Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

(No. 2421)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, JULY 14, 1895.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
19, 1887.

"For the LORD takes pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek
with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud
upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouths and a
two-edged sword in their hands." Psalm 149:4-6.

I THINK I have read that, once, when the seraphic Samuel Rutherford was
preaching, he came, before long, to speak on the high praises of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That was a theme upon which he was at home, and when
he reached that point, and had spoken a little upon it, the Duke of
Argyle, who was in the congregation, cried out, "Now you are on the
right strain, man; hold on to that!" I thought that, this morning, we,
also, struck the right key. [See sermon #1968, Volume 38–Jubilee
Joy–Or, Believers Joyful in Their King] We were trying to extol our
God, our King, and to magnify His holy name and something seemed to say
to me, "Hold on to that strain! Let us have the same note, again,
tonight, and let us continue to laud and praise and magnify the name of
the Most High."

So, without further preface, I remark, first, that our text contains
some reasons for praise. We had a great many this morning, but here are
some more–"For the Lord takes pleasure in His people: He will beautify
the meek with salvation." Then our text gives special phases of praise.
It shows us how, in a peculiar manner, we may praise the Lord–"Let the
saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the
high praises of God be in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their
hands." There is plenty of sea room for a preacher here, but as we have
not much time, we will make for the nearest port and our words shall be
as few as possible.

I. First, here are SOME REASONS FOR PRAISE.

The first of these reasons is the delight of God in His people–"The
Lord takes pleasure in His people." Therefore let us praise Him! It is
delightful that God takes pleasure in us who are His people. We feel
that this is a great stoop of condescending Grace. What is there in us
in which the Lord can take pleasure? Nothing, unless He has put it
there! If He sees any beauty in us, it must be the reflection of His
own face. Yet, the text says so and, therefore, it must be true–"The
Lord takes pleasure in His people." In the 147th Psalm we read, "The
Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him." You who tremble at His
Word, you who stand in awe of Him, you who trust Him and seek to obey
Him–you are those that fear Him and He takes pleasure in you! He that
is infinitely blessed–can He take pleasure in us? He that has the
harps of angels to make music for Him, He that has the host of cherubim
and seraphim to be His attendants, He that can make a world with a
wish–does He deign to take pleasure in us?

I am sure this is true, not only because it is stated, here, that the
Lord takes pleasure in His people, but because we see this Truth of God
in action! The Lord takes pleasure in His people's prayers. What poor
imperfect things they are! Yet He opens His ear to hear them. He would
sooner miss the song of a cherub than miss the prayer of a broken
heart. He is charmed with the prayers of His people–they hold Him,
they prevail with Him–He will do anything for those who know how to
pray. "Prayer moves the arm that moves the world." He must take great
delight in His people, or else He would not listen to their prayers!
And He is pleased with their praises, too. There is never a hymn that
is sung by a true heart but God accepts it. No one may hear it on
earth–it may not be worth the hearing, for the sound may be
discordant. But when a true heart seeks to praise God, He cares not for
the vocal sounds–He has regard to the voice of the spirit's
thanksgiving. Must He not take great pleasure in us to notice our
praises and our prayers? Yet He does so.

This will be still clearer to us, dear Friends, if we remember that
while He delights to hear us praise and pray, He also speaks to us. The
Lord has a wonderful way of revealing Himself to His people. You who
are spiritually blind can go through this world and never see Him, but
there are others who have had their eyes opened and they have seen the
King in His beauty! You who are spiritually deaf can go through the
world and never hear His voice, but they whose ears have been unstopped
have heard Him say to them, "Seek you My face," and many a blessed word
of promise has He spoken home to their hearts, making them glad.
Jehovah does not shut Himself up within His palaces. The Lord Jesus
comes forth out of the ivory palaces wherein they make Him glad, for
His delights are with the sons of men–and He loves to commune with His
own people as He does not with the world! Does not this show what
pleasure He must take in us– first to hear us speak, and then to speak
to us, Himself?

Beloved, you who know the Lord must feel that He never would have dealt
with you as He has done if He had not taken great pleasure in you. Why,
you are His children! I saw just now, from the window, a man playing
with a child, and he seemed so happy as he tossed the little one about.
It was but a baby, but I suppose the charm to him was that it was his
own, and it seemed to give the father great delight. When I see a
father playing and toying, thus, with his child, and finding joy in his
offspring, I understand, a little, how it is that the Lord takes
pleasure in His people. Are we not born of Him? Has He not carried and
nursed us many a day? And does He not daily feed and supply us with all
necessary things? Therefore, we marvel not that He takes pleasure in
us.

But why is this? Surely it is His own Grace that makes Him take
pleasure in us. If you want a person to love you, be kind to him. Yet
you may fail even then. To be certain of his love, let him be kind to
you. A child may forget the mother–it receives much from her–but
gratitude does not always come to her in return. But the mother never
forgets the child to whom she has given so much! What she has given is
a firmer bond between her and the child than ever gratitude is from the
child to the mother. Now, God has done so much for us, already, that
this is why He continues to love us. Jesus remembers that He died for
us, the Holy Spirit remembers that He strove with us, the great Father
remembers how He has preserved us–and because of all this goodness in
the past He takes pleasure in us–

"With joy the Father does approve

The fruit of His eternal love;

The Son with joy looks down, and sees

The purchase of His agonies."

Moreover, I think that the Lord takes pleasure in us not only because
of all that He has done, but because He sees something in us that
pleases Him, something which is His own work. A sculptor, when he
commences on the marble, has only a rough block, but, after days and
weeks of hard working, he begins to see something like the image he is
aiming at producing. So I believe that God is pleased when He sees in
any of us some Grace–some repentance, some faith, some beginnings of
that sanctification–which will, one day, be perfect. You know how
pleased you are with your children when they begin to talk, yet it is
poor talk, is it not? It is baby talk, but you like to hear the sound
of it! The first little sentiment that drops from the child's lips is
nothing very remarkable, yet you tell others and brothers and sisters
quote it as an instance of opening intelligence! So does God take
pleasure in the tears of penitence, in the broken confession, in the
first evidences of faith, in the trembling of hope because He has
worked all this and He is pleased with what He has done, pleased to see
that, so far, His handiwork has been successful!

Besides, I believe that every true sculptor can see in the block of
marble, the statue that he means to make. I doubt not that the artist
could see the Laocoon of the Vatican after he had chipped for a little
time, the figure of the serpent, and the father, and the sons all
standing out in that wondrous group long before anybody else could see
it. And the Lord takes pleasure in His people because He can see us as
we shall be. "It does not yet appear what we shall be," but it does
appear to Him! In the cast of His mind and the shaping of His eternal
purpose He knows, dear Sister, though you are now struggling with your
fears, what you will be when you shall stand before the blazing lamps
of the eternal Throne of God! He knows, young man, though you have but
a few days turned from sin and begun to struggle with vice, what you
will be, when, with all the blood-washed host, you shall cast your
crown before His Throne! Yes, the Lord takes delight in His people as
knowing what they are yet to be.

As I talk to you about God's delight in His people, I feel as if I must
take delight in Him. I think that if the Queen were to send for you all
to come and see her, and if you went in and out of the palace, and she
was very pleased with you all, and showed great affection for you, you
would be sure to have the same esteem for her. It would so completely
win your hearts that you would not be able to help it–and you would
not wish to do so. Now, the great King has made us His creatures, His
favorites, yes, His sons and daughters! And He has said that we shall
shortly be with Him enthroned above the skies and, therefore, we must
praise Him. God forbid that we should be silent when we receive such
love from Him! Praise Him! Praise Him, "for the Lord takes pleasure in
His people."

The next reason for praising God is found in the beauty He puts upon
His people. The second part of this verse says, "He will beautify the
meek with salvation." Great kings and princes have often tried to
magnify themselves by beautifying their courtiers. They that stand
nearest to thrones are expected to be bedizened after an extraordinary
rate. Well now, our King takes the meek and lowly and He beautifies
them with salvation! They have no beauty of their own–they do not
think themselves beautiful, they often mourn their own deformities and
imperfections–but the Lord is to be praised because–"He will beautify
the meek with salvation."

I find that, according to different interpreters, this text may be read
in three different ways. First, as in our version, "He will beautify
the meek with salvation." Next, "He will beautify the afflicted with
deliverance." Hear that, you afflicted ones! Jot it down for your
comfort. And, next, "He will beautify the meek with victory." The men
that cannot fight shall be beautified with victory! The men that will
not fight, the men that resist not evil, the men that yield and suffer
in patience–the Lord will beautify them with victory! When the
fighting men and those that stood up for their own rights will find
themselves covered with shame, "He will beautify the meek with
victory."

How does God beautify those who are meek? In the Scriptures you will
find that the most beautiful persons were the meek persons. I remember
only three people whose faces are said to have shone–you remember
those three, do you not? There was, first, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
face shone when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration so that
the people came running together to Him. How meek and lowly of heart
was He! Another person whose face shone was Moses, when he came down
from the mount of communion with God. Of him we read, "Now the man
Moses was very meek." The third man whose face shone was Stephen, when
he stood before the council and, in the meekest manner pleaded for his
Lord and Master. If your face is to shine, dear Friend, you must get
rid of a high and haughty spirit–you must be meek–for the brightness
of the Divine Light will never rest on the forehead that flashes with
anger. Be gentle, quiet, yielding, like your Lord, and He will then
beautify you.

Meekness is, itself, a beauty. We read of "the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit." There is many a Christian woman who has been all but
divinely beautiful in her gentleness, bearing all sorts of
provocation's, going about her domestic duties with great quietude. I
am sure that I have known one or two good old Quaker ladies who looked
to me as nearly like angels as ever mortals could be. There was about
them a quietude of manner, a gentleness, a sort of unworldliness or
unearthliness of beauty, though they wore no jewels and were decorated
with no adornments that might have commended them to the taste of
fashionable folk. The Lord gives great beauty to His people who are
very quiet and submissive. If you can bear and forbear–if you will not
be provoked to speak a hasty word–that meekness of yours is, itself, a
beauty!

Beside that, God beautifies meek people with peace. They have not to go
and beg pardon and make up quarrels, as others have, for they have had
no quarrel. They have not to think at night, "I really said what I
ought not to have said," for they have not done so. There is a great
beauty about the peace that comes of meekness!

Another beauty which God puts on the meek is contentment. They that are
of a quiet and gentle spirit through the Grace of God are satisfied
with their lot. They thank God for little–they are of the mind of the
godly woman who ate the crust of bread and drank a little water, and
said–"What? All this, and Jesus Christ, too?" There is a great charm
about contentment, while envy and greed are ugly things in the eyes of
those who have anything like spiritual perception. So meekness, through
bringing contentment, beautifies us.

Out of meekness also comes holiness–and who has not heard of "the
beauty of holiness"? When one is made to subdue his temper and curb his
will, and yield his mind sweetly up to Christ, then obedience to God's
will follows and the whole life becomes lovely! Let us praise the Lord
that ever He put any beauty upon any of us. And let us bless God for
the holiness of His people whenever we see it. It is a pity that there
should be so little of it, but what a comfort it is that the Lord has
some among His people who are of a meek and gentle spirit, whom He
beautifies with salvation!

Here I cannot help breaking away from my subject to tell you what
happened to me this morning after the service was over. When I went
into the vestry, there was a number of American friends and others
waiting to shake hands with me. I was glad to shake hands with them.
But there was one person present who did me more good than all the
other Brothers and Sisters put together. He was a father and he said to
me, "If my emotions will permit me, I would like to tell you something
that is on my heart. I feel that I must tell it to you." This friend
came from a distant city. He continued, "My son left my house well
clothed and well stored with money, but for a long, long while I never
heard from him. He plunged into all kinds of sin till he reduced
himself, by disease, to beggary and want. He had not even shoes for his
feet."

As he passed by the front of the Tabernacle–(you young people, here,
listen to this story and take home the lesson of it)–all in rags, on a
Sunday afternoon, a young man asked him to come into one of the classes
here and gave him a tract. He uttered an oath, threw the tract on the
pavement, and trampled on it. After a few seconds, some sort of
compunction seized him and he turned back and picked up the tract,
whereupon this young Brother, quick and alert–(as I hope you young men
and women always will be in looking after poor sinners)–spoke to him
and said, "Oh, you have picked it up. Now will you read it?" "Yes," he
answered, "I will read it."

The young man then said, "Come into our class," but the poor fellow
replied, "Look at me." "Yes," he said, "but we will not look at you if
you will come in. They will all be glad to see you. Perhaps it may be a
turn in your life." The young man did go into the class and he came in
the evening to hear the sermon. They put him somewhere where people
would not stare at him, and God blessed Him! He sought out some friends
in London who, at first, could not believe that he was the son of this
person. They had seen him, before, in better days, so they questioned
him and they found that he knew so much about the father that they
said, "Yes, no doubt you are his son." His feet were bleeding and he,
himself, was sick, so they cared for him, clothed him and he came in
and out of this House of Prayer, his father told me, for many months
serving God. His father saw him and rejoiced over him!

Now this story was told, with many tears, in the vestry behind me–told
as I cannot tell it–and the good man invoked every blessing on me and
upon that young Brother, whoever he may be, that brought his son in.
"And then, Sir," said the father, "He could not find any work to do so
he enlisted in the army, and was killed at Tel-el-Kebir." He left in
his knapsack a letter to his father to say that he died in perfect
peace, and that he had found the Savior at the Tabernacle. Our friend
was so glad and I could not help telling this story because that
Brother outside, I hope, was one of the meek ones, and God has
beautified him by bringing that soul to Christ! And we who try to
preach very plainly and never aim at adorning our discourses with the
flowers of eloquence, but try to talk to people from our hearts–may
God give us great beauty in the eyes of many when we bring their
children or themselves to the Savior's feet! I only wish that somebody,
like that young man, might be converted, by the Grace of God, through
this sermon.

I think that I have said enough upon those reasons for praise. Let us
praise God with all our hearts and bless and magnify His name because
He takes pleasure in His people, and because He beautifies the meek
with salvation and, sometimes, does it by making them the means of
salvation to others!

II. The second portion of my sermon, which is to be concerning SPECIAL
PHASES OF PRAISE, shall be delivered with great brevity.

The first way of praising the Lord is by glorying in God–"Let the
saints be joyful in glory." "That means the saints in Heaven, does it
not?" asks somebody. No, no, no! The Psalmist is not writing for them,
he is writing for us! "Well, but we are not in Glory," says one. I do
not know. I think that we are. First, we are in Glory by contrast.
Look, dear Friends, a little while ago we were in sin and we were
condemned under sin, but now we are delivered, we are absolved from
guilt! Surely that is like being in Glory! A little while ago we were
cast down and troubled–and had not a ray of hope. Now we have rest in
Christ and perfect peace. Is not that like being in Glory? Why, years
back, when I had been preaching in Wales, I heard a Welshman cry out,
"Gogoniant!" and others have shouted, "Glory," and I thought it was all
right. There is enough to make the saints cry, "Glory!" to think that
they have been redeemed from death and Hell, and that their feet have
been taken out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set upon a
rock and their goings established! Why, truly, it is like being in
Heaven, or Glory! Therefore, "let the saints be joyful in glory."

Next, as we are in Glory by contrast, so we are in Glory by
anticipation. What will Glory be? It will be a peace with God, but we
already have that. Glory will be rest and we also have that. "We which
have believed do enter into rest." Glory will be communion with God and
we have that, too. "Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with
His Son Jesus Christ." Glory will be victory and we have that. "This is
the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith." "But," asks
one, "you do not mean to say that we have Heaven already?" Yes, I do.
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance." Are not those the Words
of Scripture? Here is another Word of Scripture–"God has raised us up
together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus."
By anticipation and by foretaste we have already obtained life
eternal–therefore, "let the saints be joyful in glory." Rightly do we
sing–

"The men of Grace ha ve found

Glory begun below.

Celestial fruits on earthly ground

From faith and hope may grow.

The hill of Sion yields

A thousand sacred sweets

Before we reach the heavenly fields,

Or walk the golden streets!

Then let our songs abound,

And every tear be dry–

We're marching thro'

Immanuel's ground

To fairer worlds on high!"

"I cannot get up to that," says one. Try, dear Brother, try! At any
rate, get as far as this–wherever there is Grace there will be Glory.
Grace is the egg and glory is the hatching of it. Grace is the seed and
glory is the plant that comes out of it. Having the egg and the seed,
we have practically and virtually the Glory! Therefore, I say, again,
with the Psalmist, "Let the saints be joyful in glory."

The next special kind of praise is joy in special circumstances–"Let
them sing aloud upon their beds." This is a message for the time of
sickness. Praise the Lord when you are ill! Sing to His Glory when you
cannot sleep! Sing when the head aches, for that is the highest kind of
praise that comes out of the body that is racked with pain! "Let them
sing aloud upon their beds." There are, sometimes, infirmities of the
body that seem to quicken the soul. There are aches and pains that make
us more fresh and vigorous of heart. But there are others that paralyze
the mind and, reaching the very core of one's being, seem to freeze up
every spring of activity. It is little wonder that under such
infirmities the brave heart grows faint! And it is especially so when
there is mental affliction added to the physical pain. I have known men
of God, highly favored, and Sisters in like condition, who have walked
in the Light as God is in the light, and have had great blessing from
Him and, by-and-by, they have had strong inward temptation, an awful
fight within, till sometimes they have had to cry out in their very
souls to know whether they were with God, or God was with them at all!
Doubts have insinuated themselves into the mind and there have been
grave and solemn questions about matters most vital and important. And,
at such times the man of God, though he still believes in his God and
is obedient to the Divine will, yet feels a chill creeping over his
very soul and he is ready to faint! Then is the time for him to sing
aloud upon his bed, for praise to God under such circumstances will be
especially acceptable!

Your bed? Why, that is the place of seclusion! There you are alone.
Have you ever felt so happy that you did not want to sleep? I have
sometimes had such joy in the night that I have tried to keep myself
from falling asleep lest I should miss the hallowed fellowship which my
heart has had with God! Commune with God upon your beds and sing His
praises, if not aloud with the voice, yet aloud with the heart!

Upon your bed? Why, that is the place of domestic gathering, for the
bed here meant is a couch on which the Orientals reclined when they
ate. Sing the Lord's praises on your couches–that is, when you gather
with your families. "Praise you the Lord: sing aloud upon your
couches." I wish we had more family singing–we ought to have more.
Matthew Henry says, with regard to family prayer, "They that pray every
night and morning do well. They that pray and read the Scriptures do
better. They that pray and read the scriptures and sing, do best of
all." And so say I–that is the best of all family worship! Let us take
care, in our domestic relationships, that we praise this blessed God
who is the God of our households as well as the God of our sanctuaries!

Upon their beds? Why, that means the bed of death! We shall soon go
upstairs and gather up our feet in the bed. Oh, then, you dear children
of God, praise Him aloud upon your beds! I believe that the sweetest
praises ever heard on earth have cone from lips that were just closing
in the silence of the tomb–

"I will love You in life, I will love You in death, And praise You as
long as You lend me breathe. And say when the death-dew lies cold on my
brow,

If ever I loved You, my Jesus, 'tis now." Always praise Him! Always
praise Him! When nobody hears you, in the silence of your bedchamber,
still sing aloud unto your God!

We must press on, though we have not time for much that ought to be
said. The next special phase of praise is elevation in song. The sixth
verse says, "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth." As I told
you when I read the Psalm, [Exposition at the end of the sermon–ED.]
it is "in their throat" in the Hebrew, for God's people sing from their
hearts and so they are a deep-throated people who do not merely
sibilate praise with the lips, but send it up from the depths of their
soul!

What does the Psalmist say? "Let the high praises of God be in their
throats." Our praises ought to be very high praises, for there is a
high objective before us. We praise a great God! We should, therefore,
praise Him with high feelings, feelings wound up to the highest point
of high delight and high desire! Our praises should climb up to
Heaven's gate–running up Jacob's ladder even as the angels did–till
we cast our praises right at the foot of the eternal Throne of God. Let
us sound forth the high praises of God with our mouths! Let us extol
Him, magnify Him and make Him great! Say noble things of God wherever
you go, for He well deserves it at your hands.

The last phase of praise concerns courage in conflict–"and a two-edged
sword in their hands." Songs in their mouths and swords in their hands!
It is something like the sword and the trowel–the trowel to build with
and the sword to smite with. God's people must sing and fight at the
same time–and they fight best who sing best. Not those that growl
best, but those that sing best, fight best

But with whom are we to fight? That depends upon what your sword is. If
you had a sword of steel, you would fight with men–but that is no part
of your business. You are not called to that cruel work, but, as you
have the sword of the Spirit, which is two-edged, which is, indeed, all
edge, for it cuts whichever way you turn it, go forth and praise God by
the use of that two-edged sword which is the Word of God!

Let me stir up God's people here to do this. Go and proclaim the
Gospel! Proclaim the Gospel. I think I have, to a large extent,
attained my wish in this congregation. I miss such a large number of
our friends on Sunday nights and I am delighted to miss them, for they
have no business to be here, then! They are out preaching, teaching,
working in Ragged-Schools, mission halls and all sorts of holy service.
That is what you ought to do if you love the Lord–get a good meal,
once, on the Sabbath, and then go and do a good day's work the rest of
the Sunday! Praise God with your mouths and have the two-edged sword in
your hands! To war against ignorance, to war against vice, to war
against drunkenness, to war against infidelity and sin of every kind is
one of the best ways of praising the Most High! Until the last sinner
is saved, see to it that you keep the two-edged sword of God's Word in
your hands and then forever let the high praises of God be in your
mouth!

I have been talking all this while about praising God and there are
some here who never praised Him in all their lives! What wretched
creatures you are! God has been blessing you all this while and you
have never praised Him. I have seen hogs under an oak munching
acorns–how they enjoy themselves! They never stop to thank the
oak–such a thought never enters into their swinish heads. Do not blame
the swine, but think of the numbers of men who are worse than they are!
God is to them far more than the oak is to the animals. All things come
of Him–their health, their strength, their daily comforts–and yet
they never thank Him! Have you some little chickens at home? Let them
chide you! Whenever the chick stoops down to the saucer to drink a
little water, up goes its head as if to thank God for every drop! Oh,
begin to praise God! Begin to thank God at once!

Perhaps this may be the beginning of something better, for when you
have begun to praise Him, you may begin to dispraise yourself–and that
is next door to feeling your sinfulness, which will lead you to seek
the Savior! And if you seek Him, He will be found of you. Seek Him now,
this summer's night, while all God's bounty is being poured upon the
earth to make it fertile! Oh, that He might pour some heavenly beams on
you to make you fruitful to His praise! May He do it and to His name
shall be glory, world without end! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALMS 149; 150.

The whole Book of Psalms is full of praise, but the praise culminates
at the close. There are five "Hallelujah Psalms" at the end of the
Book. They are so named because they both begin and conclude with the
word, Hallelujah, "Praise you the Lord." It must be to the intense
regret of all reverent persons to find the word, Hallelujah, so used
today in such a way that it is made to be a commonplace instead of a
very sacred word–Hallelujah, or, Praise be unto Jah, Jehovah! He who
uses this word in a flippant manner is guilty of taking the name of the
Lord in vain!

Psalm 149:1. Praise you the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song. You
have had new mercies from the Lord– give Him, in return, a new song!
You have a new apprehension of His mercy. You who live under this
Gospel dispensation have something more to sing of than even David
experienced! Therefore, "sing unto Jehovah a new song"–throw your
hearts into it! Do not let it be a matter of routine, but let your
whole soul, in all its vigor and freshness, address itself to the
praise of God!

1. And His praise in the congregation of saints. All saints praise
God–they are not saints if they do not. The praise of any one saint is
sweet to Him, but in the congregation of saints there is a linked
sweetness, a wonderful commixture of precious things. Sing His praise,
then, in the congregation of His holy ones.

2. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him. Adore your Creator for your
being and for your well-being. He has twice made you, you people of
God! Give Him, therefore, double praise–not only the song of those who
sang when creation's work was done, but the praise of those who sing
because they are made new creatures in Christ Jesus!

2. 3. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise
His name in the dance. The holy dance of those days differed altogether
from the frivolous and lascivious dances of the present time. It was a
sacred exercise in which the whole body expressed its delight before
God.

3. Let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp. The one to
be struck and the other to be gently touched to yield its stringed
sweetness.

4. For the LORD takes pleasure in His people. Should not they take
pleasure in the condescension on His part to take any pleasure in them?
Oh, what a lift up it is for us when we learn to take pleasure in the
Lord!

4. He will beautify the meek with salvation. He dresses all His
children, but the meek are His Josephs, and upon them He puts the coat
of many colors. And they shall inherit the earth.

5. Let the saints be joyful in glory. God is their glory! Let them be
joyful in Him.

5. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. If they cannot come up to the
congregation, yet, when they rest at home, or when they suffer at home,
let them not cease from their music. God's praise comes up sweetly, I
do not doubt, this Sabbath evening, from many a lonely chamber where
the saints are waiting for the appearing of their Lord.

6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouths. "In their throats,"
says the Hebrew, for God's saints sing deep down in their throats.
There is a deeply rooted music when we praise God, which is altogether
unlike the mere syllables of the lips that come from a hypocrite's
tongue.

6. And a two-edged sword in their hands. For we have to fight, today,
with principalities, and powers, and wickednesses everywhere! With the
sword of the Spirit in our hands, we fight the battles of the Prince of
Peace!

7, 8. To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the
people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters
of iron. So was it when Israel came into Canaan, ordained to execute
the vengeance of God upon the heathen nations. We have no such warrant
and no such painful duty–but there is a prince who shall be bound with
chains and with fetters of iron one day. The Lord shall bruise Satan
under our feet shortly and, meanwhile, we fight against the powers of
evil of every kind. Oh, that God would help us to bind King Drunkenness
with chains and King Infidelity with fetters of iron! Would God the day
were come when impurity, which defiles so many, were overcome and
vanquished by the two-edged sword of the Spirit of God!

9. To execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all His
saints. Or it may be read, "He is the honor of all His saints." "Unto
you that believe He is precious," or, "He is an honor," says the
Apostle, and there is no honor like that which comes of being coupled
with God, living in Him, and living for Him!

9. Praise you the LORD. What bursts of praise must have risen from the
hosts of Israel when they gathered for their annual festivals and sang
together these last great Hallelujah Psalms!

Psalm 150:1. Praise you the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary. Notice
how, in this last Psalm, it is praise, praise, praise, all the way
through! I think we have the word, "praise," some 13 times in the six
verses. It is all. "praise Him,

praise Him, praise Him." It is not enough to do it once, or twice, we
should keep on praising the Lord till we should make the very heavens
ring with the music of His praises! "Praise you the Lord. Praise God in
His sanctuary." That is, in His Holy Place where He dwells. Begin, you
angels, cherubim and seraphim–pour forth His praise!

1. Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Let every star shine forth
His praises, and sun and moon cease not to extol Him–"Praise Him in
the firmament of His power."

2. Praise Him for His mighty acts: praise Him according to His
excellent greatness. There is a task for us–we shall never attain to
that height. We sometimes sing–

"Wide as His vast dominion lies, Make the Creator's name be known!

Loud as His thunder shout His praise, And sound it lofty as His
Throne." But who can compass such a feat as that?

3. 4. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the
psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him
with stringed instruments and organs. So that there were all kinds of
music in those days praising God–the wind and the stringed
instruments, the timbrel and the pipe. Everything that can praise God
should praise Him. The spiritual significance of these verses is
this–let men of different orders and different sorts praise the Lord–
men, women, children, those who are deeply taught and those who know
but little, those who are great and those who are small. Let every
heart regard itself as an instrument of praise and use itself wholly
for the Lord's praise. Having gotten so far, the Psalmist remembered
that there were discs of brass, which were struck together, and gave
forth a sound to be heard at a great distance, so He said–

5. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Crash!

5. Praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Then came another crash!

6. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise you the LORD.
A Jewish Rabbi once remarked to me that the name, Jehovah, was not made
up of letters, but only of a series of breaths. [The preacher here
uttered the three syllables of the sacred name, Je-ho-vah, as though
they were not composed of letters, but only a succession of breaths.]
That is the nearest approach to the name of God, three
breaths–therefore since all breath comes from Him–and His very name
can only be pronounced by breath, "Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord. Praise you the Lord." Hallelujah!