God be Glorified to the ends of the Earth

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. If you would like to learn more about us, please visit us at our website at graceedmonton .ca. You can also find us on Instagram, Grace Church, Y-E-G, all one word, or on Facebook.

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Spiritual Warfare and the Mission of God

Enslave every man, woman, and child under its grip. Well, on June 6, many of us know, 1944, nearly 160 ,000 soldiers crossed the ocean and stormed the beaches of Normandy. Not included in that number is the roughly 24 ,000 paratroopers parachuting in behind enemy lines right before the invasion in order to help set the conditions for a successful landing.

Those brave men and women working to free people, brave men giving their lives to liberate people living under oppression. They gave everything to rescue and free people from tyranny, breaking the grip of darkness.

But none of that would have been possible without those sending them, adopting an all-in mindset. The battles fought in Europe and the Pacific also depended on the resolve of the people back home. Factories shifted their production, families began to ration their food, comforts were given up, and everyday life changed.

Everyone was so focused on the mission that even during sporting events they would pause the game, people would go scurrying around finding any little bits of scrap they could hand in to the war effort.

Everyone understood there was a cause greater than themselves. Well, today we find ourselves embroiled in our own battle, in a battle much larger, much more significant than World War II. We're in a spiritual war, and as soldiers in this war, our fight is not wrestling against flesh and blood, but the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Our war is not to fight back an earthly empire, but to rescue those perishing without hope, to liberate captives from the kingdom of darkness and to bring them into the kingdom of light. We're in a war over the souls of men, women, and children battling for their worship and for God's greatness among the nations.

Psalm 67 acts as sort of like a high-level view over God's pathway to victory. It's like a big picture of God's mission's plan to redeem every tongue, tribe, and nation. As we read the psalm, I want you to notice a few things.

Four things, in fact. One, God blesses his people to have what they need. Two, in order to make God's saving power known among the nations. Three, which leads to God's kingdom being established. And finally, God being worshiped all the way to the ends of the earth.

But before I read, I'll open with a prayer. Our gracious and loving Father, your loving kindness towards us goes beyond measure. You have caused your face to shine upon us, not so that we would keep your mercy all to ourselves, but that your way might be known on earth and your saving power among the nations.

Help us to see the things you want us to see and love the things you love. Use us, Lord, as instruments of your grace until the earth is filled with your glory and all the nations rejoice in you. Amen.

Psalm 67 and God’s Blessing for the Nations

Please open up your Bibles to Psalm 67. Once you get there, please stand for the reading of God's word. Psalm 67, may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. Thank you. Please have a seat. So Psalm 67 is quite short.

There are only seven verses. It's traditionally believed to be a liturgical psalm written by David as a prayer and can be seen commonly used during corporate worship events or national festivals in Israel.

Being a liturgical psalm, it simply means it was just used during corporate worship. Verse one starts like this. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. These opening words would have sounded very familiar to the Israelites.

It's the opening line of Aaron's blessing from number six. Words spoken regularly over God's covenant people. It goes like this. I'm sure you've heard it many times before. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Perhaps there were plenty of young Jewish listeners hoping that that is where God's blessings end.

I could hear him now in my head praising the preacher for saying all those wonderful blessings and then hoping to just keep it to himself. Perhaps this was one of the first verses taken out of context by prosperity teachers.

But no doubt we have heard these same words before. But what I would like you to look at is verse two. Go there. Why should God do all these wonderful things for us? Why does God bless his people? Look there.

It says, so that your way may be known on earth. Your saving power among all nations. In other words, God blesses his people so that his ways, his saving power and his glorious love can be made known among the nations.

That's God's plan. This has been God's mission's plan from the beginning. The idea of God blessing his people for the good of all nations isn't some small motif in scripture. It's been the whole point from the start, from the very beginning.

When God called Abraham, he said, I will bless you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. God has always intended to work through his people to bring about the salvation of others.

Israel existed so the world might know the living God to be a light to the nations. And historically we do see this happen. When Israel walked in obedience, surrounding nations took notice of this. Remember Rahab, who confessed that fear of Israel's God had fallen on Jericho.

The queen of Sheba traveled to see Solomon's wisdom and the glory of the Lord. Isaiah tells God's people, I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

The Gospel as God’s Saving Power

Now up to this point, the question we looked at was why God blesses his people. In verse two answered it clearly so that his saving power might be known among all the nations. But let's take a brief moment to consider what exactly is that saving power?

What is the salvation God intends to make through his people? The answer of course is the gospel, the good news about Jesus. From the very beginning, God promised Adam salvation would come through your seed.

His offspring was preserved through Noah, narrowed through Abraham, and carried through Israel, safeguarded through the kings and the prophets until finally in the fullness of time, Christ came into the world.

What Israel was called to display imperfectly, Christ fulfilled perfectly. He is the true light the nations saw through Isaiah. He is the wisdom greater than Solomon that drew the queen of Sheba and he is the mercy shown to Rahab.

There is only one way out for sinners trapped in the kingdom of darkness and it's through believing in the perfect sinless son of God who died the death they deserved and rose again victorious over the enemy.

This is why Paul says in Romans, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. A verse we no doubt have heard many times this week and that you have heard many times before.

In other words, the saving power is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is not just meant for one nation, one people group, but it's for everyone who believes. In verses 3 and 4, the focus shifts from God's salvation to what life looks like under his saving rule.

The prayer is no longer only that the nations would know God's way, but that they would rejoice in him. Salvation does not end in the forgiveness of sins alone. It results in transformed lives and communities.

When God's saving power reaches a people, it brings them under his kingdom rule, establishing justice and order. Look for example at a missionary, William Carey. He went to India and during Carey's time, the practice of sati was widely accepted.

This is the ritual burning of a living wife or widow on her husband's funeral pyre. But as God worked through Carey, this brutal practice was finally banned with the Bengal sati regulation in 1829, which formally outlawed the practice.

We all know William Wilberforce and John Newton fighting the good fight till finally the slave trade in the British empire was abolished in 1807 and slavery itself in 1833. Arguably, I don't think anywhere on earth we can see so clear a difference between God's kingdom and the kingdom of darkness as when we compare North and South Korea.

Now to be sure, it's not like South Korea is perfectly Christian, but South Korea was largely shaped in the beginning by a Christian worldview and missionary influence after the Korean war. It was built on principles of human dignity, justice, and moral responsibility.

These values helped establish schools, hospitals, and a social system that care for the weak and protect the vulnerable. As a result, South Koreans today enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

High literacy, legal protections for religious freedom, and a robust civil society, having an economy 54 times larger than their neighbor to the north. Well, what can we say about this neighbor to the north?

An absolute kingdom of darkness, extreme repression, political prison camps with tens of thousands held indefinitely, tortured and starved, executions of minors for not conforming to the state, chronic food insecurity, endless crimes against humanity, and numbering amongst the poorest nations in the world.

I want you to think about that for a minute. This is literally the exact same people group, yet the one half received the light of the gospel and the other half never did. It's like taking Edmonton, cutting Edmonton in half, sharing the gospel with the one half.

Over time, you see a vast difference. Finally, we get to verses five to seven. The psalmist prays that God would continue to bless his people so that all the nations may rejoice and worship him. Not only some worshipers here, not only where we live, but all the way to the ends of the earth.

The finish line for God does not stop where our comforts end. It stops where God says it does, and that's the ends of the earth. Hear this quote from a famous pastor, John Piper. God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of his name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with his and for the sake of his name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join his global purpose, end quote.

Carrying the Gospel to the Nations Together

Now, before we get to some applications, I grew up in a church very similar to yourself, family integrated with a lot of little ones in between. So I wrote a little story for the little ones to understand what have we been talking about.

Once upon a time, way out in the wild, windy West, lived a very smart doctor. His name was Dr. Andy. His house was huge, bigger than a castle and even more wonderful than the house itself, was a treasure inside of it.

Shelves upon shelves of glistening bottles of medicine. This medicine wasn't ordinary. A single drop could heal the sickest child, the weakest old man and chase away the nastiest of germs. Dr. Andy had 12 little children and they were okay doing their chores for the most part.

Sometimes they could be rascals themselves, but he loved them dearly, more than the entire world put together. But then one day, news came of a sickness that spread across the mountains, down valleys and through the forests.

Some of the children's distant cousins are away in remote villages had gotten very, very sick. Well, good thing Dr. Andy knew exactly what needed to be done. He called his children into his grand hall and said, my little ones, I have medicine that will heal the sick, but it will do no good here sitting on the shelves.

I'm going to send you to carry it to those in need. Well, the children didn't really know about that. They were all thinking of what they would rather do instead. So soon the excuses came. Why waste medicine on those far away?

Aren't there sick people here as well? Said Billy. They won't drink it anyway, murmured Debbie. How am I supposed to carry all the medicine by myself? Said John. Well, Mr. Andy said, if you were sick, would you not want someone to bring you medicine to make you well?

Yes, of course, said all the children. So come now. There's plenty of medicine to go around, Billy. There are pharmacies here that carry the medicine on every street corner. We literally have something called pharmacy street.

Debbie, there are people who realize how sick they are and they will take the medicine. John, you guys can all work together as a team to take it to where there is none so that nobody will be without medicine.

So off they went climbing over the hills, splashing through the streams and stumbling their way through the forest. They delivered this miraculous medicine to every sick person that was living so far away.

And the next morning they woke up healthy, rejoicing and singing so happy that they were able to receive Andy's medicine. So dear children, just like Andy's children carrying the medicine to those living far away, God blesses his people.

He blesses this church to help carry the gospel that will save those who are completely lost. I would like us to pause and reflect on this for a minute. God has only ever had a plan A. There is no plan B because God doesn't need a backup plan.

He intends to work through his church, his redeemed people to reach the nations. God's last marching orders to us was when he gave the great commission. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 28. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Christ Jesus, our Lord, gave us that command. Not just some, not some special missionary. He gave it to all of us. Paul explains the logic behind this very clearly. Romans 10. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. So look folks, God's mission is not optional for the church. The great commission is not limited to a few so-called super saints.

It is incumbent upon every single one of us. And so far, the church has had great success. Consider just a few ways in which God has been glorified among the nations through his people. The gospel has today reached every single continent.

From the frozen north to the islands of the Pacific, Christ's name is known in so many parts of the world. Christianity is flourishing in the global south. Africa, Latin America, and Asia, once regions that were mission fields, now today produce vibrant, growing churches.

And they're sending missionaries out themselves. All across the world, indigenous churches are multiplying. Local believers are taking responsibility for evangelism, church planting, and discipleship in ways that were absolutely unimaginable a hundred years ago.

The Bible or portions of the Bible has been translated into the vast majority of the world's languages, reaching millions who would otherwise be without God's light. Countless lives have been transformed by the gospel, from small remote villages to major cities.

In fact, if you look at statistics about conversions, meaning from one religion to another, Christianity far exceeds any other. Within other religions, there are very little growth that happens by proselytizing.

Almost all their growth comes through births, not converting others to their cause. Yes, as we know, other major faiths are growing too, but it's primarily through births. And if we take a look, for example, at Islam, there is a growing trend among the young people that do not want political Islam.

They are searching for something else, and we have now a golden opportunity to introduce them to Christ. Remember what the Lord Jesus has said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.

Dear church, we are part of such a rich Christian heritage. From the early church in Jerusalem and Antioch, to the Apostolic Fathers carrying the gospel into Asia Minor, from the witness of the church in Hippo, to the missions of the Catholic Christianity that shaped European Christendom, then through the great missionary push of the Middle Ages, carrying the gospel further into Europe and beyond, to the time of the Reformers, and then the Puritans, into the great awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries, when the gospel spread into the Americas with much zeal.

We heard at the conference also the Moravians. I wonder if you know about the Moravians. They were basically Reformers before it was cool to be Reformers. Go read about Jan Haas. These people, in order to reach people that were unreached, sold themselves as slaves in order to reach them, giving everything.

In the 19th century, we saw the modern missionary movement of William Carey, as I've mentioned in India, Hudson Taylor in China, Helen Rosevear in the DRC, and Aden Eyreman and Judson in Burma. Men and women who laid down their lives to carry the gospel to places where Christ had not yet been named.

And throughout the 20th century, the church continues today to spread, not by its own strength, but by God who promised to build it. The advancement of the gospel is undeniable. God's glory has spread to so many parts of this world, yet the victory is not totally complete.

There is still work to be done. Consider the current realities of our day. Roughly 3 .4 billion people are still unreached with the gospel and the glory of God. These people are living in communities where the good news of Christ is almost completely unknown.

Over 7 ,200 unreached people groups have less than 2 evangelical presence, and they just simply lack self-sustaining churches. Over 95 of missionaries today serve among populations that are already reached.

Our brother mentioned that this morning. It's nice. I really appreciate these people serving there, but this leaves so many remaining without a witness. Only a small fraction of global mission giving goes to unreached, meaning funding is disproportionately directed to areas that already have a vibrant church.

Perhaps some of you know the missionary William Borden, the guy who said, no reserves, no retreats, no regrets. He actually has another quote less famous. It says, if 10 men are carrying a log, nine of them on the little end and one on the heavy end, and you wanted to help, which end will you carry on?

Today, right now, thousands of unreached and unengaged peoples remain without indigenous churches, a missionary presence, or gospel access. Most of these unreached people groups live within the 1040 window, which is an area between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator, stretching from West Africa to East Asia, a region very resistant to the gospel.

Now, I don't say this to discourage us. The church has done much, but there is much work left to be done, and God has called all of us to play a part. We are all called to fight the good fight, and there certainly is a fight to be fought right here on the front lines of Edmonton.

I truly thank God for the faithful warriors in this church. I know them. I've been together with you doing evangelism. It warms my heart. I truly thank God for you, brothers and sisters, but also remember what God has said, for from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering, for my name will be great among the nations.

You and I have an opportunity to be part of what God is doing in bringing his promises into fruition. In order for God's name to be praised to the ends of the earth, we need to send soldiers deep in behind enemy lines, dropping in the darkest, deepest, and most godless parts of this world to seek and save the lost, establishing a foothold, which then sets the conditions for the broader church to help build out God's kingdom.

God's rescue mission goes all the way to the ends of the earth. Dear saints, God loves the nations, and he intends to adopt for himself sons and daughters, redeeming them from a kingdom of darkness to a kingdom of light.

Dear believers, what part are you playing in this rescue mission? Does your love for God compel you to love what he does, to care for the lost near and far? Do you see your life as part of a larger story, stretching from Adam to Abraham to Pentecost to the global church today, reaching the ends of the earth for God's glory?

The psalmist closed with confidence, God will bless. His arm is not too short, and the nations will respond. This is not something that might happen. It is a certainty rooted in God's eternal promise-keeping character.

All of us have a great privilege to participate in God building his kingdom. Every one of us have been given and blessed with time, talents, and treasure, and each of us have a role in this mission. Some go and some send, but both of us are necessary.

Ask yourself, am I faithfully doing the work God has given me to do? Am I using the time, talents, and treasure he has entrusted to me to spread his glory? Missions is a team effort. Every act of obedience matters.

Some cannot go, but they can hold the rope. Some cannot speak the gospel in a foreign land, but they can support, pray, and encourage as the church sends. God uses the church collectively, what we cannot do individually.

As I shared earlier this morning, and as our brother so graciously mentioned, my wife and I and five children are off to North Africa. The city where we intend to help with the church planting effort has a population of nearly 350 ,000 people, but I can count the believers on one hand in that city.

To put that into perspective, that's like having 11 Christians for all of Edmonton. Do you see the need that's out there? 27 people groups, unreached, meaning less than 2 evangelical. 24 of those 27 groups have no known work happening amongst any of them.

A couple of months ago, there was a flash flood in that city that killed 37 people. It's almost guaranteed that none of them had a Bible, never seen a church, or heard the gospel, likely never even met a Christian, never mind talking to one.

Holding the Rope in Gospel Partnership

Here's a picture of how God uses his church to accomplish his mission. One day a man was out walking when he heard a child crying. He looked around but could not see anyone. For a while he thought maybe he just imagined it up until coming closer to a well, he found the crying was coming from inside.

Looking down into the pit, he saw a crying girl that had fallen into this well. The helpless girl could not get out by herself. The man looked around trying to work out how he could save her. Finding a rope nearby, he threw it down to her hoping she could climb out, but she had become too weak.

He knew he had to go down and get her, but there was nothing to fasten this rope to. He needed help, so he ran to a nearby village and asked others to join him in rescuing this girl. A number of people came out running to help.

He tied the rope around his waist and the people slowly lowered him down into the well. Once he got to the bottom, he lifted up the girl and the townsfolk pulled them both back out. What a joy and relief it was once the man and the girl were safely out of the pit.

Now who saved this girl from the well? The guy who went down or the people holding the rope? It was this partnership of the team that accomplished it. This is how God is working through his church as a whole to reach the nations.

He is using men and women who will go and men and women who will stay, support, and send. Ultimately, what I want you to take away this morning is that God loves the nations and he will rescue his sons and daughters.

Don't leave today without somehow being part of that. You know, it's not like the Lord needs us to do this work. He is going to accomplish it whether we help or not. I can go on and share plenty of stories of how the Lord is doing some of that work already.

There's one Berber man, in fact, he's not even a Christian. He just despises Islam and the Lord is working through that pagan man's heart to smuggle Bibles into the country. This is currently happening.

This is literally happening. But look folks, we don't want to have a Berber man do more for the sake of Christ to the ends of the earth than we are doing ourselves. And the Lord is doing the work. It's just a wonderful privilege to be a part of what he is doing.

He will accomplish his purpose. I'll share something for the mothers. It is Mother's Day after all. I had a good talk with my mom this morning and we recounted all the times she was in tears knowing where her son is going.

You know, somebody said, when you get married, going from single to having a wife, you learn to share. But once you have children, you learn to sacrifice. And my poor mother's heart, I put her through so much as a young, wild boy.

But going to the mission field, it was a time so hard for her heart to bear. But one day the Lord comforted her heart. She read John 19 verse 26. It says, when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son.

And he said to disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. You know, mothers, you sacrifice so much for your children, working so hard to teach them what is right and wrong.

I want to ask you to make an even greater sacrifice. Give your children to God's ministry. Let them go. Train them up to become missionaries. Train them up to become pastors. It's hard work, but the Lord will provide for you.

My dear mother still cries, but she's confident in Christ. She's found other young boys to take care of and shepherd them in God's way. And it's hard being so far away from my own family, feeling obligations toward them.

God will give them sons. God will take care of your mother and your father. So young men, as you're considering what are you going to do with your life, I'm sure some of you have prayed in this church, perhaps a callous prayer that you weren't thinking.

Lord, the harvest is ready and the workers are few. Send workers into that field. Do you realize the Lord might be calling you? So mother, it's hard, but please sacrifice for the Lord some of the things that's most dearest to you.

Christ’s Exaltation, Human Righteousness, and the Call to Believe

I'd also like to mention one thing. If there's anyone in this room who do not know the Lord, who have not put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, today might be your last day. Have you never found it odd that in this world, there are so many so-called gods, yet the only name of God that seems to be profaned in our society and across the world is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, when the scripture says that therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him, our Lord Jesus Christ, the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Have you found it not odd that this is the only name across the world that Satan tries to profane? See, the reality is we will all bend our knee before Christ either in this life or the next. Do not leave if you are not right with God.

Our Lord Jesus lived an absolutely perfect life to have the perfect righteousness that you and I need. There is nothing we can bring to our Lord Jesus when we get to heaven one day and say, see, look at my good works.

I used to think I was a really good person, to be honest. I grew up in a Dutch-formed church, was baptized as a baby, didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't do seemingly bad things. I thought the Lord Jesus must be just pleased with me.

But I lied to myself without the righteousness of Christ, without placing my trust in the Lord Jesus to receive his record of righteousness. It is just simply not enough. I'll end with just one encouraging story.

As I mentioned before, it's the Lord doing this work. And I don't want to romanticize, you know, particular stories, the work of planting a church, as you all are no doubt very aware of this hard work.

But the Lord brings multiplication in ways that we never realize. Any of the work we do abroad, or any of the work that happens here, it's always just a few loaves of bread and fish that the Lord brings multiplication of.

So I'll share one story and then I'll end. There's a country in Africa, very, very resistant to the gospel. And some missionaries found a way to smuggle Bibles in through some work, that oil drilling that needed to happen, with the intention of just slowly letting out Bibles very infrequently, to not arouse any suspicion.

Well, long story short, a lot of Bibles got into the community, which rose the suspicion of the local authorities. Finally finding this stack and stack and stacks of Bibles, finding the missionaries, kicking the missionaries out, and you would think the work ended and it all collapsed.

Well, what happened was the local Imhams were very, basically scared that the local people would find these Bibles, start reading it, and then, you know, convert. This is this evil thing that might happen to their local people in the villages.

So, not understanding the heart of man, they loaded up all these Bibles on a bunch of pickup trucks, stacking them as high as the pickup truck would carry, placing big signs next to the pickup trucks, driving through the villagers saying, don't read this book, it is dangerous.

Not long after that, a pretty big underground black market for Bibles sprung up, to the point where even Imhams were tearing off pages and selling pages one at a time, because it became a very hot commodity.

We never know what the Lord is going to do. He is faithful. He is building his church. Let's join him in what he is doing. Thank you. Thank you for listening to another.

Sermon from Grace Fellowship Church. If you would like to keep up with us, you can find us at gracefellowshipchurch .org, or our Instagram at gracechurch, y-e-g, all one word. Finally, you can visit us at our website, graceedmonton .ca.

We pray that you have been blessed by this recording. God bless you, and we hope to see you soon.