As Mrs. Barrett stressed, our church family is something we can be very thankful for. And I know that I've drawn upon individuals here for blessings like cinnamon rolls, but also more substances, substantive blessings like advice and considerations. So yeah, it is great to be part of the body of Christ. Well, as we discovered during the children's time, we're doing Psalm 66. And so that is our psalm for today. It's a little bit longer psalm, but I do believe we can cover it all. If you'd please turn to Psalm 66 and rise, we will read it as we prepare ourselves to hear what God is instructing us in it. Psalm 66, this is the word of the Lord. To the chief musician, a psalm, a psalm. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth. Sing out the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say to God, how awesome are your works. Through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you. all the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you, they shall sing praises to your name. Selah. come and see the works of God he is awesome in his doing toward the sons of men he turned the sea into dry land they went through the river on foot there we will rejoice in him he rules by his power forever his eyes observe the nations do not let the rebellious exalt themselves O bless our God, you peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard who keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved. For you, O God, have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined. you brought us into the net you laid affliction on our backs you have caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and through water but you brought us out to rich fulfillment i will go into your house with burnt offerings i will pay you my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer you burnt sacrifices of fat animals with the sweet aroma of rams. I will offer bulls with goats they love. Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me. He has attended to my voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me. Amen. You may be seated. May God bless us as we take time to consider his word and what it is teaching us. So we come now, as we have read to Psalm 66, This is a second Thanksgiving psalm in a row. Last week we noted how Psalm 65 took really kind of an abrupt change. It had been building, but it took that final step away from any contentious aspects. It was purely a Thanksgiving prayer that we saw there in Psalm 65. And as we looked at it, we saw a whole outline of A prayer of thanksgiving that began with adoration to God and followed by the confession or at least recognition of one's sinful nature and that our whole dependence is upon God's atonement for our sin. It's in God alone. And then the bulk of the psalm was just an abundance of expressions of thanksgiving to him for what he has done. Psalm 66 is a continuation of that same Thanksgiving theme and so appropriate for this time of year as we're now at the Sunday prior to the holiday that our nation has established of a day to give thanks. A day to give thanks of which we even heard in the children's time the Word of God says it should always be a part of our life And certainly we should always be worshiping God as a part of our life. But there's a day set aside to worship the Lord corporately. Our nation has chosen to set a day aside to particularly give thanks. And it certainly was purposed to give thanks to God and to God alone. So here in Psalm 66, there's a thanksgiving psalm praising God for his awesome works. In fact, the title in my New King James is that, a praise to God for his awesome works in my study Bible here. One of the commentaries that I consulted said that it was a Thanksgiving for deliverance. We don't have an indication of what the incident is here. That commentary, which I believe was my Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown commentary, which I really They believed it was a, there's a general reference in here to the deliverance from Sennacherib. Okay. If you're familiar with that story or situation at all, I'll just quickly lay it out for you. This is Sennacherib of Assyria who had decided he was, they'd already taken away the northern tribes. They decided they were going to come down and take as much of Judah and Jerusalem if they could. And as they came into Judah, they knocked down fortified city, overtook fortified city after fortified city and came to Jerusalem and basically said, you're done. But God, in a miraculous way, overthrew Sennacherib's army by killing every soldier one night. pretty much. And so he woke up to dead men, his own, and decided it was time to leave. He goes back to his capital, probably Nineveh, in Assyria, and decided to, maybe he thought he offended his own God, he decided to go in and worship his own God, but that wasn't a good idea. Two of his sons snuck up behind him and killed him while he was doing that. That was the way he came to an end. Then those two sons found out the people weren't happy with what they did, so they ran away and his third son became the one in authority. So that's what happened. It was a miraculous deliverance. We don't know that that's what this psalm is. If so, it possibly was even written by Hezekiah then as a Thanksgiving psalm for that deliverance of Jerusalem from the forces of Sennacherib. Those that hold to this say that this psalm is divided into two parts, of which the first half speaks of corporate thanksgiving, speaking possibly to the people being thankful for the deliverance from Sennacherib. And then there is the second half, verses 13 to 20, that appear to be more of an individual emphasis. expressing Thanksgiving and if you remember, Hezekiah faced an illness that potentially would lead to his death of which he was delivered from. So that's a theory on this. Again, the first half of the psalm being deliverance from smack rib and the second half, Thanksgiving of Hezekiah for deliverance from his illness. But in a way, that's all speculation. I don't really see a reference to Sennacherib and his attack in here. They didn't indicate what it was they thought they saw. But in thinking about that, we realize that there's an emphasis out of that, that this psalm was possibly not written by David. It doesn't say it was written by David. Those who think it has to do with an incident, it's an incident in which David was not there to write it. And it is the first psalm after a number of psalms. I think you have to go back to about Psalm 50 or so to find one that is not directly attributed to David. But in saying all that, those that analyze these psalms in terms of their style and wording and so forth say, this sure sounds like David. But you know, it doesn't really matter. doesn't matter that much. I mean, it's sometimes very helpful when we do know the situation. It helps us picture the distress or trial that the individual is facing or situation of blessing that they had in which the psalm came out of. This psalm speaks to any situation and any time in which we ought to be thankful to God. And so we'll just accept it as it comes to us. A psalm that was written, it was written for the chief musician, so it was to be sung publicly and to be sung by the people. It's emphasized as a song in a psalm. It's a song of praise. That's what it is telling us, and it certainly is. So as we now jump into the psalm, I'm going to say we're going to look at it in four parts. Because they're going to take the natural breaks, the natural breaks of the Selah. He went ahead and read that. Actually, the Selah is an instruction to the song to pause. We've talked about that a lot of times, or it's probably actually to bring to a climax and pause. A lot of times there would be musical crescendo at the time of clashing cymbals or blaring trumpets. Well, I should say, sounding trumpets. Since I play the trumpet, I don't blare. When they're properly played, they sound. Sometimes with great... gusto, and other times very softly, kind of like we did our song, which was really fun to do. But the point is, there is a moment at which a climax is reached, and there's a pause, so that you think about, what did I just say? And so that's how I want to look at this in four parts. You'll see the Selah comes after verse four, so one through four is the first part, and we'll talk about what it emphasizes. Then it's a shorter section, verses 5 through 7. And then there's a lengthy third section, 8 through 15. And then the final closing section of 16 through 20 after that third selah. So let's look at what is brought forth in each section, beginning with the first, verses 1 through 4. It's been suggested this could be titled, A Call for All the Earth to Join in the Worship of God. And it pretty much says that's what it is. Look at verse 1. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth. It's a song calling out for all the earth to joyfully shout to God. We see that from the very beginning. It's not just all the people of Israel. It's not just, you know, those around me that the psalmist possibly are within earshot. It's a prayer that all the earth would join together and worship God with shouts of joy. We saw this emphasis on the whole earth being called to praise God even in this last psalm. And here again, this psalm starts out with that very thing. In the last psalm we had those who dwell in the farthest parts, they were to respond to the work of God and join in the thanksgiving. It's said in Psalm 65. And now we see that same vision. And this is something that comes out of the Psalms and it's throughout all Scripture. We're going to see. I pointed it out somewhat to you before in the last Psalm, but the picture of Scripture is the whole earth is going to praise God. In Thanksgiving, and praise to him, will acknowledge him as the God. So often, in Christian circles, that's not the vision. The vision of the effectiveness of the gospel and the work of God on the earth is one that could best be described as ineffective. Not too often, if it's even once, but very often is the vision that's laid out for Christians, the hope really for them or for too much of Christianity is just to hold on till the end. So at least a remnant is saved. At least a remnant is saved and hopefully you're counted among that. And the whole thought is the end can't come soon enough. Well, that's not the vision of Scripture at all. That's not the vision of Scripture. The vision of Scripture is that there is a work of God in the earth that will continue and will continue until the whole earth brings praise to God. There's a worldwide impact of the gospel and growth of the kingdom of God. And we could have a whole sermon on walking through the Bible, seeing all that, but we want to walk through this psalm. So we'll give you one example, example that you're very familiar with, I'm sure, at least in knowing the story, if it was told. But if you want to kind of follow along, it's in Daniel 2. chapter 2. And in this chapter, the story is that of Nebuchadnezzar having a very disturbing dream one night, and in the morning he can't remember his dream, but he knows he's disturbed. He's very troubled by it, and he wants to know what that dream was and what it meant. And so he calls all his wise men and magicians and wise men, whatever, and tells them, look, you got to tell me the dream, and you got to tell me the interpretation. And they're like, no, you tell us the dream, and we'll tell you what it means. And he says, no, I can't. And so if you can't tell me the dream and the interpretation, you're done for. So he decides in a rage of frustration, since they're like, ah, you're asking something impossible, that all the wise men should be killed, right? So he decides you're going to die. And the word comes to Daniel by the guy who's supposed to carry it out. Daniel, you got to come line up with everybody because we got to kill you all. And so Daniel appeals. He convinces that man to kind of delay things for a moment and let him seek God to give an answer, to tell Nebuchadnezzar the dream and its interpretation. He even calls upon Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three Hebrew since children, but they were adults, but those three that had also faced a time of potential death and even a fiery furnace and survived, to come pray with him. And so they pray together and Daniel is given the dream and the interpretation from God. And he gains an audience with Nebuchadnezzar, tells the king the dream, tells the king the interpretation, And they lived. But what was that dream? And what was the interpretation? Well, the dream as you recall was a dream that involved a great statue, a man. It had four major sections to his body from head to toe. And each section was a different composition of metal from the great precious gold all the way down to iron and iron mixed with clay in the lower parts of his legs and feet and toes. And so there was this great statue there. And then what happens is after a viewing of the statue is this rock appears that is cut out of a mountain without hands and it goes and it strikes that image and crumbles it and then that rock begins to grow and it grows and it grows into a large mountain and it is such a large mountain that it fills the earth. Okay, that is the vision. Let's read about that and what Daniel says. So in verse 36, he says, this is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. He says, you, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, he has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold. That's really clear. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything. And like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron the kingdom shall be divided yet the strength of the iron shall be in it just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay and as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile as you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay they will mingle with the seat of men they will not adhere to one another just as iron does not mix with clay and in the days of these kings the god of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever." That was his interpretation. And in fact, if you follow through this image. It's all talking about Babylon, of which Daniel was a part of. The next kingdom to arise was the Medo-Persian. The third to follow was the Greek, each of them conquering the world, in a sense, as they knew it. And finally, the Roman Empire, which was the largest and the grandest. Yet it had iron and iron mixed with clay. It had potentialities of being fragile as it expanded beyond its borders of rule. of being able to control it, and it would allow local rule to occur, part of its federated kingdom, and that local rule led to the fragileness of it, because it couldn't expand its own forces to control everything. It had designated leaders or appointed people, often of the people in that region, and there'd be uprisings and so forth. Eventually, that kingdom fell as well. In verses 44 and 45, it says here, I read into that, it shall stand forever, verse 45, in as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure. In fact, when he described the dream, just to read verses 34 and 35, and about the stone, it says, you watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff. from the summer threshing floors, the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." That stone was a kingdom, a kingdom that God established. It is the kingdom of God and it was established in the time of the Roman Empire, the final empire of the image on which all the kingdoms of men had come to rest. That's why they're the feet and the first kingdom designated is the head and they all rest upon this final kingdom exemplified in Rome and it was the kingdom in which it was the kingdom of men in which the kingdom of God came and was established as proclaimed by John the Baptist and Jesus himself and that stone was instrumental in bringing down that final kingdom and that stone then was planted and the vision is it will grow and it will grow. and it will grow until it fills the earth. That's the picture of scripture. That's the biblical vision. That's the vision this psalmist is bringing forth this psalm out of. That's the hope that all the earth should be shouting for, the shout of joy to the Lord. And so keeping that picture in mind, listen to what he says in verse 2. Sing out the honor of his name, make his praise glorious. Mentioned last week is kind of tied into a part that we talked about in Psalm 65 that I've been instructing my little class of students, at least some of them, in the Lord's Prayer. in a catechism that walks them through parts of the Lord's Prayer, all the parts of it. At least that's where we're at in the catechism. I'm pretty sure that they could probably answer some questions. Do we have both the boys here? Be attentive. We don't have Calvin here to help us. So let's see. I want to know if you can answer just a few questions about the Lord's Prayer because this addresses a part of the Lord's Prayer that we just read. So, how many petitions are in the Lord's Prayer? We'll start with JP. Six. You are right. And what is the first petition, Jess? Yes, hallowed be thy name. And so which of you can answer what do we pray for in the first petition? JP. That his name would be honored by us and all men. That's what we're taught to pray. That's what the psalmist says, let's sing. Sing out the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Yeah, that's what is here. The Lord's prayer's beginning is to be sung right here. That the Lord would be honored by us and all men. But how do we honor the name of God? How do we honor the name of God? We honor it by speaking of it, by proclaiming it, by saying this is who you are because all the names of God in scripture are about who he is. They're about his nature and his attributes, the three common names that we know even. Elohim, that means he's the mighty one and it's particularly attributed first to his creative act. He's the mighty one who made all things. Adonai is He is Lord who rules. He's Lord that rules over all the earth. And then Jehovah or Yahweh, that's the I am or self-existent one. He's the one who exists because He does. There is nothing outside of Him on which He is dependent to be in existence. He is totally distinct from us. He is creator, we are creature, he is independent, we are dependent, he is self-existent, we need him to even exist. It's totally opposite. We could go on with many other names and that's a whole nother sermon that would be wonderful to give, but you get the idea that when you proclaim who he is, either by even saying his name or saying what it means, you are bringing honor to him. To pray back to him, to sing back to him his nature and attributes by way of his names is to sing out honor of his name. An additional argument for the expansive and effective spread of the kingdom of God, just to give a second witness here besides the vision of Daniel, would be just to continue on in the Lord's Prayer. you know what the next petition is. After me, you be honored by us and all men. It's thy kingdom come, right? Of which you're praying that the gospel would be preached in all the earth, believed and obeyed by us and all men. And the next petition, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. You're praying there that we would all, we and all men, would serve God on the earth just as the angels do in heaven. When you think about it, the Lord instructed you to pray those petitions that all would believe and hear and obey the gospel, that's the key into the kingdom, and that all would serve him just like the angels do in heaven. They would serve him on earth just like the angels do in heaven. You know, these aren't just some kind of nice thing, platitudes of some kind, or empty petitions that just sound great. This is how we were instructed to pray by the Lord, and I do not believe that our Lord, who knew God's will perfectly, would give us something to pray that was outside His will, where God only answers prayers that are within His will. This is the will of God that we are to pray. It is His plan. that this would take place in time. It may not take place as fast as we want, or exactly how we want, but it is ever our prayer. Verse three says, say to God, how awesome are your works. Through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you. This is the testimony of the great power of God. His awesome works that we see but also His power in reference to His enemies and bring them to submit to Him. So the awesome works of God, His greatness of power, that's the means by which His very enemies are subdued and brought into submission and acknowledge His Lordship. That's very interesting. This expression in here, your enemies shall submit themselves to you, it's kind of interesting. That's the New King James rendering. The ESV says your enemies will come cringing to you. The New American Standard says your enemies will pretend to obey you. And the Young's literal translation is, thine enemies feign obedience to thee. Interesting. There's ideas about what's going on here. We're not going to go into all of it. We'll never make it through the psalm. But I will just tell you this, that the word in the Hebrew there does translate, submit, that is translated, submit, cringe, pretend, and feign, does mean to do an untrue act. And so in context, the feigned obedience here, remember, is due to the power of God. These enemies obey God, but they are cringing when doing so, but they can't help but do what God wills that they will do. Well, there's an example in scripture that commentators who talked about this speak of. By the way, I guess I'll preface it with what I have here. Stillmorecraft said there's three ways that God deals with his enemies, okay? Three ways that he subdues them. He converts them. That's how you and I came into submission to him. That's the most blessed way. He converts them as we were subdued. He confuses them. We read that in Psalms 2, you know, where they rage against God and try to throw off his shackles and he has them in what? Derision. He's laughing and he gets them confused and oftentimes that ends in their own self-destruction as they end up turning on each other. It may be that some of them end up submitting to God out of just confused. And conquest, that's the third. Sometimes that means kill. But there's other conquests that happen. God actually forces his enemies to submit to his will. Example, I think Moorcraft was the one that gave it, is, you know, sometimes you see people with leashes around a dog, and that dog is just barely under control. I mean, it's a mad dog. It's like, argh. And you know if you get within striking distance, that dog's going to take you out. But the owner jerks that chain and dog comes over and kind of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz It's a feigned obedience by the dog, but the dog is there and doing what he is being forced to do because his chain got jerked. There are some people in the Bible who do what God desires and wants and has them do because he just jerks their chain. Probably the greatest example would be Pharaoh. Pharaoh got jerked, he got jerked, he got jerked, and the 10th time he got jerked when God brought the death of the firstborn. And it was such a jerk that he submitted and said to the children of Israel, he said to Moses, go and worship your God. And that was God's will that they would be able to go and freely worship. You know that that wasn't his heart desire, but he had to do God's will. He was forced into submission to do it. Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown that actually comment on Pharaoh as an example of this say, God's terrible deeds constrain all if they will not render a willing obedience at least to render a reluctant one. You know, Paul talked about this full acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus Christ by all in Philippians And verses 9 through 11, he says, therefore God also has highly exalted, it's been done, him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, the angels that do his will, of those on earth, all men, and those under the earth, what literally has to be those that are in rebellion to him, they will at the name of Jesus bow that knee and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. While many are going to bow the knee in thankful worship, you and I, some probably in confusion not even realizing what they're doing, but others with gritted teeth are going to be on their knees because they have no other way, they're under the full power of God and they have been yanked to the knees and they will profess that Jesus is Lord and they'll do it to the glory of God the Father. Yeah, John the Revelator told us, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. That's the picture of scripture. The psalmist sees that picture and in verse four says, all the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name. That's where the first break comes. Just think about if you were the one singing that song. Just hear the flow of this and come to that break. Make a joyful shout to God all the earth. Sing out the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say to God, how awesome are your works. Through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name. You realize what you just sung about what's to be in the earth? That'd be a wonderful place to just stop and meditate, wouldn't it be? To think about what I just said, it was the word. Moving to part two then. Part two, from here, the psalmist in his second movement has three verses that we've broken out. And he says, here's some reason for worshiping God. Here's some reasons for worshiping God. Verse five, come and see the works of God. He is awesome in his doing toward the sons of men. So it's the works of God from which we are to praise him. The psalmist is bringing these to his audience's attention. He's looking at the creative works. Which, you know, he's not looking at the creative works, which would be great reason to praise God. There's plenty of places in the Psalms that speak about what God has done in creation and to praise him for that. But he's looking at mighty works that he's done in history. And particularly for Israel. That's the first part of verse six says, he turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. you know what he's referring to, at least the first one, he's referring to the escape from the Exodus from Egypt in which he actually caused the sea to part and there was dry land that they walked across. The second is when he did it again to cross the Jordan into Canaan, causing the Jordan River to stand up on both sides and they crossed on dry land. great acts of God in the bringing forth and in the establishment of the nation of Israel. Well he's the same God today. God isn't a God of the Old Testament and then different or the new. He is ever the same and he's the same God of today. He's our God as well. These are two great acts that we read about and obviously have been divinely preserved for us, and they should inspire us, but they should inspire us in the fact that God has acted this way additionally, even in our own country, and in other places, in other lands, and to know the stories of God miraculously Well, for America, it wasn't dividing water, it was raising water to delay pursuits as Washington went from place to place, and it set up the final defeat of the British armies. He's done wondrous things in history, and the psalmist prays a recognition of his power in the past. as a reason to praise him in the present. And we too can draw upon that same principle. So he prays that those in his nation would recognize God's power and would rejoice. And those even in rebellion would not be exalted for their ways, but actually be brought down. That's how he closes this part. There we will rejoice in him. He rules by his power forever. His eyes observe the nations. Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. That's how he ends, and that's where the pause is. God has done mighty works. He's done these things in the establishment of our nation. He rules over all things. He actually sees all the nations. And in essence, do not let the rebellious exalt is saying exalt the nations that walk in obedience, correct the nations that have turned in rebellion, and bring down those nations that walk in disobedience to you. He's calling upon the earth to be filled with the acknowledgement of God and to bless him and those that will not should not be exalted. They'll be brought low. And God raises up nations and he brings down nations. And the psalmist says, raise up those that are in obedience, bring down those in disobedience. So here, then, is the second pause. Again, a time to reflect upon the works of God and the desire for God to exalt obedience and to bring down rebellion. Verses 8 through 15, then, is the third section. Here, having called upon all the earth to worship God, proclaimed the reasons for that worship because of his mighty works, now the psalmist says, join me. Join me in this worship of God. Verse 8, oh, bless our God, you peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. He calls upon the people to join now. He's given reason. He's given the vision. He's given the reason. Now come let's do it. But he goes on with more reasons for praising and thanking God. And listen to these. They may not be exactly what you might say. The first part, yes, who keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved. He's our rock. He's our fortress. He's our protector. He causes us to stand and withstand trials. And he keeps us in these, and therefore, our good and refinement. But now listen carefully to what he says and listen to the pronoun that he uses over the next three verses. God keeps our soul among the living. He doesn't allow our feet to move. For you, O God, have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net. You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads. Oh praise God! But he's saying, come join me in praise of him because of this. Obviously you caught it. God did these things. So often we look at trials and struggles and persecutions and just drastic things that might happen in our life, and we wonder, where is God in all these things? Where is he when this happened? They come upon us, and we think he's neglected us somehow. He wasn't watching close enough. Something slipped by, and he wasn't aware, and oh, we got hit with it, and now, God, just pick up the pieces, I guess, because you weren't around when it happened. You know, if you ever were to utter, I will admit, at least in my mind I have, said, God, where are you at times? And I'm sure you have as well. And said, where are you because of the situations you're facing? And he audibly answered you. Do you know what he would say? I'm right here allowing and directing what you're talking about. I'm right here allowing and directing the trial. You have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined. Have you ever seen silver refined? It's one hot job. Yeah, the furnace gets 1200 degrees. Burning, burning the purities out of that silver, impurities. That's the picture he has here. You have done this. You brought us into the net, felt trapped by a situation. You've laid affliction on our back. I have felt beaten down. You have caused men to ride over our heads. I have been trampled by all that is going on. And it's God who's allowed and He's directed that trial for your good. Wow. Trials are not God's abandonment of us. They are God's instrument for the refinement of our soul and the betterment of our lives. James chapter 1. affirms this for us. Verses two through four, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. God is working in and through the trial for your good. Verse 12 says of James chapter 1, blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life. The Lord has promised those who love him. Yet God works it for your good in your life. Paul agrees, we know the scripture. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Well, that's what the psalmist is saying here. He's saying, this is for our good. Listen to the rest of verse 12. You have caused men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us out to rich fulfillment. Another expression is to a place of abundance. A place of abundance, a place of richness in our what? Maturity in Christ. We've gained in our growth in sanctification and in righteousness. Again, the New Testament affirms all these things. The more we go through this, I realize what Martin Luther meant when he said that the Psalms is just a little Bible. All that it teaches in there is taught in all of Scripture. Hebrews 12, 5-11. Hebrews 12, 5-11. And you've forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who correct us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. I know chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful nevertheless. Afterward, it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness. to those who have been trained by it. Yeah, that's the place of abundance. That's the rich fulfillment is our growth in the character of holiness and righteousness that God desires for his children. So often when put under trials and tribulations and the discipline of God, our reaction is to distance ourselves from God. to actually not only feel like God has left us, but we actually turn and leave and try to distance ourselves from God as we sulk in our trial. Wondering, you know, why do we deserve this? But look how the psalmist responds. He's already identified, God, you did this. God, you did this. You did this. You caused this to happen. We went through fire, went through water. But he knows it's for his good, and look where he responds. embraces God. You know he's not going around saying God doesn't care. He's saying God cares and he goes and embraces God. The psalmist says the trials you've brought into my life drive me to worship you more. drive me to worship you more." And that day the psalmist's worship was one of sacrifices and burnt offerings and bulls and goats. So we read that there in verse 13, I will go into your house with burnt offerings. We read at the end of verse 15, I will offer bulls and goats. I offer you burnt sacrifices, it says. In Sweet Aroma, he's saying, I am here to worship you as I have been instructed to worship you. Well, we, like the psalmist, need to say in trials, I will go and worship the Lord. We'll proclaim God is my God. I will renew my vows to him and I will fulfill them. He says, I will pay you my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken. When I was in trouble, a lot of times we say, I'll serve you God, just pull me through this. Well, fulfill that. But having declared his commitment to God, commitment to worship the Lord, commitment to come and worship him because the trial he's taken him through, he now closes his psalm. He closes with a testimony, his personal testimony, and a final blessing. It begins with these words, verse 16, come and hear all you who fear God. I get the picture that there are those who feared God but had distanced themselves from worshiping Him, maybe been a part of the trial or in trial, and they had sulked away. And David says, no, we've got to come worship God out of this. And he says, here, come here, I want to tell you my experience. And many times the greatest influence you can have on somebody is just to share your relationship with God with them, your own testimony. Whether it be an unbeliever, how you came to the Lord, or be a believer who's struggling at how God has answered your prayers and demonstrated his providential care in your life, even in the greatest of trials. The psalmist gives his testimony here as he calls them to come and gather around. And this is what he says, I cried to him with my mouth and he was extolled with my tongue. My testimony is this, I called to God in my trial and I extolled Him, I praised Him in this. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. He's saying, look, I looked within myself, is there sin to be dealt with? He said, let me deal with my sin before God in this trial. The trial certainly could be to expose sin, but certainly coming to God, even if the trial is differentiated from sin that is in your life, you're coming before God, and if you come in sin, unacknowledged, that's a barrier. We have the time of considering your walk before God before you partake in the Lord's Supper. He's saying one thing I've learned is that you praise God at all times and when you come to praise God you acknowledge sin so your praises can fully flow to God. And we learned from the psalm before that he acknowledges that God will atone for his sin. But he says, I praise God in all things, just as we heard Paul in his letter to Thessalonica, to rejoice in the Lord always, he said it as well to the church at Philippi. But if I harbor sin in my heart, those are especially times that I don't feel the Lord is going to hear me. And so it hampers me. James tells of prayers that don't get answered. In James 4, he says, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your own pleasures. So often if sin is harbored within, it becomes the motivation for our prayers to God. We are selfish and God doesn't respond to those. So we're to look at what's in us when we come and gather and praise God. The psalmist then closes his testimony with confidence, for he has come to praise God. He has come willing to look at his heart to see if sin is there. And knowing that, then in verse 19, but certainly God has heard me. He gives the testimony to the others. God heard me and he's attended the voice of my prayer. And in that testimony then he has called all to come and participate in this wondrous praise and thanksgiving of God. And we can safely assume that the psalmist Means by this, as I mentioned, he looked in his own heart, into his own life and confessed his sin. Knowing he stands by faith in the atoning work of God. And now he can boldly speak to God his prayer. And he knows God will hear. Closes with a blessing. Blessed be God. who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me." What a wonderful Thanksgiving song. Wonderful Thanksgiving song. The picture of the whole earth praising Him. The call for all people to praise Him. The testimony of what He's done in history and in one's life. The willingness to kneel in humility before God and get forgiveness for your sins, knowing God will not turn away from your prayers and will never take his mercy from you. Let's pray. Oh God, thank you for your word. Oh what a joy it is to read your word and to let it rest in our hearts and minds and to well up inside of there saying, follow. in emulation what is said here. Capture the vision of Scripture concerning your kingdom. Praise the Lord. We do praise you for all you have done. We're a blessed nation because of your acts in history that we ought to remember, but Father, we're also a rebellious nation. Discipline us. We can become a nation of those that are righteous before your sight that we may be exalted. But don't, Father, let the rebellious be. And Father, you are such a great God. Your works are awesome. Your creative work of the world is beyond measure. beautiful, harmonious, gracious to us, but your greater work within our hearts and our souls of making us new creations, that for which we are so thankful. And being made new in you means we get refined. You bring trials, you challenge, you try, you test, you refine, but it's for our good because it's for your glory. May we be those instruments of praise to you. fulfilling for what we have been made and remade to glorify your name. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you, David. I never for once ever thought that everyone whose knee bent who confessed Jesus as Lord was willing. I'm just glad that we are the willing ones. I think we'll all stand for a final song and if you'll remain standing afterwards, I will close with a benediction. Our closing song can be found in your hymnal on page number 410. It is the Lord's Prayer.