Summary
The Day After Christmas: He Has Sent Redemption
December 26 can feel strangely empty. The candles are out, the carols have stopped on the radio, the wrapping paper is in the trash, and the sugar rush is gone. After weeks of anticipation and a day of celebration, the question naturally surfaces: what now? Psalm 111 answers that question with a single, sturdy word: Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. The work of Christmas does not expire on the 25th, because the One whose birth we celebrated has not stopped being who He is.
The Psalm opens, "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation." To praise God with the whole heart is to praise Him completely, with nothing held back, nothing competing, nothing dividing the attention. It is a declaration: I will do this. And the reason is given at the end of the Psalm—"holy and awesome is His name." We gather publicly with fellow believers, undivided in our worship, because of who He is. As Leviticus 11:44 commands, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
This holiness is not abstract. The Psalm says, "The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy." Every part of creation reflects His faithfulness, His wisdom, and His unchanging justice—not the shifting standards of a particular century, but God's eternal justice, established before creation itself. His commandments are constant, His expectations of holiness unchanging. The law that calls Israel—and us—to walk in righteousness has never been bent.
Which raises an honest question: do you stand before this holy God as one who is holy? Have you kept His commands perfectly? Have you ever worshiped Him with a truly whole, undivided heart? Even Romans 8:26 admits that we do not pray as we ought. We get distracted. We falter. By the measure of God's perfect law, we do not stand holy on our own.
And yet—verse 9: "He sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever." The babe born in the manger was born for this purpose. Christ, fully God and fully man, came to live perfectly under God's precepts in our place, and then to die, taking our sin and our inability upon Himself, receiving the eternal justice of God's wrath for us. The greatest of all God's faithful and just works is the pardoning of our sin in Jesus Christ. This is the eternal covenant of grace. Because of Him, you do stand before the throne of God holy—not in yourself, but in Christ, with confidence He.
So December 26 is not a letdown. It is the first day after Christmas to live in what Christmas means. Where we are weak, He is strong. Where we falter, He steps in. He created us, He alone has redeemed us, and He sustains us day in and day out by His grace. The whole-hearted praise of Psalm 111:1 does not belong only to Christmas Eve. It belongs to every day the Lord gives. Hallelujah.
Video citations
- "He" 12-26-21 — If you would please open your Bibles to Psalm 111, our text for this morning will be from Psalm 111. Love Christmas Eve service. There is so much excitement happening on Christmas Eve. Everyone is…