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Psalm 145:1-21
David’s Psalm of praise.
“I will extol
thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will
praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One
generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty
acts. I will speak of the glorious
honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall
sing of thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All
thy works shall praise thee, O LORD;
and thy saints shall bless thee. They
shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and
raiseth up all those that be bowed
down. The eyes of all wait upon thee;
and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living
thing. The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and
holy in all his works. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save
them. the LORD preserveth all them that love him: but
all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth
shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for
ever and ever.”
Introduction
“Psalm
145…David’s psalm of praise. It is the
last Psalm in the Book of Psalms ascribed to David, though I think that these
next five Psalms, which would be called Orphan
Psalms because they don’t have a name, I think they bear very much the
marks of David. But this is the last one
specifically prescribed by David, but the last one ascribed to him. Let’s read through it, I’m only going to take
note of several things as we read through, and David’s going to say “I will”
six times in the Psalm, “I will extol thee,” “I will bless thee,” “I will
praise thy name,” “I will speak,” “I will declare,’ he tells us what he’s going
do, he’s determined to do these things. It isn’t a matter it seems effected by circumstance, this is something
that David is going to do, and he 24 times, speaks directly to the LORD, “thy, thou, thee, thine,” so
ya it’s a Song of praise. But it’s
primarily sung directly to the LORD. And then he does something interesting, the
verses will be going directly to God, and then he’ll think of something, and
it’s almost like he looks down, and then he’ll speak to us. And I’m sure in ancient Israel what would
happen is one section of the priests would sing one part of the song, and then
the part then that was directed to the congregation instead of to the LORD, another group of priests
would sing that, and then it flips back again to the LORD’s, take note of that “thy,
thine, thou, thee,” so many times through here. And then 11 times here beginning in verse 9, we have the word “all,”
it’s so inclusive, David sees how God blesses all, how he reaches all his
Creation, you know, “all of his tender mercies,” “all of his works,” over and
over. So, it is a great crescendo to
David, and if it’s the last Psalm that he wrote, we have him there in the end
of 2nd Samuel chapter 23, when he calls himself there “the sweet
psalmist of Israel.” You can see David
one more time, with trembling hands, we’re told in his old age he was cold, he
couldn’t get warm [I’m going through that right now, it stinks], you could
almost see him picking up the harp, saying ‘One
more time, I got one more in me.’ And this one is pretty comprehensive, pretty remarkable. So let’s read through it, and then we’ll go
back and look at it together [read it above]…”My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for
ever and ever.” (verse 21) And I’m sure David would loved to have signed
off that way, if this is his last Psalm.
‘I Will Recognize The Fact You Are Worthy Of
Adoration’
He
tells us here in the beginning “I
will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and
ever.” (verse 1) verse 2 says “Every
day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and
ever.” (verse 2) right off the bat, ‘This
is what I’m gonna do,’ he’s got himself in this position, “I will extol thee,” and he’s talking
to the LORD, “my God,” the idea is, “exalt” your translation might say. But it isn’t just, it’s the idea of ‘I
will recognize the fact that you are worthy of adoration,’ that’s the
idea of it, ‘I will exalt you, I will extol you,’ he says ‘my
God,’ he’s talking to his God. If he’s an old man at this point in time, it tells us again at the end
of his life, he was cold, his body couldn’t get warm, his health is failing,
your heart is weakened, you can imagine him looking up and saying ‘I
will extol thee, my God, I will recognize how worthy you are of adoration, my
God, O king,’ he’s not taking it to himself, he’s not the king of
Israel, he knows who the King of Israel is. Sometimes we don’t know who the king in our life is. “I
will bless thy name for ever and ever.” (verse 1b) long time, huh? “Every
day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.” (verse 2) it’s interesting here, he’s gonna do this, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’ he
doesn’t say ‘It’s not dependant on my
circumstances,’ if he’s old, it’s not dependant on his health, it’s not ‘I need to have my way,’ it’s not ‘I love Goosebumps I get when your Holy
Spirit comes or warm fuzzies,’ he just says ‘This is the way it is, this is
who you are LORD, this is what I’m gonna do,
because of who you are, this is how I’m going to respond, this is what I’m
going to say, this is how I’m going to extol you, I’m going to praise you, I’m going
to bless your name for ever and ever,’ he knows he’s passing into eternity. “Every
day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.” (verse 2) isn’t it interesting, at the end of verse 1, verse 2, “for ever and ever,” he
begins verse 2 by saying “Every day.” ‘I’m
going to bless you for ever and for ever, I’m going to bless your name for ever
and ever, praise your name for ever and ever,’ but he says, ‘I’m
going to do it a day at a time, every day. So I’m going do it eternally, do it forever, and I’m going to do it a
day at a time.’ That’s where we
live, if you haven’t noticed. This is
not heaven [or the kingdom of heaven on earth at Christ’s and our return cf.
Zechariah 14], this is earth. Will we
come to this settled place in our own heart where we say ‘I’m going to do this every day, LORD’ ‘when things stink, when things
are wonderful, when things seem to be working out, or I’m not sure what we’re
doing, I’m still going to extol thee, you are worthy of adoration, my King, I’m
going to bless your name, I’m going to do that forever and ever, every day in
fact, I’m going to do it, I’m going to praise your name and I’m going to do
that forever and ever.’ Interesting
picture.
‘Great Is The LORD, And Greatly To Be Praised,
And His Greatness Is Beyond Examination’
And
then, it’s almost then he gives it to those he’s addressing, he says, “Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.” (verse 3) sounds like there’s a lot of great things going
on in that verse. Doesn’t it? Three times, “Great is the LORD,” and again, this is ancient
Israel, Hebrew, translated in the 1600s into King James English. Today, something is great, ‘Ah, I love that steak sandwich, it’s great,
it’s really cool.’ This is vastly
different. Speaking of greatness, “Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised;” that’s how he should be praised greatly, and then he says, speaking to the
congregation, because he says ‘I’m going to extol thee, how great is the LORD, greatly to be praised,’ “and
his greatness is unsearchable.” so
you can’t praise him too much. OK, you can’t praise him enough. The Hebrew says “Of his greatness there is no
examination.” You may have a
glossary that says “there is no search” the idea is, ‘it’s unsearchable.’ “Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised;” “and
yet, his very greatness is beyond human examination.” You know, it says ‘In
the ages to come, he’s still going to be revealing of his mercy and his
greatness.’ And one of the
things I love about David, he’s doing it here, opening here, and I believe in
the next Psalm too, he talks of the greatness, the magnificence, the power,
he’s going to use the word “terrible” here, he’s going to talk about everything
God is. And David, because he’s the
great human, always brings that around to ‘He stoops down to the broken, he’s gracious
and he’s tender.’ You know,
David is not the theologian of just profound, remarkable, expansive truths
about an incomprehensible God. You know,
you hear about him doing that in Psalm 18, all the greatness of God, and then
all of a sudden in verse 35, and he says ‘your gentleness hath made me great, it’s
your gentleness LORD that hath made me great LORD,’ he knows who he was when God
had decided to lift him up. Paul tells
us ‘He
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.’ You know, David begins here, and everything
he’s saying, throughout his life it’s very true, ‘I’m going to extol him, I’m
going to bless him, I’m going to praise him, I’m going to do that eternally,
right now I’m going to do it a day at a time, every day,’ and he says
to the congregation, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
and his greatness is beyond examination,
it’s unsearchable.”
The Importance Of Letting The Next Generation Know
Who The LORD Is
He
looks back up, he says “One generation
shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy
majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy
terrible acts” ‘awesome, fearsome’ is
the idea, not that God does things that are terrible in the sense many think
today, “men shall speak of the might of thy awesome acts: and I will declare thy greatness.” (verses
4-6) Now no doubt this is as much as
he can say, he just told us his greatness is unsearchable. So here he says, ‘You know what?’ with
what’s flowing out of his heart, and I think this is key to us in so many ways,
he says “One generation shall praise thy
works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” letting the next
generation know who he is, “I will speak
of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall
sing of thy righteousness.” (verses 4-7) So he says, one generation to the next. How’s that happen? Genuineness. If the generation
before us is not on fire, you know I happen to be around some great men, and I
happen to have exposure to Chuck Smith [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/smith.htm],
to be able to be friends with some remarkable men, they were very much alive spiritually,
and they were very much on fire spiritually, and they touched the generation
around them, and that was because you listened to them, and you knew they
believed what they were saying. You
know, Ben Franklin would go, here in Philadelphia, and listen to George
Whitfield preach. And George Whitfield
would drive Ben Franklin crazy, because George Whitfield would take offerings
for the orphanages, particularly of the slaves that had been brought to
America, African-American children that were in orphanages. And Whitfield had this tremendous burden, and
would collect money from the crowds for these orphanages, and Franklin would be
so moved, he’d always give money, and then he would go home and be bugged all
the time. So he said, one time he
determined, he would go, and he wasn’t taking any money so Whitfield wouldn’t
get any of his money, because he would preach down on the courthouse steps at 4th and Market, and Franklin had walked around the edge of the crowd, and said you
could hear Whitfield a half mile away. Just imagine [and that’s without any of the powerful sound systems we
have today]. And he said, he was so
moved that night, that he borrowed money from other people to give to Whitfield
for the orphanage. And somebody finally
said, ‘Well why do you go? You say don’t believe, if you don’t believe,
why do you go listen to Whitfield?’ He
said, ‘I don’t go listen to Whitfield
because I believe, I go listen to Whitfield because he believes.’ And he just knew, listening to him. And I hope, Franklin before he passed made that decision. You know, one generation, one generation
passes it to another, it’s not phony, to reach the next generation, and then
the next generation after that. Whatever they’re doing, whatever is available to them in their culture,
their social strata, they still know genuine from phony. And you can chew on something long enough and
finally realize ‘I ain’t getting nothing
out of this.’ I have complete
confidence in the next generation, that if the Lord tarries, they are going to
turn back to something that is genuine and real, because they’re smart enough
to get tired of what’s bologna. And he
says here “One generation shall praise
thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” (verse 4) you
know how you know that’s true? Because
here we are, 3,000 years later, gotta be true. 3,000 years to David. “One generation shall praise thy works to
another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous
works.” (verses 4-5) Paul says ‘The
praise of the glory of his grace,’ that his grace is so remarkable that
it has it’s own glory, and the glory of his grace is so remarkable it should be
praised. So Paul says ‘I’m
going to praise the glory of his grace,’…here he talks about “the honour of thy majesty, and of thy
wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy awesome acts:” what he did
in Egypt, what he did parting the Red Sea, what he did, the walls of Jericho
falling down, what he did, David slaughtering Goliath, ‘they will speak of your awesome
acts,’ “I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall
sing of thy righteousness.” (verses 6-7) ‘Abundantly utter, they will talk much about
the memory of thy great goodness,’ “and shall sing of thy
righteousness.” We did that
tonight.
David Speaks Of The LORD’s Incredible Grace And Mercy
Then
he turns again, and he says “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy.” (verse 8) when he says this word, singing of your
righteousness, David knew he was a sinner saved by grace, you know, he said ‘Sacrifice
and offering thou hast not desired, but a broken spirit thou wilt not despise,’ he knew when he sinned as an adulterer and murderer, that God extended
incredible grace and mercy to him. So
when he speaks of the righteousness of God, the Holy Spirit moves him
immediately to say ‘You know the LORD is gracious, he’s full of
compassion.’ Sometimes we imagine that he’s full of some
other things, like ‘He’s full of bad
intentions towards me after what I did yesterday.’ No, no, it doesn’t say that. ‘He’s gracious, he’s full of compassion, he
is slow to anger,’ and I have ‘Praise
the LORD’ after that in my Bible, because
I got spanked much quicker by my parents. ‘He is slow to anger, and of great mercy.’ “The LORD is good to all: and his
tender mercies are over all his
works.” (verse 9) Now notice, “to all.” Now he’s thinking how great this gracious,
this compassionate, this slow to anger, he says “The LORD is good
to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” (verse 9) and his “tender mercies” not just his mercy, “his tender mercies are over all his works.” David laying there at the end of his life, probably thought much about
the Temple that he wasn’t allowed to build, and he had gathered the wealth and
the stones and so forth. At the end of
his life, no doubt, he’s thinking ‘LORD, you’re good to me, I
disappointed you so many times, I fell into sexual sin, and I committed murder,
and here you’ve been gracious to me, you told me that I can’t build a Temple,
but you’re going to establish my throne for ever and ever LORD, you’ve pronounced your
blessings upon my life,’ and he says ‘you’re good to all, your tender mercies are over all your works.’
“All Thy Works Shall Praise Thee, O LORD”
And
then he says, and when he says that, he says, he speaks of his works, and he
looks back to heaven and he says, “All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD;
and thy saints shall bless thee.” (verse 10) ‘Your tender mercies are over all your
works, you know LORD, all your works shall praise
thee, O LORD,’ “and
thy saints shall bless thee.” that’s you and I by the way. There are
Old Testament saints, there are New Testament saints, those who truly believe
in the Old Testament, saints, those set aside, those who believe in the New
Testament, saints, that’s you and I tonight. You’re not a saint because you’re perfect, not all saints are dead, not
all saints are on dashboards. I know
that because I’ve seen a whole room full of them here. You know, in the Kingdom there’s the saints
and the ain’ts, those are the only two categories. If you’re saved you’re a saint, sometimes you
don’t act like one, I understand that. But you’re not an ain’t if you’re a believer, you’re set aside and
defined by his power. It’s interesting,
he’s saying “all, all, all” “all thy
works shall praise thee, O LORD,” he doesn’t say “all men” he
says “thy saints shall bless thee.” “They
shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.”
(verses 11-12) aren’t you so glad there’s another kingdom, you look at the
world today, we’re so glad we have another kingdom to talk about, LORD. ‘Your saints are going to bless you, they’re
going to speak of the glory of your kingdom, they’re going to talk of your
power,’ “to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious
majesty of his kingdom.” (verse 12) this is where our calling is. “Thy
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and thy dominion endureth throughout
all generations.” (verse 13) and no doubt, being the recipient of his
grace, and the Spirit moving, ‘your dominion endures through all
generations.’ and as he thinks that, he says, he again, talks to the
people, you and I, he says, you know, “The
LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those
that be bowed down.” (verse 14) literally the Hebrew says “he
supports those who are stumbling,” what he’s saying is ‘he
is near to those who are stumbling.’ David knew that. He’s not just speaking from theory, that was
real in his own life. Are you struggling
tonight, are you stumbling with something, are you wrestling with that? Do you believe he’s angry with you, doesn’t
care about you? David says ‘he’s
gracious, he’s full of compassion, he’s slow to anger, he’s of great
mercy.’ And here he talks about
having dominion that endures through all generations, down to this
evening. And what David says about it, “The LORD upholdeth all that fall,” he’s close enough to uphold,
he’s near ‘all that fall, that are stumbling.’ That’s different from rebellion, he’s talking
about those struggling, those stumbling. And he says “he raiseth up” the
idea is, putting his hand under us and lifting up “all those that be bowed
down.” Your translation might say ‘burdened.’ And there’s a thousand reasons why that
happens. It says ‘He’s near to the burdened, and
what he does in his nearness is he lifts them up.’ You know, you can be burdened with sin, you
can be burdened with health problems, you can be burdened with a prodigal, or
you can be burdened with the fact that you’ve been betrayed, you can be
burdened with your own struggles, you can be burdened with age, you can be
burdened with a habit you’ve fallen into over and over and over again, you just
need help. You can be burdened with
things other people put on us that are not true, and we’re not allowed to lash
back, we’re Christians, we can be burdened for lots of reasons. He says here ‘he supports those who are
stumbling, and he lifts up,’ look, both of them, ‘all those that are burdened.’ You’re thinking, ‘Ya, but not me.’ Well,
should I believe him, or should I believe you? It says, let’s move into the Psalm, look, it says that ‘He
will lift up all those that are burdened,’ in fact he says this, “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou
givest them their meat in due season.” (verse 15) your translation might
say “look
to thee,” the Hebrew has very much the sense of ‘the eyes of all anticipate you LORD. You’re the one who lifts up the stumbling,
who supports those that are burdened LORD, and in people’s burden and
stumbling, brokenness, they look to you, they anticipate you LORD,’ “and
thou givest them their meat in due season.” (verse 15b) you’re close to those who are
hungry, “Thou openest thine hand and
satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” (verse 16) ‘You’re near LORD TO the need of every living
thing. No wonder you’re gracious to man
made in your own image and likeness.’ And then
he says this, look, “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and
holy in all his works.” (verse 17) not some of them, “all of his ways, and
holy in all his works.” everything.
‘The LORD Is Near To All That Call Upon
Him’
And
look what he says, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth.” (verse 18) the LORD is, that’s a fact. That’s why he said earlier, he says ‘the
LORD is near, he upholds, all that fall, he raises up all those that are burdened,
that are bowed down, their eyes are anticipating, they’re waiting, they’re
looking to him,’ so that he says, finally, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth.” (verse 18) and he qualifies it, he says “to all those that call upon him in
truth.” The Book of Deuteronomy
talks about the children of Israel, if they turn away, and they worship idols,
and they end up under God’s judgment, whether it’s being defeated by their enemies,
or whether there is drought and the crops have failed, or whether there’s
diseases in the land, and whether they get carried away as captives because of
their idolatry, and it says, ‘But if, from thence, thou shalt seek the LORD thy GOD, thou shalt find him, if thou
seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.’ He says here, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth.” (verse 18) Jeremiah says, ‘And ye shall seek me, and you
shall find me, when you shall search for me with all of your heart.’ And look, it says “These are the words, the letter
that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders
which were carried away captives and to the priests and to the prophets, and
all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to
Babylon.” That’s who he’s
speaking to, all of those who had come under his judgment for idolatry, all of
those that had been carried away to Babylon, that’s who Jeremiah’s speaking to,
and he says ‘You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your
heart.’ God is promising those
people. Jesus said of course, ‘Ask
and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be
opened to you.’ So David here,
wonderfully, he had experienced in his own life, he says, you know, here’s the
truth, verse 18, “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him
in truth.” That’s what it says, in 1st John, “if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to
forgive and to cleanse.” If we
confess…it’s not enough to say ‘God I’m
sorry,’ it’s ‘God, you’re right, what
you said about this sin, I’m doing it, I shouldn’t be doing it.’ When we finally get to the point where we’re
saying the same thing about our sins that God says about it, we’ve come to
confession. And he says ‘If
you do that, he’s faithful,’ more remarkable to me is the next word ‘and
just, because he paid for it all over 2,000 years ago, he’s just to
forgive, and then to cathorize it. There’s an unpleasant experience in the medical world, if you’ve been
through that, and it’s because certain toxins, poisons you can’t drain out of
your own system, he’s faithful and just to forgive us, and to cathorize us,
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He
does a remarkable job on our hearts…so he is near to all them that call upon
him. Anybody here tonight, Satan’s
telling you you’re beyond his love, you’ve worn him out, he’s tired? No he just says here, ‘he is nigh to all, not some,
all, the good, the bad, the ugly, he’s nigh unto all them that call upon him,
all that call upon him in truth.’
“He Will Fulfil The Desire Of Them That Fear Him”
“He will fulfil
the desire of them that fear him: he
also will hear their cry, and will save them.” (verse 19) there’s a soberness about
that, isn’t it? “The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but
all the wicked will he destroy.” (verse 20) but, here’s the great contrast, “all the wicked will he destroy.” And he says “My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for
ever and ever.” (verse 21) this
certainly lifts some stuff, all of us tonight.
Psalm 146:1-10
“Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I
have any being. Put not your trust in
princes, nor in the son of man, in
whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his
earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the LORD his God: which made heaven, and earth,
the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: which executeth judgment for the
oppressed: which giveth food to the
hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: the LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed
down: the LORD loveth the righteous. The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the
fatherless and widow: but the way of
the wicked he turneth upside down. [verse 9] The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all
generations. Praise ye the LORD.”
Introduction
“Now
Psalm 146, as we get to Psalm 146 through Psalm 150, none of them are ascribed
to anybody, so they’re called Orphan
Psalms. But many scholars put them
in their own section, and they call them the
Hallelujah Psalms, these last five. And that’s a great way to end this Song Book. If you look in Psalm 146, you see the first
phrase there, “Praise ye the LORD,” you should have a little
gloss in your column that says “Hallelujah,” that’s what the Hebrew says. Look at
the last verse, verse 10 there, Psalm 146, it ends with “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah.” Psalm 147,
first phrase, “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah,” verse 20, the last phrase, “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah.” Psalm 148,
first phrase, “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah,” verse 14, “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah,” you’re getting the idea, Psalm 149, first phrase
“Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah,”
verse 9, the last phrase “Praise ye
the LORD, Hallelujah,” Psalm 150, first verse,
“Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah,”
last verse, verse 6, last phrase, “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah.” And that’s all
I’m going to say about that, Hallelujah. So that’s why these are called the Hallelujah Psalms, these last five. They begin with the word “Hallelujah” each one of them, they end with the word “Hallelujah,” which in the Hebrew means
“Praise ye the LORD.” So, this
first one as we read into it, I think it very much gives a sense of David, again,
he says, “Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah.” I’ll
read through it [you can read through it above]…there’s a lot of those things
that reflect the Psalm before, it is definitely ascribed to David.
‘I’ll Praise The LORD While I’m Living’ We Should Sing, Meditate Aloud To God In Our
Caves As David Did
“Praise ye the LORD, Hallelujah. Praise the LORD, O my soul.” (verse 1) right away, that sounds like
David to me. David is one of those guys,
in some ways he spent too much time in a cave. But he talks to himself a lot [so do I] in the Psalms, ‘Praise
the LORD,
O my soul, I’m gonna say this, O my soul,’ he talks to himself, you can
hear him. Before his army gathered to
him when he was in Adullam, when he was in Engedi in the cave alone you could,
that’s David, you can hear him in there echoing, talking to himself, singing,
yelling at himself, talking to himself. [He really wasn’t just talking to himself though, he was talking,
praying to the LORD GOD.] You know, sometimes this is not bad
therapy. You just work things out by
yourself. You know, I read this report
once and it was talking about those who go to a professional psychologist,
psychiatrist for counsel, and it was like out of every one hundred, 37 percent
showed improvement. But then they add
the same statistics of people that had the same problem and didn’t go for any
help, and 67 percent of them showed improvement. So sometimes you’ve just gotta work it out,
just work it out [with the LORD], here David’s yelling at
himself. He says ‘Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul,’ ‘This is what you’re gonna do, you’re going
to praise the LORD! I don’t want to hear about it! Get up! 6 in the morning, wake up soldier, I wrote that earlier, get up,’ you know, here’s David. Sometimes I think you can do yourself good
doing that. Get up in the morning, shut
the bathroom door, stand in front of the mirror and yell at yourself. [chuckles] Might be good therapy, ‘You need
to straighten out. You have a bad
attitude, you need to repent! And you’re
ugly, fix yourself up, comb your hair, wash your face [and shave, btw], I know
you’re tempted, but, just say no. Just
say it out, say it right now, say it out loud, there, there you go.’ See, he’s catching on, he’s going to do great
tomorrow. ‘Hallelujah!’ “Praise the LORD, O my soul.” he
says, “While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have
any being.” (verses 1-2) that sounds like the Psalmist towards the end of his life. That’s kind of a little bit fatalistic there, ‘but
I need to praise him, while I’m here.’ Back there he said ‘I’m going to do it for ever and ever, I’m
going to do it every day.’
‘Put Not Your Trust In Human Beings, In Whom There
Is No Salvation’
He
says then, look, “Put not your trust in
princes, nor in the son of man, in
whom there is no help.” (verse 3) human beings, the glossary says “in whom there is no salvation.” that’s the idea. “His
breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts
perish.” (verse 4) ‘Man’s breath’ that
is. Now the Hebrew says this, “His
spirit comes out, he returneth to the earth, in that very day his thoughts
perish.” Something very
remarkable there. [Comment: Most of mainstream Christianity thinks this
spirit, soul, whatever, goes to heaven if it’s a believer, or wanders the earth
if it’s a non-believer, but stays conscious after death. But the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God
believe what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, which says all the spirits of man
go upward to God, but this spirit-in-man that is the very software of the human
brain, stays unconscious until it gets put back into the resurrected body at
the time of the resurrection, whether the 1st resurrection to
salvation (cf. 1st Corinthians 15) or the 2nd resurrection (cf. Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Revelation 20:5, 11-13). Anyway, it’s not important, we’ll find out
when we die and end up in the resurrection now won’t we?] He sees the death of man, it seems that if
this is David, he’s thinking about it. And he says, you know, he’s been king of Israel, he says ‘Don’t
put your trust in man, don’t do it.’ Are you listening, because you’re watching foxnews, and all the
candidates, ‘whose gonna run for the
Democrats, what if Hillary runs, what about this other candidate, what about
this guy,’ etc. All the buzz
stars…you know, I think we should vote, I think we should be responsible
citizens, I think we should vote morally, ethically, Biblically, I think we
should do that, people died so that we can enjoy the right to do it. But understand, in the final analysis, the
Word of God says, ‘Don’t put your trust in princes.’ Paul said, ‘Pray for those in authority’ when Nero was on the throne, who was going to kill him. [Comment: I have become apolitical, due to
the fact that I’ve seen since the death of FDR there have been no truly worthy
candidates, looking back through all the Presidencies to FDR, they all very
severely have the blood of millions of innocent lives on their hands. I want no part of that. God’s in control, so I pray to him for the
best candidate to win, while understanding that he’s not really going to be
much better than the rest in the long run. For a good research article showing what we’ve done under those
Presidents, read through the entirety of this major article at http://www.unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans1.htm but especially http://www.unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans4.htm.] He says the reason we pray for those in
authority is so that we can lead peaceable lives and share the Gospel of Jesus
Christ with our own generation. We have
great freedom to do that here in this country. [Why do we have great freedom to do that in this country, which freedom
may be leaving us? see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/saga.htm] Americans are saying ‘Our freedoms are being taken away,’ and I think they are, in many
ways. But the point is, you can get up
tomorrow, at the bus stop, in school, doctors office, wherever you are, you can
share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We
still have that freedom. Revival can
still break out here. There are things
that will never happen in the voting booth, that can happen if heaven so
decrees it. You can hear people you
would never expect say ‘Praise
the Lord, I’m talking to him.’ I
look in the mirror every morning and say ‘I
told you it could happen.’ It
happened in my life. Some of you that
come here, I’ve had people come here and say ‘The reason we stayed in the church, because we knew them, and we saw
them in church with a Bible, we figured God had to be doing something.’ They were talking about you guys, some of
you. So he says, look, he says “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” (verse 3) “nor
in human beings, in whom there is no salvation” (Hebrew rendering) In the final analysis, our problem is not
just the physical autonomy, the final analysis no matter who designs
healthcare, the final analysis no matter who produces jobs, doesn’t help you
when you’re in hospice, when somebody’s there coaching you through your last
breaths. And all of our faith, all we
believe, and all we claim about Jesus Christ, where the rubber really meets the
road, is there. I remember my dad had
gone for days [in a coma], my mom was next to the bed, he was in hospice, and
all of a sudden he opened his eyes for a minute, my mom’s name is Emily, he
opened his mouth and said “Em, I’m
dying,’ …it was their 60th year together, “Em, I’m dying.” And he lay
there for a long time, five or six hours, and I got close and I said “Dad, are you afraid?” and he went [shook his head no],
didn’t say a word. That’s where the
rubber meets the road, I’m gonna take that last breath, I’m gonna let go. I’ll tell you this about our Saviour, I’ve
been with I don’t know how many people, when they passed, 15-year-old boy
opened his eyes and said “Jesus!” and
was gone. An old woman, began to hear
music ‘I hear the music, I hear singing,’ I’ve been in those situations [where as a pastor he hears the last words of
dying believers]. Jesus says ‘if
you believe in God, believe also in me…in my Father’s house are many mansions,
if it were not so I would have told you.’ We don’t have a false hope, if that wasn’t
true, Jesus wouldn’t have said ‘I go to prepare a place for you, and if I
go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.’ Now that ultimately is fulfilled in the
Rapture for sure. [Comment: There are many differing interpretations
about the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ and whether a pre-trib,
mid-trip, or post-trib Rapture occurs. To see what some of these are, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html] But, I’ve seen him come and receive, Jesus
doesn’t just let us die, he paid for us in his blood, we’re his dear
blood-bought sons and daughters, he doesn’t let us die and kind of fall out
into the darkness, and then he catches us and ‘Oh, scared ya!’ and take you up to heaven, he doesn’t do
that. As we’re taking those last
breaths, David said ‘Don’t trust man, that can’t save you. You trust in the LORD,’ because over and over I’ve
seen him, he reaches across the chasm, he reaches across, for someone whose
loved him and served him, they see him, they hear the singing, they see the
Light, and I’m not talking about near-death experiences, I’m talking about
dead-experiences, the real one, you don’t come back, like the phony ones. He’s gracious, and he’s kind, and all of it
matters at that moment. He says here, ‘Don’t
put your trust in princes,’ David had been one, ‘or in the son of man, human
beings, in whom there is no salvation, because his spirit comes out, his body
returns to the earth, and in the same day his thoughts are all gone, that’s how
man falls apart here,’ he says [cf. Ecclesiastes 3:19-21; 9:4-6;
12:7. 1st Corinthians
2:9-13].
‘Happy Is He That Hath The God Of Jacob, The
Rascal, Heal-Catcher’
Contrast
that, “Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: which made heaven, and earth,
the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:” (verses 5-6) now I love this “Happy is
he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,” isn’t that great? You
see, it’s not the God of Abraham, it’s not the God of Joseph, he was of a stellar
character, not the God of Daniel, the God of Paul…he stoops way down, because
David understands completely, he says ‘Happy is the man that has the God of Jacob,
the conniver, the heal-catcher, the rascal, the God of the rascal for his help,
that’s the happy man, the God of Jacob.’ Listen, to me again, we go through the
Scripture, we need Jacobs, we need Sampsons, we need Josephs, Joseph in the Old
Testament, sterling character, remarkable man, he would go through all kinds of
things, he was faithful to God, wouldn’t sin against God, he would tell us
certain things about the God that we know and the God that we love. Moses will tell us something different, he
killed an Egyptian, made mistakes, looses his tempter at the end, smashes the
Rock, he will tell us some other things. David, after his adultery and his murder, he will tell us different
things about this God, and we will love the things that he says. We don’t need just a description from
Joseph’s experience, we need to hear what David, what God says about himself
through David, we need to hear what God says about himself through some of
these other men. Through Sampson, who at
the end, God was gracious to the man. And you know, Daniel will say remarkable things. But again, just think, Jacob, you know,
fleeing after ripping off his old blind father and ripping off his brother Esau
for the Birthright, is hi-tailing it out of town, is trying to save his own
hide, and he falls asleep by Bethel, and it says, and he sees the angels of God
ascending and descending against the
stairway to heaven, he says, ‘This is remarkable, of all the places I
could have fallen asleep, I fall asleep right at the doorway to heaven,’ and then you listen to him, to me, you put Joseph into that experience, his
son, who was so different, and if he’d have been there, and if he’d have woke
up and seen that, he’d have said ‘LORD,
you’re so great, let me worship you, you’re so faithful, your majesty, your
greatness, your power, your beauty,’ the things we hear from David, that’s what Joseph would have done. Jacob does this, ‘This is amazing God,’ he
says, ‘How about this, I’m heading to Padam-aram from here, if you keep me,
if you bless me, if you prosper me, if you protect me, if you bring me back
here, alive and well, I’ll give you 10 percent.’ That’s Jacob. Imagine that, ‘I’ll give you 10 percent.’ So, I love David, no doubt he looks, he says ‘Happy
is the man or woman that hath the God of Jacob for his help,’ I love
that, “whose hope” of course as your
hope would be if you understand God the way Jacob did, “whose hope is in the LORD his God: which made heaven, and earth,
the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:” this is who we love, our
Creator, our Redeemer, “which keepeth truth for ever” there’s a definite
article there, it’s interesting, it says “the keeper” the Hebrew just says, “the
keeper reliability unto eternity.” which is so interesting, ‘he is the keeper, he is The Keeper,’ and what he keeps is “reliability unto eternity.” If Jacob could trust in him, so can you and
I. Don’t trust in princes, don’t just
trust in human beings where there’s no salvation, ‘Blessed it the person who knows
and worships the God of Jacob, who actually finds help there,’ it says ‘he’s
the one who made the heaven and the earth, he’s the keeper of reliability unto
eternity.’ Remarkable.
“The LORD Preserveth The Strangers; He Relieveth The Fatherless And Widow” : And So
Should We
And
then he says, here’s what he does, let me go over these, and we’ll back up, “which executeth judgment for the
oppressed: which giveth food to the
hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: the LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed
down: the LORD loveth the righteous. The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the
fatherless and widow: but the way of
the wicked he turneth upside down. The LORD shall reign of ever, even thy God, O
Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye
the LORD.” ‘Hallelujah.’ (verses 7-10) ‘He executes judgment, he gives food, he
looseth, he openeth the eyes, he raiseth up, he loveth, he preserveth, he
relieveth,’ and it says that ‘he does this on behalf of the oppressed,
the hungry, the prisoners, the blind, the burdened, the righteous, foreigners,
and the fatherless, orphans and widows,’ this is remarkable context
now. Again, he started with God, how
great he is, what he’s done, he’s going to praise him, he says ‘Don’t
trust in man, he’s the God of Jacob.’ ‘If Jacob could find grace with
God, so can you,’ he says, ‘he’s the one who made the heavens and the
earth,’ you see all the things that are in there, he says listen, this
is who he is. ‘He executes judgment,’ literally, “justice for the oppressed.” Because as we look at the world today, and we see oppressed people everywhere,
we think ‘This ain’t fair,’ and
people think ‘If there’s a God in heaven,
where’s his love, how can he let this happen, how come good people are
suffering, how can he let this happen to children.’ It tells us here, this is who he is,
everybody is going to know it. ‘He
executeth justice for the oppressed. He
gives food to the hungry.’ Well
if God’s a God of love, why’s there starving people? [Comment: And this is a HUGE question
atheists ask, saying, “What about all the
poor starving, hurting humanity that have died, most without Christ? Do they, as most Mainstream Christianity
teaches, go into some everburning hellfire?” The Sabbath-keeping Churches of God have a
better answer for that honest question which begs an answer. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/E-Mails/June%2014/FallHolyDays-short.htm and scroll to the paragraph title The Last Great Day of the Feast, What Does
It Represent? The 2nd Resurrection, Heaven or Hell? Or “the
choice is yours”? and read from there to the end. If this secondary doctrine happens to be
true, the whole question of God’s fairness and mercy concerning the “unsaved
dead,” starving children, suffering
humanity, all those who never had a chance to accept Christ or even hear about
him is answered.] Well that’s why he
took on human flesh and dwelt among us, so we could watch him feeding the
multitudes when they were hungry, several times. This is who he is. It says that he gives food to the
hungry. I love this, ‘He
looseth the prisoners’ the Hebrew is, “he breaks free the prisoners.” What are you incarcerated by this
evening? [I was an alcoholic, and I was
broken free of that by divine healing, amazingly enough, that’s my testimony.] What are you shackled by? What habit or struggle is there in your life,
that you can’t seem to get free of? What
thing is there? It says, look, ‘He’s
the one who breaks free the prisoner.’ Don’t trust your positive mental attitude, don’t trust man, he says
there’s no salvation in that, he says ‘trust the God of Jacob.’ ‘He breaks free the prisoners.’ “The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind:” how wonderfully and powerfully
we need that. “The LORD raiseth them that are bowed down:” that are burdened, that are oppressed, that are broken down, again, a thousand
different reasons that can happen, he raiseth them up. Look, ‘he loveth the righteous.’ In the Old Testament Bible, the righteous are
not the perfect, sinless, but they’re the ones who understand atonement, the
upright, “the LORD loveth the righteous. The LORD preserveth the strangers;” this
is resident alien idea, the idea is, the foreigner who is living amongst the
children of Israel, it says, “The LORD” King James
says “preserveth” the Hebrew says
specifically “he guards, he guards the foreigner.” and I’m glad. You know, how many were there who came, and
joined themselves to Israel, Roman soldiers, we hear of the Centurions, they
were drawn. The Court of the Gentiles was
to be a place they could come and pray. Jesus goes in there, overturns the tables of the money-changers, he
understands that God his Father guards the foreigner, those who were coming to
the True and Living God, he guards the foreigner, and then I love this, he says “he relieveth the fatherless and the
widow:” the Bible tells us specifically, in the heart of God, there is a
particular place for the orphan, fatherless, and for the widow. In fact he says, ‘If you take advantage of the
orphan [fatherless] and the widow, if you mess with the orphan and the widow,
you’re messing with me, I’m gonna get you.’ He says it, not as wonderfully as I just said
it, he says it, in the King James way. But he says that, ‘If you mess with the orphan, fatherless and
widow, you’re gonna deal with me.’ And wonderfully here it says “he
relieveth the fatherless and widow:” the Hebrew phrase is “he
causes to continue” he relieves in that sense, because the widow
thinks, ‘My life is over, my husband is
gone, I’m not gonna be able to survive, how am I going to be able to do this?’ [and this includes a class of widow that
comes from necessary divorce from wife-beating, abusing husbands, they’re
widows in Gods eyes, and you’d better realize it.] It says ‘the
LORD,
the God of Jacob, the one that stoops down to us, he’s going to cause you to
continue,’ the orphan, fatherless, who doesn’t know what to do without his mom or dad, or
she doesn’t know what to do, her heart is broken, her mom’s out of the picture,
her dad’s out of the picture, or both, ‘What’ll
I do?’ It says ‘There’s a God in heaven who has
a place in his heart for you.’ “And
he will cause to continue the fatherless and the widow.” [And one of the main ways God relieves,
causes to continue the fatherless, orphans and widows, the single moms, is
through believers in Jesus Christ like you and me. So are you helping, doing your part, letting
God work through you in this key area?]
‘The Way Of The Wicked God Turns Upside Down, But
The LORD Will Reign Forever, Hallelujah!’
In
great contrast, “but the way of the
wicked he turneth upside down.” (verse 9b) flips those tables over. ‘”The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all
generations. Praise ye the LORD.”
(verse 10) aren’t you glad, finally
somebody’s getting in Office whose really going to do what they say they’re
gonna do. “The LORD shall reign for ever,” and there’s no term limits, I’m thankful. There should be now, there ain’t none then. “The LORD shall reign for ever, even thy God, O
Zion, unto all generations. Hallelujah.” we should say
that, after that promise, he’s gonna reign forever when he comes, I’m ready,
I’m ready to say Hallelujah to that, and I’m ready to cast myself upon the God
of Jacob, yes, Hallelujah. We’ll have
the musicians come, we’ll sing the last song. Read ahead, so we have 147, 148,
149, 150, if the Lord tarries, we’ll finish up…so be reading ahead, Hallelujah
Psalms, so remarkable things in there. We may even talk about ‘Do angels
sing?’ I always hear these
smarty-pants who studied a little bit say ‘Where
in the Bible does it say angels sing?’ We’ll deal with that. Look, see
angels sing. You think they do, I think
so too…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Psalms 145:1-21 and
Psalm 146:1-10, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
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