Sermon: Praise the Lord

I invite you to open your Bibles to with me to Psalm 147, Psalm 147. I preached from Psalm 1 45 earlier this summer, 1 46, earlier this fall, and figured, let's just keep going. The perceptive among you, uh, will notice that this title, the title of the sermon, is the same title from Psalm 1 46, the last sermon that I preached. And some of you will think, I bet that's 'cause he's not very creative and there may be some truth to that.

But, uh, I thought it'd be appropriate that we give the title to this sermon the same as the last, because as you'll notice the same words begin and end this Psalm as the last Psalm. Praise the Lord. It's a, it's a praise psalm with the same theme. There's some different particulars in this Psalm than the last Psalm, but it's the same theme, the same purpose. And you'll notice that all of the Psalms from 1 46 through one 50 are really about that praising the Lord.

If you just look in your Bibles, you see praise the Lord begins and ends. Psalm 1 46, 1 47, 1 48, 1 49, and one 50, just one Hebrew word. Hallelujah. It's a combination of two words, Halel meaning to praise yah. The shortened, the shortened, uh, name for Jehovah or Yahweh. God. Praise the Lord and it's a command. Praise the Lord. You all praise the Lord. That's what this psalm is all about. That's the theme of this psalm.

Before I pray and read figure, I'm gonna give you the outline before we read today of, of what I'll be preaching from. And you'll notice if you're looking, uh, at the ESV, there are three sort of sections in this psalm. There's a break after verse six. There's a break after verse 11. And that's how we're gonna take this psalm just in those, uh, natural sections that we see here in the ESV. And we're gonna see in verses one through six

that we should praise the Lord for his covenants and seven through 11 for his creation and 12 through 20 for his commandments. I wanna give these to you now so that you got the headings and some hooks for which to to place your thoughts as we read along through here. And then just one other thing to observe before we read this text that I think will be helpful for you to see. Now before we read Christopher Ash, uh, a commentator on this text observes that each section

here in this psalm opens with a call to praise. So you see that in verse one, verse seven, verse 12. Each section references God's creation. You'll notice that in a few minutes. And then each of these sections concludes with a contrast, a contrast between the world and the church. So I think with those things in mind that'll help you as we read through this. But first, let's pray and ask for God's help and his blessing upon the reading and preaching of his word.

Oh Lord our God, you are great, you are gracious, you are glorious. And we come to you once again asking that you would open our eyes to behold your greatness, your grace and your glory in your holy scriptures, and by the power of your word and spirit that our faith, hope and love and praise would increase to you our great gracious and glorious God. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Psalm 1 47, listen carefully for this is God's word.

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 outcast 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 Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble. He cast the wicked to the ground, sing to the Lord

with thanksgiving, make melody to our God on the liar. He covers the heavens with clouds. He prepares rain for the earth. He makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the beast 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 O Jerusalem. Praise your God.

Oz 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 the 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. Amen.

Well, as I said this psalm is all about praising the Lord. That's where this Psalm begins. Verse one, praise the Lord why we're told for my kids love to have reasons for what I am telling them to do or asking them to do. God gives us reasons to praise him. Why for it is good to sing praises to our God. Verse one would be a great summary for the whole Psalm, a great encapsulation of all that this psalm is about. Praise the Lord because it is good for it is pleasant

and it is fitting. It is good to praise God. The goodness of singing praise to our God is a reflection or an outworking of the nature of God himself. God is good. So Psalm 1 36, 1 says, praise the Lord for he is good. We should praise him because of his goodness. And it is good to praise him because he is good. It is pleasant. It is pleasant. You may remember Psalm 1 33, that short beautiful psalm, behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

That word pleasant it as as Psalm 1 33 pictures it, it's pleasant when there is harmony between brothers and sisters. We know what that's like and it is good. It is pleasant to sing praises to our God. And it is fitting. This is a, a word to speak of something that is appropriate. Psalm 33 verse one, praise befits the upright. It is fitting to sing praises to our God because of who our God is, is and because of who we are,

because of our relation to him. He is the creator. We are the creature. He is great, we are small. And the way God deals with us and the way he relates to us is fundamentally gracious and merciful. So it is fitting to sing praises to our God. And so Christopher Ash says about this verse, verse Praise is not only the right thing to do, a simple matter of duty, but it is also enjoyable. Do you, do you find that to be true yourself?

That it's not only our duty to praise the Lord, it is, but it's enjoyable. Your heart feels like it is doing the right thing when you are praising the Lord. That's how it ought to be. It is pleasant and fitting. And so verse one is, is a good summary of this whole Psalm, why should we praise the Lord? Because it is good, it is pleasant and it is fitting for God's people to praise him. But we don't stop there. There are, there's no shortage

of reasons to praise the Lord. And this psalm gives us many more. So let's turn to to the next verses. And what we're gonna find here in in the rest of this opening section is are several allusions to God's covenant. God's covenant, his covenantal care for his people as a reason to praise him. First. You'll notice that right off the bat, praise the Lord. You'll notice, Lord, there is capitalized, LORD all capitalized but smaller, lowercase

or smaller capital letters. And that is to refer to or or set apart. Mark out that this is a particular name of God, God's personal name, the name that he revealed to Moses and to the Israelites, his people in Exodus three, I am I am that I am. I am who I am. And this particular name of the Lord, this personal name of the Lord expresses God's covenantal lordship it. It's a covenantal name. It's the name that he gave to his particular people.

So right off the bat we find a covenantal illusion.

Secondly, we find in this psalm a whole bunch of personal pronouns. Verse one, it is good to sing praises to our God. Verse five, great is our Lord. Verse 12, praise your God. O Zion, JI, packer, who's a, a great theologian is reflecting on the repeated covenant promise. I will be your God and you will be my people's. Reflecting on that particular promise said that covenant theology is a theology of personal pronouns,

a theology of personal pronouns. I will be your God, you will be my people.

We are God's people. He is our God. And we see in this psalm that to be the case. And then we find, I think sort of the pinnacle covenantal allusion in verse four. Verse four, allusion to the covenantal promise or confirmation given to Abraham in Genesis 15. Remember, God takes Abraham outside of his tent and he sets him under the stars. And he says to Abraham, he challenges Abraham, see if you can count all the stars in the sky,

your offspring will be more numerous than all of the stars that you can count it. It was a way to confirm his promise to Abraham. And we have an illusion here, I think in verse four to that particular promise. And he might be saying, okay, great, I I see that there's some covenantal illusions. What is the point? What effect ought this to have on me or on us as we read? The first effect is that it ought to assure you God's people of God's care for you,

of God's care for his people. And verse four in particular is intended to remind God's people of this. I was preparing for the sermon this week and thought, I'll do a little exercise, see what Google has to say about how many stars are in the universe.

And I thought, surely Google has to be wrong. Um, my child could come up with this kind of number one estimate is that there are 200 billion trillion stars.

I thought that billion, trillion was not a real word, was just a hyperbolic made up figure by children. 200 billion trillion. Well here's nasa, maybe more reliable astronomers estimate that the universe could contain up to one septillion stars. That's a one followed by 24 zeros. That's a lot of zeros.

And they're all estimates, estimates. But verse four tells us that God is on a first name basis with every star in the sky. He knows how many there are. He knows their names.

This is incomprehensible, literally incomprehensible. How is that even possible?

Well, it makes sense. I think that verse five follows verse four, it's only natural to say great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure or literally infinite. His understanding his infinite.

And so the effect of verse four is to say, if, if God knows all this, then he cares for his people. If he knows the name of the stars beyond our limited view, God's people ought to be assured that he is able to do and willing to do all that he is said to do. In this Psalm particular in verses two and three and six, verse two, the Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. God knows the name of the remotest star in the universe,

and he also knows the name of the remotest outcast, where they are, what they need. And he gathers them. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God sees the stars not visible to us and he knows the hurts and pains that are not always visible to the eye, the wounds of a broken heart.

My daughter's favorite book, one of her favorite books right now, is a book called Gossie. It's about it a, a gosling, a bright yellow gosling who likes to wear her bright red boots every day. That's how the psalm begins. Or uh, how the book begins. Excuse me, that would be a weird start to a psalm

good for a book, a children's book. So Goth, the book is all about how Gosey loves these bright red boots. And it's sort of odd, but my daughter's favorite page in that whole book, the one she is always trying to flip quickest to to get there is the page When Gossie cannot find her bright red boots. And she is the book says, heartbroken. And when she gets to that page, he says, gai is heartbroken. She's drawn to that page.

And once you know it, God is drawn to the broken hearted.

Whether your heart is broken by sins that you've committed, like David says in Psalm 51, A broken in contr heart, you will not despise. He's confessing his own sin of a broken heart or or whether your heart is broken by the general effects of the fall. God is drawn to the broken hearted and he is both powerful enough and tender enough to bind the most shattered heart.

Verse six. The Lord lifts up the humble. He cast the wicked to the ground. God knows the big dipper and he knows Orion's belt, but he also knows the least recognizable star in the universe. And God knows the humble. He lifts them up from their humble estate. And not only that, he knows the wicked and he is strong enough and just enough to not allow the wicked to have the last laugh.

So what is the effect or the point of these covenant illusions? First, it's to assure God's people that God cares for them. But secondly, even more as it is with this Psalm, it is to inspire praise from God's people. Praise the God who covenants with you, your friends. Remember, God voluntarily binds himself in covenant. He is not obligated, he is not forced. He is not compelled by anything other than his own free will.

God voluntarily binds himself to his people in covenant relationship, relationship. And he promises through his covenant to care for his people. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

And we too praise him for his covenant because God chooses even now to relate to us in covenant by way of a covenant, the covenant of grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. We call God our God, our Father, our Lord. And because he is our God and we are his people, we receive all the blessings of belonging to him. His grace, his mercy, his love, his faithfulness, his promises, his care

that ought to bring forth praise from your heart. And so the Psalm introduces God's covenant as a reason for giving him praise in verses one through six. And then we move to verses seven through 11. And we see here that we are to praise the Lord for his creation.

I wanna point out that as this section starts in verse seven, simply that this section tells us to sing with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving praising God and thanking God ought to go together, they, they go hand in hand like s'mores with a campfire or jelly with peanut butter. They, they go together praising God and thanking him. It is fitting to add much thanksgiving to our praise because we owe everything to him. It's not only good to praise him for his abundant power,

but to thank him for how his abundant power has sustained us. It's good to praise God for his creation and his providence, but it's also good to thank him for how he providentially provides for his people through his creation. Our praise should be mixed with thanksgiving.

Verses eight and nine remind us of how God providentially provides for his creation, how he governs his creation. And I want you to see the progression here in verses eight and nine. It says, he covers the heavens with clouds. So the sky produces clouds, he prepares rain for the earth, clouds produce rain. He makes grass grow on the hills, rain produces plant growth. He gives to the beast their food plant growth produces food

and food is necessary for life. And he gives it to the beasts and to the young ravens that cry. What scientists have observed in the world and term the water cycle and term the food chain is just a different way of describing and observing what ultimately is God's providence. God's providence. Do you see here that all of these verses begin with He, all of these lines begin with He God is the subject, he is the origin,

he is the primary cause. It all begins with God.

I want you to see here at the be end of verse eight, the word hills. One commentator pointed this out that this word in particular may be singled out because growth here, growth on the hills owes nothing to human cultivation. So it's not as if, uh, it's not like the grass in your front yard, the grass in your front yard. You can walk out there when it needs water. You turn on the hose and you give it some water. And that grass' growth owes something to you,

to your contributions. But growth here owes nothing to human cultivation. And then this commentator says this and is therefore then clear example of God's provident generosity.

It's a clear evidence example of his provident generosity. Without God's direct involvement, the baby raven wouldn't eat. And the the beast that is strong, who is a good hunter, would not eat

the skies depend upon God. The Earth depends upon God. The animals depend on God and so must we, so must we. That's the point of verses 10 and 11. Now the reality is of course, that all humans are dependent on God, even if they don't recognize it, and they all owe their ongoing existence to God. But verses 10 and 11 remind God's people that God is delighted when we acknowledge our dependence on him with fear and hope.

Fear and hope. See those words in verse 11. Fear is, is synonymous in a way with reverence. It, it's the kind of fear that is marked by an acknowledgement and an appreciation for who the person is and what they do. It's the kind of fear that a loved son has For a loving father, there's an acknowledgement and an appreciation for who his father is and what he does for him.

Fear in the Psalms is, is usually a good thing to 25 times we find this word here. It says, God takes pleasure in those who fear him. The rest of the psalms say that God blesses those who fear him. He saves those who fear him. He sees those who fear him. He's good to those who fear him. He's merciful toward those who fear him. He takes notice of those who fear him. It is a, a good thing to fear this God and hope it takes pleasure in those who hope.

In his steadfast love, hope is waiting in faith, expectantly, trusting and hope here is in his steadfast love.

The Lord's hassed, his covenant love, his covenant faithfulness, his his love that is dependable, completely dependable, a love we can count on.

Some of you here need the reminder that God actually takes pleasure in his children, that he delights in them. And the kind of person who God takes pleasure in is a humble, dependent, hopeful, appreciative person.

Those who understand just like the young ravens and the beasts, that they are entirely dependent on their creator.

Some of you this morning maybe need a slightly different reminder.

Some of you need the reminder that God takes pleasure in individuals marked by this kind of character, not the individuals marked by capability. We see the contrast in verse 10. His the delight is not in the strength of the horse nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

God does not take pleasure in what you might at first expect. We might expect God to take pleasure in the strong warhorse or the strong man who is capable. He's self-confident, he is self-sufficient.

But verse 10 tells us, God does not delight in this. And the reason is because in these individuals, there is no need for God. There's no acknowledgement of his sovereignty. There's no acknowledge or appreciation for his gracious ongoing providence. And ultimately there is no thanksgiving or praise rendered to God.

Verse is, is not a verse to be taken as God, not appreciating strength or beauty. God does it. It it's good to be strong. Some of you who really like leg day, maybe were concerned by this verse. You don't need to be, but you need to be reminded. What God takes pleasure in is not the strength of others. It's it's his own strength. And the creature who depends humbly upon him for everything. So verses seven through 11, give us reasons

to praise the Lord for his creation, his ongoing care for creation and his ongoing care for us. We ought to praise him and thank him for that. And then finally, verses 12 through 20, we are to praise the Lord for his commandments, for his commandments. And verse 12 begins the final section with another call to praise. Praise the Lord o Jerusalem. Praise your God. O Zion. Specifically it's calling out God's people represented by

by Jerusalem, God's holy city. And Zion, God's holy hill calling on God's people to praise him. Why verse 13, four, we have more reasons to praise the Lord. And in verses 13 and 14, we see all that God does for his people. He strengthens the bars of your gates. He blesses your children within you. He grants security and prosperity. He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat, the fills, you quantity

finest quality wheat.

God does not withhold his blessings from his people. He gives them abundantly. These particular blessings were blessings that ethnic Israel enjoyed at various times in their history. And these are the sort of blessings that Christians enjoy at times. In any time we receive and recognize the blessings of God, we ought to stop and praise him and thank him. But you know, just as the Israelites knew, it's not always the case, is it?

Jerusalem needed to be built up. The city was crushed to pieces. On multiple occasions. There were outcasts that needed to be gathered up, hearts that needed to be mended.

And Jesus himself warned us that in this world, that his disciples in particular in this world, we would face many tribulations. We'd face hardships and persecution. We don't always experience these abundant blessings in this life. But, but a, these blessings will be experienced in fullness eternally when the new Jerusalem, that city of perfection comes from heaven and descends to earth,

God's promises will come to pass even if you don't experience them in this life, they will come to pass. And we should be confident of this because God's word always accomplishes that which he sends it out to do always. That's what we find in verses 15 through 18.

The snow, the frost, the hail, or as it says, the crystals of ice, they all fall from heaven and they cover the earth at God's command. They don't hesitate.

God's word runs swiftly. The sense that you get from these verses is that all of this happens rather easily.

Sometimes I feel like my words are lacking and they don't accomplish what I'm intending them to accomplish. Never happens with God. Everything he says or commands happens and it happens rather easily, just as quickly as the snow and the frost and the, and the ice and the hail comes down from heavens to cover the earth. So he blows his wind, he sends out the wind and it melts all of the cold substances. His word is powerful and authoritative

because God himself is powerful and authoritative.

This, these verses are all about how God's word accomplishes that which it sets out to do. That what that, that for which it's sent out to do in the natural realm, the natural world. I could not help but think about this in the spiritual realm as well, especially reading verse 18. He sends out his word and melts them. He makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

Think about how easily it is, uh, how easy it is for God to melt the heart of stone. And for Jesus to bring forth streams of living water from a believing heart.

All he has to do is command it and it happens.

God's word is effective.

And then we come to the final contrast in verses 19 and 20 A, a final reason to praise the Lord.

We praise him for who he has given his word to, who he has given his word to. And it's not here in verse 19, not just a general word. It's a particular word. His statutes and his rules. This is a, a word that reveals God's character even more plainly than his creation does, are words that declare to God's people. That they are God's people by covenant. It's a word that teaches God's people how to live a life that will honor him and please him and delight him.

And it's a word that's been given to Jacob to Israel.

This is not meant, this is not given as a reason for them to boast as if we're the best. We're so great. We got God's word. Ha ha. None of you do. This is not a reason to boast. This is to produce further humility.

God tells Israel they, they were a humble people. He did not choose them because they were so numerous or because they were so great. He chose them because he wanted to. He wanted to bestow upon them a free gift.

He makes them his people and he gives them his word.

And we too, brothers and sisters are recipients of that free gift, that free grace. We are as Christians, the most among the most privileged people in the entire universe that we have the word of God and that we can come Sunday after Sunday to hear from God's word. Do you ever think of yourself that way as the most privileged among the most privileged people in the entire universe? All because you have God's word. Is this a reason that you have having God's word?

Is this a reason that you ever stop to thank God and to praise him? I know we do it often on, on Sundays when we're all together. But do you ever pause during the week just to stop and thank God and praise him for his word? And do you act like you are among the most privileged people in the entire universe having God's word? You are. And it ought to inspire praise and thanksgiving.

And so this Psalm ends where it began. Praise the Lord. One final refrain, one more exhortation to your friends. You've, you've meditated upon this. You've reflected upon God's character and all that he's done. Don't do nothing with this. Praise the Lord. You all praise the Lord. It's a fitting and appropriate way to close this psalm. I wanna ask you, dear people of God, will you join in this great chorus, this great chorus

of God's people praising God for his covenant, his covenantal care for his creation, and how he cares for you through his creation? And will you join them in praising God for his commandments that have been given to you? Will you do this? Let us, let us do it because it is good. It is pleasant, it is fitting. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we do want to pause now and thank you for your word and praise you because of it.

For in it. We learn of reason, upon reason for which we can give you praise in it, we learn that we are your people because we have been made your people through the work of your son. In it, we learn that we are among the most privileged people in the whole wor world to have your scriptures. And we pray, oh Lord, that you would take this word which you have sent out this very morning, and that you would cause it to accomplish all

that you intend for it to accomplish. And we pray even more specifically and in particular that you would bring forth praise from your people. For it is what we were made to do. It is good and pleasant and fitting. Would you help us by your spirit? We ask. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.