Sermon: Let Everything Praise the Lord!

I invite you, uh, to take a copy of God's Word and turn with me to Psalm 150. Psalm 150 if you are using, uh, Bible from the pews, uh, you can turn right there to Psalm one 50 on page 5 26.

We are ending the year. On the last note and the high note of the Psalms we're returning, uh, one last time to the Halel Psalms, the final Halel Psalms. These are the the final five Psalms, Psalms 1 46 through one 50 that call us to praise the Lord and give us reasons to praise the Lord. And they're referred to Halel Psalms, uh, because they begin and end with the same word, all five of them. Hallelujah. You could see if you, uh, look in your Bible,

1 46 through one 50, they all begin and end the same way. Praise the Lord. That's what hallelujah means. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah is a, is simply a combination of two words, halel, meaning praise, and the shortened form of Yahweh. Yah, Halel. Praise yah, the Lord, praise the Lord. So you see each of these psalms beginning and ending the same way. It's not hard to figure out what these psalms are all about. It's not hard to figure it out.

Praise the Lord before we come to read this text, let's pray and ask for God's help and blessing.

Oh Lord our God, you are great, you are gracious and you are glorious. And we come to you once again asking that you would open our eyes this morning to behold your greatness, to behold your grace, to behold your glory in your holy scriptures. We pray this so Lord, so that our faith would increase our hope, our love would increase. And so that our praise to you would increase. We pray our sovereign spirit, that you would be gracious

to empower this weak vessel to declare your excellencies this morning. And we ask, oh, sovereign spirit that you would preach even a better sermon than the one that I'm prepared to preach. We ask that you would do all this for reask in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 150, listen carefully for this is God's word. 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 loot and harp. Praise him with tambourine and dance. Praise him with strings and pipe. Praise him with sounding symbols. Praise him with loud clashing symbols. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Well this is the time of year when people are producing their best of lists. They're recapping the year that was, and they are ranking or telling us which books that they thought were the best of 2025 or telling us what songs were the most popular in this year. Or they might be ranking the top culture stories from the year that was, or the most popular baby names. And sometimes how you even see some that are commemorating those who died

in 2025. And I wonder as you maybe reflect upon your own year, so you think about the year that was for you, what is it that stands out in your year? A baby born, the death of a loved one, a graduation, a cancer diagnosis, a new marriage becoming a grandparent, a health scare or retirement, a season of depression that wouldn't go away. Or maybe a fun trip, maybe this was the year that you committed your life to Christ

and you joined his church. What is it about the year 2025 that stands out to you in your own mind? As we come to the last of the Psalms this morning, Psalm one 50 gives us a excellent way to end our year together, a beautiful doxology. Whether your year was filled with ups or downs, this is a great way to end your year. Praising the Lord. Praising the Lord seems maybe odd to some people and it is in some ways that Christians praise the Lord

no matter if there are ups or there are downs. We're not called as Christians to, to minimize or ignore or overlook. We're not called to oversize the ups and downs of our life, but we are called as Christians to praise the Lord no matter our circumstances.

And praising the Lord is not dependent upon our circumstances. That's not why we praise the Lord. We praise the Lord because he is worthy of our praise no matter what our circumstances are. One of the reasons why the Book of Psalms, it's such a beloved book, such a wonderful book, is that it helps us to praise the Lord in the ups and downs and through the ups and downs. So you see Psalms about joy and sorrow, loneliness and belonging.

Confidence and fear, victory and defeat all sorts of highs and lows, ups and downs. Psalms help us, they exhort us to praise the Lord in and through all of those circumstances.

But you see, dear Christian, the ups and downs of your life will come to an end. That they will come to an end. But you know what will never end?

Praise, praise will never end. Praising the Lord will never end. And that's what this ending in the book of the of the book of the Psalms reminds us of this long sustained doxology beginning in Psalm 1 46 and ending in one 50. It reminds us that there is an eternity awaiting believers of praising God.

And it encourages us to keep praising God along the way, along the way through the ups and the downs to keep praising God. I said just a few moments ago, the big idea of this psalm is not hard to discern. The thesis you might say is clearly stated, it's it's spelled out very clearly at the beginning and at the end, praise the Lord. That's what this psalm is all about. If you actually take a look at the Psalm, you'll see there's only one verb in this entire Psalm.

Just one. And it's repeated 13 times in six verses Praise, halel praise. And you notice that verb begins every line of this psalm with the exception of the second to last line. Praise. That's what we are to do. Praise who the object of our praise is very clear again, spelled out very clearly for us. The Lord, it says the Lord, the the one living and true God, the creator and the sustainer of all things. The redeemer of God's people.

The God who has revealed himself in his word and the God who has revealed himself in the word made flesh. This is the God to praise. And so what Psalm fit one 50 is, is an invitation. It's an invitation to you,

to praise the Lord, to praise this Lord, to make him the one and only object of your worship.

Now, this is a season not just for recapping the year that was, but also a season where we sometimes are exchanging invitations. Invitations to come to the the Christmas party or to the end of the year concert, the end of the semester concert that you are having at school. And just as the invitations that you send out to others, they specify why the invitation was sent. What are you inviting people to who should come

and when it will take place and where it will be. So this invitation of Psalm one 50 includes those details as well.

Psalm includes a where, a why, a how, and a who. And that's what I want us to look at this morning. The where of praise, the why of praise, the how of praise, and the who of praise. Let's begin in verse one with the wear of praise. Praise God in his sanctuary, Praise God in his sanctuary. It might seem obvious that a sanctuary is meant for praise, it's meant for worship, but we just gotta hear it again and again and get it through.

Do you think of that when you walk through the doors on Sunday morning? My purpose in coming here is to worship God. To praise the Lord. We are to praise God in his sanctuary. Our responsibility, our goal, our desire ought to be to fill this room with heartfelt, full throated praise. There's nothing special about this room, this room on its own. But you see, when we are gathered, we being Christ church, when we are gathered in this room, this

space becomes a sacred space. This space becomes holy because God is present with his people when they gather under his word to bring him praise.

When you enter this room, come prepared to praise the Lord. That's why you are to come. That's what you are to do, to praise God in his sanctuary. I wonder if you've ever noticed when you walk into this building, as you walk up those stairs from outside, inside and you begin to walk toward the sanctuary, if you've ever noticed on the right wall, as you walk in a plaque, there's a plaque right back here on the wall, just outside the sanctuary.

I wonder if you've ever noticed it. Just yesterday I was asking somebody, do you remember what that plaque says? I can't quite remember me neither. I had to look this morning at when I showed up. Wanna read what it says to you at the very beginning says, on the seventh day of October in the year of our Lord, 2012, we hereby dedicate this building to the worship of our triune God. Father, son and Holy Spirit. This is God's sanctuary.

This building, this space has been set apart, designated for the worship of God. And God is to be praised in his sanctuary. But God's worship is never meant to be boxed up. It's never meant to be confined to one space. God's worship is to emanate, to extend out throughout the whole world, and it's to extend up into the heavens. Praise him in his mighty heavens, God created the heavens that very first week of his creation.

And he created the heavens as a place to display his greatness, to display his might, to display his wisdom, to display his creativity, to display his glory. And heavens are to be filled with his praises as well. The miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of the galaxies filled with praise to God ringing out. So where is God to be praised? God is to be praised everywhere. He's to be praised on the earth. He's to be praised in the heavens. Why?

Why is God to be praised everywhere? Well, God is to be praised everywhere because of what he has done and because of who he is. That's what verse two says. It gives us the why of praise. We are to praise him for his mighty deeds.

God's mighty deeds are many and diverse. We could not come to the end of them if we all gathered together in a group project this afternoon trying to list out all of God's mighty deeds. We could not list them all. Just in this day they are many and diverse. And this one category covers them all. God's mighty deeds. All he has done, by the way, it would be a good exercise for you to take some time if you have some time,

and maybe to work on it with others, to think of some of God's mighty deeds to make them specific. It's good to praise God generally, and it's rather easy to do so. God, you are great. God you are good God, you are mighty God. You are awesome. We can do that. That's good. We can also praise God specifically, specifically to praise him specifically. And sometimes it's more difficult to do that. So. So I wanna give you some categories, some categories of

how you can praise God specifically. You can praise God for what he has done. You can praise God for what he is doing. Even now. You can praise God for what he will do. You can also praise God using the three overarching categories that the Bible gives to us to describe God's works. The Bible tells us that God's works are of creation. God creating all things of nothing. Praise him for his creation. God's works of providence.

God preserving all things by his power and governing all things by his power and God's works of redemption, God working salvation for his people.

There are all kinds of mighty deeds that you could fit into all those categories. And you see, dear Christian, isn't it very true of you that you are the beneficiary of all three of God's works?

God made me praise the Lord. God is actively sustaining me. He cares for me. Praise the Lord. God redeemed me and saved me from sin. Praise the Lord. We praise God for what he has done and we also praise God for who he is.

Verse two tells us that we should praise God according to His excellent greatness. That's what it says in the ESV. If you have a different translation, you might find different words there. Some render excellent as abundant, praise God according to his abundant greatness or others, praise God according to his surpassing greatness. Here's the point. God's greatness is great.

God's greatness is great. And the Bible is full of examples of how God's greatness is. Great. Lemme give you a few. In Deuteronomy nine, it says that God redeemed Israel through his greatness. In numbers 14, Moses is interceding on behalf of the Israelites and he's asking God to forgive Israel for their their wilderness rebellion. And here's how Moses appeals to God for forgiveness. He appeals to the greatness of his steadfast love.

Psalm 1, 1 0 8 says that God's steadfast love is great above the heavens. God's the greatness of God's steadfast love His covenant, love his covenant kindness. It cannot be contained in the heavens, the heavens that keep going and going and going. God's steadfast love is great. Psalm 79, God's power is great. And listen to this one, hear this one from Ephesians chapter one. It says that because of the working of God's great might when he raised Jesus from the dead

and seated him at his right hand because of that great might, the immeasurable greatness of God's power is toward us. Who believe the immeasurable greatness of God's power is toward you. Who believe it is not against you. God is great.

Began this periodic series through the Halel Psalms about 18 months ago, started in Psalm 145. In verse three of that Psalm sums up this, this meditation on God's greatness. Very well. Verse three of Psalm 1 45. It says, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Yes. And his greatness is unsearchable. Unsearchable. There does not mean we cannot know nothing. It's not worth searching out because you can't ever find any answers.

No, that's not what it's saying. Rather unsearchable means we cannot know fully. We cannot know God's greatness fully. His greatness goes beyond human searching, beyond finding out you never come to the depths of God's greatness and you never reach the heights of God's greatness. In verse two of Psalm one 50 says, we are to praise God according to that greatness. God's unfathomable greatness, his excellent greatness. Do you know what that means? Do you know what it means?

That God should be praised according to his excellent greatness. It means that God's praises should never end. They should never come to an end. And they will not. If you can never reach the heights or the depths of God's greatness, then there's never a a stopping point, a ceiling to stop the praises for God's greatness. And there's never a floor to bump up against, to stop the praises of God. Our praises should be abundant

and our praises should be excellent just like God's greatness. That is what is fitting for our great God. So first we saw where God is to be praised. We've just seen why God is to be praised, because of who he is and what he has done and what follows. The why is the how, the how, the how of praise in verses three through five. As you just look there at verses three through five, you'll notice that the how takes up nearly half of the Psalm.

And as you can see, these exhortations about how to praise God are accompanied by a variety of traditional instruments and celebratory dancing throughout Israel's history. These instruments were used to accompany various celebrations and various seasons of worship, particular seasons of worship that were not just used in a corporate worship setting. In the temple, for example, verse three says that we are to praise God with trumpet sound.

The type of trumpet that verse three is speaking of is a very specific type of trumpet. It's called a shofar. It's not a, a trumpet. That is melody carrying, not like the trumpets that we hear in the band or here on Sunday mornings. This type of trumpet was meant to sound out, to call attention. It was to call people to praise God. So it was used, uh, for special feast days to set them apart, to signify their beginning.

See that in Psalm 81? But this was also the type of trumpet that was used around jericho's walls. As the Israelites were marching around, marching around, marching around, they were to blow the trumpet. The walls had fall down. That was the shofar. It was used for all sorts of different kinds of worship to call attention, to bring attention, to come and worship God. And you may remember that, uh, from our study of Psalm 1 49 just a few months ago, that praising God

with dancing and tambourines was not commonplace in Israel's worship services, but they were commonplace to mark great victories, great military victories in Israel's history. When David returned from defeating Goliath, the people came out to greet him and they came dancing with tambourines. And it was especially common for Israelite women to use tambourines and to dance, to mark great victories, to express their joy for what God had done.

Psalm one 50 tells us how to praise God. But we might find ourselves in this day and age sort of scratching our heads. I mean, I I don't even know what some of these instruments are. How are we're commanded? We're told how to praise God, but we don't even have some of these instruments. What are we to do? I Think John Calvin directs us to the point, to the point of verses three through five. He says that the different kinds

of instruments here mentioned in verses three through five are mentioned to more forcibly teach the children of God that they cannot apply themselves too diligently to the praises of God. You cannot apply yourself too diligently to the praises of God. You cannot overdo it. Calvin continues as if God would enjoy them strenuously to bring this service, all their powers, the service of worship, worshiping God all their powers

and devote themselves wholly with a w to it. So how should we praise God?

Maybe you've heard athletes or coaches use this figure of speech. I left it all on the court. I left it all on the court. What does that mean? They gave their all, they spent everything. They left it all out there. How should we praise God? That's a, that's a helpful image. God's people should give their all to the worship of God, give themselves diligently. Do not hold back your energy. Do not hold back your abilities. Do not hold back your time.

And do not hold back your affections, your heart in worshiping God. Give everything you have, everything that you are. Give it all in the worship of God. You cannot overdo it. So Psalm one 50 so far has instructed us where, why and how God is to be praised. And finally then we come to the who, the who of praise. Psalm 150 has been building, building, building to a climax. When we arrive at that climax in verse six, let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

This is comprehensive just as the the where and the why and the how of praise were comprehensive. So too is the who let everything praise the Lord. All things, All Things that God created were made to give him glory. All things are made to praise him. But mankind in particular, mankind in particular fashioned, in the image of God, created as the crowning glory of God's creation. Mankind in particular is to praise the Lord.

All of mankind. All of mankind with their breath. Not just Israel, but all the nations. Not just Americans, but Africans and Asians and Australians and Europeans. Praise the Lord. If there are any people on Antarctica, praise the Lord, all mankind, the rich and the poor, the weak and the powerful, the famous and the outcasts. Infants are to praise the Lord and the elderly. All men and all women. That's who's to praise the Lord.

Let everything that has breath as we consider the who of praise, who it includes, how it includes all that has breath. I think we're meant to let our minds begin to look ahead in the Bible, to look ahead to what comes next and what comes at the end of the Bible. The last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, describes a great multitude of people from every corner of the earth, people from every nation, people from all tribes and peoples and languages.

And they are praising the one and living God.

Do you know what that great multitude sings Do? Do you know the song that they sing?

Revelation 19 verse one. John who's seeing this vision says, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. And the heavenly hosts respond to the song of the great multitude saying, amen. Hallelujah. The hallelujahs of Psalm 115 of 150, all these hallelujahs, they envision the gathering of this great multitude.

And the time is drawing near

the time is drawing near when that great multitude will be gathered in.

But not yet. At this present time, this is the time for the in gathering, calling people in, inviting people in, gathering them to come and worship. Jesus said in John four, to the woman at the well, he said, the hour is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. And the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Dear friends, the invitation that Psalm 150 makes is addressed to you. It's addressed to each one of you. Without exception, let all that has breath. Praise The Lord.

If you've not accepted this invitation, if you've not accepted this invitation to come and praise the Lord, would you do so today?

The Father is seeking such a person as you.

He's seeking such a person as you to make you a true worshiper, to have you come and worship him. Come. If You've already accepted this invitation, you're eagerly anticipating that great multitude joining that great multitude, then I wanna encourage you, ask you to do two things this morning. First, would you join God's mission in seeking worshipers by inviting others to come join you? It's quite simple. He used these very words, you

that have breath, come and praise the Lord.

Come as we sang last week, angels from the realms of glory. Come and worship. Come and worship worship. Father, son and Holy Ghost. Invite others to join you, to participate, to be added to this great multitude. To secondly, keep praising the Lord. If you've already accepted this invitation, keep praising the Lord as Psalm one 50 exhorts you to do. You might think of this as choir practice. Every time the song of praise begins again,

I'm practicing, I'm preparing myself. I'm improving my song.

'cause I will sing that song all through eternity. Who should praise the Lord? Everyone, everyone let all that has breath praise the Lord.

Psalm one 50 ends the same way as Psalm 1 49, 1 48, 1 47, 1 46. And it ends the same way it began with one final. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Let everyone everywhere. Praise the Lord with everything you have. For God is worthy. For God is worthy. Would you pray with me and we'll sing this together,

Father, son and Holy Spirit. And in anticipation of that last day, We join our voices in prayer and praise, even now with the angels and the church triumphant saying, worthy, are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you, created all things and by your will, they existed. And were created. And we say, oh, worthy are you Lamb of God who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory

and blessing, hallelujah. For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Lord, would you keep us singing this song of praise to you through the rest of this year, into the next year until our dying breath? And would you keep us singing this song through all eternity? Oh, how we long for that day make it come quickly. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.