Sunday Morning, January 3, 2020 AM

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Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC “Praise the LORD, Our Help and Shield!​”

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Happy New Year!
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Welcome to 2021. We've been in it a few days, but it's always good to say it.
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A few announcements as we get started. This morning, we're glad to have you here at Sunnyside Baptist Church to worship together today.
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Looking ahead, in terms of the upcoming week, come back this evening for our evening service that starts at 5 .30.
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And then Wednesday, Wednesday will be a big day. We get to resume our churchwide dinner together at 5 .45.
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So if you can, come for that. If you plan on coming, try and let Jana Brown know so she can kind of plan just the amount of food, what would cover everybody, families, and everybody else.
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And then after that, tag for our kids will resume starting at 6 .30.
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That's going to be in the tag room that's just down the hall. So if you come in these doors and turn immediately to the left, peek in one of the rooms there.
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It's one of the first ones you come to. It's really fun looking. So you'll know that that's the tag room there.
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So we're excited to start back up with that. Lori DeForest, she also gave me an announcement.
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After service today, there's going to be a brief meeting for workers. So if you plan on helping to teach in tag or just help out in that, after this morning service here in the auditorium, or no,
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I'm sorry, in the tag room. So that will be in the tag room after church today.
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Fighter verses for the week comes from the book of Deuteronomy. Know therefore that the
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Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
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Beginning of the new year, if you have any changes regarding church budget information, get that information to Jerry Brown or Patty Hines.
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Any other announcements before we get started this morning? Yes, ma 'am. Okay. All right.
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You might remember, I think it was last fall, we had a special music night here at the church.
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I think it was in October. We're going to try and have one of those again. We're working on details regarding that.
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So if you would like to share either a music or song somehow, please let Lisa know.
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Is that good? All righty. All right. Well, we're going to have a time of prayer and preparation for worship this morning.
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And then after we're done with that, Dwight will open us in prayer. Father, what a blessing it is to come together in the name of your son, the
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Lord Jesus. We come together to exalt your name, to rejoice in the work that you've accomplished for us in our salvation through your son, the
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Lord Jesus, who gave his life for us. And we come together to worship you.
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So help us to worship in spirit and in truth. We thank you for your forgiveness.
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May we be faithful to confess our sins before you. And as our pastor comes to share your word with us, may he preach your word in the power of your spirit.
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And may we be fed and nourished and grow in the grace and knowledge of your son, the
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Lord Jesus. And even as we leave this place, may we be better witnesses for your son, the
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Lord Jesus. This is in his name I pray. Amen. Happy New Year.
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2020 was a challenging year for everyone. But I trust that through it all, you put your trust in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And that he was your strength. And we can look forward to him continuing to be our gracious strength for 2021.
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And we're going to continue in our passage we read last week. So if you would stand with me for our call to worship.
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We're going to continue in Psalms chapter 56, reading verses 11 through 13.
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And to remember to put our trust in God. Read with me together.
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In God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
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I must perform my vows to you, God. I will render thank offerings to you.
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For you have delivered my soul from death. Yes, my feet from falling that I may walk for God in the light of my life.
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Our first song is an anthem to the king of the ages. It's page 72 in your little black hymn.
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This hymn is modern ancient. King of the Ages. King of the ages, almighty
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God, perfect love ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise?
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All the nations will come to you.
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Your saving power at work in me.
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Bringing peace and the hope of glory. King of the ages, almighty
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God, perfect love ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise?
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All the nations will come to you.
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Reaching out to every heart that seeks you.
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Your light will shine in all the earth.
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Bringing grace and a great salvation. King of the ages, almighty
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God, perfect love ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise? All the nations will come to you.
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Our song plays with the song we will sing forever.
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King of the ages, almighty God, perfect love ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise?
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All the nations will come to you.
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King of the ages, almighty God, perfect love ever just and true.
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Who will not fear you and bring you praise?
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you. All the nations will come to you.
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We'll sing these two songs together. What is our hope in life and death?
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Christ alone, Christ alone. What is our only confidence?
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That our souls will belong Who holds our days within His hand
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What comes apart from His command And what will keep us to the end
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The love of Christ in which we stand
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Oh, sing alleluia Our hope springs eternal
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Oh, sing alleluia Now and ever we confess
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Christ, our hope in life and death What truth can calm the troubled soul?
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God is good, God is good What is
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His grace and goodness known? In our grave, tears flow
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Who holds our faith when fears arise?
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Who stands above the stormy trial? Who sings the waves that bring us nigh
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And to the shore, the rock of Christ Oh, sing alleluia
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Our hope springs eternal Oh, sing alleluia
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Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope in life and death
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Unto the grave, what shall we see? Christ, He lives,
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Christ, He lives And what reward will heaven bring?
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Everlasting life within There will be rises beneath the
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Lord Then sin and death will be destroyed And we will feast in endless joy
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When Christ is ours forevermore
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Oh, sing alleluia Our hope springs eternal
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Oh, sing alleluia Now and ever we confess
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Christ, our hope in life and death Oh, sing alleluia
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Our hope springs eternal Oh, sing alleluia
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Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope in life and death
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Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope in life and death
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Fairest Lord Jesus Ruler of all nature
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Lord of all the sun
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Be with thy church
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Be with thy father
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Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown
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Beautiful Savior Lord of all the nations
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Son of God Son of man
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Reignition Now and ever
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It's good to sing praise to the
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King, isn't it? So appreciate the song selection this morning, and as ever,
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I am encouraged by the way in which
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Scripture gives amen to Scripture as we have the various readings and now our text this morning.
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So Psalm 115, we'll be looking at verses 9 -18 this morning.
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As we return to this psalm after our time in 2
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Samuel, considering the prophecies concerning Christ for the Advent season, we still have our
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Christmas regalia up, and that's just fine. Some of you are very responsible and have already put away all of your
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Christmas decorations. And there are ones dear to my heart who don't even live in this state who leave them up all year long.
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So that's just fine. Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.
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Father, I thank you for gathering us together this morning. I so thank you for the joy we can have today that your son
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Jesus Christ is reigning at your right hand, that you have given all authority in heaven and on earth to him, that he is the heir of all things, and that he has the preeminence in all things.
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And we rejoice in his authority, in his life, in his love and in his light today.
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And I pray that you would help us as we read your word, that you would bless us with your Holy Spirit in a special way that the
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Scriptures would be made clear to us, clear and engaging to our lives, that you would cut deep to the very heart of the matter in our souls, that you would do your work in us to make the changes that need to be made, and that you would nourish us for we are hungry for your word, that you would show us your son
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Jesus Christ in his glory and in his goodness that we would drink deeply of your truth, that we would be satisfied in your son
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Jesus Christ, even as you are well pleased in him. We ask all these things for the sake of Christ.
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Amen. So Psalm 115, I'll be reading verses 9 through 18.
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Psalm 115, I'll be reading verses 9 through 18. Psalm 115 is part of that portion of Scripture in the
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Psalms known as the Great Hillel, the Great Hymn. Sung by the
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Jews year after year at Passover, considering who God revealed himself to be in that mighty act of deliverance, they would sing these
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Psalms before and after their Passover meal to help them focus on the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, the delivering power of God.
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This was the hymn that Jesus and his disciples sang together when they celebrated the
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Passover, when Christ made himself the center of Passover, that he was the Lamb, the
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Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world for them, for us.
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So we've been looking at this Great Hillel, and these are the
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Psalms that really tell us what we ought to be thinking about when it comes to worshiping God.
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How does God want to be worshiped? How would he like us to approach him?
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What are the things that we ought to consider before we come before God to praise and worship him?
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And what are the things that we ought to praise him for? What should we be talking about? What should we bring into consideration as we give him glory and honor?
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These Psalms help us and teach us. They instruct us in the basics of worship, show us what direction we ought to go.
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And we've been looking in Psalm 115, verses 1 through 8, focusing on this most fundamental characteristic of righteous worship, that not to us, not to us, but to your name give glory.
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This is the starting point of worship, that God gives glory to God, and we rejoice in that.
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We think that's the best. We give a hearty amen to that, that God would glorify
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God, that God should be all about magnifying his name and anything less his idolatry.
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We're on board with that. We want God to be glorified. And we considered in the first eight verses how the pagans will mock, the pagans who are obviously more well -informed, more well -credentialed, who have a better understanding of how the world works, who aren't so backwards.
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They're the ones mocking us, and they're the ones who fear absurdities and worship the useless.
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The dead gods who have hands and feet that don't move, and eyes that can't see, and ears that can't hear, and mouths that can't speak, and throats that can't even make a sound.
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And they're the ones trying to mock us. Oh, that's just silly. So last time we were in this psalm, we talked about the mockery of false gods, how we are to...
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that the righteous response to absurdity is laughter. We are to mock and make fun, to scorn, to scoff the pagan idols, to show them for what they really are.
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False gods are futile objects of trust, absurd centers of fear, and all who make them and worship them become just like them, futile and absurd.
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So that brings us up to our reading, Psalm 115, verses 9 through 18.
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I encourage you to stand if you are able, as I read the rest of this psalm, the words of our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit, holy men moved by the
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Spirit to write these words to us. Oh Israel, trust in the
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Lord, He is their help and their shield. Oh house of Aaron, trust in the
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Lord, He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the
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Lord, He is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us.
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He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.
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He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small together with the great.
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May the Lord give you increase, you and your children. May you be blessed of the
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Lord. Maker of heaven and earth. The heavens are the heavens of the
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Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise the
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Lord, nor do any who go down in silence. But as for us, we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forever.
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Praise the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. Have you ever thought about how absurd it was for the tribes of Israel to fear the
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Canaanites? Have you ever thought about how absurd that was?
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One of the most absurd moments in the history recorded for us in the Bible. That the
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Israelites would fear the Canaanites after God's ten wondrous plagues defeating
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Egypt, beating them down so far that God's people plundered the wealth of Egypt as they left.
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After they saw Pharaoh and his army drowned and crushed by walls of water in the same place where they had crossed over on dry ground through the
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Red Sea. After they ate bread from heaven and drank water from the rock.
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After God defeated all of their enemies in the wilderness, king after king with their mighty armies,
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God won the day clearly again and again. After God revealed himself as inestimably holy, powerful, and fearful on Mount Sinai to the
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Israelites. And provided for the people by pillar of fire and pillar of smoke, heat and light for those wilderness nights, shade and direction for their wilderness wanderings.
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When this great and mighty and powerful and only God tells his people, you are going to go into Canaan and you're going to possess this land flowing with milk and honey.
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And you are going to defeat all of the inhabitants there for it's their time of judgment.
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Spies go up, check things out. And 10 of the 12 come back saying, it's no good, we're doomed.
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Now that is absurd. Why did they have that perspective?
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Why did they take that approach? God had been their help and shield in the
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Exodus. God had been their help and shield in the wilderness. What did they think?
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That God's help and God's shield ended at the boundaries of Canaan?
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That he would no longer be their help and shield? You see, it was complicated.
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It was complicated, right? I mean, other gods controlled those lands in Canaan.
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That was the realm for other authorities, not the authority of God.
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That really wasn't his area. You see, Yahweh was good for rescue operations, but not good for conquering campaigns.
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He was a wilderness God. He wasn't really a civilization crafting
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God. He was great for Sinai, just no good for Canaan.
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Are you picking up on the absurdity of that thinking? Then let us apply wisdom in our own lives.
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The Lord is our help and our shield in every area of life. Every area of life.
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This is essential for us when applying the fear of the
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Lord. He is not only the God of church and mealtimes and serious situations.
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He is the God of everything. If we have rightly and if we have thoroughly mocked the pagan gods, then we should know that there is not a rogue molecule in all of the universe.
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That God is sovereign over it all and throughout it all, he remains the help and the shield of his people.
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So why is it so difficult for us to trust the
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Lord? It is a struggle. It is a challenge.
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We catch ourselves not trusting in the Lord. Why am I so afraid?
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We are often divided in our worldview and thus conquered by illegitimate fear.
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We partition God. We keep him for spiritual issues.
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We call upon him as a last resort. We often do not live as if he is indeed our help and shield.
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Notice in the text, maker of heaven and earth. Maker of heaven and earth.
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We have trouble trusting in the Lord. We acknowledge this. We confess this.
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We catch ourselves not trusting in the Lord. And our fear is often exhibited in terms of paralysis or anger, worry.
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But trusting in the Lord as our help and shield begins where we see it in our text. The psalm leads us to trust in the
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Lord as our help and shield by praising him accordingly. Where is our
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God? He is in the heavens doing whatever he pleases. Our God is a glorious God and deserves all praise.
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Every other possible thing we could trust in is absurd. God is our help and our shield.
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The psalm continually puts our attention upon who God is.
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That we would praise him, honor him, glorify him. And when we do that, we are building ourselves up, as Jude would say, upon our most holy faith.
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We are establishing ourselves in faith, trusting that God indeed is powerful.
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That he is indeed our help and our shield. And so we sing our hymns and we read the psalms.
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And we speak to one another in the psalms and the hymns and the spiritual songs. And we tell one another how great
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God is. How powerful God is. How trustworthy he is. So that we will live, indeed live, with God as our help and our shield.
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And this is the exhortation of the godly in verses 9 -11. The exhortation of the godly in verses 9 -11.
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Let's hear it again. O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the
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Lord. He is their help and their shield. O you who fear the Lord, trust in the
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Lord. He is their help and their shield. Let's think about, first of all, those commanded.
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Who are being addressed here in this repetition.
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And really what is the heart of the psalm. Everything about this psalm is arranged around these three verses.
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Israel, house of Aaron, you who fear the Lord. They are all being told the same thing.
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They are being commanded to trust in the Lord. And they are given the reasons why to trust in the
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Lord. Because he is their help and their shield. But first, let's consider who are being commanded.
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Israel, house of Aaron, you who fear the Lord. When you first read it, you might have a natural inclination to see a narrowing of terms.
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Israel refers to all the descendants of the sons of Jacob. Whose name was changed to Israel.
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And there were a bunch of them. Now you come to the house of Aaron. Aaron, Moses' brother, the tribe of Levi.
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So here is Aaron, a descendant of one of the tribes of Israel.
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And he and his descendants are being addressed. So that's a much smaller group. Though there were a lot of priests.
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And then finally, you have those addressed, you who fear the Lord. And when you read the stories about Israel and the house of Aaron.
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And the people of God in the Old Testament. We discover that there were often only a handful.
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Just a few people who feared the Lord. Who worshipped him as he deserved.
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And sometimes we find the scripture using the term remnant. Of this small group within the larger group.
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Who really truly feared the Lord. And we see that there were often few, only a few, who feared the
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Lord. We know that from the times of the judges. And the times of Elijah and Elisha. And the weeping of Jeremiah the prophet.
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We can see very often there were just a few who feared the Lord. And we read one of their prayers in Isaiah 63 verse 16.
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And they pray this way. For you, we're praying to God, for you are our father. Though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us.
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You, O Lord, are our father. Our redeemer from of old is your name. It had gotten so bad that even
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Israel and the house of Aaron. Even the official
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Old Covenant people of God. Wouldn't even recognize the
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God fearers among them as legitimate. It had gotten so bad. Now that is certainly the case in the course of the crumbling of the
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Old Covenant. But it helps to remember two things about this psalm. This psalm was written after the exile.
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When a remnant of tens of thousands out of millions of Jews in Persia. Had returned back to Jerusalem.
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And why did they go back to Jerusalem? They had instructions from Jeremiah and from Ezekiel.
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They had great hope from the prophet Daniel. And they returned to the promised land.
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They returned to the city of Jerusalem. And they began to rebuild the temple. And rebuild the walls. Why? They were doing actually very well in Persia.
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And history records that the most numerous and wealthiest population of the Jews. Was in Persia.
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Even into the time of Christ. Why did this group go back to Jerusalem? And rebuild the city walls and the temple.
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Especially, why rebuild the city Jerusalem? The city of David. When you had no king of David to sit on the throne.
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And why would you rebuild the temple? When you had no ark of the covenant to put into the holy of holies.
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I mean, what's the deal? Why even do it? Because they were instructed in hope.
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Of what was to come. They went back there because God promised them that in that place.
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At a future time. He would bring to pass the new covenant. So they went back in hope.
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And got things ready. And sought to be faithful. To prepare themselves for the coming of Messiah.
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And so, this is the group. Worshipping, praising, talking to one another in this psalm.
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Oh Israel, trust the Lord. He is your help and shield. Oh house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is your help and shield.
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Oh you who fear the Lord, trust the Lord. He is your help and your shield. This is the group that are worshipping
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God from the rebuilt Jerusalem. Around the rebuilt temple. Worshipping in hope of what was to come.
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And that reminds us of the second thing. That this is a worship service. Priests exhorting the people.
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People exhorting the priests. And all of them together exhorting those who fear the Lord. It's important to remember that they have been gathered from the nations.
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And it is to the nations that they are turning their gaze. And these designations actually become formulaic by the time of Christ.
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You read in the New Testament about the priests. You read about the people of Israel. And you read about another group called the
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God -fearers. And who were they? The God -fearers, like Cornelius and others, were
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Gentiles. Who had heard the messages. The truth claims of the
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Old Testament, of the scriptures. And even as Paul told Timothy that these were sufficient to make you wise into salvation.
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Many of them were turning to the same hope of the Messiah that the Jews had. But they were Gentiles. And so the
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Jews had a label for them. You must be the God -fearers. Just like Psalm 115.
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There's your label. There's the children of Israel. There's the house of Aaron.
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There's the God -fearers. Trusting all in the same God revealed in the
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Word of God. And so I think that this psalm, that verses 9 -11,
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I do not think that there is a constriction of hope here. A moving down to the few and very little.
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I think there's actually an embrace of an expansive hope. And it's an expansive hope that God promised repeatedly throughout the
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Old Testament. Through His prophets. That the nations were going to turn their attention to Zion.
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That they would hear the message that the Jews were saying. And they would go with them to Zion.
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And they would relocate to Jerusalem. And praise the Lord in hopes of the
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Messiah as well. And you can do a search on God's holy mountain in the book of Isaiah.
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Read all these hope -filled passages, for example. Also this word,
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Isaiah 49 verses 5 -6. Writing of the Messiah. Prophesying of the Messiah. And now says the
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Lord who formed me. Capital me. Isaiah is speaking in the voice of Messiah.
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And now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be His servant. Capital S. Servant. Why did
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God form him? To bring Jacob back to him. So that Israel might be gathered to him.
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For I am honored in the sight of the Lord. My God is my strength. He says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob.
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And to restore the preserved ones of Israel. It's too small. It's too narrow.
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That is not the intent of the Messiah coming. Simply to save Israel. He said it from Isaiah.
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He said that is too small a thing. That is not the plan. I will also make you a light of the nations.
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So that my salvation may reach the end of the earth. So the gospel went to the Jew first. And then also to the nations.
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To the Gentiles. So I think when we read this designation.
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The Israel house of Aaron. You who fear the Lord. It's interesting that this designation.
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You who fear the Lord. Is actually far more expansive. Than the label
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Israel. And the label house of Aaron. It's more expansive.
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Nations are in view here. And at the same time. It is more precise.
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It is more precise. It's more expansive than Israel and house of Aaron.
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But it's more precise than those two labels. Because here's the good news of the new covenant. The good news of the new covenant.
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Is not that you're born again. Not that you're born into a family. But that you're born again into the family of God.
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It's not about being born into a family. It's about being born again into the family of God.
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And it's about having the law of God. Written on a heart of flesh. Heart of stone being removed.
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And the heart of flesh being granted by the power of God. And the law of God being inscribed there.
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In the inner person. God's word pulsing in your life.
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You fear the Lord. You fear the Lord. What does that mean?
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It means that everything is weighed upon His scales. What is this worth?
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Well, we've got to weigh it on the scales of the Lord. To find out what that's worth. Everything is marked on His map.
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How are we going to locate X, Y, and Z? Either in ethics, philosophy, or anything.
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Well, it has to be understood according to the word of the Lord. When you're born again, you have
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God's law written on your heart of flesh. It means that if you fear the Lord, you can't think of anything without reference to God's word.
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That you trust in the Lord as your help and your shield in every area of life.
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That's who's commanded here. Israel, Aaron, you who fear the
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Lord. It's an exhortation to the people of God. And they are being told to trust in the
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Lord. To trust in the Lord. We have a three -fold statement here.
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A few areas in the Bible where we have a three -fold statement. And every time we do, we are being told how important it is.
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The seraphim in the throne room around God in Isaiah 6. Holy, holy, holy.
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The four living creatures in the throne room in Revelation 4. Holy, holy, holy. What is the primary characteristic of God?
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Well, I'd say biblically, he's holy. Apparently, that's the most important.
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And yes, God is love, and God is light, and God is spirit. We're told all these things. But the thing that's most underscored and most emphasized is that God is holy.
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And here, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord. You know,
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I think we need to trust in the Lord. Apparently, this is really important for the people of God.
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That we need to be told this repeatedly, emphatically.
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We're being told this in a way that shows us that this command is vitally important.
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But it also, being told this three times in a row, shows us that there's a constant need to trust in the
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Lord. Being told this three times in a row shows us that there's a universal application of this.
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No matter which way we're going. Doesn't matter what time frame we're thinking.
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Trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is your help and shield.
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So, the emphasis here is such that, obviously, the temptation is to not trust in the
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Lord. Obviously, the temptation is to make something else your help and your shield.
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To think that something else is functioning as your most essential security. That's the temptation, that's the difficulty, isn't it?
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To trust, to trust means to find your safety in.
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To trust means to identify as your security. To trust means to state your confidence in.
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To trust means to find your absolute dependence upon.
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And we're being told to trust in the Lord threefold.
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It should bring to our minds in this repetition, Why or what have we been making our help and our shield?
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What have we been making our help and our shield? Not the mighty man boasts in his might.
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Not the wise man boasts in his wisdom. Not the wealthy man boasts in his riches.
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Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses. We're to trust the name of the
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Lord our God. Scriptures are full of warnings, of contrasts.
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Saying, don't trust in these things, trust in God. The king of Israel, according to the instructions in Deuteronomy, was told, that he was not to acquire for himself large amounts of wealth.
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He was not to acquire for himself many horses and chariots. Massive armies.
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Why? I thought that's what kings did. He was told rather to write for himself a copy of God's word.
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Because he was to trust in the Lord. Not in might, not in wealth, these other things.
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What do we tend to make our help and our shield? Well, this is one of the reasons why,
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I think somebody this morning, I forget who at the moment, gave thanks for the year 2020.
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And we are told to give thanks in all things. And when we do, we are afforded an opportunity to give praise to God for his providence.
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And one of the reasons why we can thank God for the year 2020 is how many of the pillars that we have been making our help and our shield, how many of those things were shook and shown to be unstable and not worthy of our trust?
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How much had we, without realizing it, how much had we made a strong economy and a free society?
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How much had we made the idea of being able to just do what we thought we can do?
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Whatever we wanted to. How much have we made our help and our shield that was just shook up last year?
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Trials are very often God's way of knocking our idols off the mantle.
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Saying, now what? Now what? The state is not our help and our shield.
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Although he thinks he is, our dear President Trump is not our help and our shield.
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Science is not our help and our shield. Medicine is not our help and our shield.
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The Lord, the Lord, the Lord God is our help and our shield.
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And his power and his help and his shield do not end at the borders of Canaan.
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They do not end at the borders of finance, at the boundaries of politics, at the line of science and medicine.
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The Lord is our help and shield through and through. Through and through.
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He is not a limited wilderness God. He's not a
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God just good for rescuing us from sin and hell, but everything else has to be taken care of by people with credentials.
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The Lord is our help and our shield all the way through. And so we are commanded to trust the
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Lord in that way. The exiles who have been trying to rebuild the city and the city walls and rebuild the temple, they have not met with wide support.
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If there was a poll taken of the people living in the region, about how what they thought about what was going on up there at Jerusalem, it would have been overwhelmingly negative.
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All the news reports about who the Jews were, what they were doing, was that they were a scandalous bunch of oppressive thieves.
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They were horrible people who deserved to be sent back. Everything was against them, and yet they, in hope of the
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Messiah, in hope of God's promises, had some very taxing, sometimes boring, hard work to do.
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They had to rebuild a temple, and they had to rebuild the walls. They had to repopulate a city.
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They had to get everything moving again. And all the same time, they had to do so trying to be faithful to what the
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Lord had called them to do and not compromise with the various foreign influences. So no wonder they're saying to one another, trust in the
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Lord, trust in the Lord. He's our help and our shield. Don't ever forget that.
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Here, these worshipers have learned their lesson about idolatry.
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It's worthless. It's no good. It can't help you. Trust in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.
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He is our help and our shield. That encouraging phrase comes from Deuteronomy 33, 29.
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This is the comfort for those commanded to trust in the Lord. This is their comfort. God is a shield of help.
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Deuteronomy 33, 29. Blessed are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the
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Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty, so your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places.
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The shield of your help. That's where that imagery comes from, that they're singing about in Psalm 115.
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It comes from here, Deuteronomy 33, 29. And notice that the verse speaks of Israel as a people saved by the
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Lord. A people saved by the Lord. When did he save them? When did he deliver them?
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And from what did he save them? The Lord was their saving help when they were enslaved in Egypt.
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And they cried out to him for deliverance. And he answered them. He worked mighty wonders against the idolatrous
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Pharaoh and his people. And finally, when the people were released, they plundered the
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Egyptians on the way out. And then when Pharaoh changed his mind and chased after them with his grand army of chariots and horsemen, when the people were boxed in by the land on the shores of the
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Red Sea and no place to go, the Lord was their help and their shield. And a cloud separated his people from the
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Egyptians all night long, giving light to his people, keeping the Egyptians in darkness.
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And he helped them across the Red Sea. He was their shield. He was their help. He saved his people.
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The historical reality of the Exodus provided the basis of this spiritual exhortation to trust in the
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Lord. And this psalm, remember, this psalm is sung and arranged with the other psalms to commemorate
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Passover. And to stimulate the worshippers' response and remembrance of God's proven faithfulness.
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Jesus Christ, his person and work on the cross, is the fulfillment of Passover. He is the
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Passover lamb without a broken bone, offered up between God and man to satisfy
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God and to satisfy man. He is the supreme expression of God's covenant faithfulness.
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Jesus Christ is our help and he is our shield. He is our salvation.
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He was slain as the lamb of God for wretched sinners. He became our sin that we might become his righteousness.
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He suffered our punishment that we might experience his reward. He is our deliverance from enslavement to sin.
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He exposes and destroys idols. He leads us up out of death into life.
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He is our help. And he is our shield. He rules and reigns and advances his victory in us and through us in this world.
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He protects us from the onslaught of the enemy. He silences our accuser.
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He holds us in his hand and will never let us go. He keeps us from falling away.
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He is our shield. So everyone who fears the
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Lord finds in Christ their help and their shield. The Lord is worthy to be feared.
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All of his holiness and his love and his grace and justice and faithfulness and wrath and mercy. Indeed the entire glorious name of God was revealed most magnificently through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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The Lord's help and shield culminated in Christ. So to Christ, the true people of God, look, we have no other providence nor protection.
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When you think of Christ, when you think of Christ, it is true. We remember his birth.
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We remember the stories of his life and his teaching and his miracles. We remember him dying on the cross for our sins.
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We remember him buried in the tomb, taking our sins away as far as the east is from the west.
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We remember that he rose from the dead the third day. We remember that he ascended to the right hand of God, being taken out of sight from his disciples by the
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Shekinah glory cloud. And what the angels told them. We remember all of that.
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But if we're going to look to Jesus Christ as our help and our shield, where is he now?
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Where is he now? He is at the right hand of the father. He has a name which is above every name.
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He is king of kings and he is lord of lords. He has all authority and he rules and he reigns and he indeed is our help and our shield.
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So whatever comes next, whatever comes next, trust in the
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Lord. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the time that you have afforded us in your word.
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And this repeated exhortation to us that we so need to hear.
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I need your grace to apply in our lives. Please help us. Please help us to remember that you are our help and our shield.
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And show us what it means to trust in you. We thank you for your long suffering with us and your love for us and your kindness and your mercy and your grace.
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We pray these things for the sake of Christ. Amen. Would you stand so we can sing benediction.
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One of the things we can trust the
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Lord for is for his peace and for his grace as we start to begin a new year. And that his love would just fill our lives in each area of our lives.
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Sing with me benediction. May the peace of God our
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Heavenly Father and the grace of Christ the risen
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Son and the fellowship of God the
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Spirit keep our hearts and minds within his love.
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And to him be praise for his glorious reign.
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From the depths of earth to the heights of heaven.
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We declare the name of the Lamb once slain.
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Christ eternal, the King of kings.
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May this peace which passes understanding and this grace which makes us what we are and this fellowship of his communion makes us one in spirit and in heart.
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And to him be praise for his glorious reign.
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From the depths of earth to the heights of heaven.
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We declare the name of the Lamb once slain.
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Christ eternal, the King of kings.
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Christ eternal, the King of kings.
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May the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.