Pure Praise Series

Summer in the Psalms

Psalm 150: Pure Praise

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

9-12-2021

Manna Media - Psalm 150

Earworm

Have you ever got a song stuck in your head? There’s a name for that - it’s an “earworm.” You hear it for the first time and you immediately love it. Then you hear it again and it becomes your jam. Then you play it loud in the car, sing it louder in the shower, and sing it at the top of your lungs while walking the dogs around the pond. Or is that just me? (By the way, that song for me right now is “Alright” by Danny Gokey.)

Music is magical. It gets into your soul.

Worship leader David Crowder writes,

“One note can express a hundred emotions, depending on its context. A single note of C can make you weep or smile or slam your hands together repeatedly according the chords and rhythms placed around it.”

The Jewish people didn’t have Pandora or Spotify but they did have the Psalms. That was their playlist. And none got put on repeat more than the song we will study this morning - Psalm 150.

What an amazing summer we’ve had studying the Psalms together! We dove deep into ten Psalms over these past weeks - Psalm 1, 15, 19, 20, 40, 42, 95, 96, 131, and 139. If you weren’t able to be here for some of these sermons, you can watch them on our YouTube channel or our website. This morning, we are going to be finishing our series with Psalm 150.

Turn there.

Prayer

Background on Psalm 150

No author is listed for Psalm 150 but most commentators believe it was probably David.

Remember that the Psalter is divided into five sections, or books, and each of these ends with a command to praise God.

The first half of the psalms has a lot of laments. There is a lot of sadness and confusion and fear.

But the last section ends with five Psalms (146-150) that bring the entire psalm book to a crescendo of adoration and worship.

We began this series with a study of Psalm 1 where we learned that God blesses the man that honors with his lips and by the way he lives his life.

In Psalm 150, it is man that blesses God for all that he has done in song.

The outline breaks down simply to

What are we commanded to do?

Where are we commanded to do it?

How are we commanded to do it?

Why are we commanded to do it?

And who is commanded to do it?

Praises Rising

[Slide] Praise the Lord (v. 1a)

The psalmist starts out with a command for his reader - praise the Lord. 300 plus times in the Bible are we told the praise the Lord. In this psalm alone, we are told thirteen times to praise the Lord.

You know this Hebrew word. It’s in our English dictionary. And it’s in the Spanish, Germany, and Chinese dictionaries.

It’s made up of two words that mean to boast or brag about God.

[Slide] Hallelujah! (Or as Madea would say it, “Hallelujer!”).

The Talmud tells us that as the Jewish people would bring the sacrifices to the feasts they would sing Psalm 146-150.

Psalm 146 begins:

“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life, I will sing to my God as long as I live.” (Psalm 146:1-2)

Psalm 147 begins:

“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing to our God, and how pleasant and fitting to praise Him.” (Psalm 147:1-2)

We’ll look at Psalm 148 in just a minute.

Psalm 149 tells us to sing a new song in praise to the Lord:

“Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of His faithful people.” (Psalm 149:1)

The English word “praise” comes from the French and Latin and it means “price,” to value highly.

We are commanded to lift up, to exult, to worship, to adore God and Him alone.

The Ten Commandments begin with a call to worship God exclusively:

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:3)

Moses describes God as One that is jealous for his glory:

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Ex 34:14)

And Isaiah describes God as one who will not tolerate praise being given to other gods:

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)

Where should that happen?

Where?

[Slide] “Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.” (v. 1b)

The writer of this psalm lists two places that that God’s praise should be lifted up - his sanctuary and in the mighty heavens.