The sermon, titled 'Instructing our Souls to Praise the LORD,' focuses on Psalm 146, urging believers to praise God wholeheartedly. It emphasizes that true happiness and help come from God, not from human leaders or resources, as earthly powers are transient and unreliable. The speaker highlights God's eternal reign, His role as a just and compassionate provider, and His delight in helping the needy and righteous. Through the example of Jesus calming the storm, the sermon illustrates God's sovereign power over creation. It challenges believers to live a life of continuous praise and trust in God, stirring themselves to worship even when it does not come naturally, and to recognize the futility in trusting human strength. The sermon concludes with an encouragement to praise God both in this life and in eternity, emphasizing the importance of personal commitment to a life filled with praise.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth, and that very day his plans perish.

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry, The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers.

He relieves the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord. Let's unite our hearts in prayer.

Oh Heavenly Father, we do come before you now in the name of your Son. Lord God, in light of the state of our country, state of our leaders, trials we face, Lord God, what an amazing passage this is. Our happiness is not found in this world, our happiness is not found in our leaders, Lord God. Our help is in You, and happy is the souls that are praising you and find their help in you, whose trust is not in man, but in you, the one true living God, the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, the one who executes justice, the one who loves the righteous. Lord God, just so many amazing attributes are found in this passage.

We pray, Lord God, that it would just be a blessing to all those that hear. Pray that you would give Jason the words to speak. Lord God, give us ears to hear. Those of us that are your children. Lord God may it just be a comfort to our hearts and encouragement to our souls.

Rebuke us Lord God in the ways that we don't trust in you, the ways in which we put too much faith in this world and the things of man. And Lord God, those that don't know you today, oh Lord God, may this be a day of salvation. Lord God, they would find happiness Lord God in you, that you would change their hearts, give them hearts of flesh, hearts of repentance and faith Lord God that their faith would be in you and oh Lord God that they would be able to praise you with all their soul or God we just ask that you bless this time. Bless this time of the service in your sons name we pray, Amen. Psalm 146, instructing our souls to praise the Lord.

The psalmist teaches us that you ought to command your soul, you ought to instruct him. You ought to instruct your soul to praise the Lord. Here's a familiar text of scripture. And I looked and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God. We shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. And the number of them was 10, 000 times 10, 000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power in riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever." This describes the eternity of the saints, of all who trust in Christ.

Nothing is more appropriate than for God to receive unending praises. And there is no more fitting thing to occupy the saints than to praise God. Now that's perfectly true. But while that is perfectly true, that doesn't mean in this sin-sick world that it comes naturally. We're so often backward, and sluggish, and dull, and full of apathy, and lacking any zeal to really praise God.

We might nibble at it, we might play at it, but how often our praises are half-hearted? As the Apostle Paul said, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? That's Romans 7.24. By the way, the answer to that question is Jesus. Jesus is the one who delivers you from this body of death that is so backward to praise, when there's no more fitting occupation for the saints throughout eternity than to worship God for His praise to be on their lips.

Well, what is the answer? The answer is that we must not be content with that. We must not be content with our backwardness in praise. We must not be content with the lack of zeal to really praise God from the heart that we so often find to be true of ourselves, but that the saints must stir themselves up to it. Psalm 146 is calling you to stir yourself up to praise today.

And we must arm ourselves with the reasons that God is infinitely worthy of it. Psalm 146 is bringing us to the reasons that God is infinitely worthy of our praises. So God is bringing us to this psalm to help us stir ourselves up to praise, because it's right. Because nothing is more fitting that we would praise him. God is bringing us to Psalm 146 to arm us with all the reasons that he's infinitely worthy of unending praises.

So as we come to our psalm, let's ask God to help. Our God, you are all beautiful. Your worth, the worth of our praises knows no bounds. And nothing's more fitting than that. Anyone and everyone who's ever been redeemed out of darkness and delivered into light would be so full of praise, unendingly full of praise.

But we do find ourselves backward, dull, full of apathy when we know that's wrong. And we pray that you would bring us into this Psalm, use this Psalm to help us stir up our hearts to do what's right and fitting and good. And to arm ourselves with all these many reasons why you're so infinitely worthy of our praise. Please help us through your word, through the preaching of your word today in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, let's begin by looking just at the first two verses of Psalm 146. Hopefully, you still have a finger there. You're in Psalm 146. And let me reread verses 1 and 2 and then comment on them. Psalm 146, the psalmist is not named.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God, while I have my being. In these two verses we have committing to a life of praising the Lord.

The psalmist is doing that and calling all of his readers to do that. To commit all my lifelong, your lifelong believer to praising the Lord. Here is an exhortation to the reader. Praise the Lord. It is a call to praise.

Reader of my psalm, give the Lord the honor that is due to his name. Stop what you're doing and praise the Lord. Set aside whatever it was a minute ago, a second ago that you thought was important and now do something else. Do something better. Praise the Lord.

But The psalmist doesn't just call others to it, he calls himself to it also. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Not just with the words of my mouth, but more importantly with the meditations of my heart. The inner man, the inner person.

It is possible to play at praise with the words of your mouth. And the person next to you, hearing what you say or what you sing, thinks, He's praising, she's praising, but you might not even be, or your praises might be very half-hearted, but when your soul praises God, then you're praising God. When the meditations of your heart are fixed upon the infinite worthiness of God to receive your praise, then you're really praising God. My soul is to be engaged in honoring God, in praising God. And then that affection and that adoration makes its way out in words.

That is the real question, isn't it? Is there affection and adoration happening in your heart so that God would be honored even if it never makes it onto your lips? Their love for God, affection for God, Is there real adoration happening in your heart? And then making its way into words that you're saying or singing? The psalmist here talks about the singing of praises.

Spurgeon says this, by the way, Spurgeon has written on the Psalms, it's called the Treasury of David. And I've thought of Spurgeon as a great preacher, but so so, expositor. And the treasury of David has made me repent of that thought. I mean, it is just fantastic exposition of the psalm. So I'm going to quote him a time or two here, but it's just wonderful reading about Psalm 146.

Here's what Spurgeon says, We have but one soul, and if it be saved from eternal wrath, it is bound to praise its Savior. Come heart, mind, thought, come my whole being, my soul, my all, be all aflame with joyful adoration. If ever man was under bonds to bless the Lord, I am that man. Now I hope your soul says, yes, No Charles Spurgeon, I am that man. I have only one soul and you've rescued it.

So if any soul ever made ought to praise you, I'm that man. I'm that woman. That you would contend with Him for that spot. The name of God used by the psalmist, Lord, in all caps, look in your Bible, it probably is that way, Lord, all capital letters, it's that way because it is the Hebrew word considered by Jews to be the most holy name of God, the most separate, the most special name for God. Yah is the short form or Yahweh is the longer form.

You see the all caps Lord here twice in verse 1. The first time it's the short form in Hebrew, the second time it's the full form, but it's Yah or Yahweh, or we would transliterate it into Jehovah. It means the self-existing one. So anytime we hear of Jehovah or Yahweh, we should think that. God existing in Himself, needing nothing else to exist.

And We should always think of Exodus 3, the burning bush passage, when Moses is commanded by God to go and liberate his people from Egypt. He says, Who shall I say sent me? God says tell them I am sent me the the God who exists and in that the existence of everything is only because he exists Without him there would be nothing else. He is the fountain of everything else that exists. He is.

All of reality is rooted in the existence of this all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present One. Things are because and only because he is. Without God, nothing. This is the God we are called to praise and that the psalmist calls himself to praise. This phrase, praise the Lord, is transliterated in a word that you're very familiar with, hallelujah.

So, if you're looking at the transliteration of the two Hebrew words here, that's what you would get. Hallelujah. Praise Yah, or boast in Yahweh. Boast in Jehovah. Praise Jehovah.

And this psalm begins and ends with it. Fact check me. Verse 1, very beginning of verse 1, praise the Lord. Very end of verse 10, Praise the Lord. Hallelujah to start.

Hallelujah to end Praise Jehovah boast in Jehovah But not just this psalm But every psalm from now till the end of the Psalms, there are 150. So 146 starts and ends this way, so does 147, so does 148, so does 149, so does 150. Fact check me if you like. I know there are some of you that have to. Do it.

That's fine. I know. Janet's there flipping pages. She's giving the thumbs up. She's already fact checked.

So this is a section of Psalms, these last five Psalms, 146 through 150, all starting and ending, commanding you, believer, to boast in Jehovah, the self-existing God, to praise Him. But notice this, the psalmist is not calling himself just to an event of praise, a session of praise. Let's have a praise session. He's calling himself to, and committing himself to, a life of praise. A lifetime of praise.

Look at verse 2. While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God, while I have my being. Sessions of praise are sweet. Sessions of praise are sweet.

Sessions of praise can be very strengthening. I thank God for the strength and joy we get from sessions of praise. But the believer, the saint, is being called to more than that here. The believer, the saint, is being called to commit to a lifetime of praising God. Have that be our occupation as long as we have breath.

We commit to praising Jehovah, to boasting in Yahweh. What happens when my strength is gone? I can no longer engage in the things that I was good at or was most useful at to other people. My soul can still praise the Lord. Oh friends, don't busy yourselves so much now with other things that this isn't reflexive then.

Did you hear what I just said? Don't make yourself so busy now with other things that then when your strength is gone and your mind is failing, and maybe you can't even speak or sing, that it's not reflexive then. But fill your life so full of praising Yahweh now boasting in Jehovah now that it is reflexive then your your strength is gone the things that you are good at, you are no longer good at. The things that made you useful in the Lord's kingdom to others as members of His kingdom, those things are gone and stripped away, but let it be reflexive that your soul can praise God. As long as you live, as long as you are breathing.

It seems to me that in verse 2 the psalmist has two distinct things in mind. Time and eternity. I will praise Him as long as I live. I will praise him in time. And I will sing his praises as long as I have my being, into eternity.

Even when I'm dead, I'll sing his praises. I won't have my life, but I still have my being. May our days be filled with soul praise of the Lord. Soul praise. And then may God take us to the scene of Revelation 5 where we sing this great song to the lamb who was slain and purchased us to God by His own blood and took us out of every tongue and tribe and people and nation and there we are praising Him and praising Him and praising Him for an eternity of eternities.

Verses 1 and 2, a commitment to a lifetime of praising. A lifetime of praise sessions. Verses 3 and 4, follow along as I reread verses 3 and 4. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth.

In that very day, his plans perish. Verses 3 and 4, we have a fool's hope. Something that a fool hopes in. What makes him a fool? Because what the thing that he's hoping in can never deliver what he's hoping for.

Friends, the psalmist is teaching us that it is a fool's errand to trust in others. Even to trust in the strongest and the most well supplied. Why does the psalmist name princes? Because no one puts their trust in the homeless. Would you go to the homeless encampment for help?

I need help. The people who have no strength, no influence, no resources. No, but you might go to someone who has the strength that you wish you had, but don't. You might go to someone who has the resources you wish you had, but don't. If I only had his strength, then I could get by.

If I only had his resources, then I could get by. The psalmist is saying, no, no, it's a fool's errand. More strength isn't what you need. More resources isn't what you need. More influence isn't what you need.

You need God. God is the help of His people. The psalmist says there's no help there. There's no salvation. There's no deliverance there.

Man's help is fool's gold. What fool's gold is, children? Iron pyrite. Looks like gold. Glitters like gold.

It's not gold. Many a fool has come down from the hill saying I've struck it rich and the first real evaluator can say no that's fool's gold you have nothing. It can look like gold. It can look like help, deliverance, salvation. It can seem like help, deliverance, salvation.

You might say, I struck gold. I've been saved, helped, delivered. No. Even if you pick the strongest person, And even if you pick the person with the most resources. And even if you pick a person who genuinely wants to help you above all other things.

Okay, now it's getting ridiculous. Who would choose to help you over their self-interest when push comes to shove? But okay, just for the sake of argument, think that you pick, we'll grant that you pick the strongest person, the person with the most resources, even a person who will ignore their self-interest in order to prioritize helping you, that person will die. That person came from dust like you and will return to dust like you. Let's listen to Genesis 3.19.

This is the last verse of the curse. So, Adam and Eve sin and God comes and curses them and mankind. And this is the last verse of that. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return, and so it is with every man, woman, boy and girl.

You are made out of dust, you will return to dust." Even the prince Who you thought was the strongest and had the most resources even if they you were Convinced they would set aside even their own self-interest to help you when they die, their plans to help you die. And no one knows. Wade Coley went to bed last night not knowing what today held and his doctor today said, you're a half an hour from dead." Here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 6. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 6. Paul says, However we speak wisdom among those who are mature, Yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, Who are coming to nothing.

The rulers of this age are coming to nothing, says the inspired Paul. You can't even trust the strongest, the most well resourced, the most influential of mankind. Let's close off this section by looking at Jeremiah 17. Please turn to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17 really drives it home.

Jeremiah 17 verses 5 through 8. Jeremiah 17, beginning in verse 5, Thus says the LORD, Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river.

It will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit." It is a curse to trust in man. And it is a sign that your heart has departed from the Lord. When you trust in man most, it is a sign that your heart has departed from the Lord. But it is a blessing to trust in God, to hope in Jehovah. You'll be like a tree who's planted by the rivers of water, the roots going down into this endless supply of water and nourishment.

It is a curse to trust in man. It is a blessing to trust in God. So this leads us into the rest of Psalm 146. Back to Psalm 146. Let me reread verses 5 through 10.

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous, the Lord watches over the strangers, He relieves the fatherless and widow. The way of the wicked He turns upside down.

The Lord shall reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord. In these verses we have a wise person's hope. God of Jacob is a genuine hope, not fool's gold.

Gold! A solid hope. God can help you. God never dies. The phrase God of Jacob in verse 5 makes me think of all the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then all the promises to the twelve tribes that came from Jacob.

Jacob was renamed Israel, 12 tribes of Israel. And how every promise was kept, every promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was kept by God. Every promise made to The 12 tribes was kept by God. The God of Jacob is the promise-keeping God who is the self-existing God who makes promises to His people and then keeps them one by one. And you are happy if that God is your God.

And you hope in Him. Another psalm has said this, listen to Psalm 46 verse 1. Psalm 46 verse 1, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The man you were hoping in might die, and this plans with him. But God is a very present help in trouble.

So you can look to Him as your refuge and as your strength. The God of Scripture made the heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them so he's the king of everything in heaven and earth and in the sea and and everything that is in them listen to Matthew 8 23 through 27 Matthew 8 23 through 27 now when Jesus Listen to Matthew 8, 23-27. Matthew 8, 23-27. Now when Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.

Then his disciples came to him and awoke him saying, Lord save us, we're perishing. But he said to them, why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him?" I'll tell you who it is, a sure hope. It is a sure hope who commands the winds and the waves and everything else in creation.

This is simply a concrete example because Jesus is God and God is king over everything that he's made. The believer's God is king over all created things so he is always able to help. His arm is never too short because he's just commanding His own creations. The God of Scripture keeps truth forever. That's what is said in the end of verse 6.

He always and only tells the truth. In fact, Hebrews 618 says it is impossible for him to lie. He's so truthful that it's impossible for him to lie. And he has made exceedingly great and precious promises to His people." That's 2 Peter 1 verse 4. And all of His promises are yes and amen in Jesus.

That's 2 Corinthians 1 verse 20. He can't lie. He has made many great and precious promises to His people. And they're all yes and amen because of Jesus who he is and what he's done on the cross. He keeps truth forever.

The God of Scripture delights to help the very neediest. It is not just the great that he helps. In fact, so often the great are lifted up in self-confidence, so God is pleased to pass over them and help the quote-unquote, little people. Aren't you glad about that? Aren't you glad that God hasn't reserved his help to the great, but that so often the great are lifted themselves up in pride, they have no sense of need, and so God passes right over them, and he helps a humble person who needs it in their distress.

Are you oppressed? Look to the Lord for justice. He executes justice for the oppressed. Are you hungry? Look to the Lord for food.

He gives food to the hungry. Are you in prison? Look to the Lord for freedom. He gives freedom to the prisoners. Listen to Isaiah 61 verse 1.

Isaiah 61 verse 1. This sweet, sweet prophecy about the Messiah. The Messiah says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." Jesus in Luke chapter 4 reads that text from Isaiah, and then he sits down and says, today this is fulfilled in your hearing. Are you blind?

Look to the Lord for sight. You say, well, I'm not blind. Aren't you? See everything clearly? Spiritually blind?

Have a friend in God. He can give sight to them. He opens the eyes of the blind. Listen to John 9.32. John 9.32.

Since the world began, it has been unheard of that anyone open the eyes of one who was born blind. Who said that? The man who was born blind and Jesus gave him the sight. He had listened for a lifetime of a story. Just give me one story of a man who was born blind and was given a sight and he had never heard of one that would give him hope.

And Jesus came and gave him the sight. Are you bowed down? Look to the Lord for healing. He raises up those who are bowed down. Are you a stranger?

It means a foreigner, a resident alien, someone out of your home country. Look to the Lord for help. He watches over the strangers. God has actually put it in His law for His people to be kind to strangers. He legislated it.

Don't you mistreat those foreigners. You used to be foreigners. Be kind to them. Share with them. Do good to them.

Have you lost your earthly father? Are you fatherless? Or have you lost your earthly husband? Are you a widow? Listen to Psalm 68 verses 5 and 6.

Psalm 68 verses 5 and 6. A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families. You lost your family? Come be part of his people.

They'll be your family. God will be your father. God will be your husband. The last part of verse 8 says this, the Lord loves the righteous. Why does God help all these needy people?

Because He loves the righteous. And it should be said that he makes the righteous righteous. Righteousness is the result of his love, not the cause of his love. Do you understand that? He loves the righteous.

Righteousness results from His love. Does it cause His love? In other words, God has it search the world and say, I finally found a righteous person. I love you. Doing so well.

No, he finds sinners, and he loves sinners. He gives them grace and faith. He makes them righteous. But also know this, He turns the way of the wicked upside down. They enjoy prosperity, He's going to turn that upside down.

They enjoy the upper hand, He's going to turn that upside down. It looks like they have no troubles in the world, He's going to turn that upside down. They enjoy the upper hand. He's going to turn that upside down. It looks like they have no troubles in the world.

He's going to turn that upside down. Either in their life or at the end of their life, But he will do it. That's what all of next week is going to be about. Psalm 73 is about what do I make of the wicked and how they prosper. The psalmist will tell us.

Finally, look at verse 10. The Lord shall reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Zion is the city of God. The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven. The Lord's people, the dwelling place of the Lord's people, the eternal dwelling place of the Lord's people.

God is their God. The Lord God reigns forever, over every generation to the very last one. And then Jesus will return and judge the living and the dead. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

Praise Him all your life long. And then for as long as you have your being, praise Him in time. Praise Him in eternity. Boast in Him in time. Boast in Him in eternity, for eternity.

Let me give you three applications in the form of questions. Number one, is God your God? Second half of verse 2 I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. This great and glorious God is only your God through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but by Him. This God only delights in your praises if you've been parted from your sins because Jesus' blood is for you, cleanses you. Is God your God? Is God your God? Two, if God is your God, are you fully trusting Him?

It's a curse to trust in man. And it's not right to think in terms of all or nothing. Either I'm fully trusting God or I'm not trusting God at all, I think most of us would find ourselves somewhere, at some point in between. Trusting God, and yet diverting trust to unworthy things at certain times for certain reasons. God is the only sure hope.

Trusting in man is a fool's errand. It's fool's gold. It doesn't mean that we don't rely in any sense on man, but who are you trusting? We can engage the help of people while trusting in God. We do that all the time.

Who are you trusting? God is the one object of faith, of trust, that will not fail. Three, is your life a life of praising this God? Is your life a life of praising this God? Is your life a life of praising?

Boasting in this self existing God who is all-glorious and infinitely worthy of it Or Or do you let your backwardness and your dullness and your lack of zeal rule the day? No, says the psalmist, stir yourself up to praise this Help us to praise this God. It is fitting. God please help us. Help us.

Please don't leave us alone in this. We thank you for the indwelling of your spirit. Cries out, Abba, Father, oh fill our hearts with praise. Where we're dull and backward about praise, I pray that you would help us to command our souls to praise you While we live In time and then to sing your praises in eternity We look forward to that day where praise will be so free flowing, won't be backward or lacking in zeal anymore. But until then, help us to stir ourselves up, be armed with these many reasons why nothing is more fitting than to praise you.

I pray in Jesus name, Amen.