And if you would, take your Bibles and turn with me to our text for today in Psalm 90. Psalm 90. I know we have quite a few visitors today and I wanted to take just a moment and explain what we've been doing for the last number of weeks. That is, that I've been trying in the course of my study to answer at a more detailed and precise level, why are there five books in the Psalter? As you go through the book of Psalms in your Bible, I want you to remember that our English translation is a translation of the Hebrew Masoretic text. In the Masoretic text, the inscriptions, when there is one, is verse one of the psalm. And it is in the Masoretic text that we see the 150 chapters of the Psalter divided into five different books. And so for a while, I've been asking that question, and I've tried to read around and listen to different people, and the number one answer I've decided is inadequate. They say, you ask the question, why are there five books in the Psalter? They say, well, because there's five books in Torah. So we want to have five and five. Okay, that's nice. Why are there five books in the Psalter? I don't think that's an adequate answer. And I believe there's a more thorough answer that I've tried to write in a short and summary form. There's a pamphlet, and those of you who got an earlier edition, you might grab one of those. They're on the little table there in the back. I've been trying over the course of this sermon series to answer that question more fully. And I believe that we can summarize the intent of each one of the books of the Psalter thematically in, and it's in point number four in the sermon outline today, in five words that all begin with C. Book one deals with David and confrontation. Book two deals with the nations and communication. Book three deals with problems and catastrophes being surprised by suffering called conflagration. Book four, where we are today, is dealing with an eternal perspective that I'm calling continuation. And finally, book five is the crescendo, the climax, the finale of the Psalter, and we call that consummation. There's more to be said, and there's more to be argued, and I hope to do that in the future, but I believe that these five words really put perspective upon why these five books. And so as we read today, I want you to notice in Psalm 90 that this is the very first psalm of book number four. So if you look at Psalm 90, remember that for the purposes of what we're doing here, we're regarding the inscription as part of the psalm. a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Then if you look above that, I'm in the ESV today, From Everlasting to Everlasting. You need to know that that is an editorial edition by the ESV translators. And so almost always they pull that out of a verse down in the psalm, but that's not part of the psalm. That is an edition. And then right above that is book four, And it doesn't have any explanation. I have all kinds of explanation around book four now in my Bible. But I want you to ask the question with me. Why are there five books in the Psalter? And why does book four begin with a psalm of Moses? Interestingly, this is the only psalm explicitly tied to Moses in the Psalter. We had a psalm just a moment ago that's explicitly tied to the Sabbath, the only one. And here we have a psalm explicitly authored by Moses, a prayer of Moses. Don't you wish you could go into that tent out on the edge of the camp and go in and listen to Moses pray to God? Well, here you go. That's what we've got. We've got insight into the life, the faith, the purpose, the direction of Moses as we listen to Moses pray. Friends, this is holy ground. As we prepare to read this psalm, I want to remind us that we live in a world that is more and more secularized, aggressively secularized. One of the consequences of that is we don't always feel like we're treading on holy ground. When Moses met God at the bush, God said to Moses, take off your shoes for the place where you're standing is holy ground. I thought about doing that this morning, but then you would all be distracted by stinky feet for the rest of the service. So we're not going to do that. But friends, we are here to meet with the creator of the universe. I try not to be late for birthday parties. I try to look decent when I go out to lunch with a member of the congregation. What kind of preparation have you made to be on holy ground before the throne of the king of the universe? This is the God who speaks to you today. Let's read Psalm 90 beginning at verse 1. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, return, oh, children of man. For a thousand years in your sight, or but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning, it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening, it fades. and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you and our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength, 80. Yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you. So, teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants, Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. This is the living word of the living God in order to make the church alive. I recognize it's Thanksgiving season, we have a lot of guests here today, but I want to begin today by making a little bit of a pitch. Wouldn't it be cool to sing songs that Jesus sang? Wouldn't it be cool to listen in on the prayers of Moses in the tent of meeting outside the camp? Wouldn't it be awesome to feel what Elijah felt as he was a prophet of the people of Israel? Wouldn't it be incredible to grieve with Peter or with Luke or with James? Wouldn't it be incredible if we were like, covenanted with them? And part of a covenant community that didn't merely span space, but that spanned time. Wouldn't it be awesome if the creator of the universe dropped a book in your lap that had songs to sing in it? Friends, That's what we have in the Psalter. I am absolutely persuaded that the number... We talk about ecumenicity, you know, getting all the people together, getting all the denominations together. Why are we so divided? The number one glue that ought to draw God's people into unified, white-hot praise are the words that God gave to His people among the nations to be sung. These are prayers addressed to God. These are songs that touch us in the deepest core of our souls. One of the amazing things is that when people sing these psalms over years and decades and even a lifetime, I love to talk to the seniors in this church. Because those seniors, they think about their faith in the language of the Psalter. They feel the Psalms. Maybe you've had the privilege of being at a Psalm singing. We have one every month. And to watch as senior citizens are overwhelmed with love for Christ in the midst of their singing. And every once in a while, some of them will say, you know, I've decided this psalm is going to be sung at my funeral. And my ears perk up at that, and I always use my own psalter, so I make little notes in my Bible. And now when I get to certain psalms in my Bible, I think, oh, that was Phil Duguid's favorite, sung at his funeral. Oh, that was Bob McFarland's favorite. Oh, and then here's the people who are still alive, who are still here singing with us. And I feel as though I am part of the body of Christ throughout time. Are you intent on seeing the Word of God, the Psalms of God written on your heart? That's the question before us today. Notice the title of the sermon, Satisfy Us With Your Steadfast Love. This is that word in Hebrew, chesed. It's one word, it's actually just three letters in its root form, but we have to use two English words to translate it. It's not simply the emotion of love, it's the kind of love that a couple have for each other. It's a loyal love. It's an exclusive love. It's a never stopping love. It's a never giving up love. It's a permanent love. Ultimately nothing less than heaven breaking into a fallen, broken, twisted world. And friends, I know. that some of you are going through crises in your life today. Book three of the Psalter is all about conflagration. It's song sung in the midst of the trials. But book four turns from present conflagrations to God himself, who has been Israel's help in ages past. Interestingly, in Book 4, there is virtually no mention of the Davidic king. All the way through the first three books, we've been focused upon the human king that God has established in the kingdom of Israel. But now, likely, Israel is in Babylon because of their sin. And in the midst of that, We're not looking to Zerubbabel, for example. He never becomes Israel's king again. But rather, God is turning our attention from the content of Book 3, the focus on, and the crying out from within, the lamentation in this present world. And now it's as though God comes along, He puts His hand under your chin and He says, This is a book of continuation. Moses is mentioned seven times in book four, and I'm sorry I wrote these wrong here, but that should say seven times in book four. Book four is all about helping God's people continue through the struggles and come out the other end with their faith intact. And the first psalm of book four, we have a new author. It's not very often in the Psalter that we're like, oh, wait, wait, wait, who's the author of this? Moses. Think about if they're in Babylon, okay, this is about 500 BC. And suddenly, out of nowhere, with no warning, we have a prayer from someone who lived 1400 BC. Think about it. That's 800 years, friends. I mean, this book has been around the block a little bit. There were songs, think back to the book of Deuteronomy, when Moses sings a song at the end of his three sermons in the book of Deuteronomy. Consider the role of singing in sanctification. You want to grow in sanctification? Then connect your mind and your heart. Connect. your feelings and your vocal cords and praise God. By the way, America used to be a singing nation. Now we just listen to all kinds of stuff on the radio. What songs do you sing? Do you sing God's songs? If not, why not? is the most important thing whether or not you like it, whether or not it's your genre, or is the most important thing the source from which a song comes, and the one that it's directing you to. Psalm 90 leads us to put our present trials and doubt within an eternal context. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Friends, today and every day we stand in need of God's grace. In book four, there's a pronounced focus up to heaven, to God himself, and back to Israel's founding and her difficult days. This focus enables Israel's exiles to put their present trials in both an eternal and a historical context. We think that if God is blessing, then our lives will be easy. Well, Read a little about history. Oftentimes it's when God is working to purify his church, to expand his kingdom in the world. There are actually more difficulties. There are more wars, more bloodshed. I continue to ponder, even as I was reading this psalm, I was thinking about what would it be like to be a citizen of Ukraine today? an evangelical Christian in Ukraine. I have a friend in Romania, about 30 miles from the Ukrainian border, and I haven't talked to him, but it's fascinating to think about. If God takes your nation through pruning, cutting out that which is evil or that which is wasteful, that's not going to be a pleasant thing. But in the midst of our trials, God turns our attention to Him. So look how He does this. There's three parts to this psalm, arguably some more, but I want to keep this simple today. The first two verses stand on their own. This is a prayer of Moses, and so appropriately, Moses begins, Lord, Master, You have been our dwelling place. This is another one of those communal Psalms. It's not you and you and you. It's you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains, the oldest thing we know, the symbol of ancientness. Before the mountains were brought forth. Wherever you had formed, the earth and the world, from everlasting past to everlasting future, you are God. This is point one, the Lord as our refuge. This is a theme that we come back to again and again. The Psalms describe God as our fort, as our strong tower, and as our refuge. And you should know that on the southern border of Israel, there was a long string of forts. And those forts were pretty much just a high tower. In fact, my understanding is that we know a little bit about at least some of those forts from later times. They didn't even have a door to get into the fort. It was, you know, a couple stories tall and you would use a wooden ladder and the people who were going to get into the fort would climb up the ladder over the top of the fort and then they would be inside until they put the ladder down and climbed back out. To have God as your fort is to be surrounded completely by Him. to be protected by Him. The only way into that fort was over those high walls. It's amazing to think about the Lord as our refuge, that no matter where believers go, no matter what their circumstances, no matter the doubts that fill their heads when they cry out to Him in faith, He is their refuge and their strength. Remember that God is disciplining his people here by reminding them, I know you're going through hard times. I've decreed that for your good and for my glory. Don't give up. Don't let the problem come between you and me. God, why would you let this happen? Because I have problems, therefore you don't exist. What? Let the problem push you closer to God. Cry out to Him. Remember that your identity does not come from your present circumstances. Your identity comes from who you're created to be by God Himself. This leads us to the second and by far the longest portion of this Psalm, verses three through 11. I really believe that this is One of the best and longest reflections in the Bible upon the reality of the fall of man. Why do we return to dust? It's because of what happened in Genesis chapter three. Literally, the second part of verse three says, and say, return, O children of Adam. Children of Adam, taking us right back to the garden. A thousand years in the sight of God are like my memory of yesterday. I can think about the whole day in a moment, or as a watch in the night. You sweep the children of Adam away as with a flood. They're like a dream. Walk through a cemetery sometime. And think about the thousands of lives that lived thousands upon thousands of days. There are 365 days in a single year. In the morning, in the morning of your life, those of you who are under, I'm going to get myself in trouble here, let's just say 30. For the most part, maybe Once you're pushing 30, not so much. But every day you get up a little bit stronger, a little bit smarter. The capacity of your brain to churn through huge amounts of information. The world is making more and more sense to you. That's why you need to go to church on the Sabbath day. And you need to have friends who are 80 or 90 years old. You need to watch the marriages that have lasted over four decades. You need to learn that before you know it, you'll be in the evening of life. Look at what it says. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening it fades and withers. And then, We fly away, that's coming in a little bit. For we are brought to an end by your anger. The soul that sins shall die. In Adam, all die, the Bible teaches us. The reason that we die is not because death is part of life. What a ridiculous idea. Death is the opposite of life. We're designed to live with God forever. But he warned us. In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. And Adam and Eve died. And their children died. And more than 60 times in the book of Genesis it says, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. And when you get to the end of the book of Genesis, you're staring into Joseph's coffin. In Egypt. Friends. God is angry. with sinners. Verse 8, he says, the psalmist is observing God has set our iniquities before Him. That even the most secret sins don't sneak past God's attention. Our secret sins stand in the light of His presence. It is not on the basis of our works that we will stand in his presence, but rather, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Or, if you want to look over at Psalm 103, also here in Book 4 of the Psalter, Psalm 103, verse 2, it says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Here's the benefit of following God. who forgives all your iniquity and heals you and heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. That's the gospel, friends. He satisfies his people with good so that their youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalm 103, 12 and 13, as far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. To deny your transgressions is ultimately to rebel against the Lord. To confess your sin, He's faithful and just to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Do you see what Moses was thinking about in that tent when he prayed? as a righteous man before God. Verse nine, all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. Normal people live 70 years. If you're really strong, you're 80. I wonder what the 90 year olds here are then. They're supermen, superwomen. because death comes to everyone. Who considers the power, oh, and here it is, their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. What is God telling us in these inspired words? Our souls depart from our bodies and go immediately into the presence of Christ if we're in him. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? And now this last part, so we have the Lord as our refuge, we have our present condition, and now number three, our need for the Lord's mercy and His wisdom. Teach us to number our days. Is this simply say, well, how many days have I been alive? That is actually a really good discipline. Think about how many times you've laid your head down in your bed and you've gotten up off your bed. Do some math and figure out how many days you've lived. Figure out how many hours you've lived. Figure out how many weeks you've lived. Figure out how many seconds you've lived. Think about where am I in life? Teach us to number our days. I think this also could be translated, teach us to make our days count. Teach us to redeem the time. That we may get a heart of wisdom. Wisdom is seeing our present circumstances from an infinite and eternal frame of reference. See, that's what book four of the Psalter is all about. I know the struggles some of you are going through. Your elders pray for you and care for you. Sometimes they'll lay in bed at night and stare at the ceiling and think about you. The people who aren't here because they're struggling. Friends, this is life. But to get a heart of wisdom is to say, right now I am in pain. But God is God. And He has a purpose for my life. He's brought me to where I am, and I need to learn the moral lessons that He's teaching me. There is a cause and effect in this universe that is irrevocable. We have to, you know, if we're sick, we need a doctor. If we're poor, we need a job. If we're lonely, we need a friend. There's certain things that God is telling us. But notice that the essence of the end of this psalm is that we need God's grace. Look at verse 14. Satisfy us in the morning, every morning, with your steadfast love. Friends, I wonder what you need, and I wonder what you think you need, to be truly satisfied. Are you satisfied by knowing that you are in covenant with God through the mediation of Jesus Christ? Is that enough for you? Here's the thing. When we begin to worship zealously the Creator, He always answers our prayers. He gives us more of Himself every time we ask. When He's not enough, Then we begin to worship and serve the creation. We become idolaters. Romans chapter 1. Though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful. It's a Thanksgiving season. But their foolish hearts were darkened. And they turned away from Him, and they began to worship and serve the stuff. I'm going to say it again. It's the last Sunday before Thanksgiving. There is only one illustration that I use from VeggieTales. A thankful heart is a happy heart. I'm glad for what I have. That's an easy place to start. Thank you, God, for this day, for the sun in the sky, for my piece of apple pie, for my mom and my dad, for my brother and my sister. Thank you, God, for blessing me in the context of your covenant love. Again, I realize I'm going out on a limb here. But you need to remember the other character in VeggieTales. Her name is Madam Blueberry. And Madam Blueberry gets a knock on her door, and there are salesmen. I get salesmen in my neighborhood all the time. And they're there to say, you need to come to Stuff Mart. Come to Stuff Mart. And she pushes her huge cart through the electric doors. It looks a lot like Walmart. And she looks around at an endless warehouse filled with stuff. And there are the salesmen prepared to help her get more and more and more stuff. And pretty soon she's swiping her card. I doubt it's a debit card because she keeps swiping it and swiping it and swiping it and getting more and more stuff. And then she sits in the midst of all her stuff that now she has to pay for. And she says, why do I feel so what? Empty. Because stuff is not what you're made for. An eternal perspective would have told you that, Madam Blueberry. What is your primary purpose? Why do you exist as a human being? The most famous catechism question from the Shorter Catechism. What is man's chief end or what is man's primary purpose? To glorify God. And we always talk about it as though it's one thing. The second thing is to enjoy Him. Friends, the Psalms teach us in practical ways how to enjoy God. And look at how this Psalm ends. Let your work be shown to your servants. Are you a servant of Christ? And your glorious power to their children. One of the most profound things that can happen in the body of Christ is what we call the intergenerational transfer of faith. Children. Do you believe in God? Do you trust God? Do you believe that God has good planned for your future? Are you ready to say no to sin? Are you ready to do what God calls you to do? He's your ultimate Father. Let your glorious power be shown to the children of your servants. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. We won't take the time, but if you want to look up Deuteronomy 2 verses 7 and 8, this is one of the places where it talks about establish the work of our hands. Deuteronomy 2, 7 and 8. And notice that it says it twice here. Establish the work of our hands. Have you had the experience of going to work? You're trying to get your work done, and yet it's falling apart around you. You're working hard, but you're like the hamster on the hamster wheel. And the faster you run, the less you move. You're exhausting yourself, and yet there is no flourishing happening. There's no work being accomplished. And if there's no work being accomplished, then there's going to be no rest at the end of the day. Have you learned the practice? Psalm 92, right across the page, two Psalms from where we're studying, a song for the Sabbath. Have you learned to rest as hard as you work? Have you learned to be on 100% and then turn off at the end of the day and go to sleep and sleep sweetly? Have you learned how to work six days and then rest just as diligently on the seventh day? To make life revolve around God, the rhythm of life, six beats and then a rest. Six beats and then a rest. What happens if you never have a rest? Well, pretty soon you won't be singing the song anymore. Point number four then, just to tie this in and trying to have this before you each week over the last four weeks. In the past four weeks, we've moved rapidly through the Psalter. focusing on macro themes that give shape and meaning to the five books of the Psalter. Why are there five books? Because God's people went through different seasons in the course of their national history, and those shape these five books. I believe that they are roughly chronological, And I believe that we can see Israel in its heyday in the time of David. I think that then we can see the Babylonian captivity and possibly even the joy of the return. Think of Psalm 126. The Lord brought Zion's exiles back. Well, back from where? Back from Babylon. We were like men that dreamed. Our tongues were filled with melody, our mouths with laughter teemed. It's amazing to think about how the story of God's people shaped this Psalter that He's given to us. But the point of Book 4 is distinct. Look for it as you read through these Psalms. The book 4 is laying before God's people an eternal perspective on their present problems. It's reminding them to hope in God's kingdom. Which is centered first and foremost in heaven and then in shadow form in Jerusalem. Book 4 is teaching them to look for the Messiah. Remember Psalm 110, the most often quoted psalm in the Psalter is in this book. Think about these messianic psalms and how they're reminding us that the Lord is coming. These psalms refocus Israel. Number 1 upon the Torah. given through Moses, and number two, upon the Messianic king. But despite Israel's weak, weak state in captivity, without land to call their own, yet, God's kingdom will be established upon the earth. And as we trust, and as we walk forward through the darkness, there is light at the end of a tunnel. And eventually, God will bring us into seasons of prosperity and joy once again. Let's close together in prayer. Oh Lord, our God, how we thank you for your word. How we thank you for giving us a source of eternal perspective upon our lives. Lord, how easy it is to run from you when times are hard. And Lord, we're cutting ourselves off from your covenant love. Your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. We pray that you would help us to trust you, to look at our present problems from an eternal perspective. Oh Lord, we ask that you would help us to continue to have these Psalms written upon our hearts, that Lord, your people would be zealous in the day of your power to give you praise as you have ordained. You have put your songs in our hearts in order that we might do what we were created to do, that is to praise your holy name. Lord, we live in a world that is filled With selfishness. With self-centeredness. With emptiness. With the very idea that somehow we're creating our own meaning. And Lord, we're floundering. We're wandering. We're confused. We're angry. We're depressed. We're sick. We're grumpy. Lord, help us to be your servants. Help us to do your will. Help us to walk as faithful disciples who have been called out of the darkness of the world and into the marvelous light of heaven. And Lord, help us to have this eternal perspective as we go throughout our days. We give you thanks for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you would, turn with me in closing to Psalm 90. We'll sing this psalm now. Hopefully with a little more understanding. Psalm 90, selection B. This is the second half of the psalm. Look at stanza eight. It says, on us may there be shed abroad good favor. from the Lord our God. What our hands made, the work that we do day by day, establish it so that our labors may endure. That our labors may endure into the future, into the lives of our children, into the lives of those who come to faith through our witness. Yes, may the labor of our hands be made by you to ever stand. Let's stand and we'll sing Psalm 90b.