I.　Praise is the highest work carried out by God's children—Psa. 119:164; 34:1:

A.　The highest expression of a saint's spiritual life is his praiseto God—146:2; Heb. 13:15; Rev. 5:9-13; 19:1-6:

1.　The Christian life soars through praises—Acts 16:19-34.

2.　To praise is to transcend everything to touch the Lord—Rev. 14:1-3; 15:2-4.

B.　Spiritual victory does not depend on warfare—it depends onpraise—2 Chron. 20:20-22.

C.　We need to see that God is above everything and that He isworthy of our praise—Psa. 18:3; 1 Chron. 29:10-13; Rev. 4:1-3,10-11; 5:6, 9-13.

II.　Exodus 15:1-18 is a song of praise to God for His salvationand His victory, leading to God's habitation and God's kingdom:

A.　Salvation is related to God's people, and victory, to His enemy;at the time God defeated the enemy,He also savedHis people—cf. Heb. 2:14-15.

B.　Exodus 15:13 speaks of God's habitation, even though the templeas God's dwelling place was not built until centuries later.

C.　Verse 18 refers to the kingdom: "Jehovah shall reign foreverand ever":

1.　God's habitation, God's house, brings in God's kingdom,God's reign.

2.　Today the church is first God's house and then His kingdom;the church brings the kingdom to the earth—1 Tim.3:15; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 2:19; Matt. 16:18-19.

3.　Exodus 15:1-18 indicates that the goal of God's salvation isthe building of His dwelling place for the establishing ofHis kingdom, and for this we, like Moses and the childrenof Israel, should praise the Lord—cf. Rev. 15:2-4.

III.　The book of Psalms is a book of praise; in the Psalms wefind the greatest and highest praise:

A.　The following verses reveal crucial aspects of praise in thePsalms:

1.　"O Jehovah my God, I will praise You forever"—30:12b.

2.　"Every day I will bless You, / And I will praise Your nameforever and ever"—145:2.

3.　"I will bless Jehovah at all times; / His praise will continuallybe in my mouth"—34:1.

4.　"I will praise Jehovah while I live; / I will sing psalms tomy God while I yet have being"—146:2.

5.　"Then they believed His words; / They sang His praise"—106:12.

6.　"Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, / My lipspraise You"—63:3.

7.　"I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations;/ Therefore the peoples will praise You forever andever"—45:17.

8.　"Great is Jehovah, / And much to be praised / In the city ofour God, / In His holy mountain"—48:1.

9.　"Praise befits You, O God, in Zion"—65:1a.

10.　"That the name of Jehovah may be declared in Zion, / AndHis praise, in Jerusalem"—102:21.

11.　"Let the high praises of God be in their throats, / And atwo-edged sword in their hand, / To execute vengeance onthe nations / And punishment among the peoples; / To bindtheir kings with fetters / And their nobles with chains ofiron; / To execute upon them the judgment written. / Thishonor is for all His faithful ones. / Hallelujah!"—149:6-9.

12.　"You are holy, You who sit enthroned / Upon the praises ofIsrael"—22:3.

B.　The praise of Jehovah in Psalms 103—106 issues in Hallelujahs,beginning in 104:35, because the earth has been fullyrecovered by God and brought under the reign of Christ inHis kingdom—cf. Rev. 19:1-6; 11:15.

C.　Psalms 146 through 150—the Hallelujah psalms—are theconsummate praise:

1.　Psalm 146 concerns the praising of Jehovah for His reigningfrom Zion—v. 10.

2.　Psalm 147 is a praise to Jehovah for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

3.　Psalm 148 is a praise to Jehovah for His exalted name andfor His transcending majesty—v. 13.

4.　Psalm 149 is a praise to Jehovah for His taking pleasurein His people, Israel, and His adorning of the lowly withsalvation—v. 4.

5.　Psalm 150 is on praising Jehovah God:

a.　This psalm is a concluding charge to everything thathas breath to praise God—v. 6.

b.　Psalm 150 is not only the conclusion of the Psalms—itis the consummation of the entire Bible, for the Psalmsare a miniature of the whole Bible.

c.　The consummate praise in Psalm 150 corresponds withthe praise at the end of Revelation—Rev. 19:1-6.

D.　The Psalms reveal that the Lord has turned us from the lawto Christ, that Christ has brought us to the house, that Heis enlarging the house into the city, and that from the cityHe will gain the earth; then God's purpose will be fulfilled,and we will declare, "O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellentis Your name / In all the earth!"—2:6-7; 27:4; 48:1-2; 72:8;8:9.

IV.　In the church life and in our personal life, we need tooffer consummate praise to God—22:22b; Heb. 2:12b; 13:15:

A.　"In the midst of the assembly I will praise You"—Psa. 22:22b:

1.　The assembly here refers to the church, in which the resurrectedChrist sings hymns of praise to God the Father.

2.　This is the firstborn Son's praising of the Father within theFather's many sons in the church meetings—Heb. 2:10, 12:

a.　When we, the many sons of God, meet as the churchand praise the Father, the firstborn Son praises theFather in our praising; He praises within us and withus through our praising—v. 12b.

b.　The church on earth today is one corporate Body withthe firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29; 12:4-5: 1)　To gain more of the firstborn Son, we need to praisethe Father; the more we praise the Father, the morewe gain the firstborn Son. 2)　The more we sing, the more we will enjoy His singingin our singing; the best way to cooperate withChrist and to have Him work together with us is bysinging praises to the Father—Heb. 2:12.

B.　"Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continuallyto God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name"—13:15:

1.　When we pass through reproach and suffering, we shouldcontinually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God—vv. 12-14.

2.　Since in the church life we enjoy the unchanging Christas grace and follow Him outside religion, we should offerthrough Him spiritual sacrifices to God—vv. 8-10, 15:

a.　In the church we should offer up through Christ a sacrifice of praise to God continually—v. 15.

b.　In the church He and we, we and He, praise the Fathertogether in the mingled spirit—2:12b; 1 Cor. 6:17: 1)　He, as the life-giving Spirit, praises the Father inour spirit, and we, by our spirit, praise the Fatherin His Spirit—15:45b; John 4:24; Eph. 2:18; Jude20-21. 2)　This is the best and highest sacrifice that we canoffer to God through Him—Heb. 2:12b; 13:15; cf.Hosea 14:1-3.

3.　Through the Christ whom we have experienced and enjoyed,we need to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually—Heb. 1:2-3; 2:9, 17; 3:1; 4:14; 6:20; 7:25; 8:1; 12:2; 13:8, 15:

a.　The real praise to the Father comes out of our experienceand enjoyment of Christ in our daily life; this isa very pleasing praise to the Father, gladdening andrejoicing His heart—Eph. 3:8, 17a; John 4:24.

b.　The praises out of our experience and enjoyment ofChrist—the spiritual praises about Christ—are the bestpraise to the Father—Psa. 45:1-2; 145:1.

C.　"I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; / And Iwill glorify Your name forever"—86:12.

D.　"Jehovah will reign forever, / Your God, O Zion, forever andever. / Hallelujah!"—146:10.