Not to us but to your name, be the glory

[0:00] We will be reading from the NIV 2011 version. Psalms chapter 115. Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

[0:18] Why did the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.

[0:30] They have mouths, but cannot speak. Eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear. Noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel.

[0:41] Feet, but cannot walk. Nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

[0:52] All you Israelites trust in the Lord. He is their help and shield. House of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the Lord.

[1:04] He is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless his people Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, small and great alike.

[1:17] May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belongs to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.

[1:31] It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence. It is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore. Praise the Lord.

[1:42] This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, Elisa, for reading for us. Let's pray.

[1:54] Father God, we thank you that we can come here to worship you and to listen to your word. Speak to us through your word. Speak to your servant. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in your sight.

[2:09] Amen. In Matthew 26, 30, chapter 26, verse 30, it is recorded that when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

[2:36] They refers to Jesus and his disciples. It is they, eh? So this incident happened just after the Last Supper. The Last Supper of Jesus.

[2:48] The Last Supper has just ended. And Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn. What is the hymn? What did they sing? What hymn did they sing?

[2:59] They will sing. They will sing Psalms 113 to 118 during the Passover meal. So they will sing Psalms 113 to 114.

[3:15] After the meal, they will sing Psalms 115 to 118. These hymns are called the Halal hymn. Halal means praise.

[3:25] Also known as the Egyptian Halal. This morning, we are going to do a study on Psalms 115, a hymn that was sung by Jesus after the Last Supper.

[3:39] The psalm is sung to remind the people to give glory to God, not to ourselves. It is sung to remind the people to trust in God, and not in idols.

[3:53] Not to us, Lord, not to us. But to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

[4:04] Why do the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases him. Have a look at this picture.

[4:17] Who is this guy? A. First, first, first, first. Let me finish the question first. A. Thomas Edison. B. Albert Einstein.

[4:29] C. Donald Trump. Now, who is this person? If you answer Donald Trump, it means you don't read in your newspaper.

[4:42] What is the answer? Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein is the... Who is he? He is a genius. He is a genius.

[4:53] So when the Sunday service was over, one of the members came to the pastor. Not our pastor.

[5:04] Not Pastor Brian or Pastor Wilfred. No, no, no. The pastor here. Other pastor. And he said, Pastor, thanks. Thank you. Thank you for your message. Thank you for your sermon. You know, you must be smarter than Einstein.

[5:19] You must be smarter than Einstein. When the pastor heard this compliment, he was very happy. Beaming with pride. You know, when people thank you for the sermon, Brian, Pastor Brian, thank you, at least you are happy.

[5:32] At least your sermon has touched the lives of people. So, beaming with pride. He was happy. He said, thank you, brother. Thank you, brother, for your compliment.

[5:43] Thank you, brother, for your encouragement. As a week went by, the pastor began to think about the man's compliment. The more he thought, the more he became puzzled.

[5:56] Why? Why did this brother say, I'm smarter than Einstein? So, he decided to ask this man the next Sunday.

[6:08] The next Sunday came, he went to meet the brother, the church member. And he asked, exactly what do you mean that I must be smarter than Einstein? The man replied, well, pastor, they say that Einstein was so smart that only 10 people in the entire world could understand him.

[6:34] But as for you, pastor, no one, no one can understand you. No one can understand you, pastor. Too smart. When people praise us, it's so easy to think highly of ourselves.

[6:51] It's so easy to give glory to ourselves. It's so easy to be absorbed in self-glory. We tend to glory too much in ourselves.

[7:03] Not to us. Not to us, O Lord. Not to us. Put to your name. Be the glory. In reality, we do not, we do not deserve any praise.

[7:19] We do not deserve any praise. We do not deserve to be praised. Then who deserves the praises? Who deserves to be praised? You know, when you have done something well, people may pat your back.

[7:35] They say, you are great. You have done well. You are very successful. You are very talented. But they praise you. But do we deserve this praise? No, no.

[7:47] We don't deserve this praise. It is God alone. It is God alone who deserves all this glory, all this glory and all these praises. Why? Why? Because He is the one who gives us the power, who gives us the opportunity, who gives us the talent to do the good things in our life.

[8:05] But in our daily living, we cannot help giving praises to each other. You ask yourself what you want to praise others.

[8:19] You ask yourself what you want to praise others. There are many reasons. In this sermon, I will give you two reasons. The first reason I will mention here. The second reason I will mention at the end of the sermon.

[8:31] The first reason why we praise one another is that we want to encourage one another. We are just practicing what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5.11.

[8:50] Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact we are doing. When we praise a person, we want to tell him that he has done something well.

[9:02] All of us need encouragement especially pastor. They work their heart. They prepare their sermon. They pray. It's good. When pastor Brian preach well, tell him he needs all the encouragement.

[9:21] But the problem is the problem is when people praise us, we think we deserve the praises. That's the problem. we think we deserve the praises.

[9:31] We deserve the glory. Then we become proud of ourselves. We begin to draw attention to ourselves. So, what do we do to overcome this problem?

[9:45] How do we solve this problem? If people praise you for something good you have done, what can you do with these praises? Corrie Ten Boon can help us here.

[9:57] you can read the book or watch the movie about her life, The Hiding Place. You can watch the movie. YouTube has got this. The Hiding Place.

[10:08] You type The Hiding Place. You will see. You can watch the movie. Corrie Ten Boon was captured by the German Nazi soldiers during the Second World War and she was put into this concentration camp, Ravensbrück concentration camp.

[10:25] I don't know how you pronounce the word. It's German Ravensbrück concentration camp. After her release from this camp, she became a popular speaker around the world.

[10:38] She will talk about how she had learned to forgive her captors, how she learned to forgive the prison guards, those who have hurt her and hurt her family members.

[10:50] During one of her talks, a former prison guard of the concentration camp was there. So after the service was over, the meeting was over, she was the speaker.

[11:02] After the meeting was over, the prison guard came over to her, walked over to her. And she said, she told Corrie, I was a prison guard in your concentration camp.

[11:17] Since then, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things, for the cruel things I have done. But, she told Corrie, I want to hear from your lips, from your mouth, that you have forgiven me.

[11:42] The German, that prison guard, stretched out his hand, wanted to shake Corrie's hand. Corrie, what's the reaction of Corrie? Corrie had thought about forgiveness.

[11:55] At that moment, Corrie could not forgive him. She talked so much of her forgiveness, but she could not forgive him. You know why? Corrie's sisters died in that camp.

[12:09] Corrie's sister, he loved her sister so much, a beautiful sister, became so skinny, bony, and died. How to forgive a person, somehow, who was part of the system, who killed your beloved sister?

[12:27] She could not forgive. But she knew that she had to forgive him because God has already forgiven him. So Corrie prayed, Jesus, help me!

[12:41] Jesus, help me! I can lift up my hand, I can do that much, but you must supply the feeling. She asked God to supply the feeling. She can just lift her hand to shake the hands of the God, but she has no feeling.

[12:56] So she lift up the hand, God supplied the feeling. Somehow, the emotion of feeling flooded her soul, and brought tears to her, brought tears.

[13:08] She cried. She said, I forgive you, brother, with all my heart. Then Corrie said this, for a long moment, we grabbed each other's hands, the former God, and the former prisoner.

[13:26] I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then. But even then, I realised it was not my love I had tried, and did not have the power.

[13:37] It was the power of the Holy Spirit. After Corrie had shared this kind of testimony, people would surround her, they would praise her, they would thank her, thank her for the encouragement she had received, they have received from her.

[13:59] What do you think Corrie did with all the praises she received from the people? what do you think? She did with that. You know what Corrie did?

[14:11] Corrie would return to her hotel room. She would get down her knees and present all those compliments as thanks to God.

[14:23] She called it giving God a bouquet of praise. She would just thank God, God. She would wrap all the praises, all the compliments of people, wrap it up.

[14:35] God, these are all for you. 1 Peter 4.10 says, Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, so that in all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory and the power forever and ever.

[14:58] Perhaps we could learn from Corrie's example. If we receive a compliment for something we have done, let's privately give a bouquet of praise to God for the glory He alone deserves.

[15:16] Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness. Here, the Psalmist gives two reasons to give glory to God.

[15:27] We give glory to God because of His love and faithfulness. How has God shown His love and faithfulness to the Israelites? He showed His love to them by choosing them as His people and God is always faithful in keeping the promises that He has made with them.

[15:48] Deuteronomy 7, 7-9 say, the Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were fewer of all peoples.

[16:00] But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[16:15] Know therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is a faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

[16:30] This love and faithfulness of God found its ultimate expression in the person and works of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has shown His love.

[16:42] God has shown His love and faithfulness to us while we were yet sinners, while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Romans 5, 8, but God demonstrates His own love for us in this while we were still sinners.

[16:58] Christ died on the cross for us. If Christ has done nothing else, done nothing else other than dying on the cross for us, He still deserves the praises.

[17:13] He still deserves all the praises, all the glory that we can give to Him, we will still be eternally grateful to Him. Even He has done nothing else except to die on the cross for each one of us.

[17:30] Other nations do not give glory to God. They even question the existence of this God. They say, why do the nations say, where is their God?

[17:43] Other nations worship idols, and they mock Israel, they laugh at Israel, they laugh at Israel, because Israel doesn't worship any idol. And so when they say, where is your God?

[17:56] They are actually saying, we can't see your God, we cannot see your God. Where is He? You don't have a temple where we can see His statue, we can see His image. You don't have a grand idol before whom people can bow down to.

[18:10] People can touch, look, we have our God, you can see Him, you can touch Him, you can offer sacrifice to Him. We cannot see your God. We can see our God.

[18:21] We cannot see your God. Where is your God? Where is the God of Israel? The psalmist responded, you know, you want to know where our God is?

[18:35] He's in the heavens. And you want to know what He's doing? He does all that He pleases. Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases Him.

[18:48] This verse tells us that God is sovereign over everything in the universe. God has complete control of everything. Our God is sovereign.

[19:01] He has absolute authority. He is the authority above all authorities. God is able to accomplish whatever He plans to do.

[19:13] and He does it because it pleases Him to do it. The sovereignty of God gives us a deep sense of security.

[19:26] when we understand how powerful God is, how powerful He is, nothing can defeat His purposes, nothing can stop Him from achieving His mission.

[19:38] then, we don't need to fear our present circumstances. We don't need to fear our difficult problems.

[19:52] We don't need to fear troubles. We don't need to fear difficulties. We can be confident that God will accomplish His purposes in us to bring glory to Himself.

[20:08] Paul writes, If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, niceness, danger, sword?

[20:23] No! In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels, nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor death, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[20:46] How can Paul make such statements? How can he make such statements? How can Paul be so confident? Only because he has come to know the sovereign God.

[20:59] Only a sovereign God can give us such confidence. Brothers and sisters, do you know this sovereign God? Do you know him?

[21:11] If you know him, then we can say as confident as Paul, in all these things, whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties, whatever the trials, whatever the troubles, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

[21:30] Precious truth, precious truth, made possible by the sovereignty of God. The psalmist says, I have talked about my God's ability.

[21:43] Now, let's talk about your God. Verse 4 to 8, he launches out, the psalmist launches out into a sarcastic, very sarcastic attack on idolatry.

[21:56] But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see, they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell, they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

[22:16] In one word, your God is dead. In one word, your God is dead, your God is powerless. In contrast, our God is the living God who can do all that your idols cannot do.

[22:31] My God can do what your idols cannot do. Exodus 20, verse 1 to 3, and God spoke all these words, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

[22:48] You shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods before me. But frankly, often, we have many other gods in our lives, whether we want to admit it or not.

[23:04] What does idolatry look like in today's society? Christians may not worship idols of metal, idols of wood or stone, but we still harbor idols in our heart.

[23:21] What are these idols? idols? Robert Goblet says this, an idol can be anything we place ahead of God in our lives, anything that tucks at our heart more than God does, such as possessions, careers, relationships, hobbies, sports, entertainment, goals, greed, additions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, television, Facebook, Facebook, internet, sex, I will include telephone, your smartphone.

[23:56] I'll just share with you all this. When I have dinner, when our family have dinner, my children will know that they cannot have the smartphone on their table.

[24:09] Dinner means family time, no smartphone, I'll tell them, because it's the time we communicate. They can talk, saliva may come out of their mouth, it's okay.

[24:22] Sometimes people shouldn't talk when you're eating, because the saliva may come out. For my family, you can talk loud, laugh, you can. Because it's time, communication time, it is the only time when the whole family come together to have meals, to have the meal.

[24:40] So they know it. So we go to restaurant, the same thing, the handphone, they should not answer handphone, they may bring handphone, but please don't play with the handphone, we want to eat together. So when friends come to stay with us, my children's friends, they came to stay with us, they will tell their friend, don't play with your smartphone when you're eating with us, my parents don't like it.

[25:05] You'll tell the friends first, my parents don't like it, and we don't like it. We make sure they don't use it. So this reason, we want because we why do we do that?

[25:21] Because we want to have a close place, a chance to talk to our family, to talk to our children. We want to build a close relationship with them. That's it.

[25:32] That's all I want to say. Psalms 115 verse 8 says this. Those who make them will become like them, and so will all who trust in them.

[25:47] The greatest tragedy is not what the idols cannot do. The tragedy is not what the idols cannot do, but what they can do to the people who worship them, and that is the greatest tragedy.

[26:00] we become like the idols we worship. We become like the gods we worship. It is very important what you believe and what you don't believe.

[26:14] Not all religions are equally true. Not all gods are the same. Our God is different from any other gods. Our God is the real creator God.

[26:25] The others are not. Our God saves human beings from Satan, saves us from sin, saves us from condemnation, saves us from death, but others do not.

[26:38] And since it is a principle that we become like our God, if our God is cruel, if our God is cruel and foolish, we become cruel and foolish like the Nazi, the German Nazi.

[26:52] If our God is faithful and kind, we will become faithful and kind. If our God is real and live forever, we will live forever. If our God is false and temporary, we will perish.

[27:07] Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. On 22nd December 2017, the Star newspaper reported that Indonesian fan attempted suicide following John Jung's death.

[27:28] Why? Why? Because she became like the idol she worshipped. In fact, before the attempted suicide, it was reported that she wrote this post in her Twitter account.

[27:41] Should I give up my life for now since I lost both of my parents and my idol? It's stressing me out. To be fair to her, after gaining consciousness from attempted suicide, she regretted her behaviour.

[28:02] She was sorry for her behaviour. She regretted her behaviour. She came to her senses. If not, she could have attempted suicide again. Eventually, those who worship false gods lose their use of their spiritual senses.

[28:19] They become blind to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. they become deaf to God's voice. They become dead, spiritually dead, separated from the living God.

[28:36] They will perish together with their idols. But those who worship the true and living God, God will transform us into His image.

[28:46] We become more and more like Him. 2 Corinthians 3 18 says, and we all have been transformed into His image with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

[29:04] We will be transformed more and more into the image of God. Verse 9 to 18 give us two exhortations.

[29:16] Instead of trusting in man made idols, the psalmish urges the people to trust in the Lord. This part of the psalm must have been sung antiphonally.

[29:30] Antiphonally means the leaders say one line and the congregation will say another line. So we will try it out in this church. I will say part A, you will read part B. Are you ready?

[29:42] Look at the verses, look at the point here. Ready? I read part A, you read part B. Are you ready? Ready, okay. All you Israelites, trust in the Lord.

[29:57] House of Aaron, trust in the Lord. You who fear him, trust in the Lord. Okay, how many groups of people are there?

[30:09] Here, mentioned here. How many groups? Count, count how many groups. You know count, one, two, three. You learn in the primary one. How many groups of people are there? Three groups of people.

[30:22] They are all exhorted to trust in the Lord. The first group, who are the first group? The Israelites. Second group, House Aaron will represent the worship leaders of the Israelites.

[30:34] They are the people who lead, the people, the priests who lead in a temple worship. Who's the third group? You fear the Lord, you who fear the Lord?

[30:45] This will include the above too. This will include the Israelites, the House of Aaron, including the non-Israelites, people like us. So all of us are exhorted to trust in the Lord.

[31:00] The leaders and the non-leaders are exhorted to trust in the Lord. There will always come a time when our trust in the Lord has been tested. It's easy to trust in the Lord when things are going well with you, when things are fine.

[31:15] It's not easy to trust in the Lord when things are not going well. But it is during the not easy time that we need to trust in the Lord even more.

[31:28] Things go your way, trust in the Lord. Things don't go your way, also trust in the Lord. Because our God is a sovereign God, He will make sure that all things will go, all things will go according to His way.

[31:43] It may not be your way, it may not be my way, but it will be according to God's way. Because God is a sovereign God. We glorify God when we put our trust in Him.

[31:58] There's one phrase that's repeated three times in these verses. What is a phrase that's repeated three times? What is it? He is your help, He is their help and shield.

[32:10] God is the one who protects you. He is your help and shield, not the idols, not the things made by human hands.

[32:21] God is a source of your protection. Then verse 12 to 15 says, The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless His people Israel.

[32:33] He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, small and great alike. May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

[32:45] The Lord remembers us. And notice how many times it said, He will bless us. He will bless the people of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord.

[32:57] The same three groups of people. Then he adds, the small together with the great. Small and great alike. You don't have to be a spiritual superstar to receive God's blessings.

[33:11] You may be unknown, you may not be very important, you may be insignificant, but God takes note of you. God notice you. He will bless you if you fear Him.

[33:22] Then he adds, verse 14 to 15, May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Unlike the dead idols, God makes everything in the universe.

[33:37] If God makes everything in the universe, He can certainly supply our needs and the needs of our children when we cry to Him. In other words, not only are we to look to the Lord for our protection, we are also to look to the Lord as a source of our provision.

[33:59] He is the one who brings true blessings into our lives. Protection and provision. God is a source of our protection and our provision.

[34:11] I want to speak more on verse 12. The Lord remembers us and will bless us. There are times when God appears to be so quiet. You know, sometimes God can be so quiet to you.

[34:22] No action from God. God doesn't seem to notice our struggles, our prayers, our tears. in reality. God sees in reality.

[34:33] Actually, God sees us. God understands and thinks about us. When you are depressed with your problems, be encouraged that God sees you. God's thinking about you. He's thinking about you.

[34:46] God keeps you in his thoughts. If God thinks about you, he will surely help you. Help is on the way. before the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was no major prophetic revelation for how many years?

[35:04] The Old Testament, New Testament separated by how many years? 400 years, no prophetic revelation. So quiet. These are called the silent years, as if God is not working.

[35:15] God has no action from God. God seemed to be so quiet, so silent. After four centuries, God remembered his promise to his people. Paul writes, what when the right time came, God sent his son.

[35:33] God remembered us in sending his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us, to redeem us, to save us from condemnation. And when we put our trust in Christ, God will bless us with all the spiritual blessings, just as God blessed the children of Israel.

[35:53] So God still blesses us through Jesus Christ. These blessings of God, these blessings of God apply to all generations. Do you remember Peter's sermon?

[36:04] Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. His sermon was so powerful that 3,000 men were so touched, were cut in their heart, so touched. They asked Peter, what must we do to be saved?

[36:16] Peter responded, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[36:29] The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. The forgiveness of sin is for you.

[36:40] The gift of the Holy Spirit is for you. When you repent and put your trust in Jesus, what a promise. God remembers his promise and he blessed us, including our children.

[36:58] After reminding the people that God is a source of their provision and protection, the psalmist now exhorts them to praise God. You see this in verses 16 to 18.

[37:10] The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to the human race. It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence. It is we who have told the Lord, both now and forever more.

[37:23] Praise the Lord. Notice verse 17. Verse 17 says, It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence.

[37:35] This verse 17 is not an argument claiming that there is no life after death. He's not saying that. The psalmist is just pointing out the obvious truth that dead people, people who are dead, don't praise God in the grave.

[37:52] I mean, they cannot use their physical voice. They don't praise God in this life anymore because they're dead. Their physical voice cannot function when you're dead. So praise God now when you're alive.

[38:03] Don't wait until you're in the grave. And then verse 18, verse 18 tells us, verse 18 says, It is we who extol, extol means praise also, it means praise.

[38:14] It is we who extol the Lord, it is we who praise the Lord, both now and forever more. Verse 18 tells us that there will always be people of God, always be people of God on earth to praise Him.

[38:27] No one can destroy the people of God. No one can destroy the church of God. The church of God will always be there to praise Him forever more on earth. No one can destroy the church of God.

[38:41] Now, just now I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon, I give you the first reason why we praise people. Now, I come to the second reason why we praise others. Somehow, this is the second reason, somehow God has built inside each of us the ability to utter, to say words of praise when we experience something good.

[39:04] Have you ever said, Sarawak Laksa is delicious? Have you said that? Have you said that? Sarawak Laksa is delicious? Yes, I agree with you, I'm from Johor. Sarawak Laksa, I think the best, so far.

[39:17] I prefer Sarawak Laksa than Johor Laksa, okay? I like that. Musang king durian is fantastic. Have you eaten musang king durian? Oh, very expensive, very expensive. One durian can cost about 100 ringgit.

[39:29] Musang king durian, fantastic. Esther, right? Esther loves to eat durian. I know, post the durian, go with his hand. Yeah, the sunset is beautiful. You ever said all this?

[39:41] Nobody forces you to say that, you know? These are all the praises. You sing praises to the Laksa. You sing praises to the durian. You sing praises to the beautiful sunset. Nobody forces you to sing these praises, yet you say these praises.

[39:55] Why? They come out naturally. God inbuilt in us, come naturally when you experience something good. C.S. Lewis wrote this about praising God.

[40:07] He said this, the world rings with praises. Lovers praising their mistresses. Readers their favourite poet. Walkers praising the countryside. Players praising their favourite game.

[40:18] Praises of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motos, horses, favourite colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rats, and rabbits, even sometimes politicians or scholars.

[40:31] Politician, Baru, Jared, Dr. Jared, my Dr. Jared, sorry, I should honour them. Why be Dr. Jared, why be? We should honour them, okay?

[40:44] Just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it.

[40:55] We will say, isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent? The psalmist is telling everyone to praise God, are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.

[41:08] That's why the psalmist encourages us. He has told us how great God is, and then he exclaims, praise the Lord, come, come, come, together, praise the Lord.

[41:28] But verse 18, verse 18 has more to tell us. It gives us a hint of something which will be clearly revealed later in the New Testament.

[41:40] Verse 18 says, it is we who are told the Lord, both now and forevermore. From the teachings of the New Testament, we know that death, death, dying, is not the end of the Christian.

[41:51] It's not an end for us. When we die, we will be in the presence of Jesus. In that stage, we will continue to praise God. we will continue to praise Him.

[42:03] Just as we cannot help but praise a beautiful sunset, we cannot help praising Jesus. Sometimes, I want to praise God all the time, because when you see Jesus, you're so full of praise, it's natural.

[42:16] You're somehow in your heart. Praises will come out from your mouth, because how can, how come, I mean, we can't help by praising Jesus who has died for us on the cross, so that we can spend eternity with Him.

[42:33] I want to close with this story. The music team can now come up. Please, the music team, you can be on your way, coming up, upstage here. The music team, please. I knew a Christian brother in my university days.

[42:47] I think it was Humpak's friend, medical student. He would go to church every Sunday. He would sing praises to God, he would sing praises to God, and would sing his heart out.

[43:00] He would sing with gusto. After the worship service, every worship service, he would have a cause voice. Oh, you know, the voice, the cause, you know, he would have a cause voice. He told us this, when I go to church, I want to sing my heart, I want to sing my heart out, praising God.

[43:19] The day may come when I will not be able to use my physical voice to praise Him. This brother wanted to praise God as long as he has got his physical voice.

[43:34] But, this brother's life was cut short. He suffered from leukemia, and he died at the age of 31. His physical body now is in the grave, and is silent, as described in verse 17.

[43:51] It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence. But, this brother's spirit is in heaven now, still singing praise to God, as described in verse 18.

[44:04] It is we who extol the Lord, both now and forever more. Praise the Lord. Can we tell your friend sitting beside you? Praise the Lord!

[44:16] Jessica, your turn. pow the sound you Was