Sacrifice of Praise

We're in Psalm 66, and the title of the psalm says,

To the Choir Master, a song, a psalm.

It's a great psalm of praise to God.

I'll read it out loud first.

But before I do that, let me pray.

Heavenly Father, we have gathered in your name as your people.

We want to be reminded of your glory, of your awesome deeds, of your salvation,

so that we can pour forth our praise to you as this psalm does.

So please speak to us, meet with us this evening.

Lead us and guide us as we pray.

Help us to sing and pray in a way that pleases you and according to your will.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Psalm 66.

Shout for joy to God all the earth.

Sing the glory of His name.

Give to Him glorious praise.

Say to God, how awesome are your deeds.

So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you.

They sing praises to your name.

Selah.

Come and see what God has done.

He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of men.

He turned the sea into dry land.

They passed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in Him who rules by His might forever.

Whose eyes keep watch on the nations.

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves.

Selah.

Bless our God, O peoples.

Let the sound of His praise be heard.

Who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip?

For you, O God, have tested us.

You have tried us as silver is tried.

You brought us into the net.

You laid a crushing burden on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads.

We went through fire and through water.

Yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings.

I will perform my vows to you,

that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals.

With the smoke of the sacrifice of rams,

I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

Selah.

Come and hear all you who fear God,

and I will tell what He has done for my soul.

I cried to Him with my mouth,

and high praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened.

But truly, God has listened.

He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,

because He has not rejected my prayer

or removed His steadfast love from me.

In his reflections on the Psalms,

C.S. Lewis writes about how he initially,

quote,

found a stumbling block in a demand so clamorously made

by all religious people throughout the Psalms

that we should praise God.

Still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it.

He thought that it was a vein of God to demand praise,

and unnecessary for man to encourage it,

because after all, He is the eternal God, right?

I mean, why should He need or want praise from us,

just finite creatures?

And then, as he was reflecting on this,

Lewis realized that just as men spontaneously praise

whatever they value,

so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising Him.

Isn't she lovely?

Wasn't it glorious?

Don't you think that's magnificent?

The psalmists,

in telling everyone to praise God,

are doing what all men do

when they speak of what they care about.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy,

because the praise not merely expresses,

but completes the enjoyment.

It is its appointed consummation.

It is not out of compliment

that lovers keep on telling one another

how beautiful they are.

The delight is incomplete

till it is expressed.

And that's what's happening here in Psalm 66.

The psalmist tells us,

and indeed the whole world,

that we should offer up a sacrifice of praise

to the God who saves us.

And unfortunately,

often we are not as effusive

as we should be about praising God,

because we don't delight in God

as much as we should.

But this psalm can help us

by priming the pump, so to speak,

so that we pour forth the praises of God.

And this psalm can be divided

into two main sections.

First, in verses 1 to 7,

it's the praise for the salvation

of the God who sees.

And then in verses 8 to 20,

it's the praise for the salvation

of the God who hears.

And each of these two sections

can be subdivided

into two different sections.

So four subdivisions

that each end with the break,

musical break,

signified by Selah.

Except for the last section,

which doesn't need a break,

so it doesn't have Selah.

And then there's an alternating parallelism.

So in the first subsection,

in verses 1 to 4,

the psalmist exhorts all the earth

to shout for joy to God.

And then in the second subsection,

in verses 5 to 7,

there's the invitation to all the earth

to come and see.

And then the third subsection

begins with the exhortation again

to bless our God.

And then the fourth subsection

begins with the invitation

to come and hear.

So the pattern is exhortation,

invitation, exhortation, invitation.

And so let's first look at

the praise for the salvation

of the God who sees

and how he exhorts and invites

all the earth.

So in verses 1 to 2,

the psalmist exhorts

all the earth to praise God.

He says,

Shout for joy to God

all the earth.

Sing the glory of his name.

Give to him glorious praise.

So God's glory

is the sum

of all his divine attributes.

It's the glory

is the manifestation

of Godness,

of this deity on display.

So when the psalmist says,

Sing the glory of his name.

Give to him glorious praise.

He's basically saying,

praise God

because he alone is God

and he alone deserves

our praises

and bring to him praises

that befit his identity,

who he is as God.

That's what he's saying.

And then he continues

the exhortation

in verses 3 to 4.

Say to God,

how awesome are your deeds.

So great is your power

that your enemies

come cringing to you.

All the earth worships you

and sings praises to you.

They sing praises to your name,

Selah.

All the earth should praise God

because his deeds are awesome

and his power is great.

No enemy can resist him

so they come cringing to him.

So having exhorted all the earth

to praise God in that way,

the psalmist then invites them

to come and see

in verses 5 to 7.

Come and see what God has done.

He is awesome in his deeds

toward the children of men.

He turned the sea into dry land.

They passed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in him

who rules by his might forever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations.

Let not the rebellious

exalt themselves, Selah.

All right, so in verses 1 to 4,

I don't know if you're noticing

the connection.

The psalmist exhorted all the earth

to praise God

for his awesome deeds and power.

And now he invites them

in verses 5 to 7

to come and see

his awesome deeds and might.

So there's a parallel there.

And the primary example

that he uses

to illustrate God's awesome deeds

is his deliverance of Israel

from Egypt.

It says,

He turned the sea into dry land.

They passed through the river on foot.

This is a reference to Exodus 14, 15,

where the Israelites

crossed the Red Sea on dry ground

because God parted the sea

on their behalf

for safe passage.

And then the psalmist

assumes the voice

of the entire congregation.

And when he says,

There did we rejoice in him

who rules by his might forever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations.

Of course, the psalmist

wasn't there in person

at the time of the Exodus

because this psalm

was written hundreds of years later.

But the psalmist writes

as if he himself were there

because the Exodus

kind of is the prototype

of God's salvation

of God's people.

It's the first deliverance event

after which God's people

were really born.

It's what constituted

God's people

from slavery.

And so because of that,

it symbolically represents

all the different ways

in which God delivers

his people over the centuries.

And so he sees himself

in the Exodus

as being delivered by God.

And there is a connection

also between the invitation

to come and see

with the description

that God's eyes

keep watch on the nations.

All the earth

should come and see

the God who sees

and praise him

because he's an all-seeing God

who watches over the nations.

And then in verses 8 to 15,

we turn to another exhortation

to all the peoples

to praise God.

And he says in verses 8 to 9,

Bless our God, O peoples.

Let the sounds of his praise

be heard

who has kept our soul

among the living

and has not let our foot slip.

The word people

is the same Hebrew word

for the word

that means nation.

And when it's in plural here,

it doesn't refer

just to God's people

in particular,

but to all peoples

and nations,

all the people groups

in all the nations.

And so the psalmist

is exhorting

all the peoples

of the earth

to praise God

for the way he has kept

and delivered his people.

And he says that

he has kept their soul

among the living

and has not let

our foot slip.

And soul is really

another way

of just referring

to their life

because God has kept them.

And then in verses 10 to 12,

the psalmist elaborates

on how exactly

God has kept their soul.

And he says,

For you, O God,

have tested us.

You have tried us

as silver is tried.

You brought us

into the net.

You laid a crushing burden

on our backs.

You let men

ride over our heads.

We went through fire

and through water.

Yet,

you have brought us

out to a place

of abundance.

Here,

the psalmist compares

the various tests

and trials

that God's people

have experienced

through the years,

through their national history.

And he compares that

to the refining

that takes place

for silver.

It's those trials

and sufferings

that they experienced

were the ways

in which God tested them

and refined them

to burn away the dross

and to form the character

that he desires in them,

the faithfulness

he desires from them.

And the psalmist describes

that as we went

through fire

and through water.

So,

that's a literary device

called merism

where you use

two extreme words

to inclusively refer

to everything

in between.

So,

when you say

God created

the heavens

and the earth,

it means God created

all the world,

right?

Not just heaven

and the earth.

And when it says

that God is

from the beginning

and the end,

it doesn't mean

that God's just

at the beginning

and the end.

It means that he's

eternal

and occupies all time,

right?

So,

when he says here

that he went

through fire

and through water,

that means God's people

went through all kinds

of trials

and sufferings.

They've experienced

it all

and God's brought

them through it.

And yet,

that's not the end

of the story

because those trials

had a purpose

and he says

though God brought

them into the net,

later he says

he also brought

them out

to a place

of abundance.

God's goal,

his intention

was to bring them

to a place

of abundance.

And when he reflects

on this corporate

deliverance

of God's people,

then he can't

help himself

but to praise him

personally

as an individual.

And so,

that's what he begins

to do in verses

13 to 15.

I will come

into your house

with burnt offerings.

I will perform

my vows to you

which my lips uttered

and my mouth promised

when I was in trouble.

I will offer to you

burnt offerings

of fattened animals

with the smoke

of the sacrifice

of rams.

I will make

an offering

of bulls

and goats

to say that.

So,

we can see here

that Psalmist

is also thinking

about his personal

ways in which

God's delivered him

and kind of

connecting that

to God's

deliverance

of his people.

And the Psalmist

wants to fulfill

his vows

that he made

to him

and offer

sacrifices

of worship

to God.

Then in verses

16 to 20,

the Psalmist

once again

turns to invitations.

Having exhorted

them to praise

God,

now he turns

to invite them

and he says

he wants them

to come and hear

unlike the

come and see

earlier.

So,

he says in verse

16,

come and hear

all you who

fear God

and I will tell

what he has done

for my people.

And the phrase

all you who

fear God

also refers

to all people,

all those

who fear God,

not just God's

chosen people,

the Jews,

but to all

the God-fearers.

So,

God-fearers

were the

technical way

in which Jews

referred to

Gentile converts.

So,

all those who

fear God

all over the

earth,

he's calling

them,

inviting them

to come and hear.

And then in

verse 9,

he had spoken

of how God

has kept

our soul

among the living

and now he

tells personally

of what he

has done

for my soul.

And then he

continues in

verses 17

to 20,

I cried to

him with my

mouth and high

praise was on

my tongue.

If I had

cherished iniquity

in my heart,

the Lord would

not have

listened.

But truly God

has listened.

He has attended

to the voice

of my prayer.

Blessed be God

because he has

not rejected

my prayer

or removed

his steadfast

love from

me.

It's okay.

And the

psalmist himself

had personally

cried out to

God in times

of trouble

and then God

heard his

prayers and

rescued him.

And the

word hear

and the

word listen

are the exact

same Hebrew

words.

And so just

as earlier

the psalmist

invited all

the earth

to come

and see

the God

who sees,

now the

psalmist

is inviting

all peoples

to come

and hear

the God

who hears.

And so

the great

God who

is worthy

of all

our praises,

this God

who sees

and hears,

and this

God who

does not

forsake his

steadfast love

from us,

he's the

God that

came to

us in

Jesus Christ.

In 1 Corinthians

10, 1-2,

Paul says,

For I do not

want you to

be unaware,

brothers,

that our

fathers were

all under

the cloud

and all

passed

through the

sea,

and all

were baptized

into Moses

in the cloud

and in the

sea.

So we see

there that

Paul sees

the Exodus

as the

passing through

the Red Sea

from which

the people

of God

was born,

as a

type of

foreshadowing

of Christian

baptism from

which the

new covenant

people of

God are

born.

So it

was Moses

that led

Israelites

out of

slavery from

Egypt,

but for us

it was Jesus

who led us

out of

slavery from

sin.

And this

is the

greatest of

all of

God's

awesome

deeds.

So then

what should

be our

proper

response?

And it's

the same

as a

psalmist.

The psalmist

verses 13

to 15

brought

offerings

and sacrifices

to God.

But the

sacrifices

that we

bring to

God are

no longer

the ritual

sacrifices

of animals

because Christ

is the

new temple

and he

offered

himself

as the

ultimate

once and

for all

sacrifice

to atone

for our

sins.

Therefore

there's no

longer

animal

sacrifices

left for

atonement.

But instead

as Romans

12

1 says

we are

to present

our bodies

as a

living

sacrifice

holy and

acceptable

to God

which is

our

spiritual

worship.

And as

Hebrews

13

15

says

through

Christ

then let

us

continually

offer

up a

sacrifice

of praise

to God

that is

the fruit

of lips

that acknowledge

his name.

So we

should offer

up a

sacrifice

of praise

to the

God

who saves

with both

our words

and our

deeds.

God

and this

worship

is really

ultimately

what

propels

us

into

mission

as well.

It's

like the

psalmist

who desires

that all

the earth

praise God

for his

awesome

deeds

because we

love God

and because

we're grateful

to him

and because

we want

to celebrate

and complete

that delighting

that we have

in God

by praising

him.

And we

want all

the earth

to praise

him and

that's what

leads us

into mission

because we

want others

to be able to

enjoy him

and appreciate

him and to

praise him

as we are

because of

what he has

done.

So my

prayer this

morning or

I mean this

evening

is in my

prayer as I was

preparing this

psalm is just

that God

would fill us

with that

kind of

delight in

him so

that we

pour forth

praises to

him wherever

we go

whatever

situation we're

in.

So with

that let's

sing a song

of praise

to God

and pray.