Text: “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His Name,
make known His deeds among the people.
Sing unto Him, sing Psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works.
1 Chronicles 16:8-9.
Good morning, rejoicing
Christian! In times of obvious Divine
blessings, you rejoice in the Lord God.
In times of increased opposition, you rejoice in the Lord God. In times of personal or family illness, you
continue to praise and sing to our Great Jehovah God. Even in times of profound adversity, you are
still unable to desist from rejoicing in the Living Lord God Who has saved you
from your sin and adopted you and I into His Eternal family. Hallelujah!
‘…Sing Psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works.” Amen. So be it, Lord God! Glory and praise to Thy Holy and gracious
Name!
These first four verses of
this great Psalm, and the Divinely inspired truth that they hold, should be a
cause for great rejoicing for those whom the Lord God has redeemed by the
precious Blood of His dear Son, Jesus Christ.
“Rejoice in the Lord always;
and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians
4:4)
The same verses hold no
licence for the unrighteous to rejoice, for the instruction is crystal clear -
‘Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous…’
Only those made righteous in Christ Jesus through the election to
Salvation of God the Father in Eternity;
through the new birth; through the Spiritual quickening by God the Holy Ghost;
only these have a cause to rejoice with such profound rejoicing of the
soul. Glory to the Lord!
All others are yet under the
Curse of God, under the wrath of God against sin; with only the prospects of a
Christ-rejecter’s Hell awaiting to swallow their souls in its doom. ‘Lord God, please quicken the souls of all
Thine elect, and secure them in Christ Jesus!
Amen.’ Sinner, repent! The days of God’s grace are soon to end!
Verse 1. “Rejoice in the Lord. To rejoice in temporal
comforts is dangerous, to rejoice in self is foolish, to rejoice in sin is
fatal, but to rejoice in God is Heavenly.
He who would have a double Heaven must begin below to rejoice like those
Above.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of
David, page 161)
Verse 1. “…Praise is comely for the upright.” The logical assumption one
must come to here is that praise must not be comely, gracious, pleasing, for
souls that are not upright! To be ‘upright
means to be habitually honourable or righteous; honest; just (or
justified). Only those of us that are
justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and in His perfect and Holy sacrifice for
our sins, can attain such an ‘upright’ standing before a Thrice Holy Lord
God.
Therefore, true and legitimate
praise and rejoicing can only be undertaken by those for whom Christ suffered
and died at Calvary’s Cross. Being
adopted into God’s family through trust/faith in the sinless Christ and His
sinless Sacrifice on the Cross, we have legitimate cause to rejoice and to sing
praises unto our gracious Lord God. (Romans 5:1)
“Rejoice not in yourselves,
for that is not safe, but in the Lord.”
(Augustine 354-430AD)
Verse 2. “Praise the Lord with harp;
sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.”
“The Hebrew verb, according to
the etymologists, originally means to dance for joy, and is therefore a very
strong expression for the liveliest exultation.” (J. A. Alexander 1809-1850)
“Praise is not comely for any
but the godly. A profane man stuck with
God’s praise is like a dunghill stuck with flowers. Praise in the mouth of a sinner is like an
oracle in the mouth of a fool; how uncomely is it for him to praise God, whose
whole life is a dishonouring of God?”
(Thomas Watson - 1690)
Christians who would truly
rejoice and praise God, must do so from sanctified lips! The Lord God detests the sin of
hypocrisy! Keep short accounts of sin!
Verse 3. “Sing unto Him. Singing is the music of
saints. 1. They have performed
this duty in their greatest numbers (Psalm 147:1-2). 2. In
their greatest straits (Isaiah 26:19). 3. In their greatest flight (Isaiah
42:10-11). 4. In their greatest deliverances. 5. In
their greatest plenty’s (Isaiah 65:14).
(John Wells (1676) in Morning Exercises.)
Verse 3. “Play skillfully. It is wretched to hear God
praised in a slovenly manner. He
deserves the best that we have.”
“With a
loud noise. Heartiness should be
conspicuous in Divine worship. Well-bred
whisperers are disreputable here. It is
not that the Lord cannot hear us, but that it is natural for great exultation
to express itself in the loudest manner.
Men shout at the sight of their kings: shall we offer no loud hosannas
to the Son of David?” (C.H. Spurgeon,
Treasury of David, page 162)
Verse 4. “For the Word of the Lord is right, all His
works are done in truth. God writes with a
pen that never blots, speaks with a tongue that never slips, acts with a hand
that never fails. Bless His Name!” (C.H.
Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 162)
Thought: Christian rejoicing
is a gift from God - let us exercise it continually.
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