All right. Well, good morning. It’s great to meet with you all outside. I hope you don’t cook too much as you’re out there. I’ve got the shade, as you can see.
But if you feel yourself cooking, feel free if you need to get up and move to the shade at any point. So, yeah, for those who don’t know me, my name is Wes. I’m a pastoral assistant here at Red Village Church. So I help out with the youth ministry and the college student ministry here at the church. So today is going to be our last psalm study of the summer.
So if you have a Bible or a Bible that’s kind of nearby you one of the blue Bibles, we’re going to be looking at Psalm 150. Psalm 150, the last Psalm. And to be completely honest with you guys, if you’re wondering why you’re meeting outdoors today, it’s kind of because of me, because I really wanted to have an outdoor service before we get to the fall. So feel free to bring your complaints to me if so. But actually, my first service here at Red Village Church was outdoors here in this parking lot.
And it brings just some sweet memories to be able to do this. So Psalm 150, I’m going to read what the psalm says, and then I’m going to pray, and then I’ll begin just to work through this verse by verse. So here’s what the word of the Lord says. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise him for his mighty heavens. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the trumpet sound. Praise him with the lute and the harp.
Praise him with the tambourine and dance. Praise him with the strings and pipe. Praise him with sounding cymbals. Praise him with loud, clashing cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. Please pray with me.
God, we thank you that you are worthy of our praise. And we thank you that we can gather here to hear your word, to worship you. And I pray, God, would you please just bless this time. Would you please speak through my preaching? And God help us have open ears and hearts to receive what you are saying this morning.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.
So there are some things in this life that are just instinctive, meaning nobody has to tell you or teach you. Like, it’s just in your DNA and it’s instinct, like a fixed pattern of behavior. So before I talk about Psalm 150, I am going to cue you in on some Uncle Wes instincts. Which for those that don’t know another name I’ve been given is uncle Wes. You can ask somebody later, but I’m going to give you some instincts that I have, okay?
So hold on to your plastic chairs. Instinct number one. Ranch is the most superior sauce of all sauces. Okay? I’m sure this comes as a shock to many of you, but this is just instinctive.
For me, since I was young, I have known that ranch is the holy grail of sauces. Looking to spice up a sandwich? Ranch. Want to bring your pizza slice from an 8 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10? Ranch.
Got a boring salad. Boom. Ranch not boring anymore. Got some spaghetti. But it’s missing something.
Ranch. Now it’s gourmet. That was good. So no one had to teach this to me, okay? I just know the ranch is amazing.
Instinct number two, the innate ability to recognize that pickles are just terrible. Okay, Pickles, Yep, take that in. Pickles are just the worst. Like they just taste terrible. And this is one of the great faults of American fast food chains, is putting pickles on burgers.
Why do this? Like, even chick fil a has been deceived by pickles. And this is a sad thing to me. From cucumber form to pickle form, they just ruin anything they fall upon. So it’s been a keen instinct for me to recognize that pickles are not good ever, period.
Instinct number three, and this one doesn’t have anything to do with food, is the desire to hear a bugling elk. Now, to many people here, what I just said makes absolutely no sense. Back in the western states, particularly in Idaho where I’m from, they are these large deer like animals and every September they make this ear piercing scream called a bugle for an entire month. And I’m not going to make that sound or try to replicate it up here. It’s really loud and crazy sounding.
But if you are out in the mountains where elk are and you wake up early in the morning, just at the crack of dawn, there is this special golden hour where you can climb to the edge of a hill or a mountain and you could hear an elk scream echo all across the forest in front of you. Multiple elk bugling and screaming. And for me personally, this is amazing. Like, if I go too long without hearing an elk bugle in the mountains, then there’s something within me that just really wants to get outdoors and like go listen to elk bugle. That’s just something instinctive within me and something I got to do.
So it’s something also that I hope my little daughter Leona grows up to love, which is why I’m currently reading to her books about elk. And yes, there are children’s books about elk, if you’re wondering, so I can share them with you. But all of this being said, there are incredible instincts that are within all people, and some of us are more unique than others. But there’s other instincts that are innate to all of us, that all of these instincts we share together. And here in Psalm 150, the Psalmist is revealing to us another instinct that is common to all of creation and that is for everything that has breath to praise the Lord.
God has created all of creation to praise the Lord. It’s hardwired within us, but not all creation does. This sin distorts this instinct. And I’m going to come back to this later in the sermon, so keep this in mind. So Psalm 150 is the last psalm found in the Psalter.
The Psalter is the book of Psalms. It is the last psalm of the five Hallelujah Psalms, which all begin and end with the word Hallelujah. And so the word hallelujah, it actually means praise be to Yahweh, the one and only true God, who is the only one who deserves our praise. So this Hallelujah psalm serves as a doxology to the entire book of Psalms, capping off all of the peaks of joy and all the valleys of sorrow that are scattered throughout the entire book of Psalms. So in just six verses, this Psalm repeats the word praise the Lord 13 times.
So 13 times author writes Praise the Lord over and over and over again, as if, like the psalmist can’t say this enough. Now, last week, Aaron talked about like this momentum that, that we see in these Hallelujah Psalms. And so the writer here in Psalm 150 is actually like peeking at the top of this momentum where he has reached the mountain of praise. That is what he’s been doing since Psalm 146. And so with this, like, the psalmist is overwhelmed by the thought of praise to God, like he can’t praise the Lord enough with every single line that he writes here.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. The psalm builds on itself until it pinnacles with an invitation in verse 6. For everything that has breath, come and praise the Lord for all that have been said and proclaimed about God in over a thousand different ways, from Psalm 1 to Psalm 149, there is only one thing on the author’s mind and on the one who ordered the Book of Psalms.
And that is Hallelujah. Praise be to Yahweh. As the psalmist praises the Lord in this final doxology, he provides us with three different applications related to praising the Lord that I’m going to spend most of my time talking about. And so this includes where to praise the Lord in verse one, what we are to praise God for in verse two, what one should use to praise the Lord in verses three through six, and then capping with, let everything praise the Lord. So let me walk through this psalm verse by verse, and I’ll just give some information on each of these verses.
So verse one, it says, praise the Lord, Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty heavens. So immediately this psalm begins with a Hallelujah. Praise be to Yahweh. The writer then tells us two places where praise should be brought to God.
One, in his sanctuary, and two, in his mighty heavens. So the sanctuary is the temple that was located in Jerusalem. It was God’s holy dwelling place among his people from the time of King Solomon to the time of Christ. And this is the sacred dwelling of God Almighty. It was a place where God’s people were instructed to come in order to praise and worship the Lord through song, prayer, and sin offerings.
So the psalmist starts this psalm by informing us that God is first and foremost to be praised in his sanctuary. So today the temple actually remains in ruins since it was destroyed in 70 A.D. when the Roman army sieged the city of Jerusalem and burned the temple to the ground and not one stone was left yet. Jesus rebuilt the temple in three days by dying on the cross and then raising from the dead three days later. And the temple that he raised now exists in every human heart who believes in Jesus by faith to those who believe in the risen Son of God as their Lord, God will come to dwell inside of that person through His Holy Spirit. So today, God’s sanctuary, His temple, is within his people.
So if the physical temple is gone and God now dwells within his people, where should praise be given specifically? And the answer to that question is simply wherever God’s people come together, which is the local church, the gathering of God’s people as one body in Christ is the sanctuary where God dwells and is to be praised. Which is why it’s important for God’s people to come together and to praise God in unity through song, through preaching of his word, through taking the Lord’s Supper, through prayer, and through fellowship among the saints. Just meeting, meeting together like all that we’re doing this morning is aimed at bringing praise to God in His sanctuary. This is of first importance to the psalmist in praising God, and it should be of first importance to us to praise God together among his people, where His Spirit dwells.
This is good and right and fitting for praise to be offered to God within His church. The next place that the psalmist directs our attention to is to praise God in His mighty heavens. So the mighty heavens here in this verse, it actually refers to the expanse across the entire world in which God has made so all of the skies that overlook every body of land, every vast ocean that fills the depths of the earth. That is the second location where praise is also to be given to God, which is everywhere. In all the mighty heavens that surrounds the world.
Whether by day or by night, praise is to be offered up to God. Praising in the mighty heavens is actually like a summary of what’s already been said in Psalm 148, just a couple psalms back. And I think that it would be helpful if I just read what Psalm 148 says in order to get a better understanding of what the psalmist is saying here. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and just look at Psalm 148, just two Psalms back. Here’s what it says.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise him, all his angels. Praise him, all his hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon, Praise him, all you shining stars, Praise him, you, highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created, and he established them forever and ever. He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures, in all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word, Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and rulers of the earth, Young men and maidens together, old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted, and his majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people. Praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord. That the praise that the psalmist is talking about when he says, praise him in his mighty heavens, all of creation under the sky is fit to praise the Lord, including all of mankind that dwells on the earth.
There is not one place in all of creation that God has made that is not meant to bring him. Praise the angels. Here Also in Psalms 148, bring praise to God among the mighty heavens. So it is fitting for all of creation to fill every expanse with praise to God. In summary, those are the two places that are fitting to praise the Lord that the psalmist gives us.
In place where God dwells, which is in and among his saints and everywhere in all of creation. The psalmist says this very matter, says this very matter of factly saying, praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, and praise him in the mighty heavens. So, moving to verse two, the psalmist now gives us two summary points of what we are to praise God for. So praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
The psalmist tells us to praise God for what he has done, which is his mighty deeds that he has already performed and will continue to perform. So what mighty deeds, you may ask, has God done? And what has he done that’s worthy of praise? If I was to give you every single deed listed in the Old Testament, we would be out in this parking lot a whole lot longer than you want to be. So I’m going to give you just the mighty deeds that I see in these Hallelujah psalms, which is Psalm 146 through Psalm 150, just five Psalms.
I’m going to give you the mighty acts of God that I see. So God gives life and being to each person. God helps his people who hope in the Lord. God has made heaven and earth, the sea, and all of creation that lives on both land and sea. God keeps the faith of his people.
God executes justice for the oppressed people of the earth. God gives food to the hungry of the earth. God sets prisoners free from sin. God opens the eyes of the blind. God lifts up those who are down.
God loves the righteous who he makes righteous. God watches over the traveler looking for refuge. God upholds the widow and the fatherless. God brings the wicked to ruin. God reigns eternally forever.
God build up his people. He builds up his people and he gathers the outcasts of society. God heals the brokenhearted. God determines the number of the stars and then he names them all. God lifts up the humble in heart.
God covers the heavens with clouds and he brings rain to nourish the earth and he makes the grass grow. God feeds the animals of the land and the birds of the sky. God protects his people and he brings peace to the borders of where they dwell. God blesses the children of his people. God gives food to his people God brings snow and ice and cold in the winter and water in the spring that causes the wind to blow.
God gives good moral statues and rules for his people to obey that they may understand right from wrong. God sends out his word and fulfills everything that he sends it to do. God brings about praise for his saints who draw near to Him. God is king and rules over his people. God takes pleasure in his people.
And lastly, God adorns the humble, his holy people with salvation and honor. These are just some of the mighty deeds of God listed in the Bible in just five psalms. Praise God for His mighty acts. There are too many to count. The second thing the psalmist says is we are to praise God for who he is.
Praise God according to his excellent greatness. Now the new living translation translates this verse to say praise God for His unequaled greatness, which I agree with how this translates this. There is nothing in all of creation, no single individual that even comes close to the awesome greatness of God. He is Lord and king over all the earth. He is all powerful, all present, all knowing, eternal meaning that he has existed before the beginning of time and he will continue to exist for all of time to come.
He is holy and pure and beautiful, yet he is judge over all the earth and terrifying in his wrath and in his power. He is just and deals with evil and wickedness on the earth, yet he’s full of grace and forgiveness. He is full of steadfast love for his people and his love and his kindness. They never fail nor end. This is who God is.
His greatness is unequaled. Therefore, praise God according to his excellent greatness. I praise God for He is wonderful and amazing and he has given us life and being to experience his goodness. Hallelujah. Praise be to God for His excellent greatness that pours over onto his creation and life and blessing.
Moving to verses three through six, the psalmist now transitions to what one should use in order to praise the Lord. And the Psalmist gives us 10 different ways that are fitting to praise the Lord, eight of them being instruments which implicitly applies that music is made to praise the Lord. God has created music with sound and rhythm to enjoy and to bring praise to Him. So the psalmist gives us a whole range of instruments that are fitting to bringing praise to God, including wind, string and percussion instruments. The first instrument the psalmist lists is the trumpet.
So the trumpet here actually refers to the ram’s horn horn that would be sounded by the blowing through the horn. The ram’s horn was an important instrument for the Israelites, that was used to declare significantly important events. One of the most important events that involves the ram’s horn was the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. As God descended upon the mountain in a dark cloud of fire and. And as God descended on this mountain in smoke and thunder and lightning, the ram’s horn blasted and it could be heard by all the Israelites, which Scripture tells us terrified all who heard it.
The ram’s horn was used for the proclamation of jubilee, which was the great seven year period of rest for God’s people. It was used for the coronation of Jewish kings. And lastly, it was used to announce when war was about to begin. So whenever the ram’s horn was used in the Old Testament, weighty matters followed. Jesus taught that the resurrection of the dead would begin with the sounding of the trumpet call as the angels bring forth all of God’s people when Christ returns.
All this being said, the psalmist calls for the reverent trumpet to be the first sound that brings praise to the Lord. The next instrument the psalmist mentions is on the completely opposite side of the spectrum in terms of intensity, which is to praise him with the lute and the harp. So the lute was also known as the lyre, which was a 10 stringed instrument that was plucked like a guitar. So both the lute and the harp were peaceful instruments used to bring sweet and gentle melodies and worship to God. The psalmist is saying not only is it good to bring praise to the Lord with a loud and intense trumpet blast, but it’s also good to bring praise to the Lord with a soft and gentle lyre and harp.
Moving to verse four, the psalmist lists another two ways to praise the Lord with the tambourine and dance. So different from the previous instruments listed, the tambourine is a very energetic percussion instrument that is often used with dancing, which is why the tambourine and dance are listed here together. And for many of the Israelite readers when they would read this psalm, it would likely remind them of Miriam’s joyous worship using the tambourine as she danced and led other women in celebration after God had led the Israelites through the Red Sea. So as a means of just like rising up this energy within God’s people to bring him praise. After this, the psalm brings another musical layer that is appropriate, which is the strings and pipe.
So the strings refer to any other string instrument that could be used, and the pipe was likely referring to a flute that made its own kind of harmonious melody of music. And essentially the Psalmist is saying, other stringed instruments, along with the flute, brought this calm and relaxed kind of music that was used to prevent praise God. After that, the psalmist switches again. The psalmist then gives us another description of the symbols, even loud, crashing symbols. So here the psalmist now switches back to something really loud and intense and says, let these loud and intense crashing cymbals, let them come together to bring praise to the Lord.
So you can see from start to finish finish of all these instruments. Like it’s a very wide range of instruments that the psalmist gives to bring praise to the Lord, from the deep and intense, to the gentle and the quiet, to the energetic and active, to the calm and relaxed and to the loud and crashing. All instruments of beautiful music are called on by the psalmist to be used for praise to the Lord. The picture we are given here is like a symphony of beautiful sounds, all playing together to make beautiful music in order to praise the Lord who is worthy of all instrumental sound and worship. It’s like the psalmist is an orchestra director and with every line he is calling on another unique instrument to join in to the chorus of pretty praise to the Lord, saying, add the bold trumpet and add the peaceful harp and the joyful tambourine and the clashing cymbals.
Yes, let all of them praise the Lord. Which brings us to the final verse in this Psalm. Verse 6 concludes saying, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Here we arrive at the most wonderful instrument meant to praise the Lord of all creation that has breath in their lungs. Let this also praise the Lord.
Everything in this verse certainly applies to all of creation, all animals, all things that God has created, but it is specifically directed towards many mankind joining in with this chorus of musical melody to praise the Lord of all the earth. The last and greatest instrument is the breath of all mankind coming together to worship the Lord in Revelation 7, 9. Heaven is filled with people from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne of God and crying out in praise. Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb. This is the pinnacle of worship for God’s created order, where God’s people are joining in to worship the Lord in word and song, bringing praise to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for all time.
This is the most fitting way that this psalm of praise could end. For God’s people are the greatest instruments made to worship the Lord with the very breath that is in their lungs. Praise to God is an instinct that the Lord has put within every human heart. To express gratitude for him in word and in deed and in song. Sadly, sin distorts this instinct, which results in praise and worship being offered to lesser things instead of the Lord.
So for God’s people, praise is not something that is to be taught, though once a person comes to know the Lord through faith in Christ, they are given a new life through his living spirit that now dwells in them. And the instinct of praise is expand a flame and praise to God becomes a normal part of a Christian’s life. The natural instinct of one who is saved by God through faith in Jesus is praise. Here in Psalm 150 we receive a picture of God’s people joining in with the chorus of praise. And it is beautiful in the Lord’s sister.
After giving us a picture of this incredible symphony of praise, Psalm 150 then ends as it begins saying hallelujah. Praise be to Yahweh from beginning to end. Praise be to the Lord. A beautiful and fitting end to the book of Psalms. So what applications can we dig from this psalm of praise?
I have four applications that I want to give to you the remainder of our time. So if you’re taking notes, I encourage you to write these down. The first application from the psalm is spend your life praising the Lord. As I just mentioned, sin distorts this instinct of praise. Where we offer praise to things that are lesser than God, like like nature or material things or a celebrity or even a political leader or most often we bring praise to ourselves and God has created us for his glory.
To praise the Lord for all that is good and pleasing in the world, because he is the One who has created it. He is the One who has given us life and breath. Therefore, Satan, spend your life praising the Lord. When you wake up in the morning, praise God that you are alive and that he has good plans for you and good works prepared in advance for you to do. When you wake up and see a beautiful sunrise or a thunderstorm across the sky, or a starlit night, praise the Lord in the mighty expanse of all around you because he’s the One who’s created everything that is around us.
When you enjoy laughter with a friend or with family, or when you receive love from another, from someone that you love, praise God for giving you that sweet friendship and for the gift of love and laughter. It comes from Him. When you eat a delicious meal or you win a hard game or you accomplish a great goal, praise God. Bring praise to Him. Thank him for the ability to do these things, for the good works he gives, allow us to feel these emotions, to feel the accomplishment of coming to something that we have worked hard on, bring praise to him for that.
Or if you find yourself in a valley where life is very hard and it’s difficult to see the light even here, praise the Lord knowing that the Lord will see you through to the end and he will never leave you nor forsake you. It is good and pleasing to the soul to praise the Lord throughout our lives because God made us to do so. Life is a symphony of highs and and lows and in betweens. And as you go through these highs and through these lows, spend it praising the Lord with every breath that you have. Second Application Praise God in His Sanctuary it’s important to praise God in the place where he dwells with and among his people.
And that place, as I’ve already said, is the local church. Aaron mentioned this last week, and I’m going to mention this again as well. Do not make a habit of not meeting together with God’s people on Sunday. God desires us to come together as one body, to hear from His Word and to praise the Lord together. The church is a special place where God fills His people up and he gives his people this focused time to praise him through hearing His Word, through prayer and through corporate worship and singing songs, through fellowship and through the Lord’s Supper, which we’ll do here in just a few moments.
It is good and pleasing to praise the Lord in His sanctuary, among his people on the Lord’s Day and when we sing songs on Sunday, like, don’t let this become something that you’re just kind of mouthing along and kind of looking at things around you. Like, take advantage of corporate worship as a specific time where you can focus your heart and your mind upon God and praise him with all of your energy and all of your mind and all of your voice in singing. This is what God created you to do and it is good and pleasing for us to do that on a regular basis. So don’t make a habit of missing church. God has given us the church in order that we may live life full of praise and to praise him in his sanctuary.
Application Number three Praise Jesus, who is truly mighty in deeds and excellent in greatness. God has revealed his greatness to us in the person of Jesus and He has performed the mightiest of all deeds by raising Jesus from the dead. Jesus is God in the flesh. He came to bear our sin by offering his sinless life as a substitute in our place. An eternal debt was paid by an eternal God and By his wounds we are healed.
For anyone here who hears what Christ has done for you on your behalf, and you hear and you repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus as the Lord of your life, you will be made a child of God and you will be given a place in heaven with God for eternity. This is the greatest deed and the greatest miracle news that has ever been given by God. And this news changed my life almost 10 years ago. When God saved me after I surrendered my life to him in college, he put a new song of praise in my mouth. And ever since then I have been singing God’s praises every chance I get the time to.
And he can do the same for you, to give you a new song of praise to Him. It is filled with joy and life and blessing. So praise the one who is truly mighty in deeds and is excellent in greatness. King Jesus. My fourth and final application is Invite all who have breath to come and praise the Lord.
The last verse of the Book of Psalms is an invitation for all who have breath to come and bring praise to the Lord. And God does this through you and through me, through his people. We are Christ’s ambassadors. And the Lord is gathering for himself a people who will worship him for all of eternity. And the time to be bold and and to seek the lost.
It’s now. Now is the time to invite others to come join and praise to the Lord through knowing Christ. One day Jesus is going to return. And when he does the mission of proclaiming the gospel to our lost friends and family and neighbors, it will be over. But today it’s not.
Today there is still yet time to invite others to come and praise the Lord through believing in Jesus. So let’s praise the Lord by inviting those around us to come and join in the great chorus of Hallelujah to the Lord that all who have breath may praise the Lord. Please pray with me.
God, I thank you for this psalm that instructs us. Lord, it is good and right and pleasing for us and all of creation to praise you. You are worthy of our praise. And God, all things were made to bring you praise. And so I pray for everyone here.
God, help us to live lives that seek to praise you often where we would give thanks to you in the morning when we rise and in the evening when we go to bed. God, praise would always be on our lips. And Lord, help us to be bold and intentional to invite others to join in with this praise. And I pray God for those who are here who may not know you, Lord, that you would bring them to yourself and that they would repent and believe in Jesus. And today they would be given new life through knowing you.
So God, with the rest of our time here, may it bring praise and glory to your name and I thank you for this time. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.