Let's Just Praise The Lord!

Song: Let’s Just Praise the Lord!

The words of this song are a call to praise. Because of what God has done and the blessings we receive from Him, “Let’s just praise the Lord!” We as believers truly are the only ones with a real reason to be excited about our lives and what is in store for us. We know who we belong to and He is the God of the universe.

In the thirty-third Psalm we are exhorted to praise God and given reasons why He is worthy of our praise.

I. The Righteous are exhorted to praise God (vv.1-3)

A. Joy is the soul of praise! (v.1) We need to be reminded to praise God sometimes. (Illustration) A young girl became a Christian in an exciting revival at her church and was baptized the closing Sunday morning. That afternoon she ran through the house singing and dancing. Her sour grandfather rebuked her with these words, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You just joined the church and you’re singing and dancing on the Lord’s Day!” Crushed by her grandfather’s attitude, the little girl went out to the barn, climbed up on the corral fence, and observed an old mule standing there with a sad, droopy face and bleary eyes. As she reached over and patted the mule sympathetically, she said, “Don’t cry, ole mule. I guess you’ve got the same kind of religion that Grandpa has!”

B. There is no jewel more beautiful than a face awash in praise. (v.1) “The Bible nowhere speaks about a “happy” Christian; it talks plentifully of joy. Happiness depends on things that happen, and may sometimes be an insult; joyfulness is never touched by external conditions, and a joyful heart is never an insult” (Oswald Chambers) Sidney Harris once wrote, “The most miserable people I have known have not been those who suffered from catastrophes – which they could blame on fate or accident – but those who had everything they wanted, except the power to enjoy it.”

C. Musical instruments are an aid to praise and worship (v.2)

D. “unto him” All our songs of praise should be “unto him.” Singing for singing’s sake is worthless. (v.3)

E. “new song”- Let’s make every song as if we were singing it for the first time. Let’s mean the words and not get into a rut. (v.3)

F. “play skillfully” - He deserves the best we have. (v.3)

G. “with a loud noise” – We should not be ashamed to lift our voices and play our instruments with all we’ve got. The praise that God deserves is not some somber funeral march but an anthem. (v.3)

II. Let’s Praise God because of the Excellency of His Character (vv. 4-5)

A. His ordinances: natural, moral, and spiritual are right, especially His incarnate Word, Jesus Christ (v.4) So why not obey every word?

1. There are no anomalies in God’s universe except what sin has made. God writes with a pen that never blots, speaks with a tongue that never slips, acts with a hand which never fails. Bless His name.

B. Nothing that God does is wrong. (v.5)

1. Everything He does is in righteousness and judgment.

2. It is through His goodness that we are able to survive, work, play, etc.

III. Let’s Praise God because of His Majesty in Creation (vv. 6-7)

A. All three members of the Godhead were involved in creation.

1. “the word” – Jesus Christ is the Word of God. (John 1:1)

2. “the LORD” – Jehovah

3. “the breath of his mouth” – elsewhere rendered spirit.

B. With Godly power He gathered the earth’s waters into oceans and rivers. (v.7)

IV. We must fear the Lord because He is in control (vv. 8-11)

A. Just looking at creation gives us comfort in knowing God has everything in control. (v.8) (Illustration) Remarking on the breathtaking wonders of the universe being revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope – wonders many people, including some scientists, say can only be attributed to a Creator God – George Will observed: “Soon the American Civil Liberties Union, or People for the American Way, or some similar faction of litigious secularism will file suit against NASA, charging that the Hubble Space Telescope unconstitutionally gives comfort to the religiously inclined.” (George Will in Newsweek, Nov. 9, 1998)

B. God is awesome in creation. (Illustration) John Calvin urges us “not to pass over, with ungrateful inattention or oblivion, those glorious perfections which God manifests in his creatures.” Philip Yancey writes: “After several trips ‘down under,’ I came away with a new reverence for ‘those glorious perfections.’ On my first visit, I went whale-watching off the coast of New Zealand. Bobbing about in a rubber dinghy, we felt very small next to a sperm whale, whose tongue weighs as much as an elephant. The whale would rest on the surface for a while, then spout spectacularly a few times before plunging a mile deep to feed on squid. Between whale sightings the guide, a Maori biologist, described other sea life. When a royal albatross soared by, he rhapsodized that an albatross can cover 600 miles with less flapping of its wings than a sparrow needs to cross a street. An albatross can sleep on the wing, flying on autopilot thanks to a small wind speed recorder in its bill that sends data to the brain, allowing it to make wing adjustments as the wind shifts. Also, an albatross has a built-in desalinization factory. When it scoops up a mouthful of ocean, a series of tubes and membranes in the bill processes the water and extrudes excess salt. I pressed the guide for more details. ‘Countries in dry areas like the Middle East pay millions for desalinization plants,’ I said. ‘Why can’t we adapt the same technology on a larger scale?’ The Maori stared at me before responding: ‘You’re an American aren’t you?’ he said at last”