How should you respond to God’s faithfulness? Raise the roof in praise

1 Praise the Lord, all nations!
Glorify him, all peoples!
2 For his faithful love to us is great;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures for ever.
Hallelujah!

Psalm 117

The Lord demands praise

1 Praise the Lord, Extol him,

Who is the Lord? The Lord is Yahweh. Jehovah. I AM WHO I AM (Ex 3:15). The Lord is the personal name for God. Revealed to Moses in the burning bush as, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations (Ex 3:15). Now, mark this, The Lord, Yahweh, is the covenant name for the God of Israel (6,510). By this name Israel knew Him, and were known by Him, distinctively among the nations.

What does Praise mean? The word is hālal. It’s a shortened form of the word hallelujah. Praise means adore. Praise means approve. This is a call to bless the Lord. To commend the Lord. To honor the Lord. To celebrate the Lord. To rejoice in the Lord. When the Lord delivered David from the hand of all his enemies he sang, “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.” When the ark was set in the tabernacle he sang, “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.”

What does Extol mean? Extol means lift up. Extol means exalt. To Extol is to heap praise upon praise. To Extol is to add praise to praise.

Now these two words, Praise and Extol, are imperatives. An imperative is a command. Commands to be obeyed, not suggestions to be considered. God will be worshipped. Although, the authorial intent here isn’t PRAISE THE LORD! Or EXTOL THE LORD! No, the Psalmist is commanding God’s people to do what God’s people love to do, worship the Lord. Commanded not out of duty but out of delight. This is what we were created for. This is what we were designed for. We are commanded to worship Him.

The Lord demands universal praise

1 Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!

Well, this is surprising. The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, demands universal praise. He will have praise from Burundi, Lesotho, and Malawi. From Chad, Liberia, and Sudan. From India, Pakistan, and Burma. From Italy, Turkey, and Greece. From Paraguay, Uruguay, and Surinam. He will have all nations, all heathens, all gentiles praise Him. All peoples could be speaking of tribes. The all nations, all peoples Lord of Ps 117 is the every tribe and language and people and nation God of Re 5.

I say surprising, because Israel often thought their relationship with God as exclusive. But God’s plan for the nations can be tracked throughout Scripture. To Abram He had promised, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Ge 12:3). David had sang, All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you (Ps 22:27). Isaiah had prophesied, “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (49:6). Zechariah had prophesied, And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you (2:11). Malachi had prophesied, For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts (1:11). God’s sovereign salvation plan is universal in scope.

The Lord demands universal grounded praise

2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

The word For indicates that the author intends to support his call to praise. Two reasons all nations are to Praise the Lord. We are to praise the Lord for his love and his faithfulness:

1. The Lord is the essence of love. He is the wellspring of love. He is the source of love. God is love. It is a perfection of God. It is a core aspect of His character, His Person. The Lord’s love is great. The word great isn’t quantitative, as in the Lord has all the love, but qualitative, as in The Lord’s love is mighty. The Lord’s love is strong. The Lord’s love prevails. The Lord’s love is steadfast.
Here’s the kicker. As you contemplate on that great, mighty, strong, prevailing, steadfast love; recognise that it is bent toward you. This isn’t some general, fuzzy, abstract love. This is a specific love. This is an electing love. This is a discriminate love. This has become a sacrificial love. Someone needs to hear this, this evening. The Lord’s steadfast love is bent toward you.

2. We are to praise the Lord for his love and his faithfulness. the Lord’s the faithfulness means steadfastness, firmness, fidelity. The Lord will not change. Ps 119:89–90 says, Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. The Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.

This then is the ground of the praise of the nations. That they’d praise the Lord who’s steadfast love is toward them and who’s faithfulness endures forever.

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

So, Praise the Lord! The Psalmist has said, you have experienced the Lord’s love toward you. You have read of the Lord’s faithfulness throughout all generations. This is the God you serve. The God you adore. The God who stirs your heart. So, praise Him. Worship Him. Break out in dance before Him. Lift up holy hands towards Him. Declare His wonders to the watching world. Tell of His glories. Extol of His goodness. Sing! Praise the Lord!

1. The Lord demands praise (1)
2. The Lord demands universal praise (1)
3. The Lord demands universal grounded praise (2)
4. So, Praise the Lord! (2)

Application

Unbeliever, “You are able to praise the Lord because of the work of Jesus Christ.”

Remember I said this Psalm is one of six Egyptian Hallel Psalms (113-118)? That these Psalms were sung as part of the Passover service.

Passover is a Jewish festival celebrating the exodus from Egypt. Israel’s freedom from slavery. God promised to redeem His people from bondage (Ex 6:6). Moses was sent to the Egyptian Pharaoh to say “Let my people go” (Ex 8:1). When Pharaoh refused, God brought plagues on the land. The last plague was the death of all the firstborn in Egypt.

Passover remembers the night of the last plague. God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a spotless lamb and mark their doorposts and lintels with its blood (Ex 12:21–22). Then the Lord passed over the households that showed the blood (Ex 12:23). The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from death. It kept the destroyer from entering their homes. The Lord command the Passover to be celebrated as a perpetual reminder.

Jesus on the night that He was betray shared a Passover meal with His disciples. He used the elements of the Passover meal, unleavened bread and a cup of wine, as symbols of His body broken and blood shed.

Now the Egyptian Hallel Psalms would be sung during the course of the meal. In fact, as Psalm 117 is the last in the set, it would be sung last of all. Both Matthew and Mark record the events of the last supper and write, when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives (Mt 26:30, Mk 14:26). Jesus’ last act of praise before His sacrificial arrest, trial, crucifixion and death, would have included the words, Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! Jesus had all people, His people, made up of every tribe, tongue and nation, on His mind as He went to the cross. He bled and died for sin of all people. He won victory over sin and death for all people. Ro 15

Central is a whosoever church. Whosoever will come. The Lord intended that whosoever to be Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa, English, Afrikaans, black, white, coloured, Indian, old young, male, female. Look around you. Central is a whosoever church because our God is a whosoever God.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that [whosoever] believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16). Will you come right now? Will you come and praise the Lord? Are you a sinner? Jesus is to be your saviour. He is your only hope. He laid down His life that you may live. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (Jn 1:29). The resurrected Christ holds the keys of Death and Hades and bids you come to Him this evening. Do not delay. He says, Come, [you] who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28). The lamb of God has been provisioned for your redemption. Call on His name this evening and be saved.

Little flock, there is so much in this little Psalm to comfort your troubled soul. The steadfast love of the Lord is toward [you]. Dwell on that for a moment. If God is for [you], who can be against [you]? (Ro 8:31). Or ask another way, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Ro 8:35). For His steadfast love is toward [you]. Amazing love! How rich and pure! How measureless and strong! Love so sure! Deep love! Vast love! Unmeasured love! Boundless and free love! Is toward [you]. What confidence that must give you as you face the storms of life? What comfort in the midst of pain.

Are you encouraged? There’s more believer. The steadfast love of the Lord is toward [you]. And His enduring forever faithfulness makes this reality eternally so. In Christ you are secure. Not because of any work you have done, or any inherent good within you, but because He is faithful. Safe in the all-powerful hand of God. Because Jesus knows you. Because Jesus gives you eternal life. You will never perish. No one will snatch you out of His hand. Because the Father has given you to Jesus. Because He is greater than all. No one will snatch you out of the Father’s hand.

Which brings me to the end of the sermon, and main point of application: Praise the Lord! Wether you are a new believer or an old saint, praise the Lord! Sing of His greatness and love. Raise a hallelujah. A resounded shout of praise. He has redeemed you. You are His. Your duty is praise. In light of His love and faithfulness, your delight is praise.