And we want to continue looking at this
wonderful key of praising God through which we
prepare a throne for God in our hearts
and through which we can escape from any
situation that we ever find ourselves in the
world.
In our last study about this wonderful key
that God has given us, it's like a
master key, you know, that can open every
door.
Isn't it wonderful to have a key in
your hands through which you can unlock yourself
and get out of any tight corner or
any situation?
That you find yourself in some difficult situation,
some problem, some difficult people perhaps and here
you have a master key.
What's that?
To enthrone God on our praises.
It's not a technique.
If you try it as a technique, I
guarantee you right now it'll fail.
Technique is something that we adopt selfishly.
We want something and we think if we
repeat certain words like some type of mantra
or magic it will work.
It doesn't work like that.
I'm not talking about words.
You know, God has no interest in words
if they don't come from our hearts.
I'm not talking about praise alone.
I'm talking about praise that comes from a
heart that has faith in God and His
sovereign power and in His perfect love and
in His infinite wisdom.
See, faith indicates that you believe that God
is full of love, full of wisdom, full
of power and when you believe that you
will sing His praise.
And as we saw last time in Psalm
22, verse 3, praise is the throne on
which God sits.
Now Psalm 22, by the way, is a
psalm about the cross of Calvary.
It begins with these words, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?
Jesus spoke those words when He was hanging
on the cross.
And then it speaks about God being enthroned
on the praises of His people in the
third verse.
And then it refers to Jesus' hands and
feet being pierced in verse 16.
It's very obviously a message of the cross,
a psalm of the cross.
And then as you continue in the psalm,
from this crucified position, Jesus invites His younger
brothers, that's you and me, to join Him
in verse 21 to prepare a throne of
praise for the Father.
See that in verse 22, I will tell
of your name to my brethren in the
midst of the assembly I'll praise thee.
That's the verse which is quoted in Hebrews
chapter 2 as referring to Jesus praising the
Father.
So it's very interesting to see that this
verse of praise comes in the midst of
a psalm which is speaking about Jesus being
crucified, His hands and feet being pierced.
Now the crucifixion of Jesus was the worst
evil that was ever committed on this earth.
There was never a greater sin committed by
any other human being than the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ.
We can say that took place on earth.
Do you agree with me?
Yeah it's true.
Now let me ask you another question.
What do you think was the best event
that ever took place on this earth in
6,000 years of man's history?
The answer is again the same, the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ.
Was there a better thing that took place
on earth than the crucifixion of Christ?
If it were not for that our sins
would not be forgiven there wouldn't be any
radio program today that you're listening to.
No, it's the crucifixion of Christ which is
the best event and we earlier saw it
was the worst sin that man committed.
So it was the worst thing and it
was the best thing.
What does that show?
The worst thing that man could do, God
turned into the very best thing of all.
Now once you understand that you'll realize that
whatever other people may do to you is
certainly not as bad as the crucifixion of
Jesus and if God could turn that evil
thing into something good tell me what is
there that other people can do to you
which God cannot turn for good?
Everything is less than that.
Nothing can happen to you worse than the
crucifixion of Jesus and that worst thing God
turned into the very best and that teaches
us something about God's almighty power.
That's why we praise Him.
That's why right in the middle of this
psalm which is the psalm of the cross
we find I will praise you.
Do you feel like praising God when you're
crucified?
What do you think the thieves were doing
when they were hanging on the cross?
They were not praising God.
They were cursing and swearing and probably biting
the hands of the soldiers who were crucifying
them and spitting at them and they were
not at all happy but can you imagine
how Jesus was crucified?
He must have opened his palms and cooperated
with them when they drove the nails in,
put his legs one on top of the
other so that they could drive the nails
in more easily.
He was happy.
Why was he happy?
Didn't he suffer?
Oh he suffered, sure.
He felt the pain of crucifixion just as
much as you and I would feel it.
Then why was he happy?
He was happy that he was doing the
will of his father.
You know when we do the will of
our father it doesn't matter if we suffer.
We can still be happy.
We may feel pain.
Jesus felt pain but he was happy and
that's why he could praise the father hanging
on the cross and this is the way.
This is the secret.
The bible says it's not only Jesus Christ
who was crucified on Calvary.
Do you know somebody else who was crucified
on the same cross as Jesus?
I don't mean on either side of him
like the thieves.
Tell me somebody else who was crucified on
the same cross as Jesus was crucified.
It's not so well known among Christians by
the way.
Every Christian knows that Jesus died on the
cross on Calvary but if you were to
ask them who else died with him on
that same cross they don't know the answer
but the answer is given us in two
places at least in scripture.
In Romans chapter 6 we read in Romans
chapter 6 and verse 6 that our old
man was also crucified with Christ on the
cross and Paul says in Galatians 2 20
applying it personally to himself he says I
am crucified with Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ.
So it's not only Jesus who died on
the cross in some wonderful way God who
knew that one day you and I would
also give our lives to Christ he took
us because he knew the future and put
us into Christ and we were crucified with
him.
We have died with Christ.
It's not only that our sins were placed
on Christ on the cross we ourselves have
been placed on that cross and now crucified
with Christ we praise God.
See that's a different type of praise than
the hollow empty words of praise that sometimes
people make noises and shouting which is meaningless.
Why do I say it's meaningless?
Praise is a spirit.
You can't just switch it on Sunday morning
for two hours and switch it off when
you go home.
If you say hallelujah praise the Lord on
Sunday morning in the meeting and then go
home and shout at your wife on Sunday
afternoon.
Do you have the spirit of praise?
Certainly not.
That's something you switch on and switch off.
It's not a spirit of praise.
It's a form.
It's a tradition and that's all a lot
of people have.
That's hollow.
You know there's a verse in the old
testament where God says these people draw near
to me with their lips but their hearts
are far away from me.
Their hearts seek their own.
So it's easy to draw near to God
with our lips and God doesn't care for
that.
He doesn't listen to a lot of praise
that is spoken out on Sunday mornings from
different parts of the world.
You know what he listens to?
He listens to the people who have a
spirit of praise and not just words.
Words can be empty.
Words can be a ritual.
There are a lot of people who say
they love Jesus in the same spirit that
Judas Iscariot kissed Jesus in Gethsemane.
Judas Iscariot kissed Jesus.
Wasn't that a sign of love and affection
and friendship?
But he was betraying Him.
And in the same way many people stand
up Sunday morning and praise the Lord and
say hallelujah but it's not in their hearts.
If you want praise to come into your
heart you have to be crucified with Christ.
You have to say Lord I die to
myself.
I want to show you another psalm which
is also a psalm of the cross and
that will just confirm what I've been trying
to say to you.
You know God's word is powerful and that's
why we need to turn to God's word
again and again.
Man's words are not as powerful as God's
words.
In Psalm 118 if you read verses 11
to 14 it speaks about they surrounded me
like bees and in the name of the
Lord I'll cut them off.
It is a psalm of the cross and
then it says in the stone which the
builders rejected became the chief cornerstone.
That's a word that Jesus quoted in the
Gospels.
You read that in Matthew 21 42 and
Mark 12 verse 10 and 11.
That's a word that Jesus quoted concerning himself.
When did the builders reject the stone?
That was on Calvary.
They said we don't want him to reign
over us.
We will not have this man to reign
over us.
Crucify him and they rejected him but there
hanging on the cross crucified the Lord says
in verse 28 I give thanks to thee
I will extol thee give thanks to the
Lord for he is good this is the
day verse 24 which the Lord has made
let us rejoice and be glad in it
was the day on which Jesus was crucified
a day which the Lord has made I
mean to say this is the day the
Lord has made when you get an increment
or a promotion in your job or a
better salary or a better job or when
you get married or get a better house
or some earthly benefit that's very easy to
say this is the day which the Lord
has made but to say this is the
day which the Lord has made when somebody
crucifies you that requires faith which is the
day which the Lord has not made is
there any day in the year which the
Lord has not made every day is a
day which the Lord has made the devil
doesn't make any days I'll tell you that
and if this is the day which the
Lord has made we're going to rejoice and
be glad in it whether we get a
large gift or whether we get crucified it
doesn't make a difference because we believe in
the sovereignty of God and so we find
in both these psalms psalm 22 and psalm
118 this great truth that it's only as
I'm willing to die to my self-life
as only I'm willing to die to my
self which is always seeking its own that
I can enter into a spirit of praise
and then my praise to God on Sunday
mornings will be meaningful it'll come from my
heart and I will not have to live
a double life where I'm a holy person
on Sunday morning and behave like a devil
on Sunday evening no I can be genuine
through and through and so it's not just
faith that's connected with praising God being crucified
with Christ is also connected with praising God
we're trying to lay a good foundation so
that our life of praise will be on
solid foundation