Our Salvation Praise
An all-creatures Bible Message

Our Salvation Praise
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
3 April 2016
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Psalm 150:1-6
Acts 5:29-32
Revelation 1:4-8

Our salvation praise of God should come naturally to all believers because He raised Jesus from the dead, and the promise it brought for our own salvation and resurrection into the glories of heaven.
 
Praise is an audible or living way of expressing our thankfulness for all the things that the Lord God has done for us, which should include everything great and small such as the smell and sight of spring wild flowers, the wonderful plant foods we eat, and the promise of our own resurrection.
 
Our salvation praise is just one of the big things we are to be thankful for, but with it should come our thankfulness for the whole of creation, and for the honor given to us, for we are to help the Lord to free creation from its present corruption, as the peacemaking children of God He called us to be.
 
Psalm 150:1-6 was written centuries before the time of Jesus here on earth, but it holds true today, so as we read this psalm together, let’s meditate upon how it applies to our lives in the here and now.

1. Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.

The psalmist is telling us to not just praise God in our churches and sanctuaries, but in the whole of His creation, which means that it is something we should be doing all the time in the ways we live and speak.
 
This, however, doesn’t mean that we are to run around saying, “praise the Lord”, or “God is good”, because that can sound disingenuous, particularly when our lifestyle doesn’t consistently reflect what we say.
 
So this brings us back to what we said in the beginning about our praise being both audible and a living expression of our praise, for quite often it is better to live our praise by silently showing the world we are peacemaking children of God who do no harm to any part of His creation and help free it from the corruption of others, such as those who eat animal foods, instead of eating only the plant foods He created for us to eat in the beginning.

2. Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Think about all the wonderful and great things that God has created and put in motion, such as creating water and minerals so that we could make pipes and other things to bring the water to our homes so that we can stand under a warm shower, and quietly say, “Thank you Lord; this is nice,” which is a form of our praise, even if others can’t hear it.

3. Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
 
4. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
 
5. Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Maybe in a house of worship we may have musical accompaniment to our praise, but if we are alone or with a few other people, our praise might be only a few spoken words and the lifestyle we lead, for that can shout our praise louder to God and the people around us than all the instruments in the world.

6. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!
NASB

“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD?”
 
Things don’t have breath, but all living beings (humans and animals) do; thus, we believe that the psalmist is telling us that all humans and animals should be praising the Lord, and hopefully it is our salvation praise.
 
We know that all human beings don’t live this way, but think about how you would feel about praising God if you were an animal on a factory farm or in a laboratory, particularly when thinking about the horrible way you are being treated by the humans who have charge over you.
 
Would you feel like praising God?
 
Where would our salvation praise of God be?
 
We would not have any salvation in this world, for we would be under a sentence of death.
 
People who often claim to be religious would be chasing us away from God and condemning us to death, just as they did to Jesus.
 
We may not be as strong as Jesus and the apostles in our salvation praise, but let’s try to be, as we look at Acts 5:29-32.

29. But Peter and the apostles answered and said, "We must obey God rather than men.

This is also a form of our salvation praise, for it is announcing to the world in addition to the religious leaders that Peter and the other apostles are speaking to.
 
They are declaring their belief that God’s word is much more important than edicts of our religious and political leaders, particularly those who say things that are counter to the heavenly will of God.
 
They are also declaring that they do not fear the action of other human beings, even the ones that could harm them physically.
 
And these apostles go on with their declaration.

30. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.
 
31. "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

The religious leaders don’t want to hear this truth, and they don’t want their followers to hear this message either, because it will take away from the “power” of the religious leadership that they hold over the people.
 
Such people are really following the devil and not God.

32. "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."
NASB

These apostles know that these religious leaders don’t have the power of the Holy Spirit, for they only have the power of corrupt men; furthermore, these apostles know that they have more heavenly power than these corrupt religious leaders.
 
Religious leaders are to represent the will of our heavenly Father in both word and deed to the people, but unfortunately most of them don’t.
 
We are to test the ones we know by seeing if they are living up to the heavenly will of God.
 
Truly, our salvation praise can only be in the heavenly will of God.
 
Revelation 1:4-8 is the first part of the messages of faith to the seven churches, which are examples of how we are all to be living in the heavenly will of God; it is also an example of our salvation praise.

4. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne;
 
5. and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood,

This kind of praise is an example of our salvation praise, for what John is writing about is both the resurrection of Jesus and the salvation He brings for all who believe, which this message to the churches is intended to do.

6. and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

We are to be this kingdom of priests, because most of the religious clergy and leaders have failed to put Jesus and the heavenly will of God ahead of the corrupt worldly ways that cause so much pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death of millions of human beings and billions of animals every year.

7. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.

The world may mourn over Jesus and the way that they went along with the worldly ways that caused His death, but that doesn’t mean that they have repented and been saved; they could still be part of the evil that is in the world.

8. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
NASB

Are we ready for the return of Jesus Christ?
 
Are we praying for His return to come soon?
 
If not, we should be.
 
Does everything we say and do reflect our salvation praise and the heavenly will of God?
 
If not, it should.
 
Amen.

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