As we come to our text this evening in Psalm 148. Psalm 148. Last week we were in Psalm 147. Psalm 148. Before we read from God's word, let's ask Him to bless it this evening.
Oh Lord, we thank you that you are our God, that you have given us these words. We thank you that we could sing your words this evening. And we pray that you would continue to guide us closer to you. And Lord, may the meditations of my heart and the words of my lips be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
We pray all this in your Son's name. Amen. Isaiah, uh sorry, Psalms 48. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights. Praise him, all his angels. Praise Him, all His hosts. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all you shining stars.
Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever. He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist.
Stormy wind fulfilling his word. Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars. Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted.
His majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people. Praise for all his saints. for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord. Amen. Now, growing up, I was never a fan of classical music. Probably didn't strike a chord here, but um My father, on the other hand, was a fanatic when it came to classical music. I played the piano for a few years, I tried my hand at the cello, and it wasn't for me.
I would roll my eyes when he played his classical music, and he found my punk rock and ska music abhorrent.
However, there would come a day when I realized that there was a a portion of classical music that I actually quite enjoyed. See, my father was quite surprised when he came into the house and he heard our our family computer playing music that sounded similar to an orchestra, but it was a piece he'd never heard. And he was curious, so he inquired as to what I was listening to. Because he was fa very certain that he wouldn't find me listening to something like this. And I said, well.
It's the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings.
Well now all of a sudden there's this shared interest.
Something I've come to appreciate about orchestral music is the story that can be told through music.
Now, as we continue in our CPR sermon series, we're going to continue to draw out these themes of creation, providence, and redemption from the Psalms. These elements tell us a great story of what our God has done. and points us to what our God will do in the future.
Now we sang Psalm 148 earlier as all of the psalms are songs, even if we don't have the original tunes. But that these psalms are songs. Should help us tonight as we study the song of creation.
Now, the theme of our text this evening is that the song of creation points us to the redeeming work of Yahweh.
Now, it should be clear to us that the hands of the builder point us to the intent behind the finished product.
So the Lord is the great architect, did not build and design all of creation willy-nilly. No, every single molecule of creation was designed, planned, and executed with amazing detail. Everything was composed in a perfect and epic way.
Now, we will see our theme in three areas of our text this evening. First, creation responds to God. Second, providence through age and class. And third, redemption in God's work. A creation, providence, redemption.
God's amazing work of creating produces a response from the creation. God's astounding providence is revealed through the ages and abilities of creation. And finally, God's astonishing redemption is part of God's great work to care for his creation.
So, as we move into our first section of our text and we look at how creation speaks to God, a practical note here: this first point will be much longer than the other two points. Uh we'll be looking at verses 1 through 10 and we'll be jumping around a little bit.
Now, I'm not the kind of person who likes to ruin stories for people that haven't read them. But if you haven't read the Chronicles of Darnia, you're missing out. They're amazing books.
Well, they're written for kids, so you can finish them in, you know, maybe an hour or two. But they have a deep and profound implication for all ages.
Now, if I did happen to spoil it for you, I won't, but if I did, they were written in the 50s, so you don't really have an excuse.
Now, in book six, The Magician's Nephew, we get a glimpse into how the world of Narania was created.
Now, I will tell you this: if you're going to read the Chronicles of Narnia and you haven't read it yet, Remember, the magician's nephew is book six, not book one. Right? Fall in love with the story and its creator, and then you'll have a deeper appreciation for how and why he created that world. Bookmark that for later. Uh in this book, the world is created out of nothing by the power of a song.
A beautiful song that makes a beautiful picture painted before the reader's eyes. When we come to the Bible. And we understand who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us, we are given fresh eyes. into the reading of Genesis.
Now all of the Bible's inspired. It's all important. Hear me. But that being said, the book of Genesis is of supreme importance. Because it tells us who our God is and how he created this amazing universe.
And we also get that expounded on in John 1, where we're told that God created the universe through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of God. And all of God's creation generally reveals the invisible God. Who created it? Psalm 148 is a song, thus, the song in a sense of creation.
Now, verse 1 begins with a general call to all. to praise God. The psalmist uses heavens and heights to proclaim an all-encompassing praise, or praise from all areas of creation. What follows verse 1 is a list of the various areas of creation.
So let's start with verse 2. Praise him, all his angels. Praise him, all his hosts.
Now remember, angels are creatures. They're created by God.
Now, they're obviously different from a dog or a bear, right? Angels are eternal beings. They can think, they can reason.
Now my golden retriever can think and reason plainly that two is better than one. Right, two tennis balls is better than one tennis ball. Two treats is better than one treat, right? My Golden can reason that it's better to come when called than it is to disobey. And yet angels can reason and think like us.
They can even choose to be corrupted by sin and pride. We talked about fallen angels this morning. Angels operate outside our plane of existence, being able to move around the earth and the heavens unseen by us. But always seen by the Lord.
Now, angel, right, means simply servant or messenger. There's nothing simple about them. The Lord through the psalmist, calls the angelic beings to worship. And how do the angels worship? They worship by declaring God's work.
They carry news of his deeds, right? When the angel appears to Mary, we see a recounting of what God will do. As well in Job 38. If you've read Job and you get to Job 38, that ending part, you see this amazing speech from God. declaring that he is indeed God, that he has created everything.
And in 38, the beginning. He asked Job. If where was Job? when the foundations of the earth were laid.
Now, uh I talked about earlier this morning how how there's comical parts of the Bible. Um a lot of Job is sad, but when we get to the the speech from God, uh it's not only ironic, but it's also a little sarcastic. God basically says, Where were you when the foundations of the earth were laid? You were there, right? Oh.
No, that was me. That was me that was there, not you. Look at verse 7. Where were you when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? I'll talk about the stars in a moment.
But as for the angels, they shouted for joy at the establishing of creation. Right we we read Genesis and it's it's silent. There's We're not getting a chorus there. But as we continue to unfold the revelation of God, we see that the angels, right, the sons of God, are shouting for joy. As the Lord creates.
What else is there to glean from verse 2? The word hosts is used. This is one of the titles for our God, Lord of hosts. Sabaioth, his name. We sang that this morning, and a mighty fortress is our God.
It means the Lord of hosts. The word hosts essentially means armies. Which is to say the hosts of heaven are the armies of heaven. which are made up of a great multitude of creatures. including angels.
Who else worships God by praising his deeds and his name? Created things. Look at verses 3 and 4. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens. We're starting to get into some interesting stuff here. Last week we talked about how one would glorify a water fountain, right? You glorify a water fountain by drinking from it.
Now, a water fountain fulfills its creator by putting forth water, right? This is simple, we get this, right? The sun Glorifies God by keeping the gravitational pull of the planets in the galaxy in check. The sun glorifies God by heating the earth. The sun glorifies God by doing what it was designed to do.
Now you might say, but the sun doesn't have a soul like we do. Right? It's not an eternal being like an angel or a human. While you would be right. It would be silly of you to think The Son doesn't somehow worship and glorify God.
The psalmist makes it clear. That the created things, the sun, the moon, the stars, they all praise the Lord. Surely that can't be. How do the stars praise the Lord? Read Judges 4 and 5.
Sure sounds like the stars do much more than just shine light in the sky. Isn't it possible that the celestial beings that were created by God could be harnessed for war. by their Creator. What does Jesus have to say about created things praising the Creator? Think about Luke 19, Christ's advent to Jerusalem, verses 39 and 40.
And some of the Pharisees and the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. I don't think Jesus would be making things up. If Jesus told the stones to praise him, they would. Creation glorifies its Creator.
It must. Thus the psalmist calls all to attend to the Lord.
Now, verse 4 does have an interesting thing here about the waters above the heavens.
Now, last week we talked about the storehouses of ice and snow that the Lord has, right? And now we're referencing the waters kept in storage by our God.
Now, we're not going to dive into the flood narrative tonight, and there's some connotation there and how the water canopy collapsed and flooded the earth. That's for a sermon series in Genesis. But in Psalm 148, our psalmist rightly connects us to the second day of creation. What happened on the second day of creation? The waters were divided.
As Job's conversation reminds us, right, with God, that even the waters. Obey. Its creator. The waters glorify their Creator. What else praises God?
Verses 8 and 9. Fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind, fulfilling his word. mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars. And we talked about the decrees of God last week, too. The awesome power of the elements.
Obey their creator and their God, right? The power of the elements are harnessed by the Lord. Mountains and hills worship their God by being majestic in their own right. Fruit trees bring forth fruit for the healing of the hunger of man and beast. Cedars are majestic in their growth and ability to be used in building structures.
Right, the psalmist communicates that All aspects of creation worships and praises the Lord. including animals.
Alright, look at verse 7 and 10. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all deeps. Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and and flying birds.
Now I saw something recently that said we might soon be able to learn what birds are saying.
Something very scientific, program-looking thing. But a pastor, friend, and brother of mine said, We already know what they're singing, they're praising their God. They were singing hallelujah. Praise him. Because Psalm 148 tells him to.
Animals. glorify their Creator by doing what they were designed to do. It is true, sin has come into the world. Disease affects this world, including the creation. But a day will come when the new heavens and the new earth will feature the feisty animals no longer attacking and destroying as they do now.
But wolves will behave as wolves are designed to behave. Right, even my dopey dog behaves in the way her creator designed her to. Even the sea creatures magnify their Creator. One sea creature of impressive size and ability Glorified its creator by swallowing a man and vomiting him up on the dry ground. Believe it or not, we don't really know what kinds of creatures lurk in the deeps.
Because we cannot go there. There are much larger creatures than angels or than whales in this world. Which is why the psalmist uses verse five and six to outline that all things. Praise the Lord. All things.
Praise the Lord. Verse 5 and 6. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever.
He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Now in studying for this, I was there's some issues here with this word decree. It's a little messy. The word decree here in our text is good. It it points us to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the shorter Catechism 7 through 10.
But the word here for decree is often translated other places as boundary.
So that we can understand the clause here saying that God has made a border and it will not be crossed.
Now, this is evident in Job's narrative as well, because the Lord talks about how he has designed the waters, and they come to their point, and they go no further.
Now Essentially, whether we're using Decrees or boundaries, it doesn't matter. It is definitively saying. that creation does not do anything more than God says it does. All of creation is called to praise the Lord. The amazing creatures.
The the supernatural beings. The planets, the stars. They all praise God in some form or fashion. God's amazing work of creating produces a response from creation. Creation responds to its Creator.
Because of this. We see that God's astounding providence shows itself through the ages and abilities of creation. You see, the transition here in our text from verse 10 to verse 11 shows the psalmist moving from creation to Yahweh's providence over the history of the world. These two verses point us to see God's sustaining actions. through age and class in every generation of man.
Verse 11 and 12. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children. Now, there are four categories here: royalty, the young of marriable age, the old, and the children. These four categories represent all the facets of human life. But Calvin remarks the the reason in listing the kings first He he says that as all men originally stand upon a level as to condition, The higher persons have risen, the And the nearer they have been brought to God, the more sacredly are they bound to proclaim.
His goodness.
Now see, this principle continues today. For those that aim to lead are held to a higher standard.
Now, back in the days of the kings of Israel, God commanded that all the kings would write their own copy of the law by hand.
So they would remember it as they exercised rule. over God's people.
So that In the event the king transgressed God's law, They would see it in their own hand. what they are to do and how they've broken it. God holds his leaders to a high standard. And he, as Calvin says, more sacredly are they bound to proclaim his goodness. And you'll notice that the psalmist lists royalty or leaders three times.
Often in the history of the world, leaders have thought themselves above the common people. But the Bible always points to the leaders of peoples as ones who are servants of the people. This would prefigure the the coming of Christ as a gentle and lowly servant. And while the kings and princes obviously stand out, they are one category of four. These four categories have been present throughout all the ages of the world, and what does that information tell us?
It tells us that God has been constant to sustain and provide. And we don't just have to take the Bible's word for it, right? We can see that even after the Bible ends and we move through age after age, we see the Lord has kept his promises. The Lord has still uh Led his church, guided his church, and made sure that the word is available to be preached. In every generation of man on this earth, There has always been a portion to carry the name of the Lord to the next generation.
We all too easily forget just how providential God has been over the years. And even so. He will be faithful until our faith is turned to sight. But then the question comes. What is that faith in?
Our faith is in the redeeming power of God. Verses 13 and 14. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His majesty is above the earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people.
Praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord. So who does the work? God does the work. Always.
It's only because of God's intervention that redemption is possible. Is he in the garden? It is only because the Lord chose to redeem Adam and Eve and give them hope that things continued. Adam and Eve broke the law. They could have been put to death right then and there.
Instead, The Lord shed the blood of an innocent animal, well, not of an innocent animal, just the blood of an animal, and gave them skins to cover their nakedness. There can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. There's an essential truth at stake here. As we round out our time in Psalm 148. Is this?
God cares for all of his creation. But he truly has a special love for Or his people. God cares for all of his creation, but he truly has a special love. for his people.
Now If this psalm is written in the context of the exiles returning from Babylon, And it's easy to understand why the psalmist would say that the Lord has raised up a horn. In poetic biblical language, the horn is a symbol of power. There's a lot of that in Revelation, not just the Psalms. The people of Israel returned from exile. The Lord had been faithful again.
The Lord had raised up a horn in bringing the people from Babylon back to Jerusalem. But in Christ. A horn was raised up not to rescue the people from exile in Babylon, but rather to rescue people from the dark domain of sin. See, the end of our psalm points us to the great victory of our God. Not the temporal victory of our God, but the eternal victory of our God.
And who is this victory for? What does our text tell us? The saints of God. If you were here for Sunday school this morning, we talked a little bit about this word saint. Consecrated one, holy one, one who set apart.
The saints of God are those He has chosen. Those who love him and keep his commandments. You see, the psalmist desires to call all people of age and class to worship God for his faithfulness. From generation to generation. He has been faithful.
And he will be faithful still. As we close tonight, we should recognize that Psalm 148 is itself a climax of the whole book of Psalms. Uh drawing everything from the previous 147. to encompass all of creation coming together. To praise the name of the Lord.
There is a day coming when all will come together to praise the name of Jesus Christ. Many because they're forced to praise and yet some because they delight to praise.
So the question is Where are you? Are you forced to praise? Or you delight to praise. Which side will you be on when that great day comes? See, creation points us to the understanding of Providence.
Creation points us to the understanding of Providence. Providence allows us to see redemption. It's only in the Lord's providence. that we could be redeemed. As we heard about this morning in Luke's Gospel, we don't go searching for Jesus.
Jesus seeks us out. And when we see that the point of the story is the crucified and resurrected Christ. All of history backwards and forwards is now seen in a new light. Just like understanding Genesis through the eyes of the gospel. As you contemplate Psalm 148.
and the redemptive work of our God. Listen to the words of Augustine, which I found extremely potent. For today's day and age. Do not allow your pleasure. in what he has made.
to lure you away from him who made it. Rather. If you love what he has made. Love the Maker far more. If the things he has made are so beautiful, How much more beautiful must he be?
Who made them? For though God made the heavens and the earth, the beasts and the birds, his greatest creation was our eternal human souls. And he composed all of it for his glory. That's how he operates. He does all things because he wants to.
He does all things because it brings him glory. And thus We are called to praise the Lord. That His glory includes us. Thus, we are called to praise the Lord, singing the praises of our God.
Now And Lord willing, for all eternity. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you.
That you Are indeed our God. That you call us to praise your holy name, that you call us to magnify your name. We thank you that the sun, the moon, and the stars all do this. We thank you that. Your angels do this.
We thank you that your creation and your beasts and the birds and everything else does this as well. May we continue to remember who you are through what you've done. May we continue to rest in your completed work. and the work yet to come. We pray all this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
