As this is Praise day we make choice of a passage from God's Word bearing upon the topic. Our text is found in Psalm 65:1, "Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion."

The thought of this text as expressed in the Hebrew language is so peculiar that there is no English expression that would exactly convey the idea to our minds. To be very literal the Hebrew says, "Praise is silent for Thee, O God, in Zion." The thought of the Psalmist seems to be, "O God, there is a higher kind of praise than anything we have known yet; there is a grander phase of praise, something more wonderful, but we realize the time for that has not come yet. Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion."

We recognize that primarily these words have reference to the Jewish people. We all remember that the name Zion applied to a hill in the City of Jerusalem, but in a still broader sense it was used to indicate the Jewish people. There is no question but the time is coming when that people will praise God to a degree that has never been known as yet. We find also that from a higher and spiritual standpoint the Scriptures speak of the followers of Jesus, the Church, as Zion. So we understand the deeper thought of our text refers to the Church of Christ, those following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Praise is a form of worship, a method of expressing reverence. Praise may consist of feelings in our hearts, or words dropped from our lips, or these thoughts may lead us to action which would become an expression of praise.

There are various kinds of praise. Praise is like a musical scale, beginning with a low note and rising up and up, higher and higher, finally reaching notes so high that few voices can reach them. So with praise to God, rising higher and higher until it reaches the plane where none but the highest of the heavenly hosts can sound the notes. We want to show you that is the praise referred to in our text, because this praise [PE350] is waiting until, in God's due time, you and I may be able to sound forth that praise which will surpass all other kinds of praise.

I believe the proper way to classify the various phases of praise would be in relation to the motives, the desires, the spirit that prompted the praise. We want to bring to your attention eight different forms of praise. As we consider these various forms of praise we will have an opportunity to judge ourselves, to test our motives, to examine our hearts and find how far we have advanced in this scale of praise.

The first form of praise is what we will call indifferent praise. This is praise such as an unconsidered song, the repeating of a thoughtless prayer, or the formal reading of a portion of Scripture. Those who praise God from this standpoint do not praise Him acceptably. You remember how Jesus said, as recorded in John 4:24, "Those who worship the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth." If we are merely uttering a formal expression not prompted by the heart, the Lord never hears that praise. This form of praise often manifests itself in meetings of God's children. Someone is called upon to offer prayer, and his mind is not on the prayer, but he is thinking of the congregation, wondering what impression the prayer will make upon them. We heard a forceful illustration of this out in Oklahoma. A brother told me he sat next to a man who was called upon to pray in one of the churches. When he sat down he said to the brother, "What did you think of that; did you ever hear a finer prayer than that?" His mind was not upon the Almighty, but the effect his words might have upon the congregation. How often a congregation is called upon to sing a hymn expressing glory to God, and possibly some in the congregation are not thinking of God at all; not considering the sentiment of the words. Such praise is not acceptable. Sometimes we find this at the table. Someone offers thanks for the food, and as he begins to partake he grumbles because the butter is not fresh, or the meat is not done enough. We fear that in the majority of cases praise to God is of this first form, which in His sight is not praise at all. It is making believe. I trust all can look into our hearts and say, "I know I have advanced beyond that point."

We come next to the second form of praise, Selfish Praise. This is praise which is really sincere, heartfelt, but selfish. It is praise which is merely offered for things of a material nature; for a measure of health; for success in business; for the love of others; that we are fairly well circumstanced; that we have such a nice home while others are in poverty and distress; that they can buy good enough clothing so as not to be ashamed to be seen in a public gathering. It is a desire to praise God for his blessings, but a selfish kind of praise. This class are very likely to become so much absorbed in business that they forget to pray to [PE351] God altogether. Their praise is merely for material things with which God has blessed them. I think we will agree that with the majority of us the beginning of our praise to God was of this selfish kind.

This brings us to the third point-Appreciative Praise. When we speak of being appreciative it means that we get above the gift and begin to appreciate the giver; we are beginning to esteem the spirit in the heart of the one from whom the gift came. So as we take note of the temporal blessings, we are reminded that every good and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father in whom is no variableness or shadow of turning. As we think of all our blessings we think of how wonderful must be the God who gave these blessings. We think the giver must be better than the best things he gives. I recognize the Creator must be superior to the best thing He created. We say if these thing are so good, how good must be the One who gave them to us; how great must be the wisdom of the One who so wisely ordered the affairs of this universe; how great must be the one who hung the stars in the heavens, and gave the sun and the moon their places. Though man does his best at operating the various railroad systems, his efforts are largely a failure. We find upon the bulletin board, "Train 6, one hour and 20 minutes late; Train 3, 30 minutes late." That is man's method, but it is different with God. Suppose they would telegraph us from the east how late the sun would be in rising tomorrow morning; or it would not be up until dinner time. As we realize how accurately God carries out the program of the universe we cannot help but appreciate Him. How our hearts go out to God. We not only praise Him selfishly for the things received, and Him as the giver, but we praise Him for His wisdom, power and grace, and goodness.

Appreciative Praise leads to Anticipatory Praise; in other words, that praise which anticipates. It praises God for things not seen, or received, but to be received of God. If we have a proper appreciation of our Heavenly Father and His goodness it naturally leads us to this other step. We say, if God was so good as to bless us thus in the past; when we were sinners, aliens and strangers from Him, if He supplied us with so many blessings, even giving His Son to die for our sins; if this is what He has done in the past, what will He do in the future? We begin to anticipate the time when God will straighten out earth's crooked places, humble what is now exalted and exalt what is now humble; when in the Heavenly Father's providence He will make all things new.

As we begin to appreciate the wonderful things this great God has accomplished, and will perform in the future, it sends us to His word. Anticipation would not bring us much comfort or hope if based merely upon our imagination. We want a strong basis for our anticipation, and [PE352] we find this in what God has given us in His word, so going to the Father's word what blessed things we find there. We find our ideals of God's goodness, His wisdom and His love are more than corroborated and confirmed by the teachings of this holy book, and begin to see that there will be a time when this earth shall be made a glorious paradise; when there will be no more sorrow. We think of the present time with its sin and corruption, and look forward to the time when God's Kingdom shall have come and His will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven; to a time when in this great universe there will not be one discordant note; when every creature in Heaven and on earth will sing praise to God who doeth all things well. If we anticipate thus, how our praise to the Father will increase.

There is another side to this. As we learn to anticipate the things which shall be hereafter, we also anticipate the things that shall be here. I believe many of the Lord's people do not recognize this fact, and fail to receive much blessing which they might enjoy. There is nothing better to help us overcome than to anticipate what God is going to do for us some day; not merely hereafter, but here. If you find yourself weak do not say, "I wish I could have the strength manifested in Brother So and So; I wish I was not so weak; I wish I could get to the place he has attained, but I do not see how I will ever win it." That is following the wrong course entirely. There is the lack of that anticipatory praise we have been speaking of. If you find yourself inclined to be discouraged, go to the Lord daily and thank Him that some day you are going to be free from that difficulty, and you will be surprised by and by, as you praise God for these things you will get strength to overcome this, as the Scriptures say, "While thou art yet speaking I will answer thee." Not that the Lord will do this miraculously. The idea is this: If I thought I had to make an overcomer of myself I would give up right now. I realize that my Heavenly Father is so marvelous in His wisdom and grace that He can make an overcomer of me; if not, He is not almighty. He could not if my will stood in the way. My part is to be willing and desirous that the Lord will have it so.

Suppose you feel it to be your duty to let your light shine out to your neighbors; to tell them the good news you have found in God's Word. But it almost crushes you to even think of doing so. Do not go to the Lord with a downcast heart and say, "Father, I do not believe I will ever get over this; I do not believe it will ever be possible for me to go to these neighbors." Go to the Lord and say, "Dear Heavenly Father, I am ashamed that all of these months have passed and I did not have the courage to take the best news in the world to my neighbors, but I thank You that it will not be long until I can take it to them; and when I get the [PE353] courage I know it will be all of your grace. I hope it will be soon, and my heart leaps with joy as I think of the time when I can do that." Before you know it you will have done it.

I think this is one of the great points of difference between the Lord's goat and the scapegoat class. We have seen in Tabernacle Shadows that the bullock represented the Lord Jesus Himself. After the bullock was slain the two goats were brought forward. Most of the commentaries say that these represented the Lord, too. We see that the goats represented two classes of Christians. Just as the two goats came after the bullock, so these two classes of Christians came after the Lord. We think this for another reason. In the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus we are told that Aaron brought the two goats and presented them to the Lord. The word "present" does not occur in the Hebrew. It is an entirely different word, and the real thought is, "Aaron brought the two goats and caused them to have a standing before the Lord." These goats did not represent the Lord Jesus. He did not need to be given a standing; He always had it. You and I needed to be given a standing before the Lord. Our great high priest, the Lord Jesus, is the one who has given us a standing before the Heavenly Father.

You remember these two goats are spoken of as the Lord's goat and the scapegoat. The former was sacrificed, but the latter was sent outside the camp into the wilderness. In fact, both went outside the camp, but the great difference was that when the Lord's goat went into the wilderness it was dead; when the scapegoat went outside the camp into the wilderness it was alive. When the Lord's goat was pulled through the brambles it did not mind, because it was dead; it did not care for the wild beasts or the hunters because it was dead. But how different the scapegoat. When it was pulled through the thorns and brambles, how it would be pained; when the hunters came in sight it would be alarmed; when the wild beasts appeared it was fearful that they might pull it to pieces. So there are two classes of the Lord's people. The one is so filled with the spirit of the Master that it is dead to things of the world; the all important thing to them is how they may glorify God most, how they may do His will best, how they may serve Him with their time, means and ability. If there comes to them a little reproach, a little inconvenience, a little sacrifice, they view the matter as expressed by Paul where he says, "For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God." Suppose a man like that is talking zealously to a man out in the street about his faith; the glorious things he has found in God's word. While he is trying to assist the man, others nearby are laughing and scoffing about his faith. But he is so much in earnest that he does not notice the unkind remarks. He does not notice the thorns; he is like [PE354] the goat that was dead. Another, when talking to neighbors about God's word, is not as dead as he should be. If he notices his neighbor laughing or scoffing it hurts his feelings. If he sees another neighbor coming he fears that he may hear some of the conversation and go away to criticize. He notices all the brambles, and is all of the time in fear. He is of those mentioned by the Apostle who "through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage."

The fact that we have such experiences does not prove that we will be of the scapegoat class, but if we do not make advancement we might be in that class. The thing is to anticipate what God will make of us, not only hereafter, but here. Do the same with your friends, and those about you. If they show the spirit of unkindness, do not feel unkind in return. Anticipate what the change will be in that person when they can see as you see. Thus our praise will increase as we anticipate the glorious things that are to come. We do not feel crushed with the thoughts of what is coming, but, on the contrary, we lift up our heads and rejoice that our redemption is drawing nigh, not only in the higher sense, but also from many of the weaknesses and difficulties that harass us at the present time.

We now come to still another form of praise. It is what we call Submissive Praise. We are inclined to have our will to some extent. I often think how the Christian's experience is illustrated in the song we sometimes sing:

"Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered-
None of self and all of Thee.

"Dear friends, the moment we could say that from our heart was the moment we really submitted to the Lord. There we said, "Lord, I am entirely Thine; I am ready to be what you want me to be; ready to go where you want me to go, willing to have the experiences You desire, no matter whether they are hard or easy, Lord Thy will be done."

Now our praise has in it a note of submission which was not in it before. It is not merely praising God for all of the good things received; not merely praising God in an appreciative spirit for what we find in Him of greatness and goodness; not merely praising Him for blessings enjoyed and anticipated, but praising Him for our experiences in trial and difficulty. It is the application of the words of the Apostle, "In everything give thanks." Not in the pleasant things, or in a few things, but in everything give thanks. We have come to the place where we realize that trials are a blessing to us. Not that a Christian should do foolish things to bring on trials, in the spirit of fanaticism. If we are faithful [PE355] to our privileges the trials will come upon us, and we may rejoice in them, knowing they are to prepare us for "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you."

We come to the next phrase of our subject, which we describe as Concentrated Praise. When we have come to the place where we have submitted to the Lord entirely, we begin to find all our experiences are lessons; we begin to see the Lord in everything; we come to the place where the Father and the Son fill the horizon of our being; we begin to lose sight of the things of this world, our eyes are so fixed upon the great goal we are striving for and the great sight we are looking at-that Son who was the exemplification of the glory of the Father's character. That does not mean that he does not see his family; or will neglect his family. The fact is, the more closely we follow in the footsteps of the Redeemer, the more will we be ready to do our duty toward all about us. If a man is a Christian he views things from a different standpoint. He realizes that he has a definite responsibility now. It is now his duty to so conduct his home that it will be to the glory of God. If the family is in harmony with him, it may be possible to give up the home and engage actively in the harvest work. But no matter, he has a responsibility in connection with his family which he may not ignore. We have come to a place where we desire to be like our Lord, to copy Him, to follow in His footsteps.

I think this is well illustrated in water baptism. When the time comes the candidate places himself in the hands of the immerser to be buried in the water; we put ourselves in the hands of the Lord to be buried to things of this world. The same one who baptizes that individual also raises him up; the Lord is the one who will bury us, and He it is who will raise us up to newness of life, and later, in a larger sense, will raise us up in the resurrection. The one being immersed loses sight of all else save the immerser, and so when we put ourselves in the hands of the Lord we see only Him, in all of our experiences, everywhere, in every affair of our daily life, disciplining and guiding us as He may deem best. We praise Him because all our praise is concentrated upon Him. We do not want to do anything that will not redound to the glory of God. Not only do we wish to refrain from the things which will not glorify Him, but we try to conduct our home to His glory; to conduct our business to His glory; to do all things in such a way as to honor Him.

But there is another form of praise which we may call Perfect Praise. True, we cannot reach perfection ourselves, but we can reach a place where our praise will be perfect. Not that it will be perfect in fact, but perfect in motive, perfect in desire. We come to the place where we can love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us and use us [PE356] despitefully, that we may be the children of our Father which is in Heaven. He is like that. He causes His sun to shine upon the evil and the good; He sends rain upon the just and the unjust. Dear friends, if we consider our Heavenly Father more and more, as we see His character, His spirit, we begin to find that spirit developing in us. As He is kind to the unthankful, so if any treat us unkindly there will be no spite in our hearts toward them, but a desire to see them blessed; if any injure us we will wish to help them as much as they sought to injure us. I think that is why Jesus followed these statements by saying, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." It does not mean that you and I must be perfect in all of the details of our lives; that we must never make a mistake, but that from a certain standpoint, having the spirit or desire like that of our heavenly Father, we have the spirit of perfect praise to Him. Not merely praise to the extent of saying, "Dear Heavenly Father, I appreciate your spirit; I love that spirit which moved you, while we were yet sinners, to send your dear son to die for the ungodly," but coming to the condition where we will praise Him by developing that same spirit in ourselves; by endeavoring to imitate His spirit in our lives.

But there is still a higher step which we call Spiritual Praise. You say, "Can we render spiritual praise to God here in the flesh?" If we have fully submitted ourselves to the divine will, and have been begotten by His spirit it is to a change of nature. We find new feelings, new ambitions, new aspirations, but in the human body. It is like a person being immersed in water. They are raised up with their clothing saturated. The clothing felt all right a few moments ago, but after going under the water how disagreeable it feels and they are anxious to get away and put on some dry clothing. So before we put ourselves into the hands of the Lord to baptize us into death, we felt all right, as though we had on dry clothing. We may have wished the clothing (the body) was a little better; that the stomach was a little stronger, or the hearing a little better, but we felt satisfied in a general way. But after we had made a consecration we did not feel right in this body, we did not feel at home. The Apostle speaks of being absent from the body and at home with the Lord. We are longing for the change; we are longing for the new, the better body. We are longing for the dry clothes, as it were; we are desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.

In the true Christian there is a spirit nature begun, and therefore the Apostle speaks of being spiritually minded. There is a different spirit in your desires, a different spirit in your prayers, which was not there before. You and I are hoping some day to be spirit beings. If the change does not begin here; if you do not develop that spiritual mind, you will [PE357] not get the spirit body. And a spiritual mind leads to spiritual praise.

Now we come to the praise that waiteth for God in Zion. The praise that waits for God in Zion is divine praise. Not in the sense of the praise being to a divine Creator, but the praise which is offered by divine beings to Jehovah God. Can it be possible that there will be any divine beings beside our Father in Heaven? In 2 Pet. 1:4 we read, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature." Regarding the words "exceeding great" I might say that is not a good translation. The Greek shows the superlative degree is meant, "the greatest promises." It means these footstep followers of the Lord Jesus are not to have merely perfect human bodies; they are not to be perfect angels, though that would be marvelous; they are not to be merely perfect cherubim or seraphim, but as the Lord Jesus has been raised up, far above angels, principalities and powers, and every creature in heaven and earth, so the Apostle declares that when He shall appear we shall be like Him and see Him as He is. The Apostle Paul also says that these shall be joint-her is with Him, if so be that they suffer with Him. We could not believe it; we could not imagine it could be so if there were not so much Bible for it.

We understand there will be millions of the human family ultimately raised up to the perfect human plane, tens of thousands will be saved to the angelic plane of the great multitude class. But the Bible assures us the faithful little flock will be raised to a plane which is now occupied by Jehovah and the Lord Jesus alone. It means they will be in a position to know more about this universe than anyone else, to praise God about; they will see more to praise Him for than anyone else; and they will have a nature which will qualify them for praising Him more than any others could do. Man is capable of some things a dog is not capable of, for he is on a higher plane. A dog could praise God in a sense, but man in a much better way. How much better could the angels praise God than man; the cherubim could render better praise than the angels; and the Lord Jesus and His faithful ones will be far above them in their ability to praise God. This is the praise that waiteth for God in Zion.

Today we are so limited that we cannot praise God as we would. Our daily cares and the necessity for giving the body rest leave us but a few hours at most in which to praise Him. But when we get there we will need no rest and we can praise Him twenty-four hours each day. There will be not limit to our power or ability; there will be no limit to any of the things necessary to praise God as no one ever could except those who will be of that class.

I want to be so faithful now that when that praise is expressed I may be among those to utter the praise that waiteth for God in Zion.