The People of Praise

A number of weeks ago, three or four weeks ago, I told you that as a church, our passion is to pursue the Christ. And that has to be done in a way that honors the Lord. And so that pursuit is to be done aggressively, not passively.

And because our passion is to pursue him, our priority is to portray him. And that portrayal is to be done authentically, not hypocritically. And then we told you that our purpose is to proclaim the Christ, and that is to be done authoritatively.

But our practice is to praise the Christ, and that is to be done automatically. In other words, the Lord said in Isaiah 43, or Isaiah 41, verse number 23, the people that I have formed for myself, they will declare my praise. In other words, praise is that which is automatically done by those whom Christ has formed for himself.

It's not something that you have to necessarily muster up. It's part of our spiritual DNA. And so we give praise and honor to God.

And you always have to wonder, what is our praise life like? This morning, I want to talk to you about the people of praise. We're on this pathway, it's called the pathway of praise. We began with the privilege of praise, then we moved to the prophet of praise.

And today, I want to talk to you about the people of praise. What are they like? What do they praise the Lord for? The exhortation is in Hebrews 13, verse number 15, which says, through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. Through him, Christ is in us and we are in Christ, and yet through him, like we are to rejoice in the Lord, we are to give thanks through him by offering up a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, which is giving thanks to God.

And this is to be done continually. The psalmist said it this way in Psalm 34. He said these words, Psalm 34, verse number 1, I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth, continually. Psalm 71, verse number 6, he says, By you, I have been sustained from my birth. You are he who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you. I have become a marvel to many, for you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all day long.

In other words, because he continually praises the Lord, because his mouth is filled with the glory of the Lord all day long, he has become a marvel to all those who are around him. Because you see, for the most part, people just don't do that. But the psalmist did.

He understood it. That's who we are. Listen to the words of Charles Spurgeon.

He says these words, We are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, because in so doing, you will answer the end of your being. Every creature is happiest when it is doing what it is made for. A bird that is made to fly abroad pines in a cage.

An eagle would die in the water, even as a fish that is made to swim perishes on the river's bank. Christians are made to glorify God, and we are never in our element till we are praising him. The happiest moments you have ever spent were those in which you lost sight of everything inferior and bowed before Jehovah's throne of light with reverent joy and blissful praise.

When your whole soul is full of praise, you have at last reached the goal that your heart is aiming at. Your ship is now in full sail. Your car is on the tram lines.

Your life moves smoothly and safely on. This is the groove along which it was made to slide. Before, you were trying to do what you were not made to do, but now you are at home.

For the praise of God, your new nature has fashioned, and it finds its rest therein. Keep to this work, and do not degrade yourself by doing something lesser. So true.

Why would we degrade ourselves by doing something less than praising God? Because that's what the people whom God has formed for himself have been created to do. And so we offer up continually praise to God. These Hebrew people in the book of Hebrews would be wondering, if you want me to embrace the new covenant and forego the old covenant, and then under the old covenant we are offering sacrifices day and night always to God, what kind of sacrifices would we offer under the new covenant? And so the writer of Hebrews answers that question by saying, you will offer a sacrifice of praise to God.

And it would be a great sacrifice for them because they were Hebrew people. And in so doing, they would be ousted from their homes. They would be ousted from the synagogue.

They would be ousted from their friends. They'd be all alone. And when you give praise to God and give thanks to him for what he has done, because the shadow now is gone because it's filled with a substance, all the ceremonies that you've engaged in have all been fulfilled by the one who came, the Messiah Christ, and now you're praising him, it will be a great sacrifice for you to do that because your friends won't.

Your family won't. But you do. And that's a sacrifice you offer.

You would go to the temple and you would offer sacrifices in the morning. You would go to the temple. You would offer sacrifices at night.

But guess what? Your body now is the temple of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Spirit. And now you are the sanctuary. You are the holy place.

And in that holy place, you offer up a sacrifice of praise to God and you do it continually because you are now priests in his kingdom. You're priests in that temple, which is your body, where you offer up sacrifices of praise and giving thanks to your God. And Satan doesn't want you to do that.

The enemy will fight against your praise. He wants you to complain. He wants you to grumble.

He wants you angry and bitter. He wants you to have an unforgiving spirit. He wants you just to never lift a voice of praise and thanksgiving to God.

He doesn't want you doing that. Isn't it interesting that in the Old Testament that the psalmist was always raising his hands in praise? The psalmist did it this way in Psalm 63, verse number 4. So I will bless you as long as I live.

I will lift up my hands in your name. I will lift up my hands in your name. That is, according to your person, you're the Messiah, you're the king, I will lift up my hands.

And then the psalmist says these words in Psalm 119. He says, I shall lift up my hands to your commandments. So not only does the psalmist lift up his hands to the person of God, he lifts up his hands to the precepts of God.

And then over in Psalm 134, he says, Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord, who serve him by night in the house of the Lord, lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the Lord. So he lifts up his hands to the person of God, he lifts up his hands to the place of God, and he lifts up his hands to the precepts of God. But he can't lift up dirty hands.

They have to be clean hands. The psalmist says in Psalm 24, verse number 3, Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and is not sworn deceitfully. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people would lift their hands in praise to God.

But they would only lift clean hands because clean hands represented a pure heart. And they would lift empty hands, not hands filled with something else. Why? Because their hands would be consecrated to God.

Not just clean hands, but consecrated hands. Why? Because they're employed to be used in the service of God. And if my hands are holding something else, then my employment in the service of God will be hindered.

So the hands are open, they're clean, and they're consecrated to God to be used by him in any way possible. And that's why they would praise the place of God. They would praise the person of God.

They would praise the precepts of God. Why? Because I'm here to be used by you, oh Lord. So the writer of Hebrews comes along and says, through him, through the Messiah, through the one who has fulfilled all the shadows that were portrayed in the Old Testament, the substance has arrived.

Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to him. Let us offer thanks, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to God for all that he has done, praising his glorious name. That's the people of praise.

In fact, it's illustrated in the book of Acts, and you can read all throughout the book of Acts, but if you just go to Acts chapter 2, it says these words, verse 46, day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. That's just a great testimony. God was adding to their number because they were praising people.

God was adding to their number because they were doing what they were created to do. They were filled with praise in spite of the fact that this Jewish community in Jerusalem would be ousted because of their sacrifice of praise, but they didn't care. That was irrelevant to them.

They had recognized all that God had done, and they wanted to praise his glorious name, and God says, oh, I'm gonna add to your number daily because of your praise to me. Could it be that we hinder our family coming to Christ because we're not praising God as we should continually? They see in us a downcast spirit. They see in us a bitter spirit.

They see in us an angry spirit. They see in us a complaining, grumbling, mumbling spirit. They're like, wow, that's me.

I do that. And yet they say they worship the king. They say they're Christians.

They say they love the Lord, but they don't live like they love the Lord because if you really love him, you'll praise him and honor him and glorify his blessed name. His praise will be continually on your lips all the day long, which would cause your family then to marvel as they did the psalmists. Does your unsafe family marvel at the fact that you continually offer up a praise to God no matter what the situation, no matter what the circumstance because you want to give thanks to his glorious name? The early church, they were a people of praise.

You go to Acts chapter 3, and you've got the physically disabled man. He was disabled from birth, from his mother's womb, and when Peter healed him, verse eight, with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God, and all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the beautiful gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Of course he would praise the Lord.

He'd been lame from birth, and Peter healed him, and everything changed in his life. He began to leap and to praise and honor his God, and people wondered, were filled with awe because of what God had done. But in Acts chapter 5, it says these words in verse 40.

They took his advice, and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. Again, they would continually offer up a sacrifice of praise.

They were told you can't speak in the name of Jesus anymore, but they kept doing that, so they flogged them. They flogged them. That's 29 lashes on the back and 10 on the front.

They were cut to the quick, and they were bleeding, but yet they rejoiced. Why? Because their praise was a sacrifice, and they as priests in the kingdom of God wanted to offer up their continual praise to God no matter what because they had suffered for his name's sake. And then over in Acts chapter 16, you have Paul and Silas.

They're in prison. It says in verse 22 these words. The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off of them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

And when they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into the prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. And he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

And suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison house were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. Instead of cursing God like everybody else in prison did because they were in chains and were beaten with rods, instead of blaspheming the name of God and instead of complaining that they were in prison, they began to pray and then sing praises to God, giving thanks to God. And everything changed from that standpoint.

Now, you see, the point is this, that so many times we are in the chains of bitterness and the chains of stubbornness and the chains of selfishness and the chains of unforgiveness. Why? Because we refuse to give praise to God. And we keep ourselves bound by those chains because we're unwilling to praise God for what He has done and what He's going to do.

They had no idea that their chains would fall off. They had no idea they'd be released from prison. They had no idea that the jailer would be saved.

They had no idea. They just knew that they had to offer continually a sacrifice of praise to their God. That's the people of praise.

Those are those on the pathway to praise who recognize the fact that this is my sacrifice that I give to God continually, day after day. No matter the hardship, no matter the pain, no matter the difficulty, no matter the negative circumstances, I'm going to offer praise to God. So what do you say? What do you do? Let me give you six principles that will help you understand what you ought to say when you give praise to God.

Here's the first one. You need to always recite His wonderful works. You begin to praise Him by reciting His wonderful works.

Listen to Psalm 145. Let the word of God speak for what it is. I will extol you, O my God, O King.

I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you. I will praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord and highly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.

He's going to recite the wonderful works of God. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, on your wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of your awesome acts, and I will tell of your greatness.

They will eagerly utter the memory of your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in loving kindness. The Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and your godly ones will bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power to make known to the sons of men your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

He recites the wonderful works of God. He recites his greatness. He recites his glory.

He recites his goodness. He recites his grace. He recites his government, and then he recites his generosity.

He says this, the Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due time. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him.

He will also hear their cry and will save them. Then the Lord keeps all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

What a great psalm. He says, let me recite the works of God. Let me recite not just his goodness and his greatness, not just his government and his grace, but let me recite to you his generosity, because this is the God who sustains the lowly.

This is the God who satisfies their longings. This is the God who saves the lost. This is the God who secures his loved ones.

You praise him by reciting his wonderful works. That's why Psalm 106 is such a sad, a sad psalm, because in Psalm 106, they are continually forgetting all that God had said and all that God had done. It says in Psalm 106, these words, they did not remember your abundant kindness.

Verse 13, they quickly forgot your works. They did not wait for your counsel. Verse 21, they forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt.

So easily we forget all the great things that God has done. That's why you spend time reading the psalms, recognizing that the psalms or the psalmist would recite the wonderful works of God. And that's where our praise begins.

And once you recite the wonderful works of God, then you respond with thankful hearts. You respond with thankful hearts. Hebrews 13:15, you give thanks to his name.

It says over in Psalm 63, Psalm 63, these beautiful words, where the psalmist said these words. Psalm 63, verse number 4. In fact, I'll begin with verse number 3.

Because of your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.

My soul is satisfied as with morrow and fatness. And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches, for you have been my help.

And in the shadow of your wings, I sing for joy. My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me.

Over in Psalm 100, the psalmist said these words in verse number 1. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him.

Bless his name. For the Lord is good. His loving kindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations.

When you begin to recite the wonderful works of God, there's one response. And that's to respond with thankful hearts. Thanking and praising God for all that he's done.

Number three, recognize his powerful hand. Recognize his powerful hand. Remember back in 1 Samuel chapter 2, where Hannah would give praise to God because the Lord had answered her prayer.

The Lord had remembered her and opened her womb and gave her a son. Son's name would be used by God in a mighty way, young Samuel. But she says in verse number 1, she prayed and said, my heart exalts in the Lord.

My horn or my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies. Because I rejoice in your salvation.

She said, there is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. Then she says these words in verse 6.

The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich.

He brings low. He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust.

He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles and inherit a seat of honor for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he set the world on them. He keeps the feet of his godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness for not by might shall a man prevail. Those who are contented with or those who contend with the Lord will be shattered.

Against them he will thunder in the heavens and the Lord will judge the ends of the earth and he will give strength to his king and will exalt the strength of his anointed. Hannah recognized that God's hand was over everything. That God kills and God saves.

God raises up and God puts down. God makes a man rich. God makes a man poor.

She recognized the mighty hand of God over everything. And so when you're praising God, you're recognizing his powerful hand. David did the exact same thing over in 2 Samuel chapter 12 after the sin with Bathsheba and the baby was born and the baby was going to die.

God told him the baby was going to die and David began to pray and to fast. And it says in verse 18, it happened on the seventh day that the child died. Verse 19, but when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead.

So as David said to his servants, is the child dead? And they said, he is dead. So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes and he came into the house of the Lord and he worshiped. He offered a sacrifice of praise to his God.

Then he came to his own house and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate. And then his servants said to him, what is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept. But when the child died, you arose and ate food.

And he said, while the child was still alive, I fasted and wept for I said, who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me that the child may live. But now that he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me. Here is David recognizing the mighty hand of God, the powerful hand of God and submitting to that strength of his hand, knowing that God was in control of the life of his son.

And when the son died, he arose, he changed his clothes and he worshiped. He gave praise to his God. Why? Because he recognized the powerful hand of God.

And that's what the people of praise do. They recite his wonderful works. They respond with thankful hearts and they recognize his powerful hand.

Number four, here's a good one. They radiate with cheerful giving. They radiate with cheerful giving.

Back in First Chronicles, First Chronicles chapter 29, David had collected from the people of God an offering that would be used in the building materials for the temple. It says in verse number nine of First Chronicles 29, then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly for they made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart and King David also rejoiced greatly. So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly and David said, Blessed are you, O Lord God of Israel, our father forever and ever.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. Indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth, yours is a dominion, O Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all and in your hand is power and might and it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.

Now therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name. David knew that the people of Israel would give willfully. They would give liberally to the work of the Lord and that would bring glory and honor to God.

David would recite, Riches and honor come from you. We have what we have because of you and therefore we give back to you that which you've already given to us and they would radiate with cheerful giving. That's what people of praise do.

There's this certain cheerfulness about giving. That's why in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, it says that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Why? Because the Lord wants you to give willingly and freely to him, not grudgingly, not bitterly, but because you recognize that he is the giver of all things.

Listen, those who recognize that what they have is from the Lord are the ones who give the most back to the Lord. Those who do not recognize that what they have is from the Lord, they want to keep holding on to what they have as if they earned it, as if they were the ones who obtained it, as if they were the ones who worked hard for it. But it's God who makes one rich.

It's God who makes one poor. It's God who gives to man and therefore the people of God, they recognize that and they radiate with cheerful giving because they recognize his powerful hand and they respond with thankful hearts because they recite his wonderful works. Next, the people of praise remember his purposeful sacrifice.

They remember his purposeful sacrifice. This morning we're gonna partake at the Lord's table and the Lord said, do this in remembrance of me. And the people of praise, they remember the purpose behind this sacrifice, that it was for their welfare, their well-being, their salvation.

And so they remember Jesus Christ, 2 Timothy 2:8, the son of David, risen from the dead, which is my gospel, Paul said. They give thanks unto God for his indescribable gift. 2 Corinthians 9, verse number 15.

They understand as 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. They remember his purposeful sacrifice. And number 6, they rejoice in worshipful song.

The people of praise rejoice in worshipful song. Psalm 69, verse number 30. I will praise the name of the Lord with song.

The Bible says in Psalm 104, verse number 33, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my meditation be pleasing to him.

As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord. On the eve of the crucifixion, after they had celebrated the last Passover with the first communion table, after our Lord had prayed his high priestly prayer, the Bible says in Matthew 26, verse number 30, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So they would gather together that one last night.

Christ would wash the disciples' feet. He would give them instruction as to what was going to happen. He would pray with and for them.

And before they left the upper room, they would sing a hymn. The question is, which hymn did they sing? Well, the answer to that is that because it was Passover, they would sing the six songs of the Hallel, which means to praise. And more than likely, they would sing the last of the Psalms of Hallel, Psalm 118.

And Psalm 118 begins this way. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. So here is our Lord leading them in a final hymn of praise before he's about to be sacrificed on Calvary's Mount, and they sing, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

In fact, the last verse of that same psalm says, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. But right in the middle of that, these are the words of the sixth song of the Hallel, verse 21. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

They were singing the praise that the Messiah, the stone, would be rejected. And then it says, this is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

What is the Lord's doing? The Lord's doing is that his son would be rejected. The Lord's doing is that his son would be crucified. For Isaiah 53 says, it pleased the Lord to crush his son.

And then that very familiar verse, Psalm 119, or excuse me, Psalm 118, verse number 24. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad.

What day is that? It's the day of the crucifixion. We use that verse quite readily in our everyday conversation. Well, this is the day that the Lord has made.

But particularly, significantly, it speaks of one day. That was the day the stone would be rejected. That would be the day that was marvelous in our Lord's eyes.

That would be the day that the Lord has made, the day in which the Messiah would die. We will rejoice and be glad. And the Lord led them in that last song of praise, knowing that he would make his way down the Kidron Valley, back up again, and ascend unto the Mount of Olives.

He would go there to pray. And it would be that night that he would be betrayed. It would be that night that the temple police, the temple guards, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, would come to take him away to be beaten and crucified.

That you and I might be saved. That's why we rejoice and be glad. Why? Because that's the day that the Lord made.

He made that day. He was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. It was always the plan.

And that's why as our Lord led them in a song of praise, he would sing along with them, this day is marvelous in the Lord's eyes, for this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad. Why? Because the Lord is good in his longsuffering, his loving kindness is everlasting from generation to generation.

And the people of praise, praise him by rejoicing in worshipful song. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this morning and the reminder of the people of praise.

This is who we are. This is what we do. We don't forget your wonderful works.

We recite them. We remember them. We respond with a thankful heart.

We are the ones who radiate with cheerful giving. We are the ones who truly remember your sacrifice and rejoice, knowing that we are the benefactors of your great grace. As we partake at the Lord's table, help us never to forget what you did for us on Calvary's tree, that we might obtain eternal life.

In Jesus' name, amen.