Vertical, Fervent Worship (Psalm 47)

Well good morning, Gospel City Church. Wonderful to be in God’s house with you this morning. What an awesome time of worship together this morning. And just a quick thing for you. Every single person that led you in worship this morning and that is running the booth in the back, everybody is a volunteer because our staff is out of town serving another church this morning. And so can you give all our volunteers a round of applause? So thankful for them. And I think it communicates something. It communicates equipped saints doing the work of the ministry among the Bride of Christ, and that’s what it’s all about. We are truly a family and thankful for the way that they led all of us this morning.

We’re going to continue in worship right now. And I want to do that by opening our Bibles to Psalm chapter 47, Psalm chapter 47. And I want to begin this morning with the reading of God’s Word. And so get your eyes on a copy of Psalm 47. I’ll give you just a moment to get there. If you’re there, say, “Let’s go.”

Let’s go.

All right, hear the Word of the Lord this morning.

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
Verse 2. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted! (Psalm 47:1-9)

Let’s pray together this morning. Father, we thank You for Your Word. From beginning to end, it is proclaiming the majesty and the glory and the supremacy of the triune God. As we sang this morning, you are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And God, You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy of our adoration. You are worthy of our thanksgiving. You are worthy of our songs. You are worthy of our fervency. You are worthy of our bowing down. You are worthy of our hands lifted high. You are worthy of our clapping and of our shouting and of our praise.

Lord, we are the ones who fall so short of Your glory. And yet Lord, we confess this morning that we so often get it wrong. We often give the glory to ourselves. We often give the glory to lesser things. Lord, we can even come into Your house on the first day of the week, gathered with sinners saved by grace and we can make it about ourselves.

So Lord, would You forgive the idolatry of our hearts? And Spirit of God, even this morning as we’ve gathered to talk about vertical, fervent worship and look to Your Word, would it be Your Spirit who convicts us? Would it be Your Spirit who unifies us as a church? Would it be Your Spirit alone that moves us into God adoration, into God praise, into God worship?

And Spirit, lift our eyes off of the things of this world and onto Christ where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty and will come again to judge the living and the dead. So Lord, we give You this time together and thank You for Your holy breathed out Word. Would You speak to us now? In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Main idea this morning is this: because the Lord is the most high King and Creator, His people must respond in vertical, fervent worship. Because the Lord is the most high King and Creator, His people must respond in vertical, fervent worship.

Last week we began a series called “Distinctives,” and we’re looking at the four distinctives. This is what we do as a church, what we are committed to as Gospel City Church. And we want you to embrace these things. We hope that you see these things on display. Maybe you’re new to Gospel City Church and you’re wondering what these distinctives are all about. You came at a great time.

And last week we looked at our distinctive, “bold, exegetical preaching,” the truth that all Scripture is God-breathed. It’s profitable, we learned, for teaching, and for reproving and for correcting and for training in righteousness. Pastor Mitch told us last week what the Word of God preached correctly does. The Word carries the message that saves sinners and sanctifies sinners and awakens people to the reality of God.

Vertical, fervent worship is what the people of God do when the Word of God has intentionally transformed and affected them. It’s why we’re here this morning. It’s really why we exist. Did you know that? So many people in the world are searching for the meaning of life. You exist for the glory and the supremacy of Christ.

And understand this. If this is not the delight of our gatherings here at Gospel City, the church will become about so many lesser things. Let me say that again. If our delight as a people is not in the glory and the supremacy of Christ alone, then this gathering will become about so many lesser things.

I’ve gone to different churches. I’ve gone different places, and I’m always thankful for the opening of the Word of God, but I’m dumbfounded at times at how much time is spent on us, who much time is spent on our needs, how much time is spent on announcements talking about all of the things going on in the church whenever there is a big and glorious God ruling and reigning on the throne.

You know, Piper, he says, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” In a sense, I think we could say that preaching exists to produce more worshipers. It’s not that my preaching this morning can turn you or transform you into a worshiper of God. You desperately need God to change your heart. But we preach the Word of God that does the work of God, and the Word of God builds up the saints that they might be the kind of worshipers that God is seeking in the world.

So at Gospel City, we don’t sing songs to set the table for the preaching. The Word of God is the source that gives us Jesus; it’s the meal that feeds us week after week. It sustains us through the week. It causes us to feast on Christ all week long, and then return here as followers of God the next week to respond to all that God is doing in our lives.

The reason any of us preach at Gospel City is to build up vertical, fervent worship of Jesus Christ, because that is the end game. That is what we will be doing for all of eternity.

So I’ve got three points through Psalm 47 this morning. Here’s point number one. Look up. Worship is about God, and for God. look up, saints. Worship is about God and for God. Look at verse 1 in Psalm chapter 47.

It says, “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”

So Psalm 47, it begins with sort of this emotional response. Some might call it a juvenile response for a bunch of adults gathered together on a Sunday morning, a juvenile response for a bunch of Baptists gathered together on a Sunday morning.

But never mind what it’s calling us to do for a moment, ok? Let’s first start with why it’s calling us to this response of emotional fervency. Look at verse 2. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.

So here’s what I want to do as we begin this morning. Let’s consider the supremacy and the greatness of God. And two realities are true at once here in verse 2. God is the most high. He transcends time and space. He is incalculably bigger than we could comprehend this morning. He is never shaken, never surprised, never taken off guard, always in control.

You know, as a child you may have sang the song “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Sing it. He’s got the whole world in His hands. He’s got the whole world in His hands. He’s got the whole world in His hands.

That’s because the Lord is the most high. God is in a class of His own. There is none like Him in all the earth. Trying to describe Him would be like trying to pour the ocean into a teacup.

So John Piper, he says this: “The panorama of his perfections is the end of our soul’s quest for eternal satisfaction. He is infinite, and that answers to our longing for completeness. He is eternal, and that answers to our longing for permanence. He’s unchangeable, and that answers to our longing for stability and security.”

There is none like God. Nothing can compare to Him. Money, sex, power, popularity, conquests, nothing can compare with God. So God is most high. He is infinitely incomprehensible to mankind. And yet notice the word “Lord” in verse 2. For the Lord is the most high. Is it in all capital letters for you in your Bible? Yeah? I see heads nodding around the room. His is the personal, intimate affectionate name that the Israelites used for the transcendent God of creation. This is how they knew that the God of glory was their God. The word is Yahweh, the translation.

So how could it be that the transcendent, incomprehensible God is personal and intimate? And this is what makes our God different from the false gods of other religions, from the gods of the world. Psalm 96 says, “The gods of the peoples are worthless idols.” And here’s why. While our god is infinitely incomprehensible, He has made Himself personally knowable to finite mankind. He’s intimately and intricately involved in our lives. God is so knowledgeable that God’s people could pour out these personal prayers and songs in the book of Psalms.

Have you ever just read the book of Psalms at face value and saw all of the emotional pouring out of circumstances that goes on as they direct their circumstances to the God of glory? How could that be? The heavens declare the glory of God, and yet there is nowhere His people can go from His presence. Understand what that means for you this morning. In your darkest, hardest hour, God is there. He holds you in His righteous right hand.

Here’s the truth for us on the right side of the cross, the gospel only makes the immanence of God even more true. John 1 declares that we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. It’s the idea that our God came to us. The weightiness of God became flesh and dwelt among us. The weightiness of God describes the glory of God. So like a light is to a lightbulb or water is to a waterfall, glory is to God. It’s His weightiness.

And because the glory of God appeared in the person of Jesus Christ and the glory of God lived our lives and died in our place and rose from the dead and ascended back into heaven, the purpose of our lives can be restored. We can glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

So Psalm 47:2 tells us that He is the Lord. He’s personal and yet King. He is the Most High. He’s powerful, all-knowing and eternally existing, the I am that I am. Verse 2 continues with this. Look at it. He is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.

Did you know that the first step to becoming a worshiper of God is recognizing that He is God and you are not? Proverbs calls that wisdom. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It’s the understanding that I don’t exist for myself. I don’t keep myself existing. I’m not all that, even though I like to think sometimes that I’m all that. To fear the Lord is to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He might lift you up in due time. That’s 1 Peter 5:6.

So if your life is tanked by what’s happening around you or if your life is tanked when the wrong president gets elected, or if your life is consumed by the latest conspiracy theories or things happening in the world, you may fear man more than you actually fear God who is on His throne. Because notice where God’s jurisdiction is in verse 2. He is King over all the earth. There’s not a corner of the earth that His glory and justice and rulership and Kingship does not touch. That’s why He alone deserves my worship.

Look at verse 8 with me in Psalm 47. It says that God reigns over the nations. When we speak of the reign of God, we’re speaking of the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign over every nation. Daniel 4:17 says God is sovereign over the kingdoms of man and He gives them to whomever He pleases.

So just understand all that Psalm 47 throws at us out the gate. God is personal. God is most high. God is to be feared. God is King over the earth. God is sovereign over anything and everything. And now look at what Psalm 8, where Psalm 8 directs us to. It says God sits on His holy throne.

So look up, worshiper, because worship is about God and for God. This is why our worship as a church must be vertical. Our eyes must get off every lesser thing and onto the King of glory and onto the supremacy of Christ. Your grocery list can wait, especially on Sunday morning, for this hour and a half that we gather. That text message that you just got, it can wait. That announcement about your small group’s cook out, it can wait. Sleeping in can wait. We are here for God. Don’t miss it. Staying up too late on Saturday night watching mind-numbing, Godless TV is probably not helpful to your coming to the house of the Lord with urgency, with a heart prepared to seek God, with a heart prepared to meet God and exalt Him above all things.

The Israelites, they longed for the house of the Lord. David said, “Better is one day in His courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Do you think like that? Like do you believe that? What better is one day here serving God’s people, worshiping with God’s people, hearing God’s Word, than a thousand elsewhere? There’s no place else I’d rather be.

Why? Because in the congregation of the righteous is where David met God. One thing he would ask (you heard it this morning) the thing he seeked most was to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That is the posture in which David went to the house of meeting. That is the posture at which the Israelites traveled to the temple. And how much greater should our posture be, having the completion of the story? Because God who is on His throne did actually come down. And His beloved Son conquered death and the grave. And Jeus rose again and He is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. And this is the destination of worship.

All of eternity is heading toward the glorious, ever-growing, never-tiring worship of the Lamb of God who was slain to take away the sins of the world. And yet for this short time here on the earth that James calls “but a vapor,” those who have been purchased by the King are invited to enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise.

Do you realize that? There’s purpose every time we gather as the people of God. There’s anticipation when we gather together. There is urgency when we gather together. And I heard this this morning. If we are not vertical in our worship, we will get horizontal. You can break down the word worship into “worth giving.”

If I were to follow a path of your time and talents and treasure and hobbies and it came to a throne on your heart, whatever is seated on that throne is what you worship, what you’re giving worth to with your life, if we don’t stay vertical, if we don’t stay on Christ who is on His throne, we will give our worth-giving to so many lesser things. Our gatherings will become casual spectating consumerism. The church will become about what’s most important to us. Church will become about your favorite speaker. You will think more about what songs you like or dislike than you will about the glory of God that has saved you and drawn you out of darkness. You will be bored instead of thrilled to meet with God and hear from Him. You will be entertained instead of engaged in participation. You’ll be frustrated that your thing is not on display when this whole thing has to be about the glory and supremacy of God.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need.” The reason we can do that is because of Christ who has set us free. And so we come not timidly. We come with purpose. We come urgently. We come confidently to the throne of grace. So look up. Worship is about God and for God.

Number two this morning, wake up, because worship engages the whole person. Wake up, church. Worship engages the whole person. This is where our adjective fervent comes in. The definition of fervent is “having or showing a very strong and sincere feeling, passion, or intense zeal.” I’ll give it to you again, definition of fervent. “Having or showing a very strong and sincere feeling, passion, or intense zeal.”

Romans 12:11 says, “Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”

James 5:16 talking about prayer says, “The effectual, fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.”

I think often whenever we’re singing some of the songs that we sing, we’re actually praying collectively to the Lord. We’re fervently asking God for help, asking God to come into our midst, asking God to do something.

Fervent comes from the Latin word that means “to boil.” It’s what the Spirit of God does to dry bones that have come to life in Christ. So I’ll ask you this morning, do you have passion for God? Do you have a passion to worship God, to sing to God, to shout to God because of what He’s done for you or because of who He is or because you fear Him and realize He’s bigger and more awesome than the show you watched last week or the burger you had on Friday night?

To help me describe fervent worship, I want you to imagine yourself at a Notre Dame football game. Welcome back, college students. So glad that you’re here and you worship with us. College football is right around the corner. And I just want you to imagine opening day at a Notre Dame football game. If you can’t stand Notre Dame, just put your own team in here. That’s fine.

The crowd is teeming with energy, laughter, and urgency to get into the stadium. And if you’re not in the front parking lot overeating or getting intoxicated, which I wouldn’t recommend, then you’re probably behind the stadium at the Knute Rockne tunnel doing everything you can to catch a glimpse of the beloved Irish as they walk through the crowd like Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem.

Then the gates open and hurriedly everyone funnels shoulder to shoulder through the gates and around the tunnels, entering the massive sanctuary of the football gods. And you high five your friends and you made signs of praise. And there’s that one crazy group of dudes that takes their shirts off in zero degree weather and gets the front row and they painted “Irish” across their chests.

Or maybe you’re on the field and you’re executing your pre-game ritual to prepare your mind, heart, and soul for the reason that everyone gathered that day. And then it happens. An opening song, and the liturgy shifts the atmosphere. The haunting, piercing voice of Cathy Richardson rings through the arena, rallying all those in attendance to unashamedly declare, “Here come the Irish of Notre Dame.” And in comes the sound of the dropkick Murphy’s electric guitars and the bagpipes, and the whole crowd unifies in collective dancing and expectations and shouts of joy and proclamations of imprecatory prayers to church the teeth of the enemy are hurled into the air.

Fire and smoke are shot into the sky, and the beloved Irish take the field. There’s shouts and there’s clapping and there’s hand raising and there’s tears of joy. And then for the next four hours Irish fans hope that it will be a cacophony of triumph, many moments of passionately responding to completed passes and stiff arms and touchdowns. And emotions are fully engaged, and expressions are at an all time high, even for the most expressionless. And full strength and vigor is engaged as people are pumping their friends into the air for every point that has been scored.

Then it happens. The Irish win, and the victory moves everyone in the stadium to lock arms and sway together for the benediction. Strangers who have never met put their arms around one another in unified, holy fandom. And the lyrics hit the big screen and the whole congregation proudly sings their anthem at Notre Dame to Mother Mary. And they sing, “In our hearts forever praise thee Notre Dame.”

That is a picture of horizontal, fervent worship, horizontal, fervent worth-giving. Is it fun? Sure. Have I partaken in it? Sure, I have. Is it a sin to partake like that in a Notre Dame football game? Only if that thing has taken the place of Christ on the throne of your heart. And I think for a lot of us, sometimes football does take the place of Christ in our normal week. But understand that this is a picture of worship in a short story.

This is how the Bible describes God’s people responding to Him for all that He’s done, for how great He is, for how awesome He is. The preparation, the anticipation, the urgency, the unity, the desperation, the emotions, mind and will, the voices lifted, hands clapping, voices shouting, the collective singing. Even the forethought of getting there on time, having what you need, and having a mind prepared to meet with God, all of this describes how we should be coming to church week after week with our whole beings caught up in the adoration of God’s Son. Because of what Christ has done for us, we must be a fervent people.

Look at verse 1 again. Clap your hands, all peoples. Shout to God with loud songs of joy. Notice a couple things about these verses. They are not concerned with how you are emotionally wired. I mean it doesn’t say, “Clap your hands if you have rhythm.” It doesn’t say, “Clap your hands if you’re a hand-clapping type person” or Pentecostal or whatever. It says, “Clap your hands, all peoples.” And it doesn’t ask for beauty in your vocal chords. It just commands volume. Shout to God. Like tilt your head back and shout toward Him. Tilt your head back and shout toward Him.

God, receive the glory this morning! Don’t be afraid to get a little undignified when you come into the house of the Lord if you know what Christ has done for you. The people who have gathered to meet with the Lord and know that the Lord is the most high respond fervently to Him. It’s not always clap. Like pick another psalm.

Psalm 45 says, “My heart overflows with a pleasing theme.” Sometimes we come into the house of the Lord and we start a little differently. It’s not clapping. It’s our hearts overflowing with a pleasing thought to the Lord. Psalm 42 says, “A deer pants for flowing streams. So pants my soul for you, oh God.”

Or Psalm 63 says, “Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you.” So ok, it’s ok to come into church on a Sunday morning and not have it all together. Like it’s ok for you to come in and have a bit of tension and turmoil in your heart and in your soul that everybody else is clapping. I’m having trouble clapping, but I earnestly desire God. So Lord, I need You to help me in my turmoil. Lord, I need You to help me in my depression like David in his depression. He’s called up out of it as he remembers the glad shouts of the congregation meeting to worship God.

Psalm 96, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Some palms say dance. Some psalms say bow down. I was thankful for Bryce’s bold invitation for all of us to get on our knees this morning. And for some of you, that rubbed you the wrong way. Just being honest. For some of you, you’re like, “I don’t want to be told what to do when I come to church. Don’t tell me to get on my knees.” And yet this is a posture represented in Scripture.

Our one word for worship is so flattened. I say “worship” and you probably think music or song time. In the Hebrew language (let’s go Old Testament, not New), in the Hebrew language we have many words for worship. Here’s one, halal. It means “to boast or act foolish in exuberant celebration to God.” Or yadah means “to worship or confess by lifting our hands.”

You ever wonder why some people lift their hands? They’re surrendering. It does say God desires that all men would lift their hands to Him, toda. Extending the hand is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Barak, “to kneel or bow low in humble adoration.” Shabach, “to shout in a loud tone with joy.” Zamar, “to celebrate joyfully in musical performance.” I mean, do you have a category for that in your brain that even musical performance can move God, that He has called us to that?

Think about what God has given us. Here’s seven notes in the musical system: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. And just think of the amount of melodies that God has enabled man in their creativity to come up with in just those seven notes, the amount of sounds. That is an expression of God on the earth through those He created in His image. And He receives glory from it.

So whenever the chorus ends and there’s a small musical interlude between the chorus and verse two and the guitar player is ripping off a little bit of a tame solo, don’t get all bent out of shape that worship stopped. He’s doing that to the glory of God, and you should direct your eyes forward to know that everything happening is to God’s glory for His glory because He is a good and gracious God.

So before expression in worship to God was ever tied to denominations or upbringings, God’s Word defined it for us. You see that in Scripture. It’s emotional. It’s beautiful. It’s whole person engagement caught up in the adoration of the Son. And in Christ my joy is full, and I want to experience it as I pour out my praise.

But here’s the problem. We have a worship problem. Everybody knows that, right? We live in a world that has been affected by sin and distracted by sin. And people are starving, and they don’t know what will quench their thirst. People are thirsting in a dry and weary land and they’re drinking from lifeless wells and carving out broken cisterns. The world finds value in anything and everything that pleases and satisfies them.

And so the reality of the world around us, the majority of people around us, is they can’t get enough thrill. They can’t get enough sex, enough fun, enough experience, enough satisfaction. And yet we try to find it in anything and everything but God.

So even those in the church, those of us who walk with God, we are desensitized to our need for Him. We are lifelessly being lulled to sleep by the instant gratification of this world. You might find yourself asking, “Why do I need to desperately seek after God when I can watch what I want, order what I want, eat what I want, read what I want, get an answer to any question that I have within seconds, all without leaving my couch?

And then what happens? God begins to fit neatly among all the other awesomeness that our comfortable lives give us. And before we know it, we’re standing in church tired and we’re unable to muster up enough passion to sing along. And when the church stops meeting my preferences and needs, I’ll just go somewhere else that will. And they’ll meet the needs for a little bit, and then when they stop meeting the needs I’ll go somewhere else.

I hate that. Like I hate that churchianity, church-hopping, consumeristic thing. It’s so prevalent in our culture today, and I want us to be different as a church. Like let’s be a people who are passionate and fervent about the worship of God. Let’s be a people who are boldly and unashamedly singing loud to the Lord. Let’s be a people who are passionately committed to one another, loving one another through the ups and downs of life.

You heard me say, “Sing aloud together,” and some of you are like, “Agh, singing.” I’ve had some people say, “We love Gospel City, but man, we don’t like the singing so we just get there late. It’s not that important.”

I remember growing up hearing, “I don’t see the need for singing.” Well, look at verses 6 and 7. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

That about covers it. I don’t see a suggestion there. And that’s just one verse. Like there’s over 400 commands to sing a new song to the Lord throughout Scripture. God’s people are a singing people. Have you ever thought about why? Singing unifies us as we sing the same melody together. How do you get 1,000 people in a room to be unified on the same thing? Well, try singing some lyrics to a melody that directs our hearts and our attention to God together. It’s a beautiful thing. God’s moving through it.

Singing also teaches us as we memorize the truths of God we sing together. I love that song we sang this morning. It’s a little bit of an older one, but I believe in God our Father. I believe in Christ the Son. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Our God is three in one. What a great proclamation for the church to proclaim together, unified. But it also is teaching us and forming us that we have a triune God worthy of our worship. Singing helps us proclaim together. Singing moves the human heart. Singing should stoke fervency to God in your heart. Sometimes melody takes mere words where they cannot go on our own.

And here’s the reality. It’s hard to be angry when you’re singing to God. It’s hard to be a grumpy person when you’re singing a song of gratitude to the Lord. It’s hard to be self-centered when you’re singing about your need for God. Not only that, I think singing moves the heart of God. He enthroned Himself on the praise of Israel. He is unashamed to be called our God whenever we are unashamed to call Him our God. And He’s preparing a song to sing over you, Zephaniah 3:17 says, when you stand before Him one day. So wake up, church. Sing, because worshiping engages the whole person.

Here’s point number three this morning. Join in, because worship is the response of God’s gathered people. Join in, because worship is the response of God’s gathered people. Just a quick exegesis through Psalm 47, verse 1 says, “All people are called to clap their hands and shout for joy.” So I’ll say to you, stretch yourself. Stop judging the expressions of others. Take your hands out of your pockets and posture yourself to love God with your whole heart and being. Like just try something. Try clapping your hands. Try opening your hands to the Lord. Try raising one. Do the touchdown Jesus timid thing if that’s what you’ve got.

Verse 3, he subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob who he loves. So this describes the Israelites’ recognition of their identity to the living God. He has protected them as a nation. He has chosen them as a people. And He loves them, and they can’t help but praise Him as the King over all the earth.

Now in the same way, our vertical, fervent worship must flow from a reminder of who we are. And 1 Peter says this that we are a chosen race. We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

So our identity in Christ is like a log of truth on the firepit of our hearts that should cause us to boil over us in worship to God. if you have a hard time worshiping God, perhaps you’re not enthralled enough with the fact that God chose you and adopted you and lavished love on you and forgave you of your sin and sealed you and put His Spirit in you and guarantees that you’re going to make it to the throneroom of glory.

Verse 5. Look at it. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with a sound of a trumpet. This likely has in view the sending of the king who represents Yahweh and fights His battles. Remember, the Jews, they only had one glorious coming of God in mind. You and I are on the right side of the cross and we understand that God has indeed gone up because our God came down. And Jesus, He defeated death and the grave. He ascended to the right hand of God the Father almighty. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. And all things will be made new.

And in that day, look to that day, church. In that day, you and I will shed these distracted, worn out, lackadaisical bodies for new ones that will thrive in the never-ending, vertical, fervent worship of heaven. So until then, since God has gone up with a shout of praise, we do our best to join in. Every single time we gather, we’re fixing our eyes on Christ.

Look at verse 9. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. The psalm looks forward to a day when the nobles of every tribe, tongue, language and nation will gather together. Notice the foreigners are described as the people of the God of Abraham in this psalm. That’s awesome.

In Genesis 12:3 God promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him. And then in Psalm 47:9 it’s heralding the fulfilment of that promise. The Jews then could only imagine that possibility happening. But you and I have seen the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. We’ve tasted and seen. We’ve had the full revelation breathed out and inspired by God Himself. Everything is trending toward a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father almighty.

I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 4 and 5 in closing this morning. Would you go there with me? Revelation chapter 4. The Israelites sang about the day years before Christ came. And then years after Christ had ascended, John was called up and given a revelation, and he wrote it down for you and for me. Look at it in Revelation chapter 4.

After this I looked (Where do you suppose he looked? He looked up) and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven (What did Psalm 47 say about our God? He is seated on a throne.) Here John stands in the heavenly places and he sees the throne with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. Isaiah 6 tells us that those cherubim and those angels, they cover their face with two wings. They cover their wings with two wings. And with two wings they flew. Worship was their greater priority. They feared the Lord. They trembled to walk on holy ground.

Look at verse 8. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:1-8)

You know, they go around and around the throne, getting every glimpse of Christ the Lamb who had been slain. And they never cease to say “holy.” Like with every glimpse they get throughout all of eternity, God just continues to blow their minds because He’s that high and He’s that holy and He’s that good. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne.

So every accolade that you think you’re going to achieve in this life, it will be used to throw on the ground at the feet of Jesus because He’s that much greater. He’s that much more holy. He’s that much more worthy. So stop trying to find it here. Stop trying to find it here. Get your eyes on Christ because one day our song will be, verse 11, “Worthy are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” They worship Him because He’s God the most high. They worship Him because He’s Creator.

Go down to chapter 5 verse 6. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb (there’s a lot of falling down. There’s a lot of bowing down when you fear the Lord, when you’re in the presence of the Lord, when you love the Lord) each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Verse 9. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

Now we’re praising God because He’s the Redeemer. He’s the Savior of the ends of the earth.

Then he looked, and he heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped God. (Revelation 5:6-14)

Listen, God doesn’t need your praise. He doesn’t need your adoration. He’s not puffed up and arrogant that He sits on the throne and all of these people that He has orchestrated to do this. God will raise up a rock in the parking lot to praise Him. But He has saved you. And He has chosen you. And He has died in your place. And He has purchased you. And He has invited you to come before Him with boldness and give everything to Him.

So stop chasing the dreams of this world and to look to Him who is the Author and the Finisher of life. And so Revelation, it only confirms what we saw sang about in Psalm 47. Look up and see the throne, church. Wake up and see the worthiness of God as the Lamb and join in because every redeemed creature will join in the song. That’s where we’re going. That’s the invitation that we have been invited into as the people of God.

When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun. So the worship in heaven, it’s not going to be something you endure. It will be what you finally do without distraction, without sin, without weariness, without preference, without reservation and without end.

So when we come to church, we’re fixing our eyes on Christ. We’re looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, because the Lord is the most high King and Creator. His people must respond in vertical, fervent worship.

Come on, stand with me this morning. And we do want to respond in vertical, fervent worship for a moment. But just close your eyes, open your hearts, open your hands to the Lord. And just center your heart’s desire on Him. Tell Him the places where you have given glory and you know the glory doesn’t belong there.

Father, it was Spurgeon who said, “Often we come to you declaring ‘help’ when you’re looking for a ‘hallelujah.’” And Lord, even in that short statement I think it shows how prone we are to even make worship about ourselves. The beginning point of worship is not “help.” It’s “hallelujah.” The beginning place of worship is not what You can do for me, but the truth that You have saved my soul and You have redeemed my life and You are the God of creation.

And so Lord, we as a people, we ask for forgiveness for the places where our worship has drifted, our response has drifted. Lord, we are in a complicated here but not there life. Lord, we’re longing for the perfection of heaven. And so much of that will be so much easier than here. And yet Lord, You have called us. You have saved us that our joy might be full. We fight for joy, Lord. As we walk through the suffering and the broken roads of this life, would You cause us to find You as a refreshing stream just as the Israelites traveled through the valley of Baca and You made it like a refreshing stream to their souls as they went to worship You in the temple. Every time that Your people gather here, Lord, would we be so convicted and so set on exalting You, the God of creation, the high and holy and transcendent God that You are and yet the immanent and close friend that You have become through Christ that our hearts cannot help but explode in gratitude, in thankfulness, in joy, in hand clapping, in shouting, in worship, in adoration, in exaltation and in praise.

Lord, You are high and lifted up. Worthy is Your name. Here in the brokenness of this world, we thank You that You are high and ruling and reigning and on Your throne. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.