Please turn with me now to the book of Psalms. Psalm 145. Psalm 145, it's found on page 721 to 722. The Bible's provided there in your rows. Psalm 145, let's give our attention to this psalm, which is a praise of David. David writes, I will extol You, my God, O King. And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day, I'll bless You. And I'll praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts and I'll declare your greatness. They shall utter the memory of your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. All your works shall praise you, O Lord, and your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He also will hear their cry and save them. The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever and ever. Amen. Remember the grass withers and the flower falls, but God's word abides forever. Amen. This morning as we consider this psalm, we want to consider this idea. Passionate praise. Passionate praise. In a blog post from October of 2021, a writer notes 21 extraordinary things to be passionate about in 2022. What's interesting through the course of this blog is that this individual highlights all sorts of things that ought to be the attention of our desires or our focus. Number one, health and fitness in order to feel great. Relationship health in order to be grateful for people in your life. Becoming passionate about learning a new skill, overseeing aspects of financial management in order to fund your passions or overcome certain debts or other challenges. Going through the process of simplifying your life by decluttering so that you can remove distractions and have more time and energy. All kinds of things. Issues of personal growth, mindfulness of the moment, being creative, having joy in your work, helping others, improving your skills. It's very self-focused, visualizing the life you want, taking time to help nature and the environment, social justice, taking time to volunteer to help animals and pets, entrepreneurship. Finally, number 17 out of 21, there's some general praise or idea of faith and beliefs. And then to deal with family and mental health and community and even consider writing a book. Initially, as you hear this, and there's nothing wrong per se with the various things that this person says we should be passionate about, but as a believer who would hear all this, if I were to ask you what should be your strongest desire or main motivation that underlies your desire, what would be your response? To put it a different way, what should be the thing that you are the most passionate Well, I would propose to you that Psalm 145 informs us of what that passion should be. And it's this, that those of us who have experienced and known the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we should be ready to talk then of our God's greatness, grace, goodness, and glory. And as a result of being prepared to note His greatness, His grace, His goodness, and His glory, it should then motivate our hearts and yield us in our strongest desire then to praise our God. To put it a different way, when we're captivated with our God as King and Savior, then the passion or the desire of our life will yield forth in praise of God. And so there's four ways then that the psalmist informs us about our passionate praise. We praise him, verses one through seven, because of his greatness. By the way, this is a 4G sermon. I'm sorry that I haven't gotten to 5G yet, but it's a 4G sermon. We praise Him for His greatness. We passionately praise Him for His grace. We praise Him for His glorious kingdom. And we praise Him for His generosity. His greatness, His grace, His glorious kingdom, and His generosity. This psalm that is set before us, it's the last of the psalms of David. And what's interesting about this particular psalm, it's one of eight psalms in this book of praise that is an acrostic. An acrostic means that each stanza begins with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It was a device in order to help individuals learn this psalm, and as they would commit it to memory, it would then inform how they might give praise to God. It also has a unique position in the Psalter in that the previous five psalms that were included were all prayers of urgent supplications. The last five psalms, Psalm 146 to 150, Note, praise or hallelujahs to God and smack dab in the middle of it is this one that says, in light of thinking about the concerns that you have, you yield your praise passionately before God to inform and strengthen the manner in which you bring hallelujahs to God. In other words, it's a good means of preparing. for the aspects of praise because this psalm drives our attention to God Himself. So if we are captivated with God as our King and our Savior, then notice the ways in which we will passionately praise our God. The first one is found in His greatness. Look at verses one through seven. Let's read that one more time here. The psalmist says, I will extol you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. Consider this, in order for us to be able to praise our God and do so in a manner that has an underlying strong desire to yield forth this praise, we must know God. We must have some aspect of having information and a great thought about Him. There can't be some aspect of just simply, well we know that there's something up there somewhere and consequently this then informs us about how we might praise Him. This isn't some aspect of the Athenians in Acts chapter 17 who just to cover all their bases had a statue or an altar to an unknown God. David here is telling us that this God whom we praise can be known, is knowable, and consequently as we know Him, it informs the manner of our cry and our worship and our exaltation of His name. To put it another way, if you believe God is great, you will bring forth a great praise. But if you believe that God is low, or you have a low view of Him, then what kind of appreciation will you really have for Him? Think about the possession that you treasure the most. What is it? How do you go about caring for it? Do you just simply take it and go, eh, whatever, toss it aside? Do you look at it and maybe think to yourself, oh, that doesn't matter, and trample on it, loan it out to anyone and everyone, and hey, it doesn't matter how you treat it, beat it up, do whatever you want to it, bring it back when you want to, I don't care. I don't think so. That thing that has significance and meaning to you will be held in an aspect of a prized possession. It will be well cared for. It will be treasured. It will have a place of importance and significance. You draw attention of it to others to let them know how important and valuable it is to you. And you see to it that it is maintained at its best. in optimum care. Why? Because you say that has worth and significance. But the thing that's insignificant and has no worth, has no real appreciation. Well, if we reflect on the fact that God is great, it will inform the manner in which we praise Him. How is it that he's able to reflect on this? Notice what he says in verses five, six, and seven. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts and I will declare your greatness. They shall utter the memory of your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness. Notice these terms that he's using to talk about the greatness of God. He has glorious splendor. He is majestic. He does amazing and wondrous things. He commits awesome acts. He displays great goodness and shows himself to be righteous. How is it that this thing is described or set forth before us? The psalmist in Psalm 19 highlights two ideas. He says the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth His handiwork. The wonder of creation around us displays just how great and wondrous and awesome God truly is. Just by looking at the world around us, it should fill us with awe and should cause us to see just how small we truly are. And in relation to that, to see how magnificent and how awesome is the one who made this. The beauty of a sunrise or a sunset The great splendor that you see as you go to the Black Hills or look at the Rockies and see the majestic mountains. To travel to the coast and to look at the ocean, to hear the roar of the waves just simply crashing again and again and again and again. to see the wonder of the order of our system that the sun rises and it sets. All things are set in their season, spring, summer, fall, winter, and it happens regularly. The wonder of creation is not only seen in just simply the grandeur of all that is around us, but the beauty found in the simple things. The amazing creation that is found in a blade of grass, or even a small annoying insect, God shows through it all the beauty of his creativity and the strength that he has. And yet the psalmist in Psalm 19 doesn't just simply leave us at creation, but he then goes on to note that by means of the word, we then learn more about God. We see his perfections. We see his holiness. We learn of his love. We consider his mindfulness of us and his care and the interaction of his various attributes. He sets in all these things just how great he truly is. And so as the psalmist then would know God's word, he informed himself as to how God truly is great. But you can even testify of this as it relates to you personally. from the moment of your conception, the care of God, and the development of who you are being uniquely and wondrously made, being brought forth into this world, living at this particular time in the family and in the place that you live, knowing that we each have a different story and different things that unfold in our lives, and God yet uses each and every one of those things in a personal manner in order to give us exactly what we need at the right time and shape us in accordance with His intention and purpose shows just how great and wondrous God truly is. How should we respond to this greatness? Number one, consider who's noting this. There must be something of this greatness if we note who says this. Well, it's David. Who's David? Joe Schmoe Israelite? If they had Joe and Schmoe and Israelite. He's king of Israel. Israel at this time was one of the more powerful nations in the world. They had defeated all their enemies. God had brought peace through the hand of David. You recall the great wealth that Israel was able to assemble as they prepared for the building of the temple under the reign of Solomon. And yet this king looks at the God of heaven and he consequently says, I am nothing. as it pertains to him. Kings love splendor. Kings demand attention. They see to it that people bow and honor them and recognize who they are in relation to their country. And yet this one who is in an exalted position says, God is higher and God is greater. And so if a king is saying he alone is great and worthy of praise, then how much should we? The second thing we ought to see is that this identification of greatness must be personalized. David here says, I will extol you, my God. I will bless your name forever. Every day I will bless you. I will praise your name. Do you? Do you individually and personally recognize that God is worthy of your praise because He is great? It must be your own. It can't be the praise or the honor identification of your spouse. Children, this isn't the praise of your parents. As we witnessed here a few minutes ago, you have been brought into the covenant by virtue of your birth and belonging then to a covenant family. You have been identified with God's people and therefore you've been called upon to give personal praise to this God. Who is great. One author notes that as we recognize that we are needy and God has provided us a Savior, that He sent His Son to bear the penalty for sin deserved and approved, the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ and raised Him from the dead, then we must trust and we must call upon Him as our Lord and our God and therefore give Him praise of His greatness. You remember doubting Thomas when he finally saw, responded to Jesus, not simply as you are Lord, but he said, my Lord and my God. If we've come to grips with our Savior, then God has shown his greatness individually, and therefore we should yield him praise. One last thing under this greatness is a call to the generations to continue in this praise. This praise of God's greatness is not just simply something that we recognize at the moment and leave it when we're done. David is calling upon not just simply the congregation to respond, but the generations to note who God is, that they would show forth themselves not just simply by means of kids or grandkids or great-grandkids, but on down to the thousandth generation of those who love God and fear Him, singing back in response to the psalmist saying, God truly is great and glorious. So are you passionate about that? Are you desirous to bring forth the praise of God because He is great and worthy of this praise? The psalmist tells us we don't just simply praise Him for His greatness, but we also recognize His grace. Look at verse 8 and 9, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. Does that sound familiar to you? It's a very commonly repeated sentence or a couple of sentences found in the Old Testament. It's mentioned some eight or nine times, the first of which was found in Exodus chapter 34. You recall the time in which Moses wanted to see the living God. And so as he asked the Lord for this, the Lord said, you cannot see me on my front side or in my full glory for in doing so, no man can do so and live. And so I will pass by you, I'll hide you in the rock. And as I come by you, then you'll see the backside of me as it were. And in this, God in His revelation to Moses has this wondrous and glorious declaration which is, I am gracious and full of compassion, slow in anger, abounding in mercy, good to all and having tender mercies to all and over all my works. This informs then our passionate praise because this moves us not just from God being the creator, but God being the redeemer. This moves us not just simply seeing that God has put us in this world and we see how he is exalted and on high and is full of great strength and full of majesty, but this puts us in an intimate, personal, loving connection with him. because he has displayed unmerited favor and he's not given us what we deserved. Brothers, do you see what David has done here for us? He's helping us to understand that as we come to yield ourselves in praise of our God, yeah, we do so because of His might and of His splendor, but we do so because He intimately knows us. He intimately loves us. He knows your name. He has written it down in His book of life, and He has seen to it that as He intended to save you from before the foundation of the world, that He would accomplish that. and apply it to you personally. What does this tell you? It means that this God who is to be feared on the one hand because of His holiness, on the other hand, has removed those aspects of fear because His anger has been turned and He calls you to come and He welcomes you with open arms and embraces you in love and mercy and compassion and says, your sins are no more, they have been cast away. I remember them no more and I pour forth on you abundance of my kindness and of my goodness and my love and accept you and receive you based on the Beloved. Dear people of God, if that doesn't stir your hearts to praise Him, nothing will. Can you testify of the way that God has done this? God's shown this. He's shown it from the very beginning. When Adam and Eve disobeyed him and plunged themselves and the whole human race into sin and misery, he didn't show up on that day and go, yeah, knew that was gonna happen, that's it, you're done. He doesn't come and greet them in some aspects of thunderbolts and lightning. He doesn't do any aspect of the call of judgment in order to come against them. Instead, as he recognizes what happens, he makes a promise to say, I will overcome your sin. And furthermore, he even closed them and he gives them coverings so that they might then go forth in this world. He showed it to Noah and his family through the ark. He called Abram from the city of Ur in the land of the Chaldeans to say, I have loved you and I will be your God and you in turn will be my own, my special person. And consequently, through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. and he carries it forth in time by showing through a particular nation, Israel, that he is a God over them and he gives them his law and he directs them to know him and he allows them to see who he is and to see the effects of his work in their lives and he sets them up as an example and a light to the nations for what purpose? To continue to draw attention to his son, Jesus Christ. And all of that was a message of His graciousness and His compassion and His tender mercies and His loving kindness. If you want to be passionate in your praise, If you want to note the desires of your heart to be brought forth in worship corporately and individually, recall to yourself not just simply the care that God has shown you as creator, but the love that he has given you as redeemer. Knowing that he has been pleased to call you as his very own. God does this then in the context, not only of greatness and of glory, but he shows that he has a glorious kingdom. Look at verses 10 through 13. All your works will praise you, O Lord, and your saints will bless you. They'll speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. Simply put, God is reigning. and He's in charge. The nations of the world are nothing in relation to Him. Earthly kingdoms come, earthly kingdoms go, but God's kingdom remains forever. He's always been, He now is, He always will be. He's eternally the same, He is unchanging in all aspects of His being. He is the beginning, He is the end. He is forevermore. Men have come against him, men have sought to stand against him, men have sought to undermine him and declare that he isn't worthy of attention or consideration and yet God looks down upon these individuals according to Psalm 2 and he laughs and he brings to naught anything that they attempt to do to show that he is wondrous and glorious and exalted. You youth who went to camp a couple of weeks back, isn't that what we heard from the example of Daniel? In Daniel chapter two, three, and four with the life of Nebuchadnezzar. The king who had a dream, who wanted someone to tell him a dream and interpret it for him, and so finally Daniel shows up and he says, you had a dream of a big statue, it was cut up into various parts, and the statue represents the kingdoms of the world, and yet they will be brought to naught because there's a stone made without hands that will come out of heaven, it will hit the statue, and it then will take over all the kingdoms of the earth. And what do we see in the life of Nebuchadnezzar that every time God interacts with him, whether by means of the dream or by means of the fiery furnace or by means of being humbled by God and living out as a wild beast in heaven? the wild for the appointed time. Nebuchadnezzar makes a different statement about God until finally he says, God, you are God and I am not. You are exalted, I am humbled. You are worthy of all praise and I must yield it to him. God is worthy of our praise and informs our praise because he is a glorious king who rules and directs over all. and shows that he will remain forevermore and nothing can thwart his plan. He has power, he has glory, he crushes all his enemies and the earth will show forth his majesty and glory of his eternal kingdom. God is great. He's gracious. He rules over glorious kingdom. But you know what? God's generous. And that's the beauty of the rest of this Psalm from 14 to the end. God's generous. He's not stingy, He's not miserly, He's not tight-fisted. He doesn't look upon us and say, if you do this, then I will do this. As you merit or you achieve certain things, then I'll open up another level to you or bring forth a little something more to you. He shows goodness to all of His creation and He is good towards all those particularly who call upon Him. Listen to how the psalmist describes this, and he's got no problem or issue saying that God shows goodness and kindness and love and compassion upon all in creation. Note that. He upholds all who fall. He raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. You're righteous in all your ways, gracious in all your works, near to all who call upon you. You fulfill the desire of those who fear you. He will hear their cry and save them, preserving all who love him. Do you hear this? The goodness, the kindness, the mercy of God to all. He opens His hand and He gives food. To satisfy the desire of all living things. Jesus noted that it's the birds of the air who are provided with food because God gives it to them. Jesus in Matthew 10 said, are not two, I think it's sparrows, sold for a penny, and yet not one of them falls to the ground without the will of your heavenly Father. A bird. Birds that are insignificant, birds that have little value, and yet God knows the intimate details of their circumstance, where they are, the flight, the pattern of their flight, where they're eat, what they'll be provided with. God is involved with that. And if God knows that, surely He knows you, who is created in His image. God is truly kind. He does so in a manner that is good and just and proper. God blesses us with an abundance of good things. He allows us to be able to live in this world, to know that our needs are met. He gives us breath. He sustains us in all our being. He provides for us as it pertains to our jobs, our circumstances, the places in which we live, the things that go about in our lives. God is there and he provides. And even those of you who may be struggling, feeling the burden or the weight of a circumstance here and now, the difficulty of a relationship, the concern of health, the challenge at work, the struggles of what's happening in this world, uncertainty as it pertains to your life or your future, or not knowing what to do, feeling this heavy burden upon your circumstance, God is even mindful and thoughtful of that. For the psalmist says, the Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. Another way to consider this is that God doesn't just deal with us concerning our physical stuff. He deals with us as it pertains to our mental issues, our emotional issues, the cares that we carry, the burdens that we have. God is there. God knows it and He shows forth His generosity accordingly. So what do we do? Verse 21, speak the praise of God, bless His name forever and ever. How might we do this? One author said this, Gaze at the awesomeness of the glory of God. Remember His glory and consequently what He's given you by His grace through Christ. Rest in the fact that He is glorious and go out in action as you are identified in Christ. Gaze at the wonder and splendor of who He is. Remember your identity by grace through Christ. Rest in who God is. And act accordingly. Individuals can be passionate about all kinds of things. They can show passion as it pertains to health and relationships, skills, finances, personal growth. They can be aware. They can be mindful of their employment. They can improve their skills. take to caring for nature and social issues and animals and pets and family and mental health and community. But none of that matters if we don't rightly set the passion of our praise before the living God who is great, who is gracious, who rules over a glorious kingdom, and who's generous to us in all aspects of our being. Let's praise. Our Father in heaven, we submit ourselves unto you, recognizing just how wondrous you are. Direct our hearts and praise to you as a response of gratitude for who you are, for what you've done, and for what you're doing. Strengthen us in the knowledge that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ. Unite our hearts to him. Cause us to fear your name. Cause us to go forth with the desire of loving and serving you. Strengthen us in this, we pray. saying, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.