The Praise Psalm
Introduction
Charles Wesley is said to have written some 6,500 hymns and songs on every conceivable subject, but the first song that he ever wrote was possibly his greatest. He is said to have written it just three days after his conversion. The first verse says, "O for a thousand tongues to sing, My great Redeemer's praise; The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace!" The simple fact is that we don't have a thousand tongues. We only have one. Though I guess that has been debated when it's come to certain people. I read one church announcement that said, "A new loudspeaker system has been installed in the church. It was given by one of our members in honor of his wife." I don't know if he thought she was like a loudspeaker, but again we only have one tongue with which to sing our "great Redeemer's praise." So we ought to use that one tongue to praise Him.
God's people are a praising people. At least we ought to be. The English word "praise" is used 248 times in the word of God. The fact that there is a lot of praise in God's word indicates that there should be a lot of praise in God's people and in God's church. J. Vernon McGee said that the title of the book of Psalms "in the Hebrew means Praises or Book of Praises. The title in the Greek suggests the idea of an instrumental accompaniment. Our title comes from the Greek psalmos. It is the book of worship. It is the hymnbook of the temple."
Speaking of the ten-fold group of psalms consisting of Psalm 91 thru Psalm 100, Albert Barnes wrote, "They are Messianic in the sense of celebrating the kingdom of Christ... They soar above the level of the Old Testament economy, several of them carrying the soul forward and upward to a state of things such as the apostolical church itself never saw. Some of them I should prefer to call the Songs of the Millennium. Psalm 100, for instance, how grandly does it anticipate the millennial time, and summon all the nations to unite in the high praises of the Lord!" Again, J. Vernon McGee says, "This psalm is the grand finale of that wonderful little cluster of psalms."
Another writer, Adam Clarke, commenting on Psalm 100 said, "It is likely that it was composed after the captivity, as a form of thanksgiving to God for that great deliverance, as well as an inducement to the people to consecrate themselves to Him, and to be exact in the performance of the acts of public worship."
The entire book of Psalms is a grand Songbook Of Praise. The psalm before us tonight is part of a great Section Of Praise. Then we realize that Psalm 100 is, itself, a wonderful Sonnet Of Praise! As we consider the concept of praise from this psalm tonight...
I. Let's Consider The Manifestations Of Praising God - vs. 1-2
"How is He praised?"
A. Widespread Praise
(Psalms 100:1) "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands."
1. Glorifying Praise
"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord"
make a joyful noise - [Hebrew ruwa`] to shout, raise a sound, cry out, give a blast; to shout a war-cry or alarm of battle; to sound a signal for war or march; to shout in triumph (over enemies); to shout in applause; to shout (with religious impulse); to shout in triumph; to shout for joy, exult, triumph, leap for joy. This is not a foreign phrase in the book of Psalms. Notice...
(Psalms 66:1) "Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:"
(Psalms 81:1) "Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob."
(Psalms 95:1-2) "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. {2} Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms."
(Psalms 98:4) "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise."
(Psalms 98:6) "With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King." (Psalms 100:1) "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands."
2. Global Praise
"all ye lands"
all - [Hebrew kowl] the whole; hence all, any or every, altogether.
lands - [Hebrew 'erets] the earth, common, country, earth, field, ground, land, nations, wilderness, world.
B. Working Praise
(Psalms 100:2) "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing." "Whistle while you work"
1. Praise Can Be Manifested In Our Laboring
"Serve"
serve - [Hebrew 'abad] to work, to serve, be bondmen, bond-service, labor.
2. Praise Can Be Manifested In Our Laughing
"with gladness"
gladness - [Hebrew simchah] glee, exceeding gladness, joy, mirth, pleasure, rejoicing. Cf. - (Psalms 2:11) Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Fear becomes the exalted Lord, and the holy gravity of His requirements; joy becomes the gracious Lord, and His blessed service.
(Keil & Delitzsch)
We serve the great God with fear. We serve the gracious God with gladness.
C. Welcome Praise
(Psalms 100:2) "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing."
1. Notice The Summons (or Invitation)
"come"
2. Notice The Serenade
"with singing"
(Ephesians 5:19) "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"
II. Let's Consider The Motivation To Praise God - vs. 3
"Why is He praised?"
A. Our Cognizance Of God Motivates Our Praise
(Psalms 100:3) "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."
1. The Psalmist Expresses A Desire For This Knowledge
"Know ye"
2. The Psalmist Explains The Dimensions Of This Knowledge
"that the Lord he is God"
Let us know then these... things concerning the Lord Jehovah, with whom we have to do in all the acts of religious worship: That the Lord He is God, the only living and true God - that He is a Being infinitely perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being; He is God, and not a man as we are. He is an eternal Spirit, incomprehensible and independent, the first cause and last end. The heathen worshipped the creature of their own fancy; the workmen made it, therefore it is not God. We worship him that made us, and all the world; He is God, and all other pretended deities are vanity and a lie, and such as He has triumphed over. (Matthew Henry)
B. Our Creation By God Motivates Our Praise
(Psalms 100:3) "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."
1. This Is An Essential Truth That Motivates Praise
"it is He that hath made us"
2. This Is An Exclusive Truth That Motivates Praise
"and not we ourselves"
No one can claim to be a "self-made" man.
C. Our Connection To God Motivates Our Praise
(Psalms 100:3) "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."
He that made us maintains us, and gives us all good things richly to enjoy. (Matthew Henry)
1. We Are His Folks
"we are his people"
2. We Are His Flock
"and the sheep of his pasture"
(Psalms 95:7) "For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand..."
III. Let's Consider The Movement Of Praising God - vs. 4-5
"Where or when is He praised?"
A. Let Us Praise Him In The Entryways
"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving"
(Psalms 100:4) "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."
1. Notice The Doorways Of Praise
"gates"
gates - [Hebrew sha'ar] in its original sense; an opening, i.e. door or port.
2. Notice The Demonstrations Of Praise
"with thanksgiving"
thanksgiving - [Hebrew towdah] an extension of the hand, avowal, or adoration; specifically a choir of worshippers:--confession, sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving, offering.
(Hebrews 13:15) "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."
B. Let Us Praise Him In The Enclosures
"and into his courts with praise"
(Psalms 100:4) "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."
1. Consider The Confined Arena
"courts"
courts - [Hebrew chatser] a yard as enclosed by a fence; also a hamlet as similarly surrounded with walls: -- court, tower, village.
2. Consider The Complimentary Acclamation
praise - laudation; specifically a hymn.
be thankful - to revere or worship with extended hands. bless His name - to bless God as an act of adoration.
C. Let Us Praise Him In The Eternals
"his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth..."
(Psalms 100:5) "For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."
For the Lord is good - Goodness, the perfect, eternal opposition to all badness and evil, is essential to God. (Adam Clarke)
1. We Find In God An Everlasting Compassion
"His mercy is everlasting"
mercy - Hebrew 2617. checed, kheh'-sed; from H2616; kindness; by impl. (towards God) piety; rarely (by opp.) reproof, or (subject.) beauty:--favour, good deed (-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-) kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.
everlasting - Hebrew 5769. 'owlam, o-lawm'; or 'olam, o-lawm'; from H5956; prop. concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; gen. time out of mind (past or fut.), i.e. (practically) eternity; freq. adv. (espec. with prep. pref.) always:--always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (- lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end).
2. We Find In God An Enduring Confidence
"His truth endureth to all generations" Truth projects the idea of "trustworthiness."
generations - Hebrew 1755. dowr; prop. a revolution of time, i.e. an age or generation; also a dwelling:--age, X evermore, generation, [n-]ever, posterity.
Conclusion
Tom Wallace wrote:
My favorite illustration comes from my own pastoral experience. It took place on Sunday morning at Bible Baptist Church in Elkton, Maryland. The Sunday morning service was just ready to begin when in came a man who had never attended our church before. He looked around with awe and amazement at the great number of people packed into the large auditorium.
He came slowly down the aisle looking from side to side and seated himself on the second row from the front. As I preached he listened with the keenest of interest.
When the invitation time came, I said, "Now how many of you are not saved, but you would like to be, and you want us to pray for you? Will you raise your hand?" He shot up his hand and waved it back and forth persistently until he was sure that I had seen it. When I asked those who would claim Christ to come forward, he literally bounced out and darted to the altar.
He stood there very straight and still as I asked, "Sir, do you believe that Christ died to save sinners?" "Yes, Sir, I want to do just that," he said rejoicing, with a beam of triumph about him.
When he came into the baptistry, I dropped him into the water and out again to walk in the newness of life. He came up out of the water clapping his hands and shouting, "Hot dog, hot dog, hot dog."
Our people roared with laughter. I quickly asked them for silence as I explained that this poor man had not been around the church and didn't know about "Amen, Praise the Lord, and Hallelujah"; his word was "Hot dog," and he was praising the Lord with the only vocabulary he knew. (Paul Lee Tan # 6364)