Please turn with me to Psalm 148. Psalm 148. It's fitting in this Thanksgiving season that we consider a psalm such as this and to do so along with the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. Once you have found Psalm 148, please turn in the back of the Psalter Hymnal to page 60. Page 60. Lord's Day 47 as we give expression to what we believe concerning this first petition, this first request. Question 122 asks, What does the first request mean? Hallowed be Thy name means help us to really know You, to bless, worship, and praise You for all Your works and for all that shines forth from them. your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means help us to direct all our living, what we think, say, and do, so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. Psalm 148. Hear now the Word of God. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all His heavenly hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all you shining stars. Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters beneath the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For He commanded and they were created. He set them in place forever and ever. He gave a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths. Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding. You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars. Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds. Kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth. young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted. His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. He has raised up for His people a horn, the praise of all His saints of Israel, the people close to His heart. Praise the Lord. Again, we pray that God would add His blessing to His Word tonight. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, in this first petition, Jesus now teaches how we are to think of, how we are to treat that One whom He has taught us to address as our Father who art in heaven. And He says of Him, He says, Pray, Hallowed be Thy name. Notice at the very beginning of this prayer, the very first attention is not to be on us who are needy and dependent. Often we make it that way in our prayers. Dear God, and we go right in to help me with this, do this for me, bless me with that. But our Lord teaches us at the very beginning of prayer, the attention is not to be on you and me who are needy and dependent, but our attention is to be on Him who is exalted over all. Our attention is to go directly to the One who alone is able to hear and to answer us at the very beginning of our prayer. We are to stop and consider why it is we have confidence and are able to have confidence in Him. Now, to hallow simply means to honor, to regard as holy, to set apart, to treat as holy. God is holy. God, His very nature is holiness. And God's holiness points to His sinlessness. It means that He is completely other than. He is completely different than everything else. He's different from all of His creation. He is exalted far above it. And therefore, with this petition, with this request, we are not asking God to do something for Himself that isn't already true about Himself. We are not asking God to make Himself holy. We are not asking God to set Himself apart. He already is holy. He already is set apart. But in this petition, in this request, we are asking Him by the Holy Spirit to do something for us. We are asking Him to help us to set Him apart in our lives, in our thoughts, in our minds. We are asking the Holy Spirit to help us to distinguish this God from everything else. To focus completely on Him. To treat Him as the Exalted One He is. The Catechism defines Hallowed be Thy Name beginning this way. Help us to really know You, to bless, worship, and praise You. Help us to set You apart. Because God is exalted over all, all are to praise Him. Hallowed be God's name. The last five psalms of the Psalter are specifically psalms of praise, all beginning and all ending with the same word, Alleluia. Translated in our NIV is praise the Lord. It's a command to praise the Lord. And to praise something means to speak of the excellencies of that something. Praise the Lord. Speak of the excellencies of the Lord. Worship Him for who He is and for what He has done. We might say, hallow Him. Praise Him. Hallow Him. Set God apart. Treat Him as holy. Now, Psalm 147, before our psalm, gives a call to praise Him for His care and His provision and His attention for all that He has made, all of His creation. Psalm 149, following our psalm, makes an appeal specifically for God's people, God's saints to praise Him. And then Psalm 148 in the middle indeed calls again for the saints preparing for Psalm 149, but also Psalm 148 in response to Psalm 147 is a call for all that God has made, all that God cares for, all that God places His attention on. A call for all that God has made to praise Him with comprehensive praise. Everything is to praise Him. everywhere He is to be praised because His creation reveals His exalted nature. Now Psalm 148 is a call for the choir of creation, we might say. Some of you are familiar with the Christian singer Steve Green. He sings a song, Symphony of Praise, maybe even written, I'm not sure, after Psalm 148. A beautiful song in which he talks about the different portions of God's creation. This one blasting out the trumpet sound, as it were. This one echoing with its voices. A symphony of praise. The choir of creation, which is called to praise God, to hallow His name, to set Him apart, first of all, with a universal tone. It is to be universal praise. Now notice the parts here. This psalm is divided into two sections, verses 1-6 and verses 7-14. Yet, there is an overlap, and these two sections hold together, I believe, by what is said in verse 13. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted. His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. And verses 5 and 6 give a reason for praise after the psalmist calls for praise in the first four verses and gives a reason for that praise. And that reason also covers those things listed in verse 7 through 12. And the same is true with verse 13 covering those things in verses 1-4. The parts hold together. And the two parts are this. Praise from heaven above and praise from earth beneath. First of all, praise from heaven above. It begins with the host, the army of angels, those ministering spirits in the very presence of God, those who do God's will and do it faithfully and perfectly. They are not to be worshipped as mankind has been prone to do. as paul talks about in colossians the angels are not to be worshiped the angels those who are in god's very presence they are they are servants too as the apostle john found out in revelation when he bowed down before the angel and very quickly the angel said don't do that i too am a fellow servant worship god praise begins with those angels in god's very presence and those praises then are handed down from the conscious to that which is unconscious to the inanimate participants as the psalmist says the sun the moon and the stars praise from throughout the heavenly hosts and then praise from the earth beneath the other part the opposite extreme the beginning with the ocean depths and the sea creatures moving upward to the earth's the surface, and the atmosphere right above us. And that call includes for the earth itself, the hills and the mountains. It includes the plants and the animals. It includes the forces of nature. All have a voice in a sense. All are called to praise God and ultimately it meets in the middle calling for praise from man. The image bearer of God. Those who are created to know God, to be in fellowship with God, are called to lead creation in praise. And notice with regard to this universal tone and these parts, there is to be an antiphonal arrangement. A back and forth arrangement. Again, the chorus begins with the highest heavens. Verse 1, the angels moving downward with a response coming up from the earth. Verse 7, antiphonal, back and forth. Beloved, it is to be continual praise. no silent measures, no rests, no pauses in this choir number. Every second, every moment, the sound of praise to God is to be heard. And notice again the motivation for praise. Verses 5 and 13, Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. Verse 13, let them praise the name of the Lord for His name alone is exalted. His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. The motivation for praise is His creative work which shows His exaltation. All creation owes its existence. Every last bit of it owes its creation to this God alone. Every bit of creation has the creative fingerprint of Almighty God stamped upon it. And at the same time, that creation points back to God who is exalted far above it. His unique nature is clearly revealed in creation. He is completely other than all that He has made. He is the Creator and His royal splendor, as the psalmist says, is beyond that which. It is more worthy than that which heaven and earth can even begin to express all of the praise that creation could give. does not even begin to do what God deserves. Yet all creation, everywhere, and all the time, is called to adore their Maker and to do so in the second place with a variety of voices. A variety of voices in this universal tone. How is God's praise to be given? How does the sun? How does the fish, how does a hill, how does the storm praise God? The variety of voices includes that non-human portion of creation. That non-human portion of creation, everything but mankind, exhibits praise. It simply shows the praise of God. Of course, without literal voices, the nature is not rational. The nature is not created. In the image of God, the nature does not speak the words, Our Father. It does not literally call Him Lord. But all creation praises God by its very being. It praises God by its very existence. God made all things for a purpose. It may not always be clear to us how can an ant or a mouse or a mole or a rattlesnake or a tornado or hail praise God? It may not always make sense to us, but God made it all. He governs it all. Notice verse 6. He sets them, particularly talking about the sun and the moon and the stars and the heavenly things, He set them in place forever and ever. He gave a decree that will never pass away. God established the laws covering those heavenly beings. God established the laws of nature covering this world, this earth, the laws of gravity, for example, and the seasons. God established the laws of nature by which even the wind blows, yet even then, only at His direction, only at His bidding, as verse 8 says. In Psalm 104, verse 4, the psalmist says, He makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants. Beloved, God is praised by the very existence of what He has made because it is wonderful. And it all works together as He has made it to work together and for our benefit. And God is praised as the works of His hands fulfill their purpose, as the sun gives its heat, as the rain nourishes the earth. And that creation, beloved, shows God's character. Paul says in Romans 1, verse 20, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse His eternal power and divine nature. Answer 122 says again, Hallowed be Thy name means help us to really know You, to bless, worship, and praise You for all Your works and for all that shines forth from them. Echoing Paul, Your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. The wisdom of God is seen as that which He made does what He made it to do. It is seen in the photosynthesis process, in the pollination process. God's wisdom is seen as the planets do not collide because God in His wisdom set them in their own orbits. God's wisdom and power are clearly seen in His creation. It is praise to Him. And that creation, beloved, is to be a model of praise for you and me. Because those things that are visible, think again of the sun and the moon and the stars or the mountains or the vast ocean. Whatever it is of God's beautiful creation, we lay our eyes upon. Those things that are visible to you and me, their praise is always visible. It is not hidden. It's not in secret. And it is constant. It's all the time. It's to be a model of praise for you and me. As the variety of voices include not only that non-human creation, but man. Man is called to express. Man is called to declare. Man is called to speak God's praise. The psalmist talks about the kings and the princes and the rulers and those kings and those princes and those rulers are not to be blinded by their own power. They are not to desire to be praised themselves, but they are called to lead those they rule in praise. All of mankind is called to praise. All extremes are to praise Him. One is never too young to praise Him and one never gets too old to praise the Lord. And man's praise is to be consciously. It is to be a conscious praise. As rational creatures, as those made in God's image, God has revealed Himself. God has revealed His nature to mankind and therefore man is to return to Him conscious praise. Even as God displays His exaltedness every time man looks at a portion of creation, He sees the power and the wisdom of God. He sees the praise of God in that nature. Yet that choir of creation we know has been terribly distorted by sin. That music is not pleasing. And therefore, hallowed be God's name calls for a redemptive crescendo. In the world of music, we know that a crescendo means a growth. a growth usually in the volume. In this course of praise, there is to be a growth, an expansion of the volume of praise led by God's people, a redemptive crescendo. Verse 14, He has raised up for His people a horn. The praise of all His saints, of Israel, the people close to His heart, praise the Lord. And we know that the world of mankind, the wicked world distorts God's creation. Going back to what Paul says in Romans 1, he continues, For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is praised forever. Amen. The wicked mankind distorts God's creation, giving praise those things that are called to give praise to God. Man has given praise to even himself. Man worships created things, not the Creator, not the One who is exalted above all. But God's people have been delivered. He has raised a horn. That horn is a symbol of strength and deliverance. God has raised a horn for His people. That horn is the praise of God's people. We think of Old Testament Israel. God was her strength and her deliverer and her preserver over and over and over again. Even when God sent His people into exile, He did it in order to preserve her. In order to preserve her and therefore to preserve the line leading to the Messiah to bring forth the Messiah. He has set His people apart as His saints. Those who are holy to Him to be His own special people. Those He knows by name. Israel. The people close to His heart. Those whom He has brought into that intimate relationship with Him. We who are spiritual Israel can pray our Father who art in heaven. Those who have been redeemed. By the horn of salvation. In Luke 1, verse 69, the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, sings, He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. That horn of salvation we know is Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the strong Savior and Deliverer of His people. He Himself prayed to His Father in John 17, I have glorified Thee on earth. I have hallowed Thee. It means that He always stood up for God's name. It means that He sought only God's glory in all obedience. And Jesus Christ hallowed God's name most visibly on the cross. That cross, we know, a demonstration of God's holiness, a demonstration that sin cannot exist in God's presence, a demonstration of God's exaltedness and His redeeming love. There is no greater reason, beloved, to hallow Him than His salvation. He has raised up for His people a horn, the praise of His saints. That's our greatest praise. And dear people of God, God's blessing is indeed visible in His church. God's blessing is visible as His church is gathered together, visibly. God's blessing is visible among His chosen people whom He has saved through His Son and that proves that His name alone is exalted because He alone was able to set us apart. He alone was able to save us. And God's blessing is effective for His people. The wicked world is blind to God's exalted nature. It's blind to His majesty and wisdom that is revealed and created things. The world does not see these things of God. in the world of creation. But His chosen people are effectively brought to know Him. To know His truth. To see His truth in the works of His hands all by faith. Beloved, God's work of creation is surpassed only by His work of redemption. And we are called to praise Him. We are created to praise Him and recreate it in Christ Jesus to do so visibly, to do so constantly, and to do so consciously. Answer 122 continues, and it means help us to direct all our living, what we think, say, and do, so that Your name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. Beloved, let that be our most earnest desire, that God's name would never be blasphemed, that God's name would never be made fun of, that God's name would never be mocked or shamed on account of you or me. not because of anything that we have said or done. It may be our most earnest desire that our whole life of each one of us would reflect the praise of God, that it would be evident to all who see that He is our God, that we are His people. At the very beginning of prayer, This God, who is exalted above all, who has set apart His people for Himself. This God is to be set apart. And we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us to do that. We pray for the Holy Spirit to help us to honor this One to whom alone we bring all of our petitions with the confidence that He will hear us and He will answer us. Ours is a prayer for life. A prayer that this God who is the strength of this people, this One who blesses His people with peace through Jesus Christ our Lord, that He be set apart in our lives and that He be set apart in our minds and in our hearts in prayer. That He be set apart as we offer our lives as living sacrifices of praise to Him. We know that Satan and the world do all that they can to silence our praise. To drown it out. To mess up that choir number. Yet, praise God, we also know that they cannot eternally harm God's people. Instead, one day, they too will confess the glory of Jesus Christ, though it will be too late. Our prayer, beloved, of all those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and find their hope in Him alone, our prayer is to be that the exaltation and the excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ be visible in our lives by confessing and demonstrating His redeeming work. Our prayer is that our lives be proof of God's power and goodness and wisdom and salvation through Jesus Christ. May that be what the world sees when they see you and me. That when they look at us as believers, when they look at us as a congregation of God's people, that they see not you and me, but that they see the power and the goodness and the wisdom of God in our salvation. One day, all of God's creation will be cleansed and made new. His enemies will be put away forever and ever. And all of God's creation will sing that glorious chorus of praise to our triune God, led by His redeemed people, singing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise Your most holy name for revealing Your majesty and Your greatness to us in so many ways. But especially, and most importantly, through the cross of Jesus Christ. Father, we do confess that so many times we do not think of You as set apart as we ought. So often, in some ways, we want to lower You down to our level and make You no more than we are. Yet, Father, help us to always see that that would be disaster. For our only hope is in our exalted God and King. And we pray that more and more You would help us by Your Spirit to set You apart. Set you apart as distinct as you are and to honor and praise and glorify you, the one and only God who lives and reigns forever. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in his name, amen.