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[0:00] Psalm 100, Psalm 100, a psalm of praise. Let's stand together, can we? Psalm 100, verse 1, it says, a psalm of praise.

[0:11] Let's read it together. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

[0:22] Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

[0:33] Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth ensureth to all generations.

[0:50] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for these words of truth. Let it be a song on our heart, in our mouth. Lord, let it be a praise unto you, as we look at these words together, and take heart in these truths.

[1:03] We pray in your precious name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Please be seated. Psalm 100, just some thoughts on the words of this psalm. We can take much comfort in.

[1:15] Really, it's a template for praise. It's called a psalm of praise. It's about worship, this song. It tells of God and his goodness and of what we are to do.

[1:26] Worship. Worship him. That's what it's saying. Worship. A word for worship in the Hebrew tongue has the sense of bow down. Worship. We bow down to the master, the maker of all, our Lord and saviour.

[1:40] It's got the sense of giving him honour, of giving him glory. Psalm 100. Notice here, it's called a psalm of praise. Now, it's interesting, this is the only psalm entitled a psalm of praise.

[1:55] So, we could say this is a, like I say, you could call this maybe a template for praise. What is praise? This psalm tells us how to praise. And there's over 300 verses in our Bible that command us to praise the Lord.

[2:12] 300. And it's a theme of the Bible right through. We see it in the Old Testament, 17 Old Testament books refer to praising the Lord. 17.

[2:23] In the New Testament, 11 books refer to praising the Lord. God delights in the praises of his children. Amen. He wants us to praise him.

[2:33] And this book, this chapter, the psalm 100, tells us how to praise. We're commanded to praise. It's good for our soul to praise.

[2:45] It will build our faith. It will honour our Lord. Praise is comely. It's a good thing. Sing praises unto the Lord. Praise is beautiful. We could think of many verses that speak of praise.

[2:57] I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Think of God has made you. You're a precious example of his creative power.

[3:08] It says, I will praise him for his mighty acts. What has God done? What has he done for you? What has he done for your soul? In the midst of the church, I will sing praise unto thee.

[3:20] It's great to sing praise, isn't it? To praise the Lord. In Jeremiah 17, 14, it says, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved.

[3:31] For thou art my praise. Thou art my praise. This psalm is a psalm of praise. What are we to do? Let's read it through and see what we can learn how to praise.

[3:44] Number one, we say, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. When we're saved, he gives us a joy unspeakable, doesn't he?

[3:58] And full of glory. When we are saved, we're set free. We're ransomed from sin. We've got reason to praise. He's set our hearts free, our glad hearts, free to praise him.

[4:10] The psalmist cries how he brought my soul out of prison that I might praise his name. The Bible says, My soul shall be joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation.

[4:24] It says, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, to the rock of our salvation. My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. It says, Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound.

[4:36] In thy presence is fullness of joy. So many verses speak of the joyful joys of the children of God. And you are such a people.

[4:48] Amen? And so what are we to do? Make a joyful, joyful noise unto the Lord. When Philip preached Christ in the city of Samaria, in Acts 8 verse 8, it says, Afterward there was a great joy in the city.

[5:03] No wonder people were getting saved. People were getting entrance into the kingdom of God. People were being made children of the living God. There was great joy in that city.

[5:14] Don't we want to see that in this city, in the cities around? Great joy when we know the Saviour. The heart that knows Christ has joy unspeakable.

[5:25] What are we to do? Make a joyful noise. This speaks of a glad shout. As when a king entered and appeared amongst his subjects.

[5:36] It's interesting. I did some checking here where it says joyful noise. It's actually the same word that Joshua said unto the people, Shout!

[5:49] For the Lord hath given you the city. And then what happened? Crash, bang! The walls of Jericho fell down. The chief, the priest blew the trumpets. Joshua said unto the people, Shout!

[6:01] For the Lord hath given you the city. Imagine they wouldn't have done a little shout. And then I, shout! They'd have screamed and hollered and yelled and shouted. And I imagine that's the kind of, that's the sense of it here, in the sense of make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands.

[6:18] It's a great shout. It's a joyous shout. It's a triumphant shout. It's the shout unto the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And he says, Shout!

[6:29] For joy! All you lands! This is universal. You know, we don't have any extra privileges depending on what our country or race.

[6:42] It's for all you lands. This is for the universe. The universal, every human being of any kind, of any continent.

[6:53] All you lands, shout! Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Praise him. Praise him. Brother, sister, let's learn to praise.

[7:04] Let's not be holding back our praise. Let's praise him for his faithfulness. Praise him for his goodness. Praise him for his forgiveness. Praise him for who he is. That you know him.

[7:16] Verse 2. Serve the Lord with gladness. Serve the Lord with gladness. Notice he is Lord, Master. You know, I used to enjoy one of our number who's since sort of moved to the east of our land.

[7:34] He's left the promised land of South Australia and gone to the darkness of Melbourne or wherever he was gone. But he used to say, when he prayed, he used to say, Master.

[7:45] He was from India. And he would say, Master, when he prayed. And you know, we use the word Lord. But when we say, when we pray, sounds maybe good to use a different word that means the same thing.

[7:56] Master. Master. And if he is our master, we are his servant. Amen. Amen. We are his servants. What a gladness we have. A gladness that leads us to serve.

[8:07] And we serve the Lord with gladness. Now, sometimes service can be irksome. It can be onerous. But the Bible says, serve the Lord with gladness.

[8:18] Let it be with gladness. We know heaven sent gladness. You look at this word glad or gladness. There's many references we could cite to the truth of gladness that you have as children of God.

[8:30] David knew some gladness. When it came to the time when the ark of God would be returning, in 2 Samuel 6 verse 12, it tells how David went up and he brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David.

[8:47] It says he brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness. Imagine what a sight, what a circumstance that the ark of God so long out of usage, as it were, hidden away in someone's house was now to be taken to the city of David, into the rightful place for the honour of his presence that was evidenced in the ark.

[9:18] This was a glad, glad time. And it says of David, he was leaping and dancing before the Lord. Now, even Baptists can do some leaping and dancing before the Lord, can't we?

[9:30] And in a sense that David, he saw the ark returning unto its proper place. And it says he brought it with gladness. Praise God.

[9:40] We can rejoice, can't we? Like the lame man leaping and dancing and praising God. You know, we are his glad servants. There's a gladness we have. There's a gladness we have.

[9:51] And we are his servants. Notice that. There's someone who put it like this. Give of your best to the master. Give of the strength of your youth. Throw your soul's fresh glowing ardour into the battle for truth.

[10:05] Jesus has set the example. Dauntless was he, young and brave. Give him your loyal devotion. Give him the best that you have. Now, serve him with gladness, brother, sister.

[10:16] Serve him with gladness. Be a cheerful giver. Be a glad Christian. We have glad hearts today. Our hearts are filled with a glad assurance. What are we to do?

[10:29] Say, I'm glad. That's what we should do. I'm glad. I'm glad. What can you say I'm glad about? I'm glad I'm saved. Amen? Can you say that tonight? I'm glad I'm saved.

[10:40] I'm glad he has washed me. I'm glad he has set me free. I'm glad he has robed me with his robes of righteousness. I'm glad he has called me. I'm glad he has healed me from all my soul's diseases.

[10:51] I'm glad that he sustains me. Now, some people don't like anyone telling them what to do. But a servant who serves the Lord with gladness, we don't have that mentality, oh, I don't feel like doing that today.

[11:11] I want to serve you, Lord, with gladness. Now, there's a sense where we're in the king's service. We cannot but serve him. And it's our privilege.

[11:23] Imagine, as you can imagine in places like, you know, the White House or Buckingham Palace, if you had a position of service there, you'd be, yes, sir.

[11:33] Yes, ma'am. You'd be, what can I do? What more can I do? You know, that sense of the service of our king is a glad service.

[11:44] And that we want to do whatever he tells us to do. We want to do our duty and to do it as fully and wholeheartedly and as gladly as we can. Serve gladly, it's saying.

[11:55] Some have reckoned you, it's almost got the sense of serve with laughter. Our service unto our God, our glad service unto our king is such that it's a serving with laughter.

[12:08] It's such a joyful and glad thing to serve our great king. In Psalm 68.3 it says, but let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God.

[12:19] Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Let the righteous be glad. We have got a glad, glad message, haven't we? A glad experience. My meditation of him shall be sweet.

[12:31] I will be glad in the Lord. He is sweet. He is precious. He is perfect. He is awesome. He's the sweetness, the sweetest name. My meditation of him shall be sweet.

[12:44] I will be glad in the Lord. It's our great joy and privilege to be his servants. And truly these words are glad tidings. Numbers of times the message of the gospel is called glad, glad news, glad tidings.

[12:58] So we should be glad in the Lord. Then it goes on, come before his presence with singing. Isn't it great when we get together and sing together?

[13:12] I think it's a good thing. It's a glad thing. Come before his presence with singing. As believers we rejoice in his goodness. We know that God is present. We rejoice.

[13:22] We come before his presence with singing. David cried out, in thy presence is fullness of joy. Not that we need to confuse the building of itself as of itself his presence.

[13:42] Because his presence is always with us. Yet there's something special when God's people get together. There's something that happens, I think. Something that he promises as we pray.

[13:54] Likewise that wherever two or three are gathered, he's right with us. He's with us. And he is always with us. But I think even more tangibly so as we gather.

[14:05] In thy presence is fullness of joy. Friends, you've got reason for song. You've got reason for singing. Here are some religions that don't have the glad songs that we have. The gladness of praise, of worship.

[14:20] They don't know that. In many religions, there's nothing that compares with the singing of a believer who knows the Lord. Songs such as these from the Psalms.

[14:31] I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto our King.

[14:41] Sing praises. Sing forth the honour of his name. Make his praise glorious. Sing unto him. Sing psalms unto him. Talk ye of all his wondrous works.

[14:52] While I live, will I praise the Lord. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Praise ye the Lord. It is good to sing praises unto our God.

[15:04] For it is pleasant and praise is comely. In other words, praise is beautiful. It's a beautiful, precious, glorious privilege as children of God.

[15:15] And he is our song, isn't he? As our saviour and Lord, as our master and great king, as our redeemer. He is our praise, our song. And we are in the presence of God almighty.

[15:27] That should make us really take it in a very strong and serious manner.

[15:40] That this is awesome that we are before him. And you know, I suppose we could go to some places that historically have been places of worship and there's just something special, even just in such a setting, that such a structure was built for the glory of God and that the saints of God through the years have sung his praises in such a setting.

[16:08] And yet, just in a humble abode, in your lounge room, in your living room, with your children, with your family, that can be the very presence of God is there whenever you praise him.

[16:18] Jesus says, come. He says, come before his presence with singing. The Lord Jesus says, come. And friends, I urge you, especially if you're uncertain of your eternal state and standing, if you're uncertain that you're saved today, the Lord Jesus says, come.

[16:34] He still says, come. There's no, he hasn't reached that time limit yet, but it is for a limited time only. But he says, come, come unto me. It says, the spirit and the bride say, come.

[16:44] He that is thirsty, let him come. There's this holy invitation that he's extending out through his messengers, through his word, through various media, that the message is still going out.

[16:57] It's still ringing out across the airwaves. Come, he says, unto me. He says, draw near unto God. There's an invitation and there's your name upon it.

[17:07] We see verses such as Psalm 95, verse 6. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our maker.

[17:20] Come, let us worship. Come before his presence with singing. Singing. What does the Bible say about singing? Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

[17:33] Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3, 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

[17:46] Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Friends, it's good to sing. Sometimes you might feel, look, it's hard for me to pray right now.

[17:57] It's hard for me even to open the word. But I can sing. I can sing unto him. I can sing. I can hum. I can whistle. I can rejoice without even the words.

[18:11] Just knowing. I'm singing from my heart. There's melody in my heart unto the Lord. And we can do that. Amen. Verse 3. Know ye that the Lord, he is God.

[18:23] What a glad assurance we have. We that are children of God, that we are the people of God. That we have the privilege, the assurance of knowing him. To know he is God.

[18:39] You know, to know God is. God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. You know, you can know. Now the sense of this word know, I'm told, is it's a certainty.

[18:52] There's a certain knowing here. In other words, you can bank on it. This is absolute truth. Know this. Know this. Know, assuredly know this. That the Lord, he is God.

[19:04] This is absolute. Ultimate. This is real. You can know God. You can know God. Even in this planet, in its, at times, its fallen condition, which is far, far away from God.

[19:22] And even amongst all the voices that will mock him. And all the voices that would taunt you that trust him. All those that would mock you for standing for Christ. You can know this. And you can know this certainly.

[19:33] Absolutely. You can surely know. And when we praise, we want to magnify the Lord. We know that the Lord, he is God. He is knowable.

[19:44] And we know him. There's reason to praise, isn't there? As he says to us in Psalm 46, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.

[19:57] I will be exalted in the earth. Know him. The psalm tells us about him. When you think of the, just touching on, knowing the Lord, that he is God.

[20:10] Even in this psalm, we see some four things. If we are created, he's made us. He is the creator. That's who we're talking about.

[20:21] If we are his sheep, which we'll get to, he is our shepherd. If we enter into his courts, he is our king. And if we serve him, serve the Lord with gladness, he is our master.

[20:33] So know the Lord. He's the creator. He's the shepherd. He's the king. He's the master. It goes on. Verse 3. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. Friends, we know the creator.

[20:45] That's awesome, isn't it? I know some amongst us have got real passion for the truth of creation. This is an awesome truth. And we know he made us.

[20:56] He made the world. This is the only intelligent record of how everything began is in this book. We know the creator of all. All creation belongs to him.

[21:09] We are but creatures. He has made us. And we are his. Not only has he made us. Think of what he has made us.

[21:20] Some other verses that talk about what he has made us. He has made us free. He has made us accepted in the beloved. He has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He has made us ultimately kings and priests unto God.

[21:33] He has made us. We belong to him. You can take heart in that. That's reason to praise, isn't it? He has made you. And it goes on. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

[21:44] Now we can gloss over this little phrase, his people. But that's awesome, isn't it? That you are the people of the very God of creation. You are the very people that he would take care of you such that you are his very precious possession.

[21:59] And what does the Bible say about this word, his people? Did some concordance checking. And again, just these little phrases, they kind of jump out at you. And think about this phrase, his people.

[22:10] It's quite a repeated phrase. For example, in the scriptures it says he will speak peace unto his people. The Lord will not cast off his people. He brought forth his people with joy.

[22:22] He sent redemption unto his people. The Lord is round about his people. The Lord have comforted his people. The Lord will be the hope of his people. That sense where we are his people.

[22:34] Because we know Israel, his people in that special sense of Israel. But yet wider now that the Gentiles are in this number. We are his people. Amen?

[22:44] We are encountered. We are counted as his people. And it says in Matthew 1, she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins.

[22:57] That's us, isn't it? He shall save his people from their sins. We are his people. The people of God. And that should make us feel, wow, that's reason to praise. We have a relationship with God Almighty.

[23:10] As believers we identify as belonging to him. We are his people. He is our God. I think sometimes we don't always grasp this to the degree that we are his people and what that means.

[23:30] A story to illustrate that is of a time ago where someone has told this story of the streets packed with onlookers. It was the time of ancient Rome and the guards lined the barricade to maintain order as the Roman emperor was due to arrive at any moment.

[23:46] The air was charged with great excitement and anticipation and the people had come. Everyone was stretching over the crowd, over the tops of the Roman guards to see the king enter the village en route to his palace.

[24:00] And suddenly a young lad dashes out into the open as the carriage comes by and the entourage. And a Roman guard grabs hold of the young fellow and says, don't you know that the emperor is coming?

[24:12] You're not supposed to be here. And the guard looked so stern and angry as he pushed the young lad to the side. But the young man brushed the guard aside and said, he may be your emperor, but he is my father.

[24:24] I have every right to see him. And friends, that's true for you, isn't it? If you're a child of God, you have the very right to be in his presence.

[24:37] You have the, as we know, to as many as received him, to them gave him power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. We have that awesome privilege, that awesome calling to be children of God.

[24:53] We have got every right to see our father. And so he is our God. He is our God. We are his people. And when you consider this truth that he is your God and you are his people, it follows on as we read Paul talk about you are not your own.

[25:15] You're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God. And you're not your own. Sometimes we live our lives as if we're our own kind of free spirit and we kind of adopt the worldly thinking that we're the master of our own destiny.

[25:28] But really we're not, are we? We are his. He is ours. And we are his present possession. We are his beloved. And we are not our own. We've been purchased, bought with a price.

[25:41] He's not only God, but he is the Lord, our shepherd. As we see, it says in verse 3, the sheep of his pasture. Not only are you his people, you're his sheep.

[25:52] Not only is he your God, he is your shepherd. He's the ultimate pastor of pastors, the ultimate shepherd, the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, the great shepherd. And it says that we are his sheep.

[26:04] So in other words, he gives us his feed. He gives us his pasture. He provides for us, as we could read through Psalm 23, of his refreshment, of his protection, of his guiding, of his guarding.

[26:16] And then we read in John 10 where our Lord says as the good shepherd, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow me and I will give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

[26:30] My sheep hear my voice. Friends, and God's voice, it's not through some latter-day extra-biblical revelation as some would say, I've got a word from God for you.

[26:42] No, this is the word from God for you. In these pages, in this cover, in between this cover, this is the word from God for you. And my sheep hear my voice, he says.

[26:53] Now this is the voice we need, the voice of the shepherd. Verse 4, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Think of that, that you can enter in to worship God. In years, many centuries before we know, there was a limit.

[27:09] So who could enter in? Only the chief high priest and only select times. But we can enter in to worship. We can enter in to worship with thanks in our hearts.

[27:21] Now it says in 2 Chronicles 23 of answering, it says nothing unclean could enter into the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 23. Some cannot enter in because of uncleanness.

[27:34] And it says in Hebrews 3 verse 19 that some could not enter in because of unbelief. Interesting, isn't it? Uncleanness, unbelief. But you that believe, you're cleansed.

[27:46] He cleanses you. For all, and you might say, look, preacher, you don't know what I've done. How fouled up I have been. What miserable things I've got.

[27:59] What baggage I carry. What sin I've committed. But with Christ, this constant, present cleansing in the blood. There is that cleansing by faith as we trust him.

[28:13] He washes all of our sins away. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from A-double-L sin. Amen. And we can enter in. And the uncleanness is taken away.

[28:25] Our unbelief is taken away. And we have entrance, praise God. John 10 verse 9, our Lord says, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.

[28:35] Shall go in and out and find pasture. Again, it's the picture of the sheep, of the sheepfold, of the shepherd lying at the doorway. And Christ himself is the gate, the door. It says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving.

[28:49] Verse 4, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. And do we stop as we praise? Do we stop to thank him? Do we stop to give thanksgiving? Matthew Henry talked about a time when he'd been robbed.

[29:03] And he wrote this. He said, let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before. This was the first time. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life.

[29:15] Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed. We can be thankful for many things, can't we?

[29:28] Amen. And friends, we can enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Now, it's a good thing, isn't it, that we can enter in to the very kingdom of God.

[29:41] And I like to think how when we think of, just to kind of illustrate it, we know a certain admission, some entrance requirements, isn't there, to certain occupations, for example.

[29:57] If you wanted to join the military, for example, there's got to be a certain height, weight, or a certain aptitude, a certain intellect, a certain qualification, a certain nationality, a certain citizenship.

[30:11] You know, there's all kinds of limitations and restrictions to entrance. And likewise, for different occupations, as we know, there's all kinds of restrictions.

[30:23] But this entrance is wide open. Whosoever will. Isn't that good news? Whosoever will. Whosoever will. And gain admission.

[30:35] Enter his gates. Now, the sense of gates, we could think, whether you could reckon of a temple or perhaps a tabernacle. You could think of the tabernacle of this gate that was 2.25 metres high and it was 9 metres wide.

[30:50] So, this is quite a wide gate. So, you know, it's wide enough for the widest of us, isn't it? 9 metres wide. And it was a screen woven with blue, purple, and scarlet thread.

[31:02] And some have reckoned blue indicates truth. The scarlet indicates the blood. And the purple indicates the colour of royalty, the king. It all speaks of Christ.

[31:12] Really, Christ is the gate. As he said, I am the door. He is the gate. And when you reckon around the tabernacle, this gate was easy to find. It was very colourful.

[31:23] It was very apparent. And likewise, Jesus is the gate and he is easy to find. Now, some would think salvation is hard. No, Jesus, our Lord, is easy to find.

[31:37] He is. And there's no reason why the simplest cannot receive that great salvation. And friends, it says, let us therefore come boldly before, unto the throne of grace.

[31:51] Let us come boldly. Answer into his gates. Now, we think of the doors of earthly kings and rulers. They'll be carefully guarded. Imagine the gates of the palace or the parliament.

[32:05] There would be guards there to keep people out, to carefully guard. But the gates to the throne of God are open wide, such that it says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.

[32:23] In other words, he's not going to throw anyone away, comes unto him. In simple trust. Just as the door of the ark was high enough and wide enough for even the very biggest animal.

[32:35] Of course, we know likely they were young animals. But the sense that the ark was such that all who God had opened the invitation to could enter in.

[32:50] And it's likewise today for salvation, isn't it? Enter in. And enter his courts with praise, it says. We can go into the very courtyard of his temple. We can go right in.

[33:01] As I say, there's no restriction. It's not going to say, look, you're too old, too young, you're not smart enough or whatever it be.

[33:14] Simply trust him. Simply trust him. Isn't it great and glad and good news that such as I? And you might say, well, I failed God.

[33:26] I've got sin. God can take that away. God takes our sin away. We can go right in. And enter into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him. We've talked about thankfulness.

[33:38] May we not forget to thank him. Brother, sister, let's not forget to thank him. Our Lord talked of a time of ten lepers healed and only one came back to thank him.

[33:49] We've got so many reasons to thank our Lord, don't we? Of his saving. Give thanks. It's got the sense of a sacrifice there. What can we be thankful for, brother, sister, today?

[34:03] Stop and thank him. Countless blessings. Thank him for life. For his sustaining. For every day that he gives you.

[34:13] Be thankful for the love of God. For the cross. Be thankful that he is always near. Be thankful that you can pray. And he is hearing you at any time. You never get a busy signal when you give him a call.

[34:26] Be thankful because he's given you his word to instruct. You know, this is, I know you might have heard this before. B-I-B-L-E.

[34:37] Basic instructions before leaving earth. This is what we need. This is the book that we need. And be thankful for heaven for his unspeakable gift.

[34:49] It says in Psalm 29 too, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The latter part of verse 4 it says, And bless his name.

[35:00] Do we stop and bless the name of the Lord? Blessed be the name of the Lord. Even Job could say, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Even in his despair. That we are trusters in him.

[35:13] I bless him. I bless the name of the Lord. He's our source of blessing. He's the blesser of his people. Bless his holy name it says. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Why?

[35:23] Verse 5, For the Lord is good. The Lord is good. How is God good? He shows his goodness every day. Think of the goodness of God. How truly good he is.

[35:35] He is everything that is good. There's a story told about two men who were set off on a journey together. They took a donkey and carried their packs, a lamp and a rooster that was owned by one of the men.

[35:49] And one of the men was a believer. The second was a skeptic. He was not a believer. And on the journey, the Christian man, the believer said, frequently he spoke about the Lord and he said, God is good.

[36:03] God is good. Now shortly before dusk, the two men arrived in a small village where they sought a place to sleep. But despite their frequent requests, no one offered them a night's lodging.

[36:14] So reluctantly they traveled a mile outside of the town where they decided to sleep. I thought you said God is good. Good. The skeptic said sarcastically. Christian said, God has decided this is the best place for us to sleep tonight, replied his friend.

[36:30] So they fixed their beds and underneath the large tree and just off the main road that led to the village, they tethered the donkey some 30 yards away. And just as they were about to light the lamp, they heard a horrible noise.

[36:42] A lion had killed the donkey and carried it off to eat it away from the two men. Quickly the companions climbed the tree to stay away from danger. You still say God is good, said the skeptic, getting angry.

[36:56] If the lion hadn't eaten the donkey, he wouldn't have attacked us. God is good, his friend declared. They were asleep when a cry from the rooster went up. Whatever a rooster cries like.

[37:10] And it sent them up the tree. And from this new vantage point, they saw that a wolf was carrying away the rooster, away with its teeth, away in its teeth. And before the skeptic could say a word, the man of faith declared, the cry of the rooster has once again saved us.

[37:25] God is good. A few minutes later, a strong wind rose and blew down the lamp. And the only comfort of the man in the black night and again the skeptic taunted his companion.

[37:36] This time the believer was silent. The next morning, the two men walked back to the village for breakfast. They soon discovered that a large band of outlaws had swept through the town the previous night and robbed the entire village of all its possessions.

[37:50] And the believer turned to his friend and said, finally it has become clear, had we been given a room in the village last night, we would have been robbed, along with all the villagers.

[38:01] If the wind had not blown out our torch, the bandits would have traveled by where we slept and found us and taken our goods too. It is clear that in all things, God is good.

[38:14] God is good. Obviously a bit of a humorous little story there, but really God is good, isn't he? He is good. He's good unto us. And even when it seems situations are not good, God is good nevertheless.

[38:29] And it says in our text here, his mercy is everlasting. Isn't that true? His mercy. God's very merciful with me.

[38:43] He extends mercy and grace, doesn't he? When we so need it, which is all the time, isn't it? He grants pardon and peace, doesn't he?

[38:54] He's merciful. And God's dimension is eternal. His mercy is everlasting. He's from everlasting to everlasting. It says his mercy is everlasting.

[39:05] Think of the eternality, eternality of our God. It says in Deuteronomy 33, 27, the eternal God, the eternal God is thy refuge.

[39:19] And underneath are the everlasting arms. We could search the scriptures, and I've got some just quick references here. I won't reference them, but these are all based on scriptures, scriptural phrases.

[39:35] What is eternal? Eternal life. Eternal joy. Eternal glory. Eternal redemption. Eternal inheritance. And he is the king.

[39:45] Eternal, immortal, invisible. The only wise God. We're talking about eternity here. It says his throne is everlasting. His kingdom is everlasting.

[39:57] His salvation is everlasting. His gospel is everlasting. The Bible talks about everlasting joy. Everlasting kindness. It says his ways are everlasting.

[40:09] Friends, this truth that we speak of, this is not just some philosophy of man. This is eternity we're talking about. These are eternal truths we're talking about.

[40:21] And his truth, it says, endureth to all generations. Generations. And I was, we're talking lately about people checking back on their, on their family history and their, their lineage and, and their, their heritage and, you know, their family tree and such things.

[40:40] Think, how long's a generation? Maybe what, 40 years? 30 years? Think, well, maybe three per 100 years? Maybe 30 through 1,000 years?

[40:53] Not that many generations when you actually think about it, is it? Generation. 30, 40 years? Three in 100? 30 in 1,000?

[41:07] It's not that many, is it? We look back to Adam and Eve. We're not that far away from them, really, in the scheme of things. But, these things are wider and bigger than, even, way back to Adam and Eve.

[41:19] It's from eternity to eternity. From everlasting to everlasting. His love is everlasting. And, the Bible says here, as we close, His truth endureth to all generations.

[41:31] All generations. This truth will be true for your children and your grandchildren, if you have them, your great-grandchildren, your great-great-grandchildren. His truth endureth to all generations.

[41:43] Amen? This truth is not limited to time and space, to our human dimension. And, this truth, it says, it's not, it endureth.

[41:53] It does not change. It does not change. It cannot be altered. God's truth, we read, sets people free.

[42:03] Amen? This truth, it sets people free. And, what is this truth? That God loves us forever. He is faithful. His truth has an everlasting impact.

[42:15] This truth that we tell of, this is more important than anything we could consider. And, any soundbite or news item, this is the greatest and best and most important news that this planet can ever get a hold of.

[42:36] And, it is good news for modern man, even though it's King James. That's what it is. It's good news for modern man. That's what it is. It's good news for modern man. It says, His word shall endure forever. Now, to wrap it up here, what is truth?

[42:51] Pilate asked the Lord Jesus. He was staring him in the face. The Lord Jesus is the truth. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I was talking with a Muslim fellow yesterday, and he was saying, I hope you find the pathway.

[43:07] He said, I have found the pathway. Jesus. He is the pathway. There's no other. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me, he says.

[43:21] And it says, His mercy endureth forever. Brothers and sisters, the word of the Lord endureth forever. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

[43:33] Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.

[43:44] We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

[43:54] For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the psalm of praise.

[44:06] And Lord, help us to have a praise in our hearts. The melody that you put in our hearts, Lord. When we're saved, we cannot but sing your praises. Lord, we pray each one might know that wonderful truth that is everlasting, that your truth endureth to all generations.

[44:24] Lord, the soul-saving truth, and this song that you put in our hearts of praise. Lord, we bless you. Thank you for the redeeming love of Calvary.

[44:35] Lord, we pray that each one might know, to know God, to know that you have made us, to know that you are our God. We are your people.

[44:45] As we trust you, you call us such, you claim us as such, and you make us such. And Lord, help us to have a heart set free, to serve, to love, with gladness and song.

[44:59]  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.