And I thank you that through the power of your spirit, that you speak to us through your psalms, through all of scripture, and that even in your wisdom that you have chosen to speak through the preaching of your word.
And so, God, that’s why we’re here this morning. We want to hear you speak. So God, please help me to communicate this psalm. Well, to your glory and for our joy, I pray this all in Jesus name. Amen.
So it’s just a little over 21 years ago that T. And I, my wife, T.M. and I got married. And what we were told before we got married and what we learned as we got married is just how important the first year of marriage can be important, because the first year can at times be the hardest year as you learn how to be married, as you learn to try to communicate with each other, how to get on the same page. And these things can be hard. And the first year is important because in that first year, you can create some habits that can follow the rest of your married life.
So it’s important, obviously, to create good habits, healthy habits, and not bad habits. So one of the things that we did in our first year that looking back, was something that was really good for our first year of marriage that helped create a good habit to help build our marriage that is now into year 21, involved a little journal that we had where in this little journal, we would take turns to write out specific things that we loved about each other. So this is how we do it. So in the morning before Tiwa top to work, she would go grab a journal and write down something specific that she loved about me. Then later in the day, I would go to the journal, I would read what she wrote, which made me blush.
And then after blushing, composing myself, I write down something specific I loved about her. So the next morning, it was her turn to write, to go back to journal. She’d first see what I would wrote about her the day before, which hopefully, obviously make her blush. Now it’s good for husbands and wives to tell and continue to tell each other that they love each other. And if you’re married, this is something I hope that you do.
But for us, what was even better was to be a little more full and a little more specific and describing that which we loved of each other. It was like an extra layer of care and love as we just detailed or gave details concerning these things that we loved about each other. Okay, now I’ll share with you today. Just kind of set us up for our passage of study. Which is the last psalm in the book of Psalms that is credited to be written by David, which is a psalm that really kicks off a series of psalms that ends the book of Psalms, which often referred to as like, the Hallelujah Psalms, which the word hallelujah basically means, like, Praise the Lord.
And this last psalm of David that kicks off these Hallelujah Psalms, these Praise the Lord Psalms. We’re gonna see David gets some full and specific praises throughout this Psalm. Okay, now, before we get to the text, just related things I want to point out to you. So first, this psalm is an acrostic where each line or each verse starts the next letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. So in using this acrostic, this is how David is like, organizes his praise to the Lord to ensure that his praise was like, full specific.
So one of the commentaries I’m reading, a guy named Derek Kidner wrote that this acrostic gives us, like an Alphabet of praise, right from alpha to omega, a better praise. Second, depending on what ancient manuscript you look at, this acrostic of David either contains each of the 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphabet, or it’s missing one of the letters, which is basically like the equivalent to our letter n. So only 21 of the 22 letters. Now, if you have an EVAs V translation, which I’m using, it does contain the verse that starts with the letter n. So all 22 letters are present. How it’s included is not like the other letters at the start of each verse. Rather, how it’s included is the second part of verse 13.
If you want to take your eyes there, as you take your eyes there, you’ll see that this phrase, the Lord is faithful in all his words, kind in all his works. Notice how it’s in a bracket. And the reason why it’s in a bracket is the ESV translators are just acknowledging this phrase is not in all of the ancient manuscripts. For me, I’m really not sure if this phrase was original to David or not. It does seem possible.
What happens? Maybe some like scribe who was in charge of copying scripture that was passed down from generation to generation realized that this crosstable was incomplete. It’s missing like this letter N. So the scribe filled in the verse I read to you in the brackets to complete the acrostic. At this point, it’s. It’s really hard to know.
Now if manuscripts scribes, how they cannot be manuscripts. If that’s of interest you, please do come find me. I’d actually love to talk to you more about this type of thing. It’s kind of a fascinating topic and one that I actually think will only increase your appreciation and trust for Scripture. Okay.
But for now, let me just point out that, that that’s there in the passage. And as mentioned earlier, to start, this is David being full and specific in his praises towards God and for us as we work through this psalm, these full specific praises, this can be like a good model for us in our own praises to the Lord. So Church God not only is worthy of us to bring full, specific praises towards him, but as we bring our specific full praises, it’s also good for our own hearts and our own joy in him, which we’ll be talking about more at the end. But to bring us to verse one, if you want to take your eyes there, and I’m going to go through this kind of quickly because I want us to kind of feel momentum of this Psalm as David laid out this Psalm with each Hebrew letter. Okay, so verse one, so we see these words.
It says, I will extol you, my God and King. Okay, now I’m putting on ready something that one of the commentaries I used this week points out, which in this Psalm, not only is David like full and specific of his praises towards God, which we’re about to get to, but in the psalm, David’s also pretty creative in his language. In the Words that he used to describe his praise. So for example, in the first line we see the word like extol. Other translation, use the word maybe like exalt.
Then throughout the rest of the Psalms, we come across words like praise or bless that are scattered throughout. In addition, we see the word like command in verse 4, speak of in verse 6, pour forth in verse 7, sing aloud also in verse 7, give thanks in verse 10 and verse 12, make known. So as David, they sat down to write this acrostic. He’s doing so with like, creativity, like he’s trying to be thorough and how he is seeking to praise the Lord, which. Which also obviously is a good model for us in this psalm as we seek to do likewise.
Back to verse one. I’ll extol you. Why? Because you are my God and king, and I will extol you. I will bless your name forever and ever.
Okay, now we don’t know exactly when David wrote this psalm, but it seems likely sometime after he was anointed to be the king of Israel, which for today, but especially then, kings, rulers, they had this like, superiority complex, right? Especially back then, they’d almost live with like a godlike, divine, like status among the people. Yet here in this opening verse and his praises to God, King David, he’s not like taking that status for himself. Like, he’s not thinking more highly than he ought to think. Rather, he’s announcing that God is God, that God is the one who is king.
And as God and king, it’d be his name, not David’s. It’d be the Lord’s name that would be blessed forever and ever for us. While we might not be king, this complexity of like, superiority complex that we might have for honest, this is maybe too much of our own lives where too often we want to act like we’re God working entire world revolves around us. Says here, verse one, this great praise of David, this is him intentionally acknowledging God is God, God is king. And for us, this is a great antidote for us as we fight against our own superiority complex to rehearse and continue rehearse this truth, acknowledging in like, very personal ways, like, he is my God, my King.
It’s not just like in theory or in general, but in our full specific praises of God, right? We make things like very personal. My God, my king. Verse 2. As this blessing of the name of God is on the heart of David, something he would desire to do forever and ever.
We see that not only did he bring his praises over all time, we also see he also Brought his praises at all times, where he wrote, every day I will bless you, as every day I will praise your name forever and ever. Now, for me this week, as I was thinking about this year and David most likely being king when this is written, I just couldn’t help to start to think, like, I wonder what his daily life would have been like, you know, as king. You know, I just kind of wondered all the things that he’d have, like, on his daily plate, like decisions that he had to make. You keep thinking, like, I wonder how many people, like we’re coming in and out of his palace, you know, to seek some type of wisdom or approval on, you know, all the different things necessary for a king to do. As I thought about this, as I thought about David, I just couldn’t help but think how, like, from the moment he woke up to the moment he fell asleep, his mind must have just been running in so many places.
I got to get this done. I got to get that done. I had to work through this thing in my mind because I have this challenge in front of me where I’m sure he just had to feel exhausted as king, he had to finish this to do list. Just think how every day would have been just filled up with so many things. Yet here with a heart full of worship, full of praise every day.
David sought to bring his blessings to the Lord, which for us do likewise. Not only does it require intentionality, but also some discipline, maybe in some, like, accountability. I think we know this, we know easy it is to like sucked into our never ending to do list, whatever thing that’s like the worry concern, where it’s just on loop always in our mind. That’s all we can think about. So we need to be disciplined.
We need to have some intentionality to bring our full specific praises to the Lord daily. Which, by the way, as we connect as a church, this is something that we hope we’re intentional in helping each other towards this end, to help each other to praise the Lord, right? This is one of the best, most important things that we can do for each other. Keep going. Verse 3.
One of the great reasons why David sought to bless the Lord each day. Why? Because great is the Lord. And in that greatness, it’s like an unsearchable greatness, meaning that we can like never come to the end of the greatness. And this greatness of the Lord, this is a fundamental truth of all truths.
The Lord is great. He is great in all that he does. In the end. This is why we praise him, why we bring praise to him, even like in simple things like eating and drinking, right? Scripture tells us we’re due for the glory of God.
But because he’s great, because his greatness is unsearchable is also why we praise him. Even in like the more challenging, difficult, perhaps sacrificial things in life. Why do we do it? Because he’s great. That’s why we Praise him.
Verse 4. David, continue to write one generation, command your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts, which for us means in our full specific praises to God, we are to praise him in such a way that we’re like passing down, passing down our praises to those who come after us, which is actually the core of our call to make disciples, to pass down praise. So if you’re here this morning as a parent, this must be actually part of your specific praise to the Lord, to praise him in ways you’re like raising your children in the fear, the discipline of God, where like to your children, you’re commending his works, his mighty acts, doing so with the hope, the prayer that by grace, the grace of God, your children would praise the Lord as well as a church family. This also must be a real part of why we praise God or how we praise God by passing down the truths of Christ to the generation that comes after us. This is why we have such high regard for different ministries like the ministries that we give, like to our children, to our youth, to our college students.
In our praises of God. Our desire is to come alongside others who are younger than us to disciple them, to help teach them to observe all that Scripture teaches, to give them a model of what it looks like to praise the Lord. So the praise of God goes from generation to generation in verse five, that the next generation would also declare God’s mighty acts, that they also would declare the glorious splendor of his majesty. In text. His generation made this declaration of praise towards God we see in the text.
It’s like much to David’s delight. So in the psalm wrote in the psalm he wrote that of the wondrous works of God, like he would like meditate, like he would think deeply and ponder these things that God is doing. I’m sure this wondrous works of God that David would meditate on, revolved this revolved on the work of God that he was doing in the younger generation as David was like meditating, praising God as they see the Lord work in their life, which is the work in verse six, that the younger generation would pour forth the fame of God’s abundant goodness as the younger generation would like sing aloud of God’s righteousness to say it again. Parents, that is the hope for our children. That is what we are pointing our children to.
This is like our prayer. This is our deep desire for our kids above all other desires that the hearts of our children would be filled with praise towards God for His abundance goodness. For those who help out with our village kids or with our youth or our college ministry. This is the end by which we serve and labor and are praying towards that the younger generation of Red Village Church would grow up in ways that they’re praising the Lord with their life, that they’re testifying that the Lord is good. He is abundantly good.
Parents, please keep this end goal in mind. Especially during the times of parenting when things are maybe not clear the way you want where you like, maybe you feel exhausted or frustrated. For those of Red Village Church who are serving the younger generation, please keep this end goal in mind. We’re here to help the younger to praise the Lord so not grow weary in doing good, even if you start to question if your labors actually matter. Verse 8 and 9 which is now David picking up something from the book of Exodus, which would have been scripture, I’m sure David would have been made aware of when he was part of the younger generation.
In this psalm of full specific praise, he wrote this the Lord is He’s gracious. The Lord he is so merciful. The Lord he is one who is slow to anger. Lord, he’s the one who is abounding in steadfast love and his full specific praises. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made, it’s here, Verses eight and nine and if you’re looking for a way to meditate upon the things of God, the work of God in your life, maybe just like run back through this last week.
As you run back through last week, just think how many times like you’ve sinned or failed the Lord. You know, perhaps you did something you shouldn’t have done. Or maybe you didn’t do something that you should have done. Or maybe just maybe think about maybe some of the words that came out of your mouth or maybe some of the attitudes coming out of your heart. And just think about all those situations and think like how gracious and merciful and slow to anger the Lord has been with you even this week.
Furthermore, as you think about your week, think about all the various ways that the abounding, steadfast love of God was on you where he was like good to you, merciful to you through all of his various works, whether it’s provisions or providence, think all the ways that even this last week, how the Lord has kept you, how he’s held you fast. If you’re a Christian, the only reason why you’re still Christian today is because the Lord has been good to you.
As you replay your last week, all the times God has poured all these things on you in these last two, in these two verses, let those things be like specific times for you to bring your full praises to the Lord for how good he has been to you. Yet again, understand, in fact, expand your thoughts, not just this past week, but really to think about all of God’s good work that he has done in your life and all the ways that he has been present, leading, guiding, protecting, providing for you, showing you grace, giving you mercy, pouring out goodness, showering you with his steadfast love. You think of all those works that maybe you’re just aware of in your life, all the works that we’re unaware of. And these are all there, all given to us from the Lord in the text, to praise him in the text so that we might give thanks to you, O Lord. It’s not just us who give thanks, but in the text it’s for all the saints.
All who have faith in the Lord. All shall bless the Lord. Reminded that our praise towards God is not just something that we do as individuals, even though that certainly is true, but as we put our individual trust in the Lord as we give him our individual praise quickly, we are to unite with others in corporate praise so we can join together with other saints to bless the Lord. In fact, our praises towards God really can’t be full if you don’t have a corporate nature tied to them. If we simply keep our praises to God as an individual level, they’d be incomplete.
Missing this. By the way, this is one of the many reasons why we think it’s so important for us to be here like every Sunday. And whether you’re praising the Lord here in the sanctuary or you’re praising the Lord through acts of service that fill up the place on Sundays, including all that happens in village kids. This is important to be with other saints to bring our praises to the Lord. Verse 11 they the saints, those who are faith, who have faith in the Lord as they gather, gather together in corporate praise, we see that has like a real evangelistic purpose.
As we gather together, as they speak of the glory of your kingdom, as they together in corporate praise tell of Your power, meaning evangelist. Evangelistic purpose is also not there, like our praise is not full in the text. In the evangelistic purpose of the saints. They are to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds. They are to make known the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Just notice again this theme of commending the works of God from generation to generation. We are to tell the children, those who come after us, about the things of God, so they might praise Him. Keep saying it, parents. This is your priority, your priority of praise. You praise the Lord in ways that you’re teaching your children for the church.
This also is a priority of praise for us that we’re teaching the younger generation so they might join us in their pray in praise. Verse 11. The saints, they shall speak of the glory of kingdom. The saints, they’re the ones who in praise tell. The power of God continues to highlight, underscore this evangelistic outpouring.
Our hearts are filled with praise. We can’t help but tell other people. Verse 12 to continue to highlight, underscore the importance of discipling the younger generation. The saints make known to the children the mighty deeds of God and the splendor of his kingdom and friends. For us to praise God is to tell others about specific things about the Lord, like His deeds, the splendor of his kingdom, praising God, testifying about God, right?
These things go hand in hand. Verse 13. Keep going. In this Alphabet of praise, David wrote that the glorious kingdom of God would be as a kingdom that’s filled with splendor, and not only that, but as a kingdom that is an everlasting kingdom, as the dominion of God will endure throughout all generations, meaning the praise of God will be a praise that will never end, where for all eternity all the saints will give their corporate praise to the Lord. In the middle of verse 13, which mentioned earlier, this is the bracket.
So without knowing fully if this was true to David or if this came later, but we do see that which is in the bracket is true to what Scripture tells us. In fact, even verse 17 picks up on what verse 10 says in the bracket. The Lord is faithful in all his words. The Lord is kind in all of his works, right? These are true realities that we see all throughout Scripture.
The Lord is faithful. We praise him because he’s faithful to us in his word. We praise Him. Why? Because he is kind by which he’s at work in our lives.
Keep going. Verse 14.
The Lord, the kind one. He is so kind. He’s the one who upholds all who are falling as the Lord is, is the kind one who raises up all who are bowed down.
This is something that God tells us over and over again in his faithful word that he is a God who is near to the brokenhearted. We’re in that nearness. He is near with tender care, so tender, so kind. Scripture tells us like a bruised reed he won’t break. A fainting burning wick, he will not quench.
Friends, in this kind work of God, this is a way that we can specifically praise him. That he is so great as our God and King, that he is so kind. Verse 15 as God does this mighty and glorious and faithful kind work, David praised him as all of the eyes look to him and you give them food in their due season. Which not only further speaks to God’s kindness, but within that kindness, how God is our true provider. He’s in the end.
Verse 16 if you’re going to take your eyes there, the Lord, he’s the one who opens up his hand to satisfy the desires of every living thing. You know, it’s for me this week my mind went to the Sermon on the Mount as I was thinking about this year and back to back teachings that Jesus had in the Sermon on the Mount. So first was this his teaching in the Lord’s Prayer or the model prayer as the Lord taught us to pray to God like to give us our daily bread, which is acknowledging and praising the one like who opens up his hand to answer that prayer every time we sit down and eat. And then second, the other teaching was Jesus teaching to not be anxious. And one of the great reasons why the Lord tells us to not be anxious.
It says we look to the flowers of the field, to the birds of the air. As we looked at, we can just see that the Lord opened His hands to provide even for them. So why would we be anxious? How much more were our praiseworthy God open up his hand to provide for his people? And by the way, anxiety is something you struggle with.
Let me just encourage you just to really listen and meditate and heed to the teachings of Jesus and make intentional time to observe flowers and watch the birds. As you make that time, let full and specific praises of God well up as you consider all the ways that the Lord opened His hand to not only provide for them, but also for you. Keep going. Verse 17 a further reason to praise the Lord. We see unlike us, the Lord, he’s righteous in all his ways.
Which is verse 7 something verse 7 sang about. Lord is also kind in all his works, which is the second phrase of the bracket in verse 13, verse 18. Why do we praise the Lord? Because the Lord is near to all who call on him. To all who call on him in truth.
Which, by the way, for me, a real part of my conversion into Christianity, how the Lord drew me into his praise was actually this like learning about, like, the nearness of God, how God is near present to all who by faith and in truth call upon Him. He’s near, by the way, this truth part of it in this verse here. So as a reminder, we can’t just like, call on some type of, like, generic God in ways that we want this like, generic God to like, hear us and be near to us. It must be true, true to what we see in Scripture. That’s why Jesus tells us we must worship, we must praise God in spirit and in truth.
Verse 19. See this, that the Lord fulfills the desires of all who fear Him. He also hears the cries and saves them, just further speaking its importance of truth. Fearing the one true living God doesn’t just cry out to any God that we want, but we cry in holy reverent fear to the true God. And as we call out to him in truth, no matter what situation we find ourselves in or how we ended up in that situation, the truth is that the Lord will hear our prayers.
He will hear our cries in the text, and the Lord will save. And he’ll save in a way that he, like, fulfills all of our desires, which by the way, includes all here this morning. If by faith you call upon the name of the Lord, he’ll hear you. He will save you. He will fulfill the desires of your heart.
And not only will the Lord do those things. Verse 20, you see, the Lord will preserve all who love him continually to the praise of his glory, the Lord, he will preserve his people. He will hold his people fast, and he will hold us fast, no matter the circumstance or situation we’re in or how we get there or we got there, to the praise of the Lord and His love and his power he preserves. He keeps his people. But Also in verse 20, if you take your eyes there, to the praise of the Lord, all the wicked he will destroy.
Now I know the judgment of God which we see in Scripture is full and terrifying. This judgment can be hard for us to grasp. But friends, to his praise, the Lord will judge the wicked. And while it might be hard for us to grasp now, Scripture is clear in the end, as this is happening, as we actually see more clearly how full and terrifying the judgments of God are on the wicked it actually lead us to praise. We’ll see even more clearly as the Lord is destroying the wicked all that which does not praise him, we’ll see just how good he is as in his goodness.
To his praise the Lord will destroy all that which is not good. Finally, where the acrostic ends, this Alphabet of Praise ends Psalm 21 David testified that my mouth will speak will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. Which I do hope is our hope as a church, that we will speak the name of the Lord through our praises all of our days. And as we speak the praises of the Lord more and more will join us in blessing his holy name forever and ever. Amen.
Now let’s close our time in this psalm that is full specific in this Alphabet of praise. I do have a quick few quick thoughts for us. So first give your full and specific praise to the Lord, who is worthy of of it. And the Lord is worthy of our full specific praise in each and every moment of our life and in every situation, good or not so good that we might find ourselves in. I’ll just quickly run back to the passage.
Why he’s worthy of praise verse 3 Lord is worthy of our praise. Why? Because he’s great and his greatness is unsearchable. Verse 3 the Lord or verse 4 the Lord is worthy of praise. Why?
Because of his works. Because of his mighty acts. Verse 5 the Lord is worthy of praise. Why? Because he’s glorious in splendor and majesty and because of all of his works are wondrous works.
Verse 6 the Lord is worthy of our praise. Why? Because of his might and because of his awesome deeds and his greatness. Verse 7 the Lord is worthy of our praise. Why?
Because of his abundant goodness and his righteousness. Verse 8 the Lord is worthy of our praise. Why? Because he’s gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Verse 9 the Lord is worthy of praise.
Why? Because he’s good to all and his mercy is over all. Verse 10 the Lord is worthy of praise. Why? Because of his works.
Verse 11 the Lord is worthy of praise. Why? Because his kingdom is glorious and and he is filled with power. Verse 12 the Lord is worthy of our praise. Why?
Because his mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of his kingdom. Verse 13 the Lord is worthy of praise. Why? Because he has an everlasting kingdom and he has eternal dominion over that kingdom. Verse 13 the brackets the Lord is worthy of our praise.
Why? Because he’s faithful and he’s kind in all his works. Verse 14. The Lord is worthy of praise. Why?
Because he’s the One who upholds all who are falling. Because he is the One who raises up all who are bowed down, including all here this morning. Verse 15:16. The Lord is worthy of a praise. Why?
Because he’s the One we look to as he is the One who provides as he opens up his hand to satisfy the desires of every living thing. Verse 17. The Lord is worthy of praise. Why? Because he’s righteous in all his ways.
He’s kind in all of his works. Verse 18. The Lord is worthy of our praise. Why? He’s near to all who call to him in truth.
Verse 19. The Lord is worthy of our praise. Why? Because he fulfills the desires of those who fear him. And he hears the cry and saves them.
And finally, verse 20. The Lord is worthy of praise. Why? Why? Because he preserves all who love Him.
Because he destroys the wicked. Friends, we have every reason in every situation to bring our praises to the Lord who is worthy of them all. Now, if you’re wondering how to do that, how to give praises to the Lord, there’s many ways that we pray him in the text. We praise him by like extolling his name.
He’s God, He’s King. We praise the Lord with our attitudes, our actions, as we display his kingly reign of our hearts as we seek to honor him with our life. How we praise Him. We praise him every day in every situation we’re in where we acknowledge his hand of blessing and mercy and kindness and love that’s on us. We praise him by meditating upon him, the mighty works, his glorious kingdom.
We praise him by crying out to him and continuing to cry out to him in spirit and truth. In the text. How do we praise the Lord? We praise him, the One who is worthy, by commending and making known his works to those who come after him, by speaking of his kingdom, all who would hear the text. How do we praise the Lord for all these mighty things?
Well, we praise him not just as individuals, but we praise him corporately as well or as a church family. We link arms and we praise the Lord who is worthy. Second, give your full and specific praise to the Lord for your joy, which in the text is how our desires are filled. Our desires are filled up as we give to the Lord are full, specific praises. Okay, now let me mention, when it comes to praising God, while He is worthy of all of our praise, God doesn’t like need our praise in order for him to like survive or have like joy within the Godhead of Father, Son and Spirit.
God is fully and perfect in joy like he needs nothing. However, for us, for our joy, for our desires to be met, we do need to praise the Lord. Praise him in truth, praise him with full specific praise. Praise him with the Alphabet of praise every day, all of our days. We need to do that because that’s how we’ve been created.
He created us to be vessels of praise and friends. Without the praise of God in our hearts, we are incomplete, missing. So for us, this psalm, this alpha to praise is not just there for us to know how to praise God, but also how to find joy in God that can only come through the praising of God. This morning, if you find yourself like lacking any type of Christian joy, let me just encourage you to take a step back and just really consider and try to apply this passage in your life and final thing. For all of us to be able to praise the Lord, to find joy in our praise of the Lord.
Third, we must give our full and specific praise to the Lord by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, the One who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Yes and Amen. Friends, it’s only through Jesus calling upon the name of Jesus, the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. That’s the only way we can come to God the Father in praise. So we must put our faith in Jesus Christ in order to praise the Lord. We must do it because we desperately need what Jesus did for us.
We’re in the most kind and most mighty of acts. Jesus, in his great steadfast love died on a cross for his people to take on the punishment of our sin. All the many times where we have failed to praise the Lord with full and specific praises, where all the times that we gave our praise as something so far less than Him. All those times Jesus took all that punishment upon himself where on the cross in his death, righteous Jesus bore the wrath of God for His unrighteous people on the cross he proved just how gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love our God is. I mean, think about that.
Through God’s eternal son, Jesus Christ, our God and King would die for us. Could there be anything more kind than that? But for us, as we know, the Lord Jesus not only died but but his insearchable greatness and power and the most wondrous of works. On the third day our Lord Jesus rose again from the dead. And because he lives.
Jesus gives life to all who he calls to Himself, which is a life by which he takes out our heart, a stone, a heart that does not praise God and replaces with a heart of flesh that now joyfully delights in bringing praises to God. So through his death and resurrection, by grace, through faith, his righteousness would be counted as our righteousness. Friends, this good news, what Jesus did for us and the life he gives, this is good news that not only did he save us from our sins, but he’s also preserving his people to Himself, where He will take us to eternal life with him into his glorious kingdom, which for us, yes, no doubt it’s so important for us to give our full specific praises to God through Jesus Christ. But what’s more important is not what we do for God. What’s more important is what God did for us through Christ.
We’re in his book Sacred Scripture. We can read about full specific ways in which he loves us. In which he loved us first so that we might love Him. Where in his book that is filled with all the ways that he loves his people, we see how he will continue to love us forever and ever. Amen.
So that through his great love forever and ever, we could fully praise Him. Let’s pray.
Thank you for the love that you have for us through Jesus Christ.
Lord, I do pray that you’d help our hearts for your glory and our joy, to be filled with praise, full specific praise for all of who you are and all that you continue to do for us. And Lord, I pray that as a church that this praise of you would compel us to tell others of your wondrous works in your glorious kingdom. I also pray that this praise of you would compel us to come alongside those who are younger, that we might help them to know how to praise you as well.
I pray so in Jesus name, Amen.