Sermon
The Doxologies of Praise
July 17-18, 1999
Pastor Donald Sheley

Take your Bible and join with me in a passage that surely your Bible now has become fairly well marked with because we've been here an awfully long time. We're studying the Sermon on the Mount and we came to the subject of prayer where Jesus teaches His disciples in chapter 6 concerning prayer. We got to the Lord's Prayer, a prayer that we've all prayed from our childhood days, but most of us never really thought through the depth and the majesty and the deep meaning of this great prayer. So we've decided we'll just take it phrase after phrase, and word by word, and we've done that. I think this is our third month, but I've enjoyed studying along with you, and I have a deeper, much deeper, appreciation for this glorious prayer.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your 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 do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. Now we've got that far in our recent time with you in the pulpit; we talked about this last phrase, do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. Today, we have arrived at the closing phrase of the prayer. This day I will give you the introduction to my sermon, next Sunday I'll preach you the sermon. But it's a doxology; For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. 

We have a fine gentleman who's a maintenance man, his name is Henry, and each week Henry goes into the letter file and pulls out all the necessary letters so he can go down to the sign on the road and change the letters and the message. I happened to be standing in the office this week when he was on his way down and he stopped by, and he said, Pastor, what is a doxology? And I said, well, Henry, let's look in the dictionary. So I asked one of the secretaries to get a dictionary and we looked in Webster's dictionary. Henry, what it says is this; a doxology is a liturgical term for praise; so the sermon on Sunday, Henry, is going to be the praise of praise, and our subject is praise. 

Now, all of us have noted that Matthew's record of the Lord's Prayer is different than Luke's because Luke in chapter 11, when he records the Lord's Prayer, he does not add this doxology. If you come from the background of the catholic faith or a liturgical church where the Lord's Prayer is said each Sunday, you didn't use the Matthew prayer, you used the Luke prayer, and when you finished your last phrase would be; do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen. 

Now, surely you ask the question, Pastor, why is it that there is a difference in the two records? The reason there's a difference is because in the original manuscripts this doxology does not appear, and numerous scholars hold the belief that the doxology was added in the early part of the second century as one of the scribes was copying again the Scriptures as they did by hand. When he got to the close of this prayer, his own heart probably was so filled with joy he couldn't help but add the doxology; For Yours is the kingdom and the power. It's never been taken away because it's so appropriate, because praise always is and should be a part of prayer. And this is a book of doxologies. It is an amazing thing. We're just going to skip through today on a few of them, and I want you, as our introduction, just to get acquainted with some of the great expressions of doxology and praise, because doxology flows from a heart that's overwhelmed by the greatness, and the majesty, and the awesomeness of God. And you can't do anything else but just shout it out; praise God! 

Let's go to a number of the doxologies, and it might be well if you took your Bibles, because we're going to go into a lot of the Old Testament passages, and almost hidden portions that maybe very seldom you ever read. The first doxology we want to get acquainted with is  Exodus 14. Would you like to go there with me? Here's one of the glorious doxologies of the Scripture. And here's the setting; Moses has brought the children of Israel out of the land of bondage, they have crossed now and they're facing the Red Sea, and they've got the Egyptian Army right behind them. Verse 21 chapter 14; Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of flame and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels. 

You know, ever time I read that I'm just fascinated. I just see all the angels of heaven down there unloosening those lug nuts of the wheels on those chariots. And all of a sudden those old wheels begin to spin off their axels, and well look at what it says, it says, so that they drove them with difficulty. Those old horses were pulling those chariots dragging them; they didn't have any wheels. It's just like trying to drive your car with all four wheels off. God came down and took off their wheels. That's great. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians." Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen." And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, not so much as one of them remained. I mean, God wiped out the whole Egyptian Army in one fell swoop. There they are in the bottom of the sea. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. 

Now that must have been something; standing there on the seashore and realizing that God in His mighty power opened up that sea and brought you across on dry land. Well what shall we do? Well old Moses said let's sing; let's sing. My Bible says the Song of Moses. Is that what yours says? It says, Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the Lord. Can't you see them as that echoes across that old Red Sea waters and those people are around there? For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; They sank to the bottom like a stone.

"Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath; It consumed them like stubble. And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap; The depths congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.' You blew with Your wind, The sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters. "Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have led forth The people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength To Your holy habitation. "The people will hear and be afraid; Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, Trembling will take hold of them; All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O Lord, Till the people pass over Whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them. 

That's speaking of bringing them into the Canaan land and settling them as a nation; In the mountain of Your inheritance, In the place, O Lord, which You have made For Your own dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. "The Lord shall reign forever and ever." What a doxology, and they had a reason to sing. You and I have a reason to sing. God's led us forth from sin's bondage, and He has set our feet headed for the Promised Land, and we have a reason to sing too. We have a reason to have a doxology. 

Another one. I like this one. 1 Chronicles 16, well I like all of them frankly. Here's the background. You remember when God set up His tabernacle of worship? He had an ark. It was a box like in the holiest of holies known as the ark of the covenant, and it was there that represented the very presence of God. But in history, in time, that sacred box, that sacred covenant box had been taken by enemies into enemy territory, and it's been gone for a long, long time. David comes to the throne as a king and the first thing he wants to do is to get that ark back home, the resting place of God. 

So look at what he does. Verse 28 of chapter 15 of 1 Chronicles; Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps. That's an interesting thing. Every time you read these Old Testament doxologies of praise, there's always excitement, there's always life. There's always loudness and vibrancy that fills the air. Why is it we in Christendom have turned worship services into a funeral service? I mean, you go to many churches and there's not that spirit of rejoicing and aliveness. Listen; if we don't learn to rejoice here, we're going to feel terribly out of place in heaven, because that's what they do up in heaven. 

So, look at verse 1 of chapter 16; So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. Verse 4, And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel. And then in verse 7 he says to the choir leader, Asaph, I've written a doxology for today. Here it is; here are the words, Asaph. Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, O seed of Israel His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac, And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant, Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance," When you were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, And from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no man to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, Saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm." Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. 

Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples, For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and gladness are in His place. Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; And let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns." Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it. Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, For He is coming to judge the earth. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. And say, "Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise." Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And all the people said, "Amen!" and praised the Lord. They had a reason to praise. God's presence had been absent for a long, long time, and now the ark was home. Some of us who traveled life, and in our spiritual journey, we wandered far from the presence of God; and oh, that joyous moment when He brings us back to Himself, back into fellowship with Him. Ah, what a glorious reason to rejoice and to sing a doxology. 

Just a few pages further, 1 Chronicles 29, I mean, David now has decided that it's time to build a permanent place. And what David does, notice in verse 1 of chapter 29 of 1 chronicles; Furthermore King David said to all the assembly: "My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the temple is not for man but for the Lord God. Remember, David could not build the temple. It was left to his son, Solomon. David's hands were stained with blood as a warrior, but David as a wise father realized that his son needed as much help as possible, so David sets in as a father to make preparation. He gathers all of the necessary gold and silver for the building of Solomon's temple. Look at what he does, "Now for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might: gold for things to be made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance. "Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver: And David lines out for us and gives us his offering that he's going to give to the building of this glorious temple. 

I read some years ago in an architectural magazine that in a school of architecture in the university of either Iowa or Illinois, I forgot, but the students of architecture decided we're going to go back and we're going to calculate what it would cost to build another temple like Solomon's. They calculated the gold and they went through the Scriptures, and if we had time we could go passage after passage, I mean, David had that thing all lined out. I mean, all the gold is stacked, all the silver and everything. You know what those architects found out? To replace Solomon's temple would cost sixteen billion dollars. I don't know of a structure in this world that cost sixteen billion.

So, verse 9; Then all the people rejoiced. I mean, sixteen billion dollars is a nice sized offering folks. I mean, David has a reason to sing a doxology. Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the Lord; and King David also rejoiced greatly. And look at what it says; Therefore David blessed the Lord. He just couldn't help but break forth with doxology, and here's what he said: "Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all. "Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You. And of Your own we have given You.

You know what David is saying? God, the reason why it was so easy for us to give the sixteen billion, because we recognize we didn't own it in the first place. All we are is stewards of everything we have, and we're just returning to You what You gave to us. That's true worship in giving, isn't it? For we are aliens and pilgrims. He's saying, we don't need it anyway; we're just strangers down here going through and there's no sense building up treasures and reserves down here. We're heading heavenward. We're just aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow (snap of fingers) And without hope. "O Lord our God, and on goes the prayer. I'll tell you, to worship God in that way is truly to worship, isn't it? To recognize that all that He gives comes form His gracious hand, and that's why old Paul could say, God loves a hilaros, a doxology singing, giver. 

You know, I'm waiting for the day, and I've been in the ministry now fifty years, I'm waiting for the day when at one of these offerings somebody starts shouting and praising God as a hilaros giver and just throws their wallets into the. I mean, that 's what happened for old David when he said let's build the house of God. He had a reason to sing, didn't he? Well I've just touched just the mountain piece of some of the great doxologies; the book is filled with them. I mean, David he had doxologies flowing from his heart every time he opened his eyes, everything he heard everything he saw, I mean, the blowing of the wind through the trees was the trees singing their doxologies to God. Every time the waves lapped on the seashore, that was the sea's way of praising God, and every bird that sang, sang to God. 

You know, it's hard in a world so fast and so filled with everything, it's hard for us to tune our spirits to God's great universe, but once in a while, I live a block away, so I leave my car home and I walk to church. It takes me a little bit before I start hearing the bird. It's interesting. Life can get so full you can't even hear the birds, but by the time I get to this hill over here, boy, I mean, those birds are singing their doxologies to God, and I stand there and say, good, that's beautiful. I mean, David saw a universe in doxology to almighty God. Mary is told that she's going bear the Savior in Luke 1:46. Her spirit breaks forth in a glorious, beautiful doxology. 

Old Paul is talking about his conversion in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Listen to old Paul. Paul says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Old Paul was the Hitler of the first century. I mean, he did havoc to the church. He had blood dripping from his hands. He had saints he had put in prison. I mean, he was the most unlikely one to ever be a preacher, and he said, I thank God even though I was the chiefest of sinners. And because it so overwhelmed him, look at, he breaks out into this beautiful doxology; Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 

I think he must have stopped writing and just shouted it wherever he was writing. And I'll tell you folks, when you and I realize what we've been saved from, the great promises of life eternal, shouldn't our souls break forth into doxologies. I'm amazed at God's grace; old Paul was, and he couldn't help but praise God. Go with me to Revelation chapter 4. It's clear in the back of your Bible. Oh, I'm supposed to quite here, three minutes ago. You know, John sees this vision and in chapter 4 verse 1 it says, he saw this opening in heaven, it says John come up here. And you know what he saw? He saw a massive service of celebration and singing. Look at what they were saying in verse 8 of chapter 4; "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" Verse 11; "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created." Chapter 5 verse 9; "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." Verse 12; "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" 

Listen ladies and gentlemen, when we conclude our prayer, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, we're saying the same thing the angels are saying in heaven. When you come to the close and when I come to the close of the Lord's Prayer, we've reveled in the fact that He's our Father, and we're part of His family. He's going to take care of us, and He's going to forgive us, and He's going to protect us from the evil one. We have every reason to end our prayer with a shout from the depths of our being, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever! Amen! Amen, amen. May you never again say the Lord's Prayer without feeling the throb and the thrill and the triumph of being part of something so eternal as the divine plan of our infinite God. Amen. God bless you.