WWUTT 1289 Praise the Lord! (Psalms 147, 148, 149, 150)

Here we are at the conclusion of our study to the Psalms and these last Psalms begin and end with the same three words, praise the Lord when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible teaching podcast that we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

Psalm 147 and God’s Care for His People

Well, here we are. This is the last lesson in the Psalms, which we've been doing for the last year and a half. Every Thursday going through an Old Testament book and we've been in the Psalms for a long time, of course, because there's 150 Psalms.

We've got four left. So we're gonna begin here with Psalm 147 and I'm gonna read through the whole thing. Praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises to our God for it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars. He gives to all of them their names. Great is our God and abundant in power.

His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble. He casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving. Make melody to our God on the lyre. He covers the heavens with clouds.

He prepares rain for the earth. He makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the beasts their food and to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse nor his pleasure in the legs of a man but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Praise the Lord, oh, Jerusalem. Praise your God, oh, Zion for he strengthens the bars of your gates. He blesses your children within you. He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

He sends out his command to the earth. His word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word and melts them.

He makes his wind blow and his waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know his rules. Praise the Lord. We begin the psalm the same way we end the psalm with these three words, praise the Lord.

In fact, if you were to go back to the last psalm we looked at last week, Psalm 146, you see the same thing. Psalm 146 begins with praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh, my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live.

And that's the first of five psalms that make up the praise the Lord psalms. All five of these closing psalms begin and end with those three words. This is Psalm 146, verse 10. The Lord will reign forever.

Your God, oh, Zion, to all generations, praise the Lord. And so we're beginning 147 the same way. You'll see the same in 148, 149, and 150. It's really an appropriate way to conclude this book which has been so full of praise.

And Psalm 147 is kind of a hit parade of some of the things that we've been seeing throughout the psalms. It is good to sing praises to our God. We have numerous psalms that begin with sing a song to the Lord.

It is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting. The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. Now there are gonna be statements like that through Psalm 147, but that doesn't mean that we leave this just to Israel and to the exclusion of the church.

For as we come down to read that God is not dealt thus with any other nation, verse 20. The immediate context of course is in reference to Israel, but we likewise who are the church are referred to as a holy nation.

In fact, Peter uses in 1 Peter 2, 9, and 10, he uses for the church Exodus language. Language that's been used to refer even to exiles. He starts his first letter addressing the exiles that have been spread out in the dispersion.

This is not in reference to Jews, it's in reference to the church. And we receive that same language that has been used to describe Israel in the Old Testament because we as the church in Christ are the people of God.

We are called a holy nation by Peter in 1 Peter 2, 9. So it's like all of those addresses that had been made to Israel, God is using with his church as well that we are called out from the world. We're called out of slavery to sin.

That was kind of a type and a shadow of how Christ was gonna call his own to himself. Out of sin, out of the world to himself to be consecrated, to be a holy nation, to be set apart. And so God deals with us unlike he deals with any other nation.

All other nations on earth will perish. They will fall in judgment. But those who are in Christ are a holy nation who know God's rules because he has revealed to us an understanding of his word through the spirit that dwells within us.

So as we read back in verse two again, the Lord builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the outcasts of Israel. The Lord builds up the church, which is described as the new Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel, which is the people of God.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Now there is a passage of comfort right there underlying that one. He determines the number of the stars. He gives to all of them their names. So if God has named all the heavenly host, surely he has named us as well.

Great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. We remember that from Psalm 139, that God's knowledge is beyond our comprehension. The Lord lifts up the humble, he casts the wicked to the ground.

And we've seen that through the Psalms. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, make melody in our heart on the lyre. We have reference to his power over creation. He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.

He gives to the beasts their food. As God had said to Job, are you the one that gives the food to the beast or to the raven or any of these animals? How are they cared for? Do you do that? We've seen it in the Psalms as well, that God is the one who provides, even for the creatures of the earth that we may not see, no man dwells there, but yet the animals are fed because God provides to them.

He gives to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

We have in Isaiah 66 too, the Lord saying, this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem. Praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates.

He blesses your children within you. And we've talked about this before, that our children within our churches are not necessarily, though they can be, our literal offspring, but our spiritual offspring.

Those who have come to faith by the sharing of the word of Christ. He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of wheat. God provides for us those things that we need. He sends out his command to the earth.

His word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters frost like ashes. We see the power of God demonstrated even in the cold. And you can get to a place where the weather is so cold, a person can't even dwell there.

There's no life there. Crops can't grow there. Hence this question, who can stand before his cold? We've had references to the judgment of God. This is in reference to cold, just in nature. And yet God is even more powerful than that which he has created that man cannot dwell in.

He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. And we come to know the word of God by the spirit that dwells within us. Praise the Lord. Let's go to Psalm 148. 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 and 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 all 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. His, he is, sorry, let me start that again. 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. We begin this Psalm with a praise from the heavenly host. Praise him in the heights. Praise him all his angels. Praise him all his host. Sun and moon, shining stars, highest heavens and he waters above the heavens.

So there's a couple of ways that we can understand this. Either this is a reference to the angels in heaven and using created things to describe them. Because sometimes the angels are referred to as the host of heaven and even the sun, moon and stars are referred to as the host of heaven.

So as the sun and moon are high above the earth, so this could be a reference to those heavenly beings. Or it could be that the created things are being personified. You have angels and all his hosts.

Of course, they're going to praise God. But even those created things, the angels are created, sun and moon are created, shining stars are created, highest heavens and the waters above the heavens, these are created things.

And so they're being personified in the sense that all that God has created gives glory to him. He has created them for his glory. Though they do not have a sentience, like they don't have a conscience by which they would glory unto God and obey him, yet they are still made to the praise of his great name.

For we behold sun and moon and stars and we see how great God is through these things that have been created by the power of his word. We go on, let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created.

Again, this is by God's word these things came to be. So though we see power in the height of the heavens, whenever we look up and we see sun, moon and stars, we see great power and incredible distance considering how vast the universe indeed is, yet God is greater than the sum of them.

So let them praise the name of the Lord. God's majesty is demonstrated in these things that have been made. He commanded and they were created and he established them forever and ever. He gave a decree and it shall not pass away.

Now that's an interesting statement because we know that the sun, moon and stars will come to an end. In fact, when we go to the book of Revelation, we read about a decreation that is taking place, that all things are coming to destruction just as God had created them and put them in order.

So how is it that the sun, moon and stars are established forever and ever? Well, there's another way to understand the end of that verse where it says he gave a decree and it shall not pass away. It could also be translated, it shall not be transgressed.

So mankind cannot destroy these things. We do not have the power to overthrow sun, moon and stars. God has set them in their place and they would remain there, but God has the power to decreate them just as he had the power to create them by the same way he made them.

He created them with a word, he will destroy them with a word. So he gave a decree and it shall not be transgressed. God's word will not be turned back. That's simply all that's being said there in verse six.

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word. Everything that happens, everything that happens is by the decree of God.

He gave a decree, it shall not be turned back. Even fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfill his word. This is all according to the sovereign ordination of God. Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds.

All of these things are being listed here as fulfilling the word of God. They all exist by his word, they are under his command even still. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children, all people are under the command of God's word.

Whether you acknowledge the Bible is God's word or not, it has authority over you. And God will judge you by this word. We are saved by this word when we hear it and we believe it and we put faith in Christ.

We may also be destroyed by this word if you do not believe in it. It is by the word of God that you will be exalted into his heaven forever or you will be destroyed into the hell below. Even kings themselves, kings are given their positions because God has placed them there.

Kings of the earth and all peoples, young men and maidens together, old men and children, we are all governed by the sovereign word of God. Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is exalted.

No name is higher than God's name. His majesty is above the earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all of his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him, praise the Lord.

Psalm 149 and the Judgment Written

Let's do Psalm 149, praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly. Let Israel be glad in his maker. Let the children of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.

For the Lord takes pleasure in his people. He adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly exalt in glory. Let them sing for joy on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two edged swords in their hands to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written.

This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord. And as Psalm 148 was about how all things that have been created were made by the word of God and are governed by the word of God. So Psalm 149 is about how we should live by the word of God.

Let us rejoice in it. Let us be in submission to it. And this is honor for all his godly ones. We conclude with Psalm 150. Here we go. This is it. The end of our study in the Psalms. Psalm 150 verses one through six.

Psalm 150 and the Call for All Breath to Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with trumpet sound. Praise him with lute and harp.

Praise him with tambourine and dance. Praise him with 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.

Is there any question why Psalm 150 appropriately sits at the end of the book of the Psalms? These hymns, the compilation of songs that were written by the musicians of God and for his people. It has been a delight to go through this study with you and I hope that you have enjoyed it as well.

Let me conclude by coming back to Psalm one. Let me end the way we began. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And on his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. May it be so, in Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.