A Call To Praise - [Psalm 100]

Turn with me to Psalm 100. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he who hath made us and not we ourselves.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations.

Let's pray Our Heavenly Father we would come before you this morning and praise you and offer you the worship. That you are due because you are the king of the universe the creator of all things. And you made us father and so we would come and we would bow before you and our prayer this morning father would be that you would teach us to praise and.

And so as we open the word may the Holy Spirit be our teacher in Jesus name. Amen. Very short Psalm only only five short verses and yet Certainly this ranks in the top ten of Psalms that are familiar to even the average public.

Certainly the average church-going public. Perhaps next only to Psalm 23 is this Psalm known? It is identified as a psalm of David or a psalm of praise a psalm for giving. Thanks and It's unique in that That is specifically identified.

Although other Psalms Certainly encourage us to praise the Lord and say that over and over again. And I believe it's Psalm 118 that uses the word praise more than any other Psalm in the Bible. But this one is identified as a psalm for praise or a psalm for giving thanks and it contains Seven imperatives and two explanations within its five short verses and we're going to look at those this morning.

It's also referred to as the pilgrims psalm because according to history, this is one of the Psalms that the pilgrims sang as They were on the Mayflower making the trip here. And once they got here. It has also been incorporated into several things that we know very well, although perhaps we're not we're not Aware of what we're doing.

We've seen the doxology. This is the doxology is essentially based on this psalm the tune to which we sing the doxology is called the old hundred and Why do you suppose that is? It's because it is Psalm 100 set to music.

The hymn all people that on earth do dwell is also Psalm 100 set to music. It's what's called a metric Psalm where they where they take the the words of the Psalm. They rhyme them in English and then set them to music and we sing them.

It's interesting if you if you look if you look up all people that on earth do dwell and the Trinity hymnal or some hymnal That has such things. It'll go all people that on earth do dwell sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

Him serve with fear his praise forth tell come thou before him and rejoice. But I have read that in the original version of that the text line is him serve with mirth or Joy praise. Apparently some old Puritan thought that was too frivolous.

And so they changed it to be him serve with fear his praise forth tell. Other hymns have been written based essentially on Psalm 100. Isaac Watts wrote before Jehovah's awful throne ye nations bow with sacred joy.

Nor know that the Lord is God alone. He can create and he destroy. Again, if you have a copy of the Trinity hymnal You would be amazed at how many hymns are Based on the Psalms. They're either the Psalms directly or they're they're taken from them.

And so we want to look at this. As I said, there are seven imperatives and two explanations within its text and it's breaks up into four parts first there is a statement on how to give thanks how we should give thanks and.

Then there is a statement of why God's people must give. Thanks. Not only everyone is to give. Thanks, but also specifically God's people are to give. Thanks there is an invitation to give thanks and Finally and it's a formal expression or a final expression of thanks.

And so let's take a look at that. Let's take a look at that it says make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Now first so how are we to give thanks to God? God certainly doesn't need Anything from us.

He certainly does not we cannot give him any gift in the sense that we give him something that he needs or does not Have or does not inherently possess in and of himself. The late dr James Montgomery Boyce wrote some hymns in the year or so before he died and one of them contains the line.

Nothing exists that God might need for all things good from him proceed. He is the source of all good in the world. He is the source of all good things. And so how are we to praise him? How do you what do you give to someone who doesn't need anything?

We deal with that every Christmas, don't we? You know. What could our parents possibly need? I don't need anything. You know, and so we deal with this and so it when we're when we're talking about God.

It's even a bigger problem than we have. So, how do we come? How do we come? Well, he tells us God's very good to us. He not only does he command us to praise him. He tells us how to do that. He says first of all make a joyful noise.

We are to shout we are to have loud praise. It is to be a holy joy to praise God. It is to be something joyful to us to praise God and whatever it is, whatever we do. It is to be Outward is to be overt.

It is to be enthusiastic. Nobody goes to a Patriots game or a Red Sox game and when the Red Sox hit a home run. Nobody sits there saying gee, that's really nice. Yeah, you know boy, I'm glad they did.

No no we get all worked up. We get all worked up. That's why they call us sports fans, you know, whatever and so We should approach our Heavenly Father With at least that degree of enthusiasm that we would give a sports team or something else like that.

It's to be it's to be. It is to be joyful it is to be loud it is to be enthusiastic. All of those things are to break forth when we praise God and it says It it says here serve the Lord with gladness.

First of all make a joyful noise. Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing. We are to serve the Lord. It is an honor to serve the Lord. It is an honor to serve we are to we are to serve with gladness and Our service is praise to the Lord.

Sometimes we don't think of it that way. But it is it is as whatever we do as we serve the Lord and that's why Christians Christians are called to serve. Christianity is not to be a spectator sport and That's why when you when you go into a congregation you join a church.

All too many people when they join the church they they and that they when they're analyzing a church they say hmm. What can this congregation give me? You know, what can I get out of this? Does it meet my needs whatever they are?

And Yet that is not that is not the proper way to analyze a church that we are considering. Joining ourselves to the first question is do they preach the word? That's always the first thing. But the second thing is what can I do?

How can I serve this body? Because that's why we're to come together we're to come together so that we can praise God number one and also that we can be taught and finally that we can serve one another and.

So when we enter a congregation and when we go Some of us move and we get to a new town and we're looking at churches. As soon as you find a guy who who can preach the word. Then the next question is how can I serve this body?

What can I do? We are to serve the Lord with gladness Jesus. Jesus says At the judgment seat, you know. You know good and faithful servant you did this you you you met you served me and We say Lord, how did we ever serve you?

You say oh you you visited the sick. You gave a cold what you gave a cup of water to someone who was thirsty all of these things you did and If you did them unto me. If you did them for the proper reasons, then you did them under me.

He says we are to serve and Faith and works go together. If you all through the scripture all through the scripture you see those things melded. Faith plus works faith plus works. We are to have neither one in isolation.

We are you know, we reject the social gospel and rightly so because our Fundamental job here on earth is not to improve a a ship that is sinking. No, that's not what we're here. But neither are we to ignore service to our society that God has placed us in.

He has placed us here and now. It is not by chance that you are here in this age and not some other. That you are in this place and not some other that you are in this congregation and not some other.

God has. God moves and assembles his church and God also placed you specifically here now and we are to sit to address our Responsibilities. Matthew 25. Jesus is talking in Matthew 25. And what does he talk about?

He talks about feeding clothing? Relieving distress sheltering visiting the sick and Protecting the widows and orphans or protecting those who have no resources of their own. And so he talks about that.

We are to serve we are to serve and so it's it's not it's not solo social gospel. But neither is it silent believers. Neither is it silent believers. There are no Lone Ranger Christians or shouldn't be and Fund the third thing that we're supposed to do we're to enter his courts we're to enter his courts and that means we are to come together and worship him and This is a reference to formal worship because in the Jewish society in which this the context in which this psalm is written.

The everything circulated around the temple worship. But and and it's true that the Jews were set apart all of their Regulations and rules were set up specifically to keep them apart from their society.

They were to be different. They weren't supposed to intermarry. They they ate differently. They all these things that they did were to emphasize to them that they were separate and yet Even in that context they still had a responsibility To spread the word of Jehovah God to the society around them and so as you went out from the Holy of Holies where only the high priest could go and Then into the holy place where only the priests could go and then you went into the the court where the men could come.

The outside courtyard where the men could come and then there was the court of the women where the women could come. There was a court of the Gentiles. So Even in Old Testament society there was a place for the Gentiles to approach Jehovah God even then.

And so they were to come and we are to come we are to come together we are to come together and worship him and to lift our voices in song and to and to worship him by hearing his word taught and To worship him by serving one another.

One another and So that's what we are supposed to do. We're to make a joyful noise. We are to serve the Lord and we are to come together in formal worship. He tells us how to praise him and How to thank him and so that leads us to the next point why give thanks why should we give thanks?

Why should we give thanks to this Creator God who made us. But we sing sometimes we loved him because he first loved us and that's certainly true. But that is not I would offer the fundamental reason why we are to praise him and why we are to thank him the fundamental most important reason we are to worship God is because he is God and He is due worship.

He is due honor. He is due praise. Not just from believers. Everything in creation is to praise him. Because he made it. The Creator is always greater than what is created. And so he is due worship. It is what he is in Himself, it is his by right and we are to know what God is.

We are to study what God is. You can't truly love what you do not know. You can't truly love what you do not know and That's why young people this is an aside. This is not part of the lesson. But when you first see that young man or that young woman that you think aha.

That is the one that I want to spend my life with well, that's always a good first start, but get to know them first. You know because that's where love comes from true. Love comes out of knowing the person.

That you've set your affections upon and after you get to know them you love them anyway. So so anyway knowledge knowledge is what knowledge is the mother of obedience and God is not pleased with just blind sacrifice.

He wants sacrifice with knowledge and. So we are to know him. We have to know God before we can rightly worship him. Acts 17 23 we have to know God. We have to know him and what should we know about him?

Well first he is the creator. The psalmist what does the psalmist say? Know ye. Know you what know you that the Lord he is God. It is he that have made us and Not we ourselves. We did not reach down grab our own bootstraps and haul ourselves out of the primordial ooze.

He made us. He made us and because he made us in his image the Bible says He is above us because again, the Creator is always greater than what is created always and Therefore because he created us and he is above us.

We are responsible to him. And if you are ever looking for an explanation as to why do people reject the whole idea of God in society. It's because they do not wish to be responsible to someone. Who is above them?

We will not have this man to rule over us. We and yet we are called to acknowledge our dependence upon God and to give him the honor that he is due and to acknowledge that he is our Creator and so therefore.

We have statements like this the only way we want to know ourselves. Well, if you want to know yourself know God. That's from Calvin. Or how about this one only by knowing God can we have liberty without chaos, that's Francis Schaeffer.

You want to see the example of what happens when you have God and when you don't when you have when. When you have liberty, but you also have God. You have the American Revolution. When you reject God and place human reason at the top of the food chain.

You have the French Revolution. Just three years later and yet one is total carnage. You know the guillotine came out of the French Revolution. You want to read read that history sometime and you see where you want to see where man takes himself.

The French Revolution is a good place to find out. Because first of all the revolutionaries killed everybody and then they themselves were killed. But this is one of One of Schaeffer's good phrases by knowing God we can have liberty without chaos.

Because God puts limits upon us. God puts limits upon us. So the next thing he is the Redeemer. He is the Redeemer now consider this even if God had not chosen to redeem fallen man. Remember, he did not have to do that so much of the of the arguments we get into and.

And so much of our thinking today is somehow that we are entitled To at least a chance you hear well God owes everybody a chance. No, God does not owe anybody anything. That's what it means to be sovereign.

The angels that fell so far as we know from what we've been told in the scripture. The angels that rebelled against God were offered no opportunity to repent from that. They made their choice and that was it.

No one died on the cross for the fallen angels. So God would have been perfectly within his rights as creator that as soon as Adam and Eve Sinned and fell and rebelled against him to said that's it. I'm going to wipe you guys out.

I'm going to start over. He could have done that and said he tells us he had this whole plan laid out ahead of time where he had already dealt with Adam and Eve falling and. So in his sovereignty he has decided to do this so don't get the idea that God owes Fallen man anything we owe him praise and worship.

It's not just the redeemed that owe him praise and worship. Everybody owes him praise and worship, but he owes us nothing. But he he has done this anyway out of the goodness of his heart. But those of us who are saved those of us who are redeemed certainly.

Nobody should be more thankful to the Good Shepherd than us. Nobody should be more thankful to the Good Shepherd than we are because we are his sheep. We are his sheep. We are to be devoted to his honor and glory and Notice what he knows what the psalmist says here.

He said he said we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. All of the sheep all of the sheep belong to the Creator. He made them he made all of them and. Yet there are special sheep. Some sheep are the sheep of his pasture the ones that he cares for.

The ones that he takes personal interest in to a greater level. I mean he he takes a personal interest in all of his creation. We're told that Jesus pointed out to his disciples that not even the sparrow falls.

That your Heavenly Father is not aware of that and takes note of that but We fall into a special category. We are the sheep of his pasture and he is Cognizant of us and cares for us and watches over us in a way that he does not watch over his creation in general it's above that and Therefore if anybody is supposed to be thankful to God it should be us.

We belong to him. We belong to him. We are his. He cares for us. We are we are the sheep. If we go astray he's going to come after us. The shepherd the shepherd cared for his sheep. When David was herding the sheep around.

You know, it was his sheep that he protected not the sheep in the pasture next to him that belonged to somebody else. David went out in the defense of his sheep and our Heavenly Father does the same things for us.

We are his pet. We are his sheep in his pasture and whatever he chooses to give us is a gift from his hand. Such whatever level of prosperity we enjoy. That's a gift from his hand and as our brother Jeremy pointed out a couple of Sundays ago No matter how mean our circumstances might be living in this country.

We are fabulously wealthy. By comparison to about 80 of the rest of the world now the the average the average person on the face of the globe of the several billion of us that there are cannot imagine wealth.

Like we have it and I'm talking about the person who is at the bottom of the food chain in the United States and. But God has placed us here and we are to give thanks to him for everything that he has given to us.

If we have health he bestowed that. If we have life he bestowed that. If we have trials and tribulations, guess what he bestowed that. Because he knows what our needs are he knows what our needs are. And one of the Advantages of being one of the sheep of his pasture is that if we stray off the trail?

He's going to come looking for us and He is going to do whatever is necessary. To put us back on the trail the Good Shepherd carries that crook, right? That big long staff with the big hook on the end of it.

So that he can reach down over the side of the cliff and hook the sheep and pull him back to the top. He also can use that to reach out and whack the sheep if necessary to make him walk in the in the way that you go.

And on some occasions the Good Shepherd will also take that crook and will break a sheep's leg. To keep it from straying. And of course when that happens, then that shepherd has to carry that sheep, doesn't he?

And so God cares for us. God cares for us he he guides us. He sees to our needs. He he he comes after us when we stray. In fact, I'll just offer this. Sometimes we we tend to say why me Lord? When something happens.

You know, why did you let? XYZ happen to me and yet so much of the time when we say that. What we're really saying is Lord. Why didn't you shield me from the consequences of my own actions? Lord, why didn't you come down and stop me?

From doing something that I should not have done. It was not good for me. And yet like the good father that he is sometimes he replies well son sometimes in order that your wisdom may increase. I Have let you do this that or the other thing.

But he is always watching over us. He's always watching over us and the key idea in verse 3 is that we are his. We are his. He looks over us. He cares for us in every circumstance of life. Whatever it is good or ill.

Relatively speaking we are his. And so he says some other things to us as well. He says first of all, he will not leave Hebrews 13 verse 5 I will not leave you or forsake you. I'm not going to abandon you.

I'm not going to abandon you again. The song that the hymn writer used can a mother's tender care cease toward the child she bear and. Then he goes on to says well she may forgetful be yet. Will I remember thee speaking of the Lord?

So that you know a mother. What did what the point is that a mother is more likely to abandon her newborn baby than God is to abandon us? He's always with us as well, that's Matthew chapter 28 verse 20 he is always with us.

No matter how alone we feel. No matter how much we feel that, you know, no one knows what I'm going through. You know, I've been abandoned poor me. No, there's God. He says I Have not abandoned you. I know what you're going through and I am with you.

I Am with you. What else does he have to say look for a moment at Romans? Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Here's what Paul says. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life. Nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present or things to come.

Nor heights nor depth nor any other creation Shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That pretty well covers it that list. You know, he's got it all here heights depth life.

You know things present things come principalities and powers. Principalities and powers are demonic forces if you will. None of these things is going to are going to separate you. From your heavenly father.

He has it under control. Whatever it is. He has it under control. He is aware of it. He has already factored it into his plan. And so we can go through life. Confident in his care over us and his watch care over us and the.

The reaction to that idea once you really get that firmly fixed in your mind and you really believe it then. Your life becomes not easier necessarily in that the hardships lift off but you don't have to worry about them.

You know what what might have you don't have to play, you know, what if? What if you know, what if I get this promotion? What if I don't get this promotion? You know, what if what if the world economy collapses tomorrow?

What if this happens what if that happens you have to play you don't have to play any of those games. Because God has control of things and you know, what what if God? Allows me to be killed tomorrow or this afternoon.

Well, what if? As Paul says, you know if I die, I'm better off. Then if I have to live and stay here with all of the pains and the bad eyes that Paul had and and whatever else and. Or as General Jackson put it, you know, he was asked, you know, how could you be so calm on the battlefield?

He said God has set the time for my death. I don't concern myself with it. Except to always be ready to meet the moment and if you really believe that and if you really live like that. Your your life becomes much much easier to deal with.

Because you're not constantly worrying about it, you know. You know, you're not constantly opening the stock pages every day to see if my stocks up or down and oh my goodness. It fell 3 and you know, whatever you can take the approach that.

That old Sam Walton is supposed to have taken when he had lost a whole bunch of money on paper and he said it was paper yesterday, it's paper today and. So anyway moving on though. Here's the invitation to thank starting at verse 4.

Starting in verse 4 we are to enter we are to give thanks we are to praise. So first of all, we are to gather for corporate worship. That's one of the things that we are to do. We are not supposed to be Excuse me.

We are not supposed to be isolated. We are not supposed to be the Lone Ranger of the Christian faith. You know with with very very few exceptions. There are certain individuals who in fact have been given ministries where they have been sent off by themselves for extended period of time.

But those people are very rare. There's there's very few people that can do that and it's not the norm. The norm is for us to gather together and to give thanks and to worship God in a public corporate setting.

Now we are supposed to worship God in private as well. Certainly we are to set ourselves down and Spend time alone with our Heavenly Father open our Bibles. Close our eyes in prayer and do those things, but we are also to come together in a corporate setting.

Because while Private prayer is is certainly powerful. There's something about corporate prayer. There is a special There is a special ambiance that fits over the corporate prayer when the when the church gets together to pray and I would encourage you if you haven't up done so up to now that on the time.

So we have our quarterly prayer meetings. We haven't we if you didn't know this we have a quarterly prayer service. One Sunday night a quarter we get together and the ladies gather up here and the men gather back there and we we pray corporately.

I would encourage you to come to that service and To and to just be with other Saints who are praying even if you don't want to pray yourself. Or you're shy or whatever it is, but I'll tell you something else.

One good way to learn to pray in public is to come where public prayer is being done. And because you you learn by observing in a situation like that, so I would encourage you to come but We're to have these public corporate activities where we get together and we sing to one another we sing to the Lord.

You know, we we have the word open to us and What does this do? This encourages one another. This is courage as each other. It gives a it gives a thankful response because one of the dangers of being by ourselves and by getting ourselves off isolated is we do become inward focused.

We do become inward focused, you know, one of the many reasons why God gives us Companions to go through life with is to keep us from being too Self-focused and it certainly knows in this society that we live in today, you know where everything seems to be self-focused.

You know me and my needs and whatever it is, and you know, I'm not caring about the outside world. I care only about my own safety and my own security and whatever. We we need more of that and so that's why God says come together come together.

Regard the needs of the rest of the congregation with at least the same level of importance as you regard your own. You know give give thought and I am to give thought to your needs. To at least the same level of importance as I give my own.

And when you when you think about it, it's a much better deal if I concentrate on on your your needs and what-have-you and You concentrate on mine. I've got a lot bigger group worrying about Whatever is in my life then if I'm trying to worry about my own self and the same thing, you know.

The same thing you you have exactly the same thing and so we are to encourage a thankful response in each other. And that's one thing nice because we we do don't we? We get we get discouraged. We are human beings.

We get tired. We get discouraged. We get we start to let the stuff and things of life overwhelm us, don't we? And God in his wisdom Allowed certain of those things to get written up in the scriptures to where we can read.

Look at what look at Jeremiah, you know Jeremiah is chewing out God. For you know, Lord, why are you doing this? What why are you letting this happen? You know, I'm out here preaching Lord and you know nobody's gonna listen to me and and they thrown me in jail and.

And God is saying yes, Jeremiah, I told you exactly that that was what was going to happen. You know, I told I sent you out to preach and when I did I told you no one was gonna listen to you. But you know, we do that we do that and that's that's our part of our humanness and.

So what we need is for other people. To be around us because God in his mercy not all of us get down at the same time. Do we? There's always somebody who's you know on a high when we're on a low. There's always somebody who can reach down and say, you know, you know, come on.

Come on. Come on up up up. Bucket up there. Because and then it time passes and then you get up there and somebody else is down there and you can help we help each other. We are all God's. Each of us is God's gift to to the others in the congregation.

Now you may not have thought about that, but you're a gift. You're a gift to the other people in this congregation. That you may encourage them and that you may be encouraged by them to give thanks and one of the best ways to build ourselves up out of the Out of the dumps that we get into is to start giving.

Thanks. If you were if you were raised by a Christian mother like I was you were probably taught that count your blessings. But that really works. That really works and there are examples of that in Scripture.

What does the Bible tell us about David. You know David and the guys get back from being out on some sort of a military Operation and what do they find that time found the village has been attacked and all the wives and children and everything have been hauled off.

And then these geniuses decide we got to blame somebody about that. And so what are we going to do? Oh, let's blame David, you know, and so they do and so what does the Bible say about David? David encouraged himself in the Lord his God and.

But you can imagine what that process must have been. You know Lord, I have been running around in the desert now for several years. I've been you know, dodging Saul and all these people that have been out trying to kill me and yet You have provided for my needs at every step when I thought when I thought that I was alone in Israel.

Within a very short time you gave me 400 men to come together with me and All of these things. David starts reviewing all these things in his mind, and I'm sure he wasn't completely silent about this either.

He's also telling the other guys now. Wait a minute. God has been with us here. God has been with us here. God that our need here on and on and on so. Ergo, God is going to meet our need this time, too.

So gird on your swords and let's go you know faith plus works there you have it again and so away they went and so we are to encourage each other all of the earth is to give praise to God and Why because the character of God demands it?

And Here we start into the character of God that the that the psalmist Talks about be thankful unto him bless his name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. This is the character of God. God is good.

That is his character. That is his essence. He is a good God as opposed to the pagan gods around Israel that were not good. What kind of a God? demands that you take your infant child and sacrifice him physically.

To appease him that is not a good God under any stretch of the imagination. Jehovah God was a good God. Our father our heavenly father is a good God. The God of the Bible has always been good. From the very first chapters of Genesis, what does it say every time God did something?

What does Genesis say about it and God saw that it was good? It's good. I created the earth. It's good. I created the plants. They're good. I created the animals. They're good. I created the stars in the heavens.

It's good. Everything he did is good. Is good is good. Everything he made was good. The law was good. Romans tells us in in chapter 7 The law was good. His will is perfect. His will is perfect. You know the plan that he has laid out for you for me for the entire universe is perfect every step of it is perfect and We look at something like a Katrina you say you mean that's perfect.

Yes. That's perfect. Because God is allowing his plan to evolve he and part of that truly involves allowing evil to run its course and Yet here we go. You know, he's his will is perfect. His gospel is the good news we say the gospel is the good news and We are to taste and see that the Lord is what good.