Let the Sound of His Praise Be Heard

Psalm 66

Hear God’s word from Psalm 66.
It says, to the choir master, a song, a psalm, shout for joy
to God, all the earth, sing the glory of his name, give praise
to his glorious praise, or give to him glorious praise. Say to
God, how awesome are your deeds. So great is your power that your
enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and
sings praises to you. They sing praises to your name.
Come and see what God has done. He is awesome in his deeds towards
the children of man. He turned the sea into dry land.
They passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice
in him who rules by his might forever, whose eye keeps watch
on the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt
themselves. Bless our God, O peoples, let
the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the
living and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested
us, you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into
the net and you laid a crushing burden on our backs. You let
men ride on our heads. We went through the fire and
through the water, and yet you have brought us out to a place
of abundance. I will come into your house with
burnt offerings. I will perform my vows to you that which my
lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will
offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals with the
smoke of the sacrifice of rams. I will make an offering of bulls
and goats. Come and hear all you who fear God and I will tell
you what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth
and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in
my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly, truly
God has listened. He has attended to the voice
of my prayer. Blessed be God because he has not rejected my
prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. Amen. This is God’s holy word. Well, there’s a all important
question. And that all important question is this, who is worship
for? It’s for God, very good, you
passed the test. Who is worship for? I was asked that question
when I was examined for ordination, and the way it was asked sort
of caught me off guard, and I had these wide eyes, and I didn’t
really know what to say. I thought if I say it’s for God,
then they’ll say, oh, but it’s for the people, too. And if I
say it for some people, they’ll say, oh, no, it’s for God, and
I’ll get dinged one way or the other. So I just very sheepishly said God
and got by with it, worked out. So who is worship for? It is
for God. Why is God to be worshiped? Well,
he’s the creator. He’s the sustainer. He’s the
maker. He’s the provider. He’s the caregiver. He’s the
rain sender. He’s the one whose right hand
and holy arm gives salvation. So with that settled, who is
worship for? It’s for God. The next important question is
this, who should worship God? Everyone. That’s exactly right.
And so this psalm teaches us there are three groups of people
that should praise God. The first people we find in verse
one through seven, it’s everybody, it’s all the earth. The second
group of people we find in verses eight through 12, and it’s the
nation of Israel. And the third group in this psalm
that praises God is the individual or here, it’s the psalmist. whoever
he may be. This psalm is not ascribed to
a person, though many think it’s a psalm of David. But if you
go backwards, you have the psalmist praising God. In the middle,
you have Israel praising God. And at the very beginning, you
have all the earth praising God. So we’ll walk through the psalm
that way. So look at verses one through
seven. which teach us that all the earth should praise God. Now, as a church, as a congregation,
as Christian people, and in just the same way the people of God,
Israel, throughout all the ages, we should proclaim and call on
all the earth to praise God. Why? Because he’s God. Why? Because he’s king. Why? Because
he’s the creator. Why? Because he’s the maker of
all things, the sustainer of all things. He’s the savior of
the world, and he is worthy. He alone is worthy to be praised.
When others are saying, worship Allah, when others are saying,
worship Buddha, when others are saying, worship yourself, or
worship your work, or worship whatever you have inserted into
your life that is another God, we call on the earth to praise
God. And so there is an outward and
a wide call for us to praise the Lord and the earth to praise
him with us. And why is it true that everybody
should praise God? Even if you don’t know Jesus,
even if you’re not a Christian, even if you’ve not tasted salvation,
what does every person owe God? They owe him thanks for making
them and for taking care of them. What does Romans chapter one
teach us? It teaches us about the problem of man. They do not
acknowledge God, nor do they give him thanks. And so the wicked,
even though they are called to worship God, they don’t because
they suppress the knowledge of him. They push it away and they
do not acknowledge him or give him thanks. And then it goes
on to say what? They worship. the created world rather than
the creator. But here in chapter, or Psalm
66 in verses one through seven, we see a call for all the earth. Look, if you will, how it breaks
apart. Verses one through four, shout
for joy to God, all the earth, sing the glory of his name. Give
to him glorious praise. Say to God, how awesome are your
deeds. So great is your power that your enemies come cringing
to you. All the earth worships and sings praises to you. They
sing praises to your name. There in this first four verses,
we find a statement that God is worshiped and that people
do come worship him from all over the world. But look how
it shifts starting in verse five. It’s an invitation. Come and
see what God has done. He is awesome in his deeds towards
the children of man. And now it’s going to list it.
How has he been awesome in his deeds? Well, he turned the sea
into dry land, a good reference to the Exodus. They passed through
the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him who
rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations.
Let not the rebellious exult in themselves. So there’s a couple
good lessons for us. to think about in this first
seven verses of the Psalm. As we acknowledge God’s greatness,
as we recall God’s deeds toward us, as we remember what God has
done for us, we want to call others both to recognize those
things and to praise God for them. It’s an evangelical call
to worship, so to speak. Why do we want people to come
to church with us? Do we want them to come to church
with us because people are nice or potlucks are good? Do we want
them to come because we have a basketball league? Do we want
them to come because, um, I don’t know, make up something that’s
kind of fun and cool. You know, we’d give out the best
lollipops at children’s sermon. We don’t have a children’s sermon,
but if we did, we could give out really good suckers lollipops. Well,
those are neat things, right? But why do we want people to
come to church with us? Because we want them to worship the God
who made them, the God who provided for them, the God who can save
them. And so there’s this universal
call to worship God for his greatness. Now, we understand that many
may call on the name of God. They may not be saved, but they
may call on the name of God. Think for a moment about Daniel.
Remember Daniel was supposed to pray Not to his God, which
he did three times a day, but he was supposed to pray to the
God that Nebuchadnezzar set up. And remember what happened when
he didn’t? Get thrown in the lion’s den. Later, he and his
buddies, they get thrown into the fiery furnace. Remember those
stories? And when Nebuchadnezzar saw that
God protected Daniel, what did Nebuchadnezzar say? He said,
oh, worship this God. He rules. His dominion reaches
as far as the eye can see. He is the true and living God.
He is majestic and says all these wonderful things about God. Now,
do you think Nebuchadnezzar was a Christian? Do you think Nebuchadnezzar
trusted in Jesus alone for his salvation that day? No, but at
least he recognized there was a sovereign greater than he.
And there’s something to that. We ought to we ought to encourage
people, even if they don’t rest in Jesus, at least to acknowledge
that it is God who has sent rain on their land. It is God who
has given them life. It is God who has given them
breath. And so it’s important for us
to put out this call to worship and to give God thanks. Now,
sadly, in the American church, we don’t sing and give praise
like we ought to. What should be the case for Christians?
What’s that little saying we have around here? Saved people
sing. Saved people sing. And so we
have all this rich history of Christian hymnody, of Christian
psalms. We even have wonderful songs being written this day
and time. And the American church goes to church now. Not you guys,
because y’all sing. But we go to church and what
is it now? It’s a concert. And saved people don’t sing.
Saved people spectate. But how would you like it, as
saved as you are and as wonderful as God has been to you, if you
just didn’t sing, couldn’t sing, weren’t given the opportunity
to sing? That’s the way the church has been through a lot of ages.
Do you know, at the time of the Reformation, most church services
were in what language? They were in Latin. Who did the
singing? the choir. And what did they sing? They
sang in Latin. And so the people of God who
ought to be what? A singing people did not sing
for ages. And I think we’ve entered into
another dark period of the church where saved people in the life
of the church aren’t singing. And it’s a sad thing because
God over and over in the psalm says that we should sing for
God’s glory. We should sing for his praise.
We should recognize his goodness. and we should sing songs that
are fitting. And so these first seven verses encourage universal
praise. Now notice how in the second
section, it’s a little shorter, verses eight through 12, it speaks
to the people of Israel. It starts out by saying, bless
our God, O peoples. Now, how do you know that’s Israel?
Well, you know, by the personal pronouns, bless our God, peoples
is a, Wonderful title for the people of God. You just see it
by the language. Bless our God, all peoples. Let the sound of
his praise be heard. Now of all the nations of the
earth in the Old Testament, who worshiped Yahweh? It was Israel. It was not the Gentiles, it was
not the foreigners, it was Israel. So bless our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul
among the living, and he has not let our feet slip. For you, O Lord, have tested
us. You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into
the net. You laid a crushing burden on
our backs. He’s speaking of Egypt and slavery. You let men ride
over our heads. We went through fire, we went
through water, and yet you have brought us out to a place of
abundance. And so what’s one of the big
reasons, and notice how it’s narrowed, this isn’t universal
praise, the rock’s crying out, all the nations coming to God,
even the enemies of God cringing and coming to Him. This is the
people of God, and why do the people of God particularly praise
God? Because He has done what? He has saved them. He has redeemed
them. He has brought them up out of Egypt, out of the land
of slavery, out of the house of bondage. He’s brought them across
the sea on dry land and through the wilderness and in to the
land that flowed with milk and honey. And so how would you say
it in your own terms today? Why do we bless God as the church?
Why do we bless God as the people of God, as the children of God,
as the church of God? Because he has brought us up
out of the house of slavery. out of the house of bondage to
sin and misery. And through the precious blood
of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, he has won a victory that we
could never win. And so we offer him our praise. And so there’s a call to the
people of God, verses 8 through 12, to bless God, to praise God. One of the things that’s good
to remember when somebody says, why do you worship God? I mean,
you can say, because he tells me to, that’s true. Why do you
worship God? Well, because it’s what my family’s
always done. Why do you worship God? It’s
what people do that are Christians. But be very specific. And here’s
a good thing to say, this is an easy one. I worship God for
who he is and what he has done. Isn’t that a good way to say
it? I worship God for His character, who He is. I worship God for
His actions, salvation, the cross, redemption, His hand in my life. So why do you worship God? Or
how do you worship God even? I worship Him. because of who
he is and what he’s done here. It speaks specifically of Egypt,
the escape, the wilderness, the promised land. We think of the
cross and all that God in Christ has done for us. But how could
we as a church even first ARP here on Saddle Club Road, but
how could we as a church here in America, here in 2018, how
could we write verses eight through 20? I mean, we could say in 2018,
all the people of God gather together and praise him for God
has sustained his church from its beginning now to 2018. Couldn’t we say that? He’s gotten
us through the dark ages. He’s gotten us through the Reformation. He’s gotten us through the founding
of America and all the troubles and bumps the church has been
through. He has gotten us through the modern era. And while the
rest of the modern church is going haywire and wacky, I was
watching a little video the other day called Calvinist. And it
was talking about the troubles the church, evangelical church
in America has been through just in the last 50, 75 years. And
we’ve gotten through the emergent church, we’ve gotten through
federal vision, we’ve gotten through, you just go through
the list. We’ve had our own troubles in the last 50 to 75 years. And we can say as a people of
God, bless God, for he has taken his church faithfully through
these hardships. And so we are obligated to offer
God thanks. and praise for what he’s done. So it starts out wide. All peoples
praise him. Then it narrows here in the middle.
The people of God praise him. And then look at verses 13 through
20. You’ve got the psalmist, whoever he is, possibly David. And notice the pronouns I, it’s
singular. I will come into your house with
burnt offerings, verse 13 tells us. I will perform my vows to
you, that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I
was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings
of fattened aminals with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams.
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. So that’s what he
says he’s gonna do. And then look what he says, come
and hear all you who fear God and I will tell what he’s done
for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth and high praise was
on my tongue. If I cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord
would not have listened, but truly God has listened and he
has attended to the voice of my prayer. And so here in this
last little section, the psalmist himself, it’s a personal worship
experience. He speaks with two voices. One,
he says to God, remember God, when I was in hot water, I was
in trouble, I cried out to you, and I told you that if you get
me through this mess, I would come and I would worship. I made
vows, and I’m gonna come and I’m gonna fulfill those vows,
and I’m gonna offer this, this, and this, and this. That’s what
he says with one voice. But with the other voice, he
tells the covenant community, come and see what my God has
done. Now, one of the things that we,
in a sense, give opportunity to do on Sunday night when we
go through our prayers, we go through adoration, confession,
and then thanksgiving. That’s a good time for us to
do right here and now what the psalmist is doing, to offer to
God before the presence of others. Thanksgiving for what he’s done.
I think I told you a couple weeks ago about how in my church growing
up We had testimony time and it was supposed to be brief Biblical
and beneficial it was never brief It was generally not biblical
and it was usually not beneficial except to the person Who got
up and talked and we heard all kinds of things we still laugh
around the dinner table at holidays about do you remember when so-and-so
stood up and said X or Y or Z, it was usually kind of a hoot.
And that didn’t last very long, that whole testimony thing. But
in the right circumstances, it would be wonderful if in the
covenant community we could give testimony to God for what he
has done for us on an individual basis. And that’s in a sense
what the psalmist is saying here as he speaks with that second
voice to others. but he invites others to come
and see what God has done for him. Now think for just a moment
about evangelism. Think for just a moment about
church and your desire for your church to grow. What would be
the best thing you could say to others? Come with me to the
house of God. Come with me into the presence
of God and let us worship Him together. Come with me into the
presence of God and let us give Him wholehearted thanks, Sunday
after Sunday, for what He has done for me. Oh, but don’t we
live in a time where we got it all by our hard work, we can
show the calluses on our hands, we can show the paycheck in our
bank account, and we can say, look at what I have done. look
at what I have provided for myself, look at what I have earned and
worked for and even slaved over, we might say. And maybe the first
problem we have is that We don’t think God has provided for us.
We think that we’ve done it all on our own and we’re doing quite
well, thank you very much. But we should encourage one another
to remember that everything we have is from God. Everything
that we have is from his hand. Even the work that we’re able
to do, even the opportunity to earn and to provide, it is from
his great and gracious hand. And so how does the psalmist
end here? He ends it with verse 20. He
says, blessed be God. It’s kind of like our doxology.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures
here below. Praise Him above the heavenly host. Praise Father,
Son, Holy Ghost. Or maybe some of you have sung
the other doxology. Now, blessed be the Lord, our
God, the God of Israel, for He alone does wondrous works in
glory that excel. Now, blessed be his glorious
name. And it goes on from there. This is exactly what verse 20
is. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or
removed his steadfast love from me. How precious those words
are, because when we’re in the middle of hardship, that’s not
what we’re saying. When we’re in the middle of hardship,
we’re saying, oh God, help. Oh God, come. Oh God, intervene.
Oh God, act. And this is a look back. Blessed
be God. He has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast
love from me. Now, one last thing for you to
think about. Go back up. Go back up to verse
17 and 18. He says, I cried to God with
my mouth. High praise was on my tongue.
And then he says, if I cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord
would not have listened. Now, it’s very interesting, tonight
we read about the intercession of Christ, the great high priesthood.
How is it that we have access to God? It’s through Christ.
Now, are there places in the Bible that say if we’re living
in sin, our prayers are hindered? Yes, there are. Peter speaks
of that, particularly in the marriage relationship. He says
about husbands, if you’re not living well towards your wife,
your prayers are hindered. There are places where God seems
to say that. And notice how the psalmist works
that out. He doesn’t say, oh, well, there
was no sin in my heart. And because of my exceeding personal
righteousness, God heard me. Why did God hear him? God heard
him because he’s a God of mercy. He’s a God of steadfast love
and he’s a God of grace. And so it’s a good reminder to
us when we are in the midst of hardship, the midst of difficulty,
when our lives are riddled with sin as they remain in this life
because of our flesh, but God still is merciful and kind to
us and we can still give him glory and praise. So let’s pause
and pray together. Our Lord and God