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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (19-11-2002 Framsden Baptist Church)
This is the last psalm attributed to David, and the last
of the eight psalms which are acrostics. The most famous of these is Psalm 119,
where each group of eight sentences (now arranged into sets of eight verses)
start with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in alphabetical order. In Psalm 145,
each sentence (now a verse) begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
There should be 22, but we only have 21 verses since the one beginning with
“n” was missing, until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947-48. Modern
versions now include it as the second half of verse 13.
The last six psalms are great hymns of praise. Praise, adoration and worship have a special place in the lives of those who take the Bible seriously. It is the mark of the Christian that often amid tears and anguish, there is still a triumphant note of praise to the Lord. In the Book of Psalms, even in the most sorrow-laden passages, like a smouldering volcano, praise bursts forth into great flame. In these six psalms this note of praise and adoration reaches its climax. Some have described Psalm 145 as the “Te Deum of the Old Testament”, or the “Crown jewel of praise”.
Here are four great truths about God to form the heart of
our praise.
(a)
The greatness of God (Psalm 145:1-6). Great is the Lord, and most
worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom… your mighty acts… the
glorious splendour of your majesty… you wonderful works. God is wonderful
and marvellous. What else can we do but exalt and praise Him? He is beyond us,
beyond our theology, dogmas, and scientific enquiries and certainly beyond our
personal experience. We miss His greatness if we spend time looking at ourselves
all the time. “Big men have a little God. Little men have a big God” (J.B.Phillips,
from “Your God is too small”).
(b)
The goodness of God (Psalm 145:7-10). Your abundant goodness..
gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to
all; He has compassion on all He has made. Before God, the nations are a
drop in a bucket. We stand against Him in rebellion. Yet the amazing and
wonderful thing is that despite our smallness and sin, He is good to all and
compassionate to all He has made. He has individual concern for every one of us.
(c)
The glory of God (Psalm 145:11-13). The glory of your kingdom… your
mighty acts… Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures
through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving
towards all He has made. All other kingdoms will come and go, but God’s
will never fail. Where are the proud empires of old – the Babylonian, Persian,
Roman Empires of the Bible times, or the European empires of the last 4-500
years? Now the countries which created these empires are second-rate
powers. Now is the century of the Russians and the Americans – but where will
they be in the next 100 or 200 years? They will go the way of the rest.
“So be it Lord, Thy throne shall never
Like
earth’s proud empires pass away”
(d)
The grace of God (Psalm 145:14-21). The Lord upholds all those who
fall. He stoops down, takes them in His arms and steadies them. He lifts
up all who are bowed down. He raises up those who are overwhelmed with
life’s cares. He provides food for all creatures. The Lord is righteous in
all his ways.. The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth i.e.
sincerely. He fulfils the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry
and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love Him. N.B. the conditions
for blessing – fearing and loving the Lord, calling on Him sincerely. The
wicked He will destroy.
If we have any experience of God, we can say “amen” to all that. We have these four things for which we can praise the Lord – His greatness which is beyond us, His goodness which surprises us, His glory which dazzles us, and His grace which enriches and cares for us. If the Old Testament psalmist could be so thrilled with God, Christians ought to be more so. We live on the other side of the Cross and Resurrection, and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. God made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). How much more can we speak of God’s greatness, goodness, glory and grace.
The Psalmist leaves us in no
doubt. Every day I will praise you and extol your name (Psalm 145:2). We
must praise Him daily, continually, and fervently. We need to follow the
psalmist’s example. At every turn of the road, and with every new experience
of God, we need to praise the Lord. There should be a note of praise and worship
at the start of every service. It is important that worship and hymns are God-centred
– too many are man-centred, about me, my needs, my weaknesses, my feelings,
and my problems. We need to start by telling the greatness of the Lord, and
doing so fervently.
John Wesley’s advice to the
first Methodists, “Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if
you are half dead and half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.”
Professor James Stewart said, “Sometimes to hear us Christians sing you would
hardly guess it was the most glorious theme in the world we are celebrating. I
cannot understand how Christians do not want to sing hymns about the risen Lord
with soul on tip-toe.”
In private, and in family
worship, what place has praise and adoration? Too often we present a shopping
list, and lament our problems. We need to open our Bible, see who God is, and
what He has done for us, and turn it all into worship. Use a psalm, or a verse
of a hymn. It will give us a new dimension to our prayer lives.
But what about the times when
problems beset us? It is easy to be downcast. When we look at life, much depends
on what we select to focus and concentrate on. We would do well to remember the
old refrain:
“Count
your blessings, name them one by one,
And
it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
Life can throw an awful lot at
us in the course of a few years – disappointments, sorrows, opposition,
sickness, betrayal and heartbreak. Only a fool would pretend these are not
realities. There are no slick and easy answers. But one thing is sure – God
has not changed, nothing can separate us from His love. He brings blessings
through adversity. His purposes (whose true end will not be revealed till the
last days) for my character and the welfare of His church are being worked out. In
all things, God works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
Has Allan Cameron, the Scottish
Covenanter, got something to teach us? His enemies caught his son, Richard, cut
off his hands and his head, and took them to his father in Edinburgh jail “to
add grief to his sorrow”. They asked him, “Do you know these?” He took
them on his knee, and kissed them, and said, “I know them, they are my dear
son’s” Then weeping and praising, he went on, “It is the Lord. Good is the
will of the Lord who cannot wrong me or mine, but has made goodness and mercy to
follow us all our days.”
Can we praise even in death? Of
course, because of Christ. Through Him, the enemy, death, has been beaten.
Perpetua, 203AD, an early Christian martyr, died with the words, “This is my
coronation day”. The Christian funeral is truly a thanksgiving service.
Everyday, and forever, the Psalmist says he will praise the Lord. Is this hard to do? If we find it hard, maybe it is our attitude more than our circumstances that make it difficult. Our attitude, rather than our circumstances, needs to change.
Firstly, we should praise the Lord because this is the
very reason why we were created and brought into the world. We were created to
praise and worship. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever.”
Secondly, in the light of the Fall and sin, with God’s
answer in Redemption in Christ, we have more reason to praise. The supreme
purpose of new birth and recreation in Christ is that we live to praise the
glory of His grace. The highest end of our being is to declare the praises of
Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
We can also praise God for the
marvellous effect God has on others. When the late Robert Kennedy was travelling
in the interior of Brazil, he met a newly converted Indian. He got his
translator to ask him what he enjoyed the most. The reply was “Being occupied
with God”. Kennedy assumed the question had been misunderstood – he was
expecting a reply like “fishing or hunting”. But on repeating the question,
the convert gave the same reply. When one Christian praises God, it is
contagious. It begets praise. On one occasion during the Boxer Rebellion in
China in 1900, missionaries felt forsaken and deserted by God. But when one of
them started singing “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds”, there was a
dramatic change. They all felt spiritually revived and received fresh courage.
Finally we can praise Him for the blessing He brings to our own souls. When life is sore and wounding, praise and service are great healers. Often we become weighed down, and attend church or prayer meeting out of a sense of duty. But then the opening hymn of praise takes our thoughts away from our troubles. We glimpse the majesty and love of God afresh, we see Christ’s suffering, and all our troubles are seen in the right perspective. We go on our way rejoicing.
Praise the Lord for His greatness, goodness, glory and grace. When? Every day and forever, regularly and fervently, in all circumstances. Why? Because that is the purpose of our creation and redemption. It will help others to praise too, and be a blessing to our souls.
