Psalm 101:1-8

When I was serving in my first pastorate, we had a lovely elderly couple in the church. Of course when I was that young, everybody was elderly. But they came to me one day and said, “Pastor we have moved into a new house and we’d like you to come and dedicate it.” That was an interesting experience. I had never done that before. I don’t think I’ve ever done it since. My wife and I went out to the house and we read Scripture, and we had prayer, and we dedicated that house to the glory of the Lord. What is the most important part of a house? Now think that through. Oh you say the foundation. Perhaps. The heating system, the plumbing, maybe. What is the most important part of a house? It’s the home that is in the house. You see many people have homes who don’t have houses. They might be renting or they might be traveling. The most important part of a house is the home in the house. Now what’s the most important part of the home? It’s the heart of the people who make up the home.

That’s what David had to say in Psalm 101. He was dedicating his house to the Lord. And he says in verse 2, “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” Now in this Psalm he talks about two other kinds of hearts; a perverse heart in verse 4, a proud heart in verse 5. If you want to wreck your house, start wrecking your home. And if you want to wreck your home, start working on your heart. But if you want your house and your home to be all that it can be and all that God wants it to be, then make your heart a perfect heart. What is a perfect heart? Well, the word means “integrity,” “wholeness,” “oneness,” not a divided heart. Nobody can serve two masters. Nobody can plow and look back. You’ve got to have a heart that is integrated, a oneness of heart. “Unite my heart to fear Thy name” (Psalm 86:11) said David.

David walked around his new house and he said, I want my heart to be a perfect heart. I want my heart to be holy fixed upon the Lord. I want that He shall reign supremely in my home because He reigns supremely in my heart.

Psalm 100:1-5

The next time you sing the Doxology in a worship service remember that you are singing scripture. You are singing a version of Psalm 100. Psalm 100 is a digest of the instructions on how to worship the Lord. Who should worship the Lord? Well, He tells us in verse 1, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands!” That’s quite a statement for a Jewish man to write. “All ye lands.” This means that God wants the whole world to worship Him. He wants the whole world to give thanks to Him. That says to me immediately I’d better try to get out there and reach the whole world. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Why? So that all the world will one day be able to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

How should we worship the Lord? Well, by serving. “Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.” Serving the Lord with gladness, not sadness, not madness. Serving the Lord because there’s joy in our heart and the joy of the Lord is our strength. We worship the Lord by serving and we worship Him by singing. “Come before His presence with singing.” I fear that too often in our services singing is routine. It’s ritual. We can stand there holding the hymn book singing the songs that we know so well and our minds and hearts can be a million miles away. The psalmist says, “Don’t do that.” Serve the Lord. That’s how you worship Him. Sing to the Lord. Submit to the Lord. “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.” Submit to Him. Follow Him. Obey Him. We worship the Lord by sacrificing.

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise!” Here He is coming to the altar. “Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” Why should we worship the Lord? “For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” The highest occupation of the Christian life is worshiping the Lord. How do we worship Him? With a joyful heart; a thankful heart; by serving, by singing, by submitting to Him and by sacrificing to His name.

Psalm 99:1-9

One of the greatest joys in the Christian life is the joy of answered prayer. To be able to say to someone, “God answered prayer today!” To pick up the phone and someone says, “Thank you for praying. Let me tell you what God did.” The psalmist talks about this in Psalm 99 verse 6, “They called upon the LORD and He answered them.” Who is He talking about? Well, He’s talking about Moses and Aaron and Samuel. “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name; they called upon the LORD and He answered them.” Moses called upon the Lord so many times, when he had the burdens of the people on his shoulders. Aaron called upon the Lord as the high priest. It rejoices my heart today to know that my High Priest up in heaven is interceding for me and I can come at any time and He can give me the grace that I need.

Here’s Samuel. Samuel had some disappointments in his life. His family was not all that it ought to be. The nation was not all that it ought to be and Samuel cried out to the Lord. “They called upon the LORD and He answered them.” Now if we call upon the Lord, will He answer us? Well, if we have met the conditions that they met. Verse 7 of Psalm 99, “He spoke unto them in the cloudy pillar.” They listened to God’s Word. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). You see we want to come and talk to God and tell Him about all of our problems. He wants to talk to us and tell us about all His promises. First we should listen to Him and then He will listen to us. They obeyed Him. “They kept His testimonies and the ordinances that He gave them.” Obedience is important to answered prayer.

If we’re abiding in Christ, we will obey His Word. And then we will be able to call upon Him. They confessed their sin. God forgave their sins and God enabled them to do what He wanted them to do and they wanted to exalt the Lord. The purpose of prayer is to glorify God. Verse 9, “Exalt the LORD our God worship at His holy hill, for the LORD our God is holy.” Today pray without ceasing. Call on the Lord. Let’s enjoy the privilege and the blessing of answered prayer.

Psalm 98:1-9

One of my seminary professors had been a missionary in Africa for many years. He told us one day that when he arrived on the field, he was on the boat that was going up the river. He could hear screaming and the sound of drums and wailing, but 25 years later when he went up the river to leave the field, people were lining the river and they were singing, “All hail the power of Jesus name, let angels prostrate fall.” What a difference. The Christian faith is a singing faith. Christians ought to be a singing people. We are admonished in the Word of God to sing to the Lord. Psalm 98 verse 1, “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for He has done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, have gotten Him the victory.” Let’s sing a new song today.

Let’s sing about His victory. That’s what He tells us in Psalm 98 verse 1. “His right hand, His holy arm, have gotten Him the victory.” Just sing about the victories of the Lord. “Oh,” you say, “there’s not much victory in my life!” That’s alright. Just start singing about the victory of the Lord and you’d be surprised what He’ll do for you. Let’s sing about His salvation. Verse 2, “The LORD has made known His salvation: His righteousness has He openly shown in the sight of the nations.” It would be a good thing for us to help to get that message of salvation out to other people today. Let’s sing about His salvation. That would be a new song because there’s always something new to learn about His salvation. Let’s sing about His mercy and truth. Verse 3, “He has remembered His mercy and His truth.” Oh how merciful the Lord has been to us and His truth endures to all generations.

Let’s sing about His coming. Verse 9, “The hills are rejoicing before the LORD for He comes. He comes to judge the earth; with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the peoples with equity.” Let’s sing about His coming. Jesus may come back today. I’ve noticed in my own life that when I lose my song, it usually means I have lost something else. I’ve lost my vision of God or my faith in His Word or perhaps sin has come into my life. If you don’t have a song today, get one. And if you need to get one, start with Psalm 98, “O sing unto the LORD a new song.”

Psalm 97:1-12

A friend of mine likes to quote a beatitude that he has invented or borrowed; namely, “Blessed are the balanced.” Well that’s a good point. “Blessed are the balanced.” You can’t walk unless you’re balanced. Well you can do it but not with too much ease. I recall when I was learning how to ride a bicycle. They put me on the bicycle and gave me a push and I could not keep it balanced. If you’re going to roller skate or ice skate or ski you’ve got to maintain balance. This is the way we must walk in our Christian life. That’s why the psalmist said in Psalm 97 verse 10, “You who love the LORD, hate evil.” Now there’s a balance for you. Are Christians supposed to hate? Yes, you’re not supposed to hate one another, but they are supposed to hate evil! Psalm 97 verse 10 tells us that. “You who love the LORD, hate evil.” Now you and I can have one of several attitudes toward the evil in the world today.

We can defend it. I don’t see how we could as Christians, but there are those who defend the evil in this world. There are those who promote it and of course that’s terrible. They’re playing right into the hands of Satan. We can ignore it. We can say, “Well, we’ll just close our eyes!” And like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, go by on the other side. Or we can just endure it. Say “Well, it’s here and I’ll just grit my teeth and I’ll clench my fists and put up with it!” The Word of God says hate it and oppose it. Now we do it because we love the Lord. “You who love the LORD, hate evil.” If we love God, we’re going to love the things God loves and we’re going to hate the things God hates. This is even true in everyday life, isn’t it? When you love someone, you love the things that they love and you want to share those things with them. You see when God is going to judge evil, we want to be on His side.

We don’t want to be like Lot who was tolerating, though it grieved his soul, the evil in Sodom and everything Lot lived for was burned up when Sodom went up in smoke. Psalm 97 verse 10 reads and this is an important verse for us to get a hold of, “He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” “You who love the LORD, hate evil.” You see God is on our side and “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Psalm 96:7-13

“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” I like that statement. I often see it on a sign in church buildings. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” You find the statement in Psalm 96 and verse 9. God desires holiness for His people. “Be ye holy for I am holy.” That’s His commandment repeated several times in the Old Testament and Peter picked it up in chapter 1 of his first letter. God says, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Be separated, be unique, be distinct. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ indicates that God wants us to be holy. On the cross Jesus died for our sins to make us holy, to bring us to God. And of course the Holy Spirit of God within us urges us to a holy life. To walk in holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Word of God helps us to grow in holiness. Jesus said to His Father, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). And so God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit combined to lead us into a life of holiness. God desires holiness for His people. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” True holiness is beautiful. Now false holiness is not. The Pharisees had a false holiness, an artificial, manufactured kind of piety. Jesus had true holiness. Jesus attracted people. The Pharisees repelled them. God desires holiness and true holiness is beautiful. The fruit of the Spirit, love and joy and peace and longsuffering and all of those other wonderful virtues that make for a beautiful life. God desires holiness.

True holiness is beautiful and this beauty comes from worship. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” Did you know that you become like the god you worship? If your god is selfish, you become selfish. If your god is ugly, you become ugly. We become like the god we worship. The person who worships money becomes hard. The person who worships pleasure becomes soft. The person who worships the true and living God becomes beautiful, the kind of beauty that Jesus had. We become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

Psalm 96:1-6

Early one spring morning I walked out of the front door of our home and there was the most beautiful spider web. I stooped down and picked up the morning paper, and then I stood up and just looked at it. It was a beautiful spider’s web. It was beautiful but it wasn’t very strong. Before the day was over the web was gone. Some things are beautiful but they’re not strong. And some things are strong but they’re not very beautiful. I suppose a slab of concrete is strong but it’s not too beautiful. You’re not likely to want one in your living room or a big steel girder going into a building. Yes, it might be beautiful to some people, but it’s there for its strength. It’s rather interesting that God combines strength and beauty. Psalm 96 verse 6, “Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”

Now there was a beauty about the tabernacle and the temple. When God designed the tabernacle and the temple, He designed a beautiful building. The tabernacle was a tent, really. It had beauty but not a great deal of strength. The temple had both strength and beauty. You know our God is practical but God doesn’t get so practical He leaves out the beautiful! In the tabernacle and the temple there was beauty as well as strength. When He made nature, a tree for example, there’s strength but there’s also beauty. You look at a mountain or a river. Here comes a rushing river. There’s strength there. Ah, but there’s also beauty. One of the nice things about the Christian life is that you see both strength and beauty in the works of God, especially in our own lives. Yes, God wants us to be practical. He wants us to have strength but He also wants us to have beauty.

He wants us to have the kind of strength that is beautiful and the kind of beauty that is strong. He wants us to be practical but He also wants that extra touch of beauty in our lives. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness:” (v. 9). Well, “strength and beauty are in His sanctuary” (v. 6). If you and I are separated to God, walking in fellowship with Him then there’s going to come to our lives a beauty that is strong and a strength that is beautiful and we’re going to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 95:7-11

“Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” You find that word of warning in Psalm 95 verses 7 and 8. “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” The context here of course is the nation of Israel in the wilderness. From Egypt to Canaan they saw God at work. They saw God at work in Egypt for that matter. He destroyed the gods of Egypt. He almost destroyed the land. They saw Him bring hail and storm, fire, darkness, death. And then God led them out, led them through, led them in; and what did they do? They hardened their hearts. How do you harden your heart? Well, it’s a process.

It’s a process that goes on as you see God’s work and as you hear God’s Word. Remember God worked for them and God spoke to them. God would give them His Word. He would do some great deed for them. How did they accept this? Well, they saw God’s work and they complained. They complained about the way He led them, complained about the way He fed them. They heard God’s Word and they deliberately disobeyed. This is called tempting God. Psalm 95 verse 9, “When your fathers tried Me, tested Me, and saw My work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation.” You see, when you see God at work and you complain instead of rejoice, when you hear God’s Word and deliberately disobey it, you’re tempting God!

It’s like a little child just daring mother or dad to discipline him. What happens when you harden your heart? You miss God’s best for your life. Oh they saw the miracles, they heard the messages, they had their food day after day but the whole crowd just died. In a period of 40 years that older generation just died; the world’s longest funeral march. They did not enter into the fullness of their inheritance. What should we do to prevent a hard heart? Break up the soil of our soul. Repent. Learn how to weep. Listen to God’s Word and respond to it tenderly. Watch God’s work and respond to it thankfully. Stop complaining, stop disobeying, just worshiping the Lord and keeping a tender heart before Him.

Psalm 95:1-7

“For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” That affirmation of faith is found in Psalm 95 verse 3, as the psalmist looked around the saw the heathen gods, the gods of the nations that were not gods at all. He cried out “For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods.” Now if God truly is a great God, then how should we respond to His greatness?

A book was published some years ago called Your God is Too Small by J.B. Phillips and in that book he affirms the greatness of God. If you have a small God, you’ll have small faith. If you have a great God, you’ll have great faith. Not great faith in your faith but great faith in a great God. What shall we do in response to the greatness of God today?

Well, first of all let’s thank Him. Verse 2, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.” Let’s be thankful that He is a great God. I note that His greatness extends to creation. Verse 4, “In His hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills are His also.” Isn’t it good to know that God is a God of the depths as well as a God of the heights? When you’re living on the mountaintop, God is there. You’re down in the valley, God is there. “The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land.” I’m glad that My God is a God of the changing places like the sea and the stable places like the dry land. No matter where we are we can thank Him for His greatness.

Let’s sing to Him. Verse 1, “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” And let’s worship Him. Verse 6, “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” The greatness of God is the answer to the smallness of man. When you see great sin and great disappointment, when you have a great burden to carry, remember you are worshiping a great God. And as we kneel down before Him, He becomes even greater. Let’s bow before our Lord today. Let’s thank Him. Let’s worship Him for He is a great God.

Psalm 94:11-23

“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” The psalmist asked those two questions in Psalm 94 verse 16 and I wonder what kind of an answer you and I are going to give. Who indeed will stand up with God against the evildoers? Who will stand up with God against the workers of iniquity? Now there are times when we must act. There are times when we pray. There are times when we wait. There are times when God says, “Not now, I’ll take care of it.” But there are times when we must act! There are times when Moses must stand up and lead the people out. There are times when David must move in and perform the judgment of God. There are times when those of us who are the light of the world must stand up and shine.

Those of us who are the salt of the earth must apply that salt to the decay in the world today. There is a time to act. Oh how easy it is to be a spectator. You say, “Well I’ll pray about it.” Good. Be sure you do. But now God says, “Who’s going to stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” Well, those who know that God is their help. Verse 17, “Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.” Verse 22, “But the LORD is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge.” When God is your help, you can stand up against the sin in this world; when you have the strength of God that comes from the Word. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul,” verse 19. He was feeding on the Word of God getting strength and encouragement from God.

Those who are separated from sin; verse 20, “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with Thee, who frameth mischief by a law?” We have laws today that provide for the defense of a lot of sin and yet those who are separated from sin can stand up with God against iniquity. Those who believe in God’s victory, that the Lord is going to give us the victory ultimately. Well, we may lose a few battles but thank God we’re going to win the war. There is a time to wait. There is a time to pray. There’s also a time to declare war. Will we stand with God today against iniquity?