1. Resolve to Praise the LORD (verses 1-2).
2. Trust not in Princes (verses 3-4).
3. Find Help in the LORD (verses 5-10).

I want for us to think this morning about praise. Particularly, I want for you to think about praise to God.

Hundreds of times in the Bible, we see people praising God. From Moses in the wilderness, to David in Jerusalem to the returning exiles from the land, time and time again, we read in the Bible of people praising God. After the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea, Moses writes, "The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2). David wrote, "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalm 34:1). When the returning exiles laid the foundation of the new temple that would build, they gathered together and "sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, [saying] ‘For he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel’" (Ezra 3:11).

It’s not just in the Old Testament. It’s in the New Testament as well. In the days of Jesus, we see people praising God. At the birth of Jesus, "a multitude of the heavenly host was praising God and saying, Glory to Go in the highest, And on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13-14). At the death of Jesus, "when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” (Luke 23:47).

Hundreds of times in the Bible, we see people praising God. Hundreds of times in the Bible, we are commanded to praise the LORD.

Psalm 113:1-2
Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!
Blessed be the name of the LORD,
from this time forth and forevermore!

For all of this, it is a bit difficult, sometimes, to exactly define what praise of God means? What does it mean to praise God? It means to give tribute to God. Give honor to God. Worship God. Love, adore, respect the LORD. Acknowledge the LORD. Perhaps synonyms of praise help to define praise: Exalt, extol, give thanks, bless, glorify, magnify, adore,

Here’s a simple definition of what it means to praise God. Confess his place and our place. God is the creator, sustainer, sovereign Lord. We are the created, dependent ones, who follow him. Psalm 48:1 sums it up as good as any place. "Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised."

I bring this up, because, for the next few weeks at Rock Valley Bible Church, I want for us to think about praising the LORD. I want to do so from the book of Psalms. So, I invite you to open in your Bibles to Psalm 146, our text this morning. The title of my message is, “Praise the LORD, O my soul!”

I know that many of you here this morning were expecting me to ask you to open your Bible to the book of Acts. Because, for the past year and a half at Rock Valley Bible Church, we have been working our way through the book of Acts. Yet, we are in the summertime, when people are in and out. After my vacation, I didn’t want to jump back in right away, because I know that many would miss the flow of the book, as some are here one week, and gone the next. So, this morning, we are going to look at a Psalm, because the summer months are good months look at the Psalms as each Psalm stands on its own.

Yet, in the Psalter, there are some Psalms that stand as a group, like the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). The Psalms of Asaph are a grouping of Psalms (Psalms 73-83). The Psalms of Korah’s Sons are another grouping (Psalms 42-49). This morning, and for the next four Sunday mornings, we will be looking at one of these groups of Psalms. We will be looking at the Hallelujah Psalms. that’s the last five Psalms in the Psalter: Psalms 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150. They are called the “Hallelujah Psalms,” because each of these Psalms begin and end with the words, “Hallelujah.”

So, if you are opened in your Bible to Psalm 146, you can see there, right at the beginning, “Praise the LORD!” In Hebrew, these words translate the single word, “Hallelujah.” “Hallel” means “praise.” "Hallelu" is the command to praise. And “Yah,” is the name of God (shortened from Yahweh), translated, “The LORD.”

Not only do we see that word in the first verse of Psalm 146. We also see it in the last verse of Psalm 146. “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! We see the same pattern in Psalm 147. In verse 1, we read, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! In the last verse (verse 20), we read, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! Look at Psalm 148. Verse 1, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! Verse 14, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! Psalm 149 is the same. Verse 1, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! Verse 9, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! Psalm 150, verse 1, “Praise the LORD!”–Hallelujah! Verse 6, “Praise the LORD!” – Hallelujah!

Do you see now, why these Psalms are called, “The Hallelujah Psalms”? (As a side note, there are some other Psalms that begin and end with Hallelujah, namely Psalm 106 and Psalm 113. Further, there are some close Psalms (Psalms 104-105 and 111-112) With an hallelujah at the beginning of the Psalm with an expression of praise at the end – or visa versa. But nowhere in the Psalms are such Hallelujah Psalm bunched up so nicely as they are here at the end of the Psalter.)

If there is one thing that these Psalms are teaching us, is to praise the LORD! This is my application for us this morning, and for the next month, as we look at these five Psalms. My aim in these messages is that we, at Rock Valley Bible Church, would be praising the LORD. That we would know how to praise the LORD, that we would know why to praise the LORD, that we would grow in our worship of the LORD! These are things that these Psalms teach us.

I love how the English Standard Version puts an exclamation point after these Hallelujah’s. “Praise the LORD!” (Exclamation point!) “Praise the LORD, O my soul!” (Exclamation point!) There are no exclamation points in Hebrew, so this is a translator’s insertion. But I think it’s a good insertion. I think that captures exactly the heart of the Psalm. The exclamation point expresses serves in our language to express strong emotion of intensity. Indeed, that’s what these Psalms are about. There’s a strong call for us to praise the LORD!

So, let’s begin these Psalms by looking at Psalm 146. Let's read it now.

Psalm 146
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

The title of my message this morning is “Praise the LORD, O My Soul." My first point comes from verses 1-2. In these verses we see the Psalm calling us to ...

1. Resolve to Praise the LORD (verses 1-2).

That is, we need to have a desire and will to praise the LORD. This is what the Psalmist is here telling himself here. He says, ...

Psalm 146:1
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!

It’s as if he is speaking to himself. telling himself to praise the LORD. That’s the idea of my point. You need to have a resolve to praise the LORD!

Think about the Olympic marathon runner, who is 22 miles into the run. His body screaming in pain, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” Without a resolve to finish the race, he will listen to his body and stop. But how will he finish the 26 miles? He won’t listen to what his body is saying. He will start talking to his body. Saying, “No! We are going to continue on! Scream all you like, Mr. Body. I’m not going to listen to you. We are chasing the medal! We have four more miles to go! Then we will stop!” That’s the only way that a marathon champion will prevail.

And in the Christian life, it works the same way. We must talk to ourselves. We must have a resolve, not to listen to our bodies, and what they want, we must talk to ourselves. We must tell our souls that we will praise the LORD!

This isn’t some lone place in the Bible where this type of thing occurs. Do you remember Psalm 103? How it begins?

Psalm 103:1-2
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

David here is telling his soul to bless the LORD! He is telling his soul not to forget all of the benefits that God has brought to him! The whole rest of the Psalm is a description of the wonderful ways that God has blessed those who fear him. Which draws David back to finish the Psalm by saying, “Bless the LORD, O my soul!” (Psalm 103:22). This sounds like verse 1 of our text.

Psalm 146:1
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!"

“Praise” and “Bless” are practical parallels. It’s ascribing honor to the LORD! It is putting him in his proper place, as exalted ruler over all. It’s gladly recognizing his position. It all begins with a resolve to praise the LORD.

This idea of talking to your soul also comes in Psalms 42 and 43. In that case, the Psalmist is facing dejection and discouragement. And he says, several times in these two Psalms, ...

Psalm 42:5 (and Psalm 42:11; Psalm 43:5)
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.”

In other words, the Psalmist is down in his spirit. His solution to overcoming spiritual depression in this case was to talk to himself, reminding himself of who God is, telling himself to “Hope in God." Talking about Psalm 42, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones says this:

The first thing we have to learn is what the Psalmist learned—we must learn to take ourselves in hand. This man was not content just to lie down and commiserate with himself. He does something about it, he takes himself in hand. But he does something which is more important still, that is he talks to himself. This man turns to himself and says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me.” He is talking to himself, he is addressing himself.

I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ‘ourselves’ to talk to us! Do you realize what this means? I suggest that the whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’ Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have had but little experience.

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why are you cast down’—what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself, ‘Hope in God’—instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.^[1]

The same idea is here in Psalm 146:1. The Psalmist is resolved to praise the LORD, regardless of what’s happening in his life, regardless of how things are going for him, regardless of how he feels, regardless of how tired he is, and regardless of how difficult things have been in his life. He is telling his soul to praise the LORD. Look at the promises that he makes in verse 2.

Psalm 146:2
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

This is resolve. This is determination. This is commitment. The Psalmist says that praising the LORD is a non-negotiable in his life.

What about you? Is the praise of God a non-negotiable in your life? Do you wake in the morning with a commitment to praise the LORD that day? Do you carry that out throughout the day? Every day? Is your supreme heart’s desire to praise the LORD? What about Sunday mornings? Is your resolve and commitment to be here? What about on vacation? Are you resolved to praise the LORD?

One of the things that I love about vacation is that I get to go to church and sit and enjoy! We were gone three Sundays from Rock Valley Bible Church, and we were in church each of those Sundays. Not because I feel obligated in any way from some legalism that says that I have to go to church. But because it’s my desire. It’s the resolve and desire of my heart.

Do you know what I mean? Does verse 2 reflect the desires and commitment of your heart?

Psalm 146:2
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

If I’m breathing, I will be praising the LORD! The only thing that will stop my praise to God is my death. (Although, this won’t really stop you, as you will find yourself in the presence of Christ, worshiping in the LORD upon his throne. See Revelation 4-5). Humanly speaking, this is the only thing that will stop you. Is that your desire? Psalm 150 ends with similar words, "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!"

We have the phrase, “Over my dead body.” If somebody wants to enter your house without your commitment, you might say something like, "You can come in 'Over my dead body.'" Well, that’s the idea here. “Over my dead body” will I ever stop praising the LORD.

There’s the resolve of worship. Let’s move on to verses 3 and 4.

2. Trust not in Princes (verses 3-4).

I take this point straight from the command of verse 3,

Psalm 146:3-4
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

The “princes” here are earthly rulers. Those who have the authority in their nation to give direction to the entire nation. The equivalent for us to day would simply be this: “Don’t trust in your government officials.”

Now, I’m sure that for many of us, this isn’t too difficult. It seems as if the government opposes us in every way. Our taxes are high. They legislate immorality. They restrict on our freedom. They are unreasonable at times. It’s easy for us not to trust in our government.

But note, that this means, it means that we ought not to trust in our government, whatever political party is in charge. In other words, this doesn’t mean that we should oppose the Democrats today, because we want the Republicans in power tomorrow, because this is where our hope lies! No, the call of verses 3 and 4 is for us not to place our hope in any government. If your hope is in a red wave this fall, where we can return to the Trump days, you may be trusting in princes, looking to the political system for your salvation, rather than trusting in the LORD.

Now, that’s not to say that we should abstain from the political scene, and become pacifists. Not at all. God is involved in politics. "[God] removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21). God establishes all authority (Romans 13:1). Our current administration is there because God ordained it.

And as such, we are called to honor our government officials. Peter wrote to those who were being persecuted by their government.

1 Peter 2:13-17
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

So, we play this balancing act. We don’t trust our government. Yet, here in the United States, we have freedom to work towards setting up a better government, but all the while, we honor those in authority. But here, in Psalm 146, the idea is that we ought not to trust in the government because, as verse 3 says, “there is no salvation” in princes. Because, they will pass away. T"When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish" (verse 4). Sadly, I think that many Americans find their hope and salvation in the right governmental leaders.

John MacArthur wrote a book entitled, “Why Government Can’t Save You: An Alternative to Political Activism.” In the book, he argues that ...

the greatest temporal good we can accomplish through political involvement cannot compare to what the Lord can accomplish through us in the eternal work of His kingdom. He has called the church to be a kingdom of priests, not a kingdom of political activists.

A certain amount of healthy and balanced concern with current trends in government and the community is acceptable, as long as we realize that such interest is not vital to our spiritual growth, our righteous testimony, or the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. Above all, the believer’s political involvement should never displace the priority of preaching and teaching the gospel.

And so, I ask you, are you trusting in princes? are you trusting in our government? How about this? What do you talk about? What do you think about? Do you think more upon the government and its evils and its corrupt leaders, and its bad policy, Than you do upon the LORD, and his goodness, and his kindness, and his power to save.

What do you post about on your social media? Is your social media presence more focused upon the politics of the day? Or is your social media focused upon your hope in the LORD?

Trust not in Princes (verses 3-4). They can’t save. Instead, ...

3. Find Help in the LORD (verses 5-10).

This is my last point. I get this from verse 5.

Psalm 146:5
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,

So, this morning, I’m simply exhorting you to find help in the LORD. Place your hope in the LORD, not in governments (like verses 3 and 4 say). Place your hope in the LORD, not in other people, not in your teachers or your pastors or your parents or your friends. Place your hope in the LORD, and you will find blessing. That’s the clear word of verse 5, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob."

Then, for the next five verses, the Psalmist describes the God of Jacob. Fundamentally, he is one can give help and is willing to give help and does gives help.

Psalm 146:6
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,

Here we see that God is capable of giving help. He created everything, the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all they contain. Time prevents us from listing it all out. Here are a few: The atoms and the atmosphere. The birds the bugs, The cattle and the cucumbers. The dogs and the dinosaurs. The plants and the planets. The soil and the sun. If God made it all, he can lend his helping hand to his creatures. And he’s willing.

Psalm 146:6
who keeps faith forever;

People will fail you, but God will never fail you. He is willing to help you.

When it comes to seeking help from other people, you always have to weigh their willingness to help you. If I ask my neighbor to borrow his lawn mower, is he willing? If I ask my children to wash the dishes, are they willing? If I ask my husband to help with a project around the house, is he going to be willing to help me? Now so with God, he is willing to help.

God can help. God is willing to help. Look, then, in verses 7-9 what God does: he helps those in need!

Psalm 146:7-9
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Here is where the gospel shines most clearly in this Psalm. God helps those who need it. For the oppressed, God gives justice. For the hungry, God gives food. For those in prison, God grants freedom. For the blind, the LORD gives sight. For those who are bowed low in forced submission, the LORD lifts up. For the foreigners in a strange land, who are susceptible to be taken advantage of, the LORD watches over them. For the widow and the orphan, the LORD sustains.

This is the heart of God. that he reaches out and helps those who need it. In the gospel, we learn that all of us need help. We are sinners, facing the judgment of God. Condemned to hell, unless we are rescued from our sins. We could easily add to this list in Psalm 146 that The LORD forgives sinners. He does this through the sacrifice of his son. He died on the cross for our sins. We simply need to seek his help. We simply need to believe in him! We simply need to believe that he is near to the broken-hearted. and that he loves to help those who cry out to him.

This is fundamentally why we praise the Lord!

Psalm 107:1-2
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble.

It's the redeemed of the LORD who are called to give thanks to the LORD. The redeemed are thankful, so they express it.

Ephesians 1 speaks of the great salvation that God has given to us. God has given to us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). He chose us and predestined us to adoption as sons (Ephesians 1:4-5). He redeemed us and forgave us our sins (Ephesians 1:7). All of this comes with a result: "to the praise of his glorious grace" (Ephesians 1:6); "to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:12); and "to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:14). We are saved to magnify the grace of God!

Peter echoed the same sentiment.

1 Peter 2:9-10
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Or, as we like to say at Rock Valley Bible Church, we enjoy his grace that we might extend his glory. Everything that God has given to us, we turn around and praise God in return.

Are you seeking his help today? Are you finding your help in the LORD today? The LORD is fully capable of coming to help in your time of trouble. He reigns and rules forever.

Psalm 146:10
The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

Hallelujah!

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on February 13, 2022 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.

[1] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 20-21.
 
[2] John MacArthur, Why Government Can’t Save You: An Alternative to Political Activism (Nashville: Word Publishing: 2000), 8-9.