Please take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 145. There's a surprise at the end of this. This is a more familiar text to you than you maybe realize. Had the most unusual title, a praise of David. I will extol you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts, and I will declare your greatness. They shall utter the memory of your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. All your work shall praise you, O Lord, and your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He will also hear their cry and save them. The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever. and ever. Let's pray. Gracious God, it is a privilege to speak the unfathomable riches of Christ. It is a privilege to hear the unfathomable riches of Christ. Lord, you have appointed that your church should spread the knowledge of God in every place. This is eternal life. that they would know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." These are the words of Jesus. My people perish for lack of knowledge. These are the words of Hosea. Lord, thank You that You desire relationship. And so I pray that the knowledge of God would be diffused through this psalm this morning. To Your glory, and to the benefit of your people. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. The knowledge of God is something that you need to pay very close attention to. When Hosea said that my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, he didn't mean an academic knowledge of God. Nor did he mean any kind of academic knowledge. It was a knowledge that was personal, that was then reflected in their lives. That they would know God, and then it would be reflected in their lifestyle. Jeremiah chapter 22 mentions the same thing. That to know God is to live a certain way. God says in Hosea chapter 6 that He desires loving kindness more than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Something I forget how that verse ends. But God desires to know Him more than offerings. Did you catch what was said earlier in Psalm 69? At the end of that psalm, which is a messianic psalm, It is recorded there that I will offer up to you the fruit of lips. I will sing praises to you. I will give you thanksgiving. And you will delight in that more than oxen or young bulls. We would call spears and things. The psalm is saying there that God would rather have you sing out of thanksgiving than to put money in the plate. Money is cheap with God. Hearts are precious. Remember what Peter said about the meek and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of the Lord? Hearts are precious. And a heart that overflows in joy, in praise and gratitude to God, is worth more to him than oxen. I was tempted to get on the internet and type in sphere and see how much they're running these days and give you a dollar sign. Now, if you put that amount of money in the plate, that God would rather have you singing this morning out of genuine, sincere gratitude for your salvation than to plop $600 or whatever in the plate, which would be a sizable sum for most, if not all of us in the room. Similarly, Hosea says, God says through Hosea, I'd rather have a lifestyle of loving kindness done in the knowledge of God than your offerings. I would rather have you know me and my character and life be reflected in you than to have you give me gifts. So we see Psalms like this, Psalm 111, Psalm 112. Psalm 111 says, God, you are this. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Psalm 112 echoes it. This is what the man who fears God is like. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And the two reflect each other. That the man who fears God, who worships God, knows who God is like and it reflects in his whole life. That's why we call a Christian somebody who is godly. He's like God. And knowing God makes you godly. You see how that works? And so, the knowledge of God is crucial for your life and for your transformation. Those who desire just to get something out of God, but don't want to know Him, will lose both. both the gift and the giver. Those who desire to know God will receive both the giver and the gifts, for the only way you experience the big heart of the giver is through his gifts. To know God will make all the other things he gives turn from black and white into technicolor. all of a sudden everything will come to life, and it will have the aroma of God on it. So the knowledge of God is crucial. If you don't know God, you don't have life. And the test of knowing God is your life. Are you a son or a daughter of the Most High, Jesus would put it? You're going to look like Him, for He is this and this way. Psalm 145 is a praise of David that is full of the knowledge of God. There are four parts to this psalm. Laserm in your mind. One versus one and two is the prologue. That's the that's the porch. Versus three through seven is the parlor. That's the front room. Versus eight. through 13 is one of the backrooms and then verses 14 to the end is the other backroom. So you have a porch where you're introduced to the psalm. You have a parlor that says how great God is. And then you have two backrooms in this psalm. It breaks down like this. There is a resolve on the porch. I will extol God. If my children don't praise God, I'm going to praise God. If my parents refuse to worship God, I'm still going to worship God. If my country and my neighbors and everyone around me doesn't want to worship God, I resolve to worship God. I'm walking onto this porch. I'm going to see what this house is about. That's what verses 1 and 2, they speak of a deep resolve. Then verses 3 to 7 speaks of the greatness of God. The word great is mentioned several times there. What's interesting about that word great is I always think of it in terms of God's power and knowledge, things like that, that you can measure. Where the psalm uses it for everything. It's not just God's power of arm, it's His greatness of heart. His loving kindness is mentioned as something great. Of course, we can't measure it, it extends through the clouds. So, second part is God's greatness. Then verse 8, one of the backrooms launches us into the name of God. Echoing Moses in Exodus 34, that God is, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, great in mercy. And then it follows, the implications follow up in the name of God. And then the last section, 14 to 21, is more details of what that previous section said. It explains what the goodness of God looks like in many aspects. Each section ends with praise. Each section ends with something great about God. There is something here that extols him, that lifts him up. Verse 13 isn't exactly praise, but it mentions an everlasting kingdom through all generations, something that would echo the forever and ever verses one and two. Let's get into the porch. Let's do that section first. Every one of us is proud of something. Something that we want to show somebody else. Something that we would like to put on a pedestal. Showcase, lift up, promote The key, according to verses 1 and 2, to praising God, to knowing how to praise God, is to have a deep desire in our heart that Jesus Christ would be the one who has the preeminence in all things, that He would be the one on the pedestal. That if you want to look at something in my life, look at Him. Or as Paul says, that Christ is exalted in my body. Another language for lifting up high. That Christ would have that high spot, the Lord would be exalted. If that position is there, then my heart is tuned to praise Him. You could translate verse 1, I will extol you, my God, O King. In order that I may bless your name forever and ever, I will set you on high so that I will bless you forever." The way to speak well about God is to first of all have in our heart to speak, to have Him on high and desire that He would be publicly known. Some of you have a hard time speaking about Jesus in public. You find it difficult to bring his name up or to quote him. And you find you wrestle with fears. I don't think it's shame necessarily, but it's fears. You get intimidated and it's something that makes you nervous. That's hindering your praise. You are naturally wired to praise whatever you are enjoying. To praise something means to speak well of it in public. And so you are naturally wired to speak well about whatever you are currently enjoying. But you're finding it a hindrance inside and your mouth is not having the words. This verse tells you what's missing. You need a deeper desire to make Jesus go public. If you would have that desire that God has, for God put him at the highest spot in the universe, if your heart would resonate with God that only one person deserves that spot, and that's Jesus. God put him there, now I need to put him there in my affections and desires. If that would be true of you, your mouth will flow. I will extol you means I will set you on high. I will put you in the prominent place so that I will bless you. I will speak well of you. Now, does that make sense? It's a heart condition. You need a stronger heart that desires that Jesus would be promoted and public. Then, if you want this to continue your whole life, verse 2 says, you bless Him every day. So, every morning you get up and say, may this day Jesus Christ be high and lifted up in my life. And if that's your desire, that this day may Christ be exalted, may He be public, may He be known, then that sets the tone for your voice the rest of the day. Now you will bless Him. And if you bless him that day, and the next day, and the next day, pretty soon it turns into forever. And so the psalm David is saying, this is my desire. The Lord deserves that place, not me, not anything else. And so my mouth will follow my heart. What makes him worthy of praise is the next section. says there that he is greatly to be praised, verse 3, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. That means that he is exceedingly praiseworthy. He is worthy of publication, advertisement. He is worthy of being made known. There are some things that people parade around as if there's great craftsmanship that should actually be hidden away. Other things you see, that's a work of art. It would be a shame if you would hide that in the closet. People should see that and enjoy it. Similarly, some of us, due to our sin, all of us, we should be confounded and hidden away. But Jesus is perfect and great. He should be made known. He is praiseworthy. That's verse 3. One generation, I mean, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. Grandparents. You are one generation. Parents. You are one generation children. You are one generation. Great-grandparents would be even another one, but there's several gradations when we get up there among some of you of great, great, and it gets to be a big family. With all these generations, one generation is supposed to turn over and speak of the great things of God to the next generation. I was sitting at the ball field yesterday, listening, overhearing some conversation. about how bangs are cut, you know, and I like my bangs cut this way. One lady was saying, I like my bangs cut that way. And my bangs definitely got cut this morning. You know, those are conversations that it's like, okay, they come and they go. I was last week talking with somebody. Well, yesterday, another conversation yesterday, my lower ball joint went out in my vehicle. Oh, you changed your lower ball joint. Okay, this is a guy's conversation. Okay, similar kind of things. Things that come and go, come and go. Our conversations are often filled with that kind of day-to-day stuff. How much of our conversations are filled with the greatness of God? How much do we praise Him so that He is on our conversation rather than other things? Or if there are other things, is He involved in it? Here's what happens. Is this not true? Instead of telling of the great things of God, we tell of the great things of ourselves. We talk about our harrowing experiences. One person talks about their close call, then we talk about our close call. Then one person talks about how they did well on this job, then another person says, well, I did well on this job. And we go back and forth talking like that. And it talks about, and God isn't mentioned. He may be assumed, but He's not vocalized and mentioned. This is often what our conversations are, are they not? And not only is it the great things that we have done, it is an interesting thing about the human creature. We often boast about our past sins, about the time when we were crazy and we did something stupid and foolish. Oh yeah, I remember that. I did that once too. And then we start talking like that. They're not even great things. They're shameful, foolish things, things that, what were you thinking? And then we get to know about the previous generations things. Oh, my grandpa did this. Oh, my grandma did this. Boy, you should have seen my dad, my mom. And then generations pass these things along. And these are the stories that get handed over to the next generation. How much better would it be if instead of handing over that mixed bag of human achievement and human folly, we're handing over the greatness of God, which is unsearchable. I had this text on my mind for two weeks. It was interesting. My wife came to me two days ago with this little bag. And I haven't seen my wife talk with such interesting tones. It was captivating. It was like being a child again and hearing its story time. So she had this bag, and I forget the name she wants to embroider on it, but it's something about God. And so she pulls out each item in it. And it's these little figurines, little stuff that, you know, kid toys that have gotten thrown around the floor and they're just laying around. Now that reminds me of this story. And so she had a little vacuum cleaner in there. And when I was a girl, I couldn't get the vacuum cleaner started until I prayed. And then it started. This is the joy of a mother who wants to proactively take things in her past and say, I want to tell the next generation about what good things God did. She's got that little box. Some of you have seen that little box. We went to Colorado in 2008, and I left my driver's license in Minnesota, but didn't realize it until I was in Colorado about ready to rent a car to go up into the mountains. And you know my car. That car is not mountain car. It was barely prairie car. And so we needed a vehicle. And I was like, what are we going to do because I can't rent it? Oh, Gina's got a license. Six days in Rocky Mountain National Park. Up and down the mountains. Around the bend. Second gear, first gear. Driving up slow. Husband sitting over there trying not to be a backseat driver. That's a long ways down. controlling everything. It was six days of that. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Then we get to the end. Now we got to drive 2,000 miles, or whatever it is, across the high plains, across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, back home. And Gina did it all the way. We get back home, go to Gideon's banquet. They got all the tables set. Little settings everywhere. We see friends. We go sit down over there. End of the night. They have these little boxes of cut out maps in which were filled with candy and different things. End of the night, Gina looks at her little box. And it's a chunk of Colorado. Denver is over there. Everybody recognized Denver. But the only other town, it is like the only other town in this huge area, is this dinky little town that we stayed at the whole time she drove up and down those mountains. That was God interpreting it in my mind, saying, well done, my daughter. That goes in the bag and becomes a story to tell of faith and being rewarded. Those are the stories to intrigue our children. Whatever, you got them. If you walked with the Lord, you know the Lord, you've seen answer to prayer. Sometimes, you know what it's like. You had it for the moment. You were saying it and repeating it to somebody else, but then you didn't write it down, you didn't capture it. And we've all done it, and it goes away. And we forget the kindness and the goodness of God. God is worthy of His praise. We can tell those stories. And so this one generation shall praise your works to another has captured my heart in a desire that Lord grant our homes to be word saturated homes. Appreciate what Matt and Ruth Studer have been doing lately in their home. At least for a time, maybe they kept up with it. But they're like us, like many of us. You know, we've watched movies. You know how it is. You see a movie, a line tickles your funny bone, then you repeat it. You repeat it again. You make the little face, make somebody else laugh. You know, and all these little stuff like that. Because we've seen movies. You know what's happened? Movies have become the story language of our culture. so that we are quick now to draw upon the media, especially movies, some television shows, to give a face or language or a story that describes what's happening here. It should be the Bible. It should be the stories of God. It should be the truth of what God has done, the great things that God has done. When we're in need, it should be Jehovah Jireh, He will make it appear at the top of the mountain. When we're boxed in in life, it's the God of the Red Sea. He's going to part the sea. Or whatever it is that we need at that moment, we need to echo those times. It's the God of this. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who raised Jesus from the dead. This is the language of the New Testament. And so, Matt and Ruth, they checked each other. If anybody quoted, a movie, they had to then quote a Bible verse. That's a challenge. But it puts in mind again, the greatness of God is being lost and swallowed up by our own stories, by our culture's stories, and we are losing our heritage and our history and not passing it on to the next generation. And we need to be those who are intentional to say, I will give God glory. When you have an answer to prayer next, that's a very strong, clear answer to prayer. You really desired to see so-and-so. You had it on your heart and all of a sudden, you turn a grocery aisle and there they are. And the Lord opens a door wide open for you to speak clearly about their need for Jesus or about their soul or about what's going on in your life, whatever it is. Mark that down. Tell somebody about it. Give God the praise. His greatness is unsearchable. According to verse 7, these things are the things that God wants remembered. They shall utter the memory of your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness." Brothers and sisters, I know we don't have a piano right now, but God's given us vocal cords. We may not be hitting the notes right on, but we can sing. We have a God who is great and worthy of our praise. This whole psalm says it's a praise. It's teaching us to praise. So the greatness of God tells us we should praise Him. We should praise Him to the next generation. Let me go to the next room then, the room with the name over there. It's just a portion of the name I Am that God revealed to Moses. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. Let me address those of you in the room who have a hard time receiving a gift. You know what it's like. Somebody wants to give you something. Do you feel like you need to pay for it or give something in return? Maybe you've even told people, I don't take free gifts or something of that effect. There is a trap door in that. There is something commendable there at times. Maybe the person giving has ulterior motives and some other reason why he shouldn't take it. Or maybe you're learning contentment and you're really just fine. It's not really a need or something. Who knows? But there's a trap door in that attitude. The trap door says, that every good thing I receive, I should somehow have a part in attaining that. Kind of like that sound of music, a little snippet. Here I go telling a movie because I'm speaking to all of us. In the gazebo, you know, with Christopher Plummer over here and her name over there. I must have done something good. Somewhere in my childhood, I must have done something good to deserve this. No! This whole world streams grace. It exudes grace. If you had to earn every good thing you received, every breath you take would empty you of all your resources in less than an hour. Air itself blows my mind. God just poured it out on this planet and we can soak up and drink up as much as we want. And God doesn't ask us to pay for it a dime. Praise Him. That's what He wants. Just praise Him. Thank Him. And so everything in life, your very being is here because God just desired to have you in this world. Your parents didn't have to meet. Maybe they wanted to stop having children before you. Who knows? But you're here by the good grace of God. Grace is free favor. It's just overflowing goodness. Why are you doing this? I'm doing this because I want to. That's grace. And God just wants to. And so when He reveals His name to Moses, He put it right up front. Gracious. Gracious. This is what this means for you practically. Mark this. Do not measure, do not scope out and say, how much good can I anticipate in the future? Don't measure that good based upon your performance. Well, I've been such, I've been kind of a good boy. I think I can make it into heaven. I just won't get much crowns. That's not grace thinking. That's law thinking. And the Bible says everyone who thinks that way is under a curse. Because if you think that way, that somehow being good is going to get you into heaven, the Bible says you must obey all the commandments all the time. And only Jesus did that. Because James 2 says if we break one commandment, we are guilty of them all. in the sense that we have become a law breaker. I can keep 99 commandments, but if I break one, I broke the law. So, think of it in terms of this way. God, in His great grace, wants you to be in heaven. And so, He gave His Son to pay for you to be in heaven. And now He sends you preachers who publish the news that God wants you to know Him, and He paid already the penalty, the price for you to know Him. And if you want God, you can have Him. That's grace. Psalm 103 takes the name of God, which is grace, and goes this direction with it. It goes the direction of forgiveness. Well, God, if the result doesn't depend on my performance, and now I realize my performance has been rotten, corrupt, because I'm a sinner, can I still get the result? Can I still get a knowledge of You and eternity with You in Your house? And the name of God says, yes, grace. Because I can just freely give it. In fact, I want to give it. And so Psalm 103 magnifies the grace of God saying, you've been bad, but we're forgiven. Return to Him. So forgiveness depends on grace. You know what this psalm does with grace? This psalm speaks about everybody. Follow with me. Track the words, all. Grace in this psalm says that God is available for everyone. The Lord is good, verse 9, to all. Verse 10, all your works shall praise you. Verse 14, the Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. Verse 15, the eyes of all look expectantly to you. You give them their food. Verse 16, you satisfy the desire of every or all living things. Verse 17, the Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. Verse 18, the Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. You have to really want Him. You can't just mouth the words, but if you really want God, He will be near to you. He will give Himself to you. Verse 20, the Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. And verse 21, all flesh shall bless His holy name. Do you see, once the name of God is mentioned in this psalm, that God is an is gracious, that He overflows in free goodness, then the rest of the psalm just says, all, all, all, all, all, all, every good gift and every person receives from that fountain. It's all from God in His grace. That is hope. If you've fallen down due to your sin, He picks up all who have fallen. If you are bowed down because of shame and you can't lift up your head, He raises up all who are bowed down. If you know you're a sinner, the Bible says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord, Jesus, save me. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. He saves all who call upon Him in truth. Whether you're a boy, girl, woman, man, grandpa, grandma, everyone, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, here's the hidden thing of this psalm. This is the only psalm that is called a praise. The Jews used it often in their synagogue worship. Apparently twice in the morning and one time at night is what I read. It is the psalm that sets up the hallelujah psalms that wrap up the psalms. 146 to 150 is hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. We translate that, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. You can read them, it's there. This is the praise psalm of the whole psalms. This is it. If you want to learn to praise, this is the place to go. Focus on the greatness of God, focus on the grace of God. And if you do that and desire that the greatness and grace of God will be exalted in Jesus, your mouth will overflow in praise. That's what this psalm says. It appears that Jesus used this psalm as the basis for the Lord's Prayer. It begins with the name of God, verses 1 and 2, and then explains the name of God in verse 8. Then it mentions the kingdom of God in verses 10, 11, 12, and 13. Then it mentions daily bread, In verses 15 and 16, it mentions the Lord's grace in being near to all who call upon him. It could be that forgiveness is in there. And lead us not into temptation. Protection is found in verse 20. The Lord preserves all who love him. It appears like the same pattern that Jesus used when he taught us to pray is the pattern that was already written by the prototype of Jesus, David, in Psalm 145. Almost everybody who claims to be a Christian has heard of the Lord's Prayer. Now you know the background, like the rest of the story. Now you know the background. And what's the background? The background is praise. You exist for praise. Prayer exists for praise. Problems exist for praise. Everything exists for praise. Even sins exist for praise. For the greatness of God's grace is magnified in the forgiveness of a great sinner. The bottom line is praise God, praise God, praise God. If that's the case, then we have been sinning greatly if we have not been speaking the name of God in public. And we have been sinning greatly if we have not been giving the praises of Jesus to the next generation. If the bottom line is praise, then we need to be about praise, standing on the porch and saying, I want Jesus public. I want my mouth to bless Him at all times. I want to praise His name forever. Will you stand on the porch with me? Will you desire to be retaught and to rethink with me along the language of Scripture so that we can praise Him more in our day-to-day speech with our families, not just in our formal devotions time. Will you stand with me on the porch, desiring that this town, the co-workers and the neighbors that you know would hear Jesus on your lips? Will you stand with me on that? This psalm, says in verse 12, all this is to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts. The day of Pentecost records that the people heard the apostles speaking the mighty acts of God in their own language. Evangelism is praise if it's sincere. Let me tell you of the great things God has done in Jesus and let me tell you of the great things God has done for me. Let me tell you my story. That is true evangelism. That's praise. It's the bottom line. Will you stand on the porch with me? Will you desire to praise God more and to not let a day go by of a bad attitude stealing a sincere heart of praise. It's so easy. Let's pray. I will extol You, O God, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you so that I will praise your name forever and ever. Father in Heaven, we have been too preoccupied with our own name. Give us the name of Jesus. We have passed on our own stories of how when we look good, give us grace to pass on your stories of what you've done in our life in the lives of others and in the Scriptures. We have spent too much time clearing our name, telling stories that make us exonerated and cleared of whatever we're being talked about. Lord, help us in our hearts to have Jesus be preeminent and first and on the pedestal, so that our mouth would be more earnest in sticking up for Him and speaking of Him. Give us the wonder again of Bethlehem, of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Give us the wonder of Gethsemane, how He could endure when all else fled away. Give us the wonder of the cross. Grant us to marvel again at the resurrection, the ascension, the seated power of Jesus over all the nations, and the Day of Judgment, and the remaking of the heavens and earth. Grant us, O God, to have a renewed heart so that we will have a renewed mouth, so that the next generation will hear the praises of Your greatness. And Father, if our heart has not even been renewed, but has been bound by the chains of sin and blinded by ignorant pride to assuming the best when the worst is the reality. Thank you that now is the day of salvation and your power is present to open our eyes and say, I have lived for myself. I need to live for Jesus. Oh, Jesus, heal my heart and forgive my sins. Father in Heaven, we praise You for the Gospel and the greatness of Your grace. Thank You that You didn't wait around for us to get our act together, but You freely forgive and You freely give. Therefore, we freely praise You. In Jesus' name, Amen.