Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

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Good morning, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand and hear
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God call you to worship through his word. Oh, sing to the
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Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gained him the victory.
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The Lord has made known his salvation. His righteousness he has revealed in the sight of the nations.
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He has remembered his mercy and his faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our
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God. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
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Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a song, with the trumpets and the sound of a horn.
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Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar in all its fullness, the world and all those who dwell in it.
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Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth.
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With righteousness he shall judge the world and the peoples with equity. Let us pray.
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Our Father in heaven, we have come to worship and bow down and kneel before you, the
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Lord our maker. For you are our God and we are the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand.
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We come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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He is our advocate with the Father. He is our only mediator between God and man. He always lives to make intercession for us.
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Through him, we come boldly to your throne of grace. In his name, we earnestly seek you.
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Oh Lord, our soul is thirst for you. Our flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
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Bow your heavens and come down and have at the praises of your people.
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Remember your promise, oh spirit of Christ, to be present in the midst of your worshiping people when two or more are gathered in your name.
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Condescend to us, grant us the joy of your fellowship. Speak to us through your word and be blessed by our praise and adoration in all this we ask and more also in the name of Jesus Christ our
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Lord, amen. Please kneel as you are able for the corporate confession of sin.
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Let us join together in confessing our sins. Eternal Father, you are good beyond all thought.
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We are vile, wretched, miserable, blind. Our lips are ready to confess but our hearts are slow to heal.
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In our ways, reluctant to amen. We bring our souls to thee, break them, wound them, bend them, mold them, unmask us in the form of thee that we may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
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Give us grace to mourn our atrocity and folly. Grant us to know that the way of transgression is hard, that the evil paths are wretched paths, that to depart from thee is to lose all good.
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All these sins we mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon. Work in us more profound and abiding repentance and grant that through the years of repentance we may see more clearly the brightness and glory of the saving cross of Christ, amen.
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Please stand and receive these words of comfort in our assurance of pardon.
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This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declares the
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Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.
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Their sins and lawless acts I will remember. Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, rejoice.
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If you be in Christ, your sins are forgiven, amen. Please take up the hymnal and turn to hymn 164.
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Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, hymn 164. He breaks the seat down,
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Lord. Please take up the insert and look for our
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Psalm of the week. Psalm 72B, nomads will bow.
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72B, this is sung to the tune of Jesus shall reign.
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Psalm 72. Well, please remain standing and open your
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Bibles for our public reading to Genesis chapter four. Genesis four, now hear the word of God.
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Now Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and bore Cain saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the
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Lord. And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a worker of the ground.
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In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.
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And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.
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So Cain was very angry and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?
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And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?
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And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.
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Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
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Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? He said, I do not know.
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Am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
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And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened up its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
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When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield you to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.
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Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground and from your face,
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I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on earth.
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And whoever finds me will kill me. Then the Lord said to him, not so.
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If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the
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Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the
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Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore
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Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son,
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Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad and Irad fathered Meheiel and Meheiel fathered
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Methuselah and Methuselah fathered Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of one was
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Ada and the name of the other, Zelah. Ada bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.
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His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of those who play the lyre and pipe. Zelah also bore
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Tubal -Cain. He was the forger of all instruments, bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal -Cain was
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Nema. Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zelah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.
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Listen to what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
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If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is 77 fold. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called him
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Seth. For she said, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.
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To Seth also a son was born and he was called by his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the
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Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Let us continue our worship by confessing our ancient
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Christian faith and the singing of the Apostles' Creed. Please take up the
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Trinity Hymnal once more and turn to hymn 455. And can it be that I should gain.
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Hymn 455. Amazing love.
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Well, please now make preparations for the prayers of the people. Let us pray together.
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Almighty and everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being, we, your beloved children, offer to you our humble praises for having preserved us from the beginning of our lives to this day.
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And especially do we praise you for having delivered us from the dangers and uncertainties of this past week.
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Through these mercies, we bless and magnify your glorious name, humbly beseeching you to accept this, our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
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For his sake, who lay down in the grave and rose again for us, your Son, our
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Savior, Jesus Christ. Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions that may be best for us.
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Granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and a world to come, life everlasting.
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Amen. I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for our denomination, for this church, and for all ministers and missionaries.
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Pray for the church. I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the burdened, and for the widows, orphans, and prisoners.
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Pray for those in any need or trouble. Amen. I ask your prayers for those who do not know
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Christ and for those who seek a deeper knowledge of him. Pray that they may find and be found by him.
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I ask your prayers for our children and future generations which will be born to them.
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Pray that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth through them. Pray that we may have grace to glorify
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Christ in our own day. Finding ourselves in agreement with all these things, we join our voices together and say, amen.
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Please stand and take up the insert once again and look for our Psalm of the Month, which says 235A, but is really from Psalm 122, oh, t 'was a joyful sound to hear.
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Psalm 122. Amen. Well, please open your
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Bibles with me and turn to Psalm number nine. We are taking up our consideration again of the
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Psalms, and today we will be looking at the ninth Psalm, Psalm number nine.
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Psalm nine, these are the words of God. To the chief musician, to the tune of Death of the
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Son, a Psalm of David. I will praise you, oh
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Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell of your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in you.
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I will sing praise to your name, oh, most high. When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence, for you have maintained my right and my cause.
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You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. You have rebuked the nations.
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You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. Oh, enemy, destructions are finished forever, and you have destroyed cities.
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Even their memory has perished. But the Lord shall endure forever.
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He has prepared his throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness.
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He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
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And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you,
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Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion.
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Declare his deeds among the people. When he avenges blood, he remembers them.
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He does not forget the cry of the humble. Have mercy on me, oh, Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me, who lift me up from the, you lift me up from the gates of death, that I may tell of your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.
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I will rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made.
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In the net that they hid, their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes.
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The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation, Selah.
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The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten.
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The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, oh,
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Lord. Do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.
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Put them in fear, oh, Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.
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Selah. Well, let us pray. Merciful Lord, the comforter and teacher of your faithful people, increase in your church the desires which you have given and confirm the hearts of those who hope in you by enabling us to understand the depths of your promises.
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That all of your adopted sons and daughters may even now behold with the eyes of faith and patiently wait for the light which as yet you do not openly manifest.
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And we ask this in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. Well, as we turn our consideration back to the
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Psalms, you may be calling to mind some of those things which we've talked about from time to time, why we would even consider the
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Psalms. And one of the reasons why is that it helps us know how to talk to God and also to know the character of God better.
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In this Psalm, we sort of have both. This borders on an imprecatory
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Psalm, although David is not calling upon the judgment of people. He's stating it, but the judgment of the wicked is certain.
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So as we take a look at the Psalm closer, we will see what
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David has to teach us through this Psalm. First, we're going to take a look at the inspired title.
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Oftentimes, the inspired title, and I use that term, there is some doubt among commentators whether these titles actually were in the original or were added sometime later by an editor like Ezra.
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Regardless, they're in our text, and we will take a look at them from time to time as being inspired.
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And normally, they contain information and direction on how to sing, or they give a description of the background of the
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Psalm. Today, we have to the chief musician. And then we see to the tune of, and you'll notice that the tune of are in italics.
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When you read a good and faithful translation like the New King James, any words that the translator adds to add sense to something are in italics.
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So the translator thinks to the tune of Death of the Son. And that may be true.
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That may be the tune that was sung back then. But C .H. Spurgeon threw in another idea that this is to call to mind our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He said, perhaps the death of the Son.
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But he favored another interpretation. He said another interpretation of the word, Son is champion to the death of the champion.
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And Spurgeon said that the backdrop for this Psalm was David's encounter with Goliath.
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And as we read through this Psalm, I want you to have that in the back of your minds. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment.
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Well, this Psalm opens in verse one with this, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart,
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I will tell of your marvelous works. The Psalm opens with praise.
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Praise is another word that has fallen on hard times in our day. It means something today akin to a love song to God.
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But that's not what the Old Testament saints would have thought. And that's not what we should think either.
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Praise to God is simply ascribing honor and glory and laud to our
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Father and our Redeemer, King. And David opens this
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Psalm with praise. And if the background is his encounter with Goliath, he is offering praise in advance of his encounter with the enemies of God.
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And this is something important for us to remember. I think the Old Testament saints knew it better than we do, that when we come into difficult times, that's when we praise the
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Lord. And David, the great songster of Israel, probably knew it best of all.
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He almost starts with a joyful expectation that God will give him victory.
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Think back to that encounter with Goliath. When all Israel cowered in line of battle in the presence of Goliath for 40 days,
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David comes onto the scene. And when he hears what Goliath is saying, and he hears what the men relate to him on what will be done for the man that slays the giant, he is given an audience with King Saul, and he expresses his confidence that this praise conveys.
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This is recounted for us in 1 Samuel 17. And this is David's encounter with Saul. Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, that is
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Goliath. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this
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Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth.
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But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or bear came and took a lamb with a flock,
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I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth.
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And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it.
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Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised
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Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living
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God. Moreover, David said, the Lord who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear, and the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this
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Philistine. And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. This is a great and glorious example of the type of praising that David is writing for us in the face of his enemy here in Psalm 9.
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The overthrow of the enemy as seen as being already accomplished, as already completed.
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And we have to remember that it is our duty to always praise the
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Lord and not just praise him when we receive some sort of blessing, although we should do that, but rather to praise him at all times.
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And let it be that we would praise the Lord at all times. And David's praise is given fully to the
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Lord. Only the Lord deserves praise. Remember what David said. He killed the lion and the bear, right?
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Whatever means God had given him to kill the lion and bear, we don't know if he used his bare hands, a knife, a stick, I don't know what he used.
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And we may be thankful to the means to which God gives us a deliverance or a blessing, but God is always the agent that operates behind that.
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As David said, God delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear.
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And notice David gives praise with his whole heart. Half -hearted measures will never do.
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And with his whole heart, he says what kind of praise he will give. He will tell of God's marvelous works.
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That is true praise. The thankful relating of the work that God has done for us.
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At this theme, we should be anxious to speak to one another about at all times what
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God has done for us in our lives. That we should relate to one another the marvelous works that God has done.
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But not only with fellow believers, but we should be anxious to talk about the works of God before unbelievers.
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It may be the only way they ever hear it. And it'll never be casting your pearls before a swine.
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The talk of the great deeds of our great God. One man once said, gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousand others.
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And when we consider the works of God that he has done for us, think about that for just a moment.
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If we thought about the work he has done in our salvation, in the preservation of our lives, from the beginning of our lives to this day, the blessings to which he has bestowed upon us, the sanctification that we have, the victory we have over sins that so easily entangle us, and his care in many, many ways, we would have sufficient things to talk about for a very, very long time.
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But here, David is talking about the marvelous works shown by God to his people.
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It's like those old commercials used to say, but wait, there's more. If we talk about, if we think about rather, the marvelous works that God had done for the
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Old Testament people of God, one miraculous deliverance after another, from Exodus to the period of the judges, to the kingdom, to the exile, and the return from the exile.
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Or if we consider the New Testament church over the past 2000 years, from Pentecost to Nicaea, throughout all of Christendom, even to today.
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Sometimes I think we are tempted to think that God has abandoned us and he's no longer in the business of helping his people.
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If you think that way, we need to be reminded by David that we have marvelous works to speak of even in our own day.
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Well, David continues in the second verse. He said, I will be glad and rejoice in you.
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I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Gladness and joy are the natural emotions that should follow praising our
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Lord, but especially more when we recount his marvelous works.
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Joy, true joy, is something that only a Christian can have.
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Joy transcends our most difficult circumstances. It is supernaturally deep.
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It is abundantly supplied, and it is freely given by God to all believers.
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Happiness is something a little bit different. Happiness depends upon what is happening around us.
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Circumstances, if the circumstances are good, you'll be happy. If the circumstances go bad, your happiness goes away.
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It is conditional. It is temporal. It is uncertain, but not so with joy.
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Joy is spiritual. It comes from a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ.
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It is based on contentment in the Lord. It is rooted and grounded in the unchangeable nature of our relationship with Christ.
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How else could we consider it all joy when we meet various kinds of trials? It is supernatural.
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It is a gift of God. Remember what we read in Galatians 5 .22, that famous chapter in the fruits of the spirit.
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You may even now be calling it to mind. And the fruits of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and et cetera.
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Joy is known only to believers. It is in the Lord. It is lasting and it endures.
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Joy remains in all difficult situations. It is not dependent upon what is around us, but what does
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David say? He says that we're not just going to have joy. We're going to have gladness, happiness, and joy.
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Our circumstances will be good and will cause us to praise God. But our relationship with God through Christ is the grounding for our joy.
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That is something truly to praise. And notice that he will give praise to your name.
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Have you ever noticed how some Psalms seem to be linked together? Our last Psalm that we considered,
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Psalm 8. If you have your Bible still open, if you turn back maybe one page to the end of Psalm 8, he said,
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I am going to sing praise to your name, oh Lord, most high.
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How does Psalm 8 end? Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth.
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Well, David continues. In verse three, he writes, when my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence.
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Notice David's bold expectation that his enemies, who are
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God's enemies, will be defeated. It isn't if my enemies will be turned back.
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It's when my enemies are turned back. But also notice the complete ruin that will come upon them.
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This is not a defeat of our enemies where we win this one battle and they will come back another day to fight us.
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No, David is talking about their complete and total ruin, their complete and total defeat.
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They fall and perish before his, that is God's glorious presence.
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Proverbs 28, one says, the wicked flee when no man pursues. Why? Because of the presence of the
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Lord. That is who they are fleeing from. And this should give us great hope when we think of the enemies that face us today, internal enemies and external enemies.
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Think of that hymn that we sing from time to time, the church is one foundation. And it says, amid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war, the church is at war.
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And then another line says, by schisms rent asunder and by heresies distressed.
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We have internal enemies, heresies, schisms, false leaders, false theologies.
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But we are also facing external enemies, the state, the unbelieving world.
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We should be of good cheer. Why? Well, the very next verse tells us why.
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In verse four, David writes this, for you have maintained my right and my cause.
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Who is maintaining your right and your cause? Who is maintaining our right and our cause?
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It is God himself. It is the Lord of hosts. The God of battles, the
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King of glory. That is who is on your side. And he is on his throne.
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Now we live in a country that doesn't have a king. But if we did, when the king is on his throne, things happen.
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And those things that happen are judging. Decisions are rendered.
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God is even now on his throne. Our Lord Jesus Christ reigns. And he is on the throne and he is judging in righteousness.
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He is not like a man whose judgments may change from day to day, depending on what he eats or how much he slept or whatever.
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No, he is judging with righteousness. Righteousness is justice and with equity.
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But here we must be careful. We must have a caution. God will only defend our right and our cause if it is his right and his cause that we are about.
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If we are going about leaning on our own understanding, we cannot expect God's help.
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We cannot expect his support. But if our wills are conformed to his will and our causes and our rights are his causes and rights, then we can truly turn to God and say, thy will be done, then he will support us.
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But David continues to verse five. You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked.
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You have blotted out their name forever and ever. God rebukes nations.
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We think too much of individualism in our day. We're always thinking of the individual.
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In the church or anywhere we go, everywhere we look, we think of individuals.
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But the Lord here is rebuking nations. And yes, of course, they're made up of individuals.
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But it's important that our enemies of God are being judged together, not individually.
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Those who have aligned themselves against the Lord and against his anointed, that's who the
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Lord is judging. We see something of this in Psalm 2. You may remember, now it's been some time, but when we considered
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Psalm 2 in which we read this. Why did the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing?
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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the
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Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us.
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He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision and he shall speak, rebuke, to them in his wrath and distress them in his hot displeasure.
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Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. The nations have risen against the
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Lord. The people plot in vain. The Lord's enemies have arrayed themselves, but our
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Lord laughs and rebukes them. But David continues in verse five.
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He says, and you have destroyed the wicked. Do not forget this.
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There is a great temptation for us to forget it. We see the enemies of God seeming to be successful today.
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They seem to be having a field day, doing whatever they want. The saints of God are persecuted.
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The church is impotent. We think the wicked will win.
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We have some theologies that talk about the wicked winning, at least to a point, but God destroys the wicked.
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And not only that, their name will be remembered no more.
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Notice the contrast here with verse two, where David says, I will praise your name.
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God's name will be praised. God's name will last. The names of his enemies will be forgotten.
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And if they are remembered at all, it'll be to give glory to God. Well, this can be said that these first six verses pointed to God's past dealing with his enemies.
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There's past tense language all through this, that in the days gone by, God has done these things.
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Think back to David and his conversation with Saul. Why did he have great confidence that he could destroy the
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Philistine? Because God had acted before. Well, that's important for us to remember.
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If David is writing this Psalm about that event, this would surely be the case. Not only was
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David delivered from the lion and the bear, but God time and time and time again delivered his people from their enemies.
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Well, now David continues. And we pick up in verse seven, but the
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Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
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The Lord is the same today as he was yesterday and as he will be tomorrow.
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Our Lord never changes. Not only that, there's no shadow of turning with him.
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He shall endure forever and ever. And so will his judgments.
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Are you concerned about justice? Do you think the wicked will get away with it?
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Do you think that real justice will never be done? And maybe you comfort yourself that say, well, yeah, one of these days,
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God will judge them. But for this whole life now, they will have success.
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And just a side note. We hear a lot about justice these days, don't we? One group chanting, we need justice for these people.
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We need justice for those people. Or they'll say, no justice, no peace.
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But they are looking at man's justice. They're attempting to establish another standard.
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Mostly their own, but not limited to that. It's sort of today's unbelievers version of saying, we will not have this man rule over us.
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We will not have God's standard applied to us. Remember what the serpent said to Eve in the garden?
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You shall be like God. You will be able to determine right from wrong.
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You'll be able to define what justice is. We hear that all the time.
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And it gives us despair that there'll ever be real justice. But remember, he who sits in the heavens shall laugh.
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He has established his king on his holy hill. And he has prepared his throne for judgment.
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And it is coming in this life and at the end of the age.
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Well, David continues in verse eight. He shall judge the world in righteousness. And he shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.
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There's another cry we hear a lot today, equity. And they're not talking about financial equity.
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They're talking about equality of outcome. We need equity. It's coming.
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I don't know if they'll be happy when they get it, but it is coming. He will judge, it says, in righteousness.
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In our call to worship, we read Psalm 98, nine. For he is coming to judge the earth with righteousness.
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He shall judge the world and the peoples with equity. Well, there's judgment that is coming, but there's also comfort.
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Have you ever thought about when judgment comes about yourself? We know judgment is coming.
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It says all people will be judged. What will it be like for us?
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On that day, we sang one of my favorite hymns today.
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And can it be? The last line, no condemnation.
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Now I dread. I can't even say it without singing it. So you'll, I'm not going to sing for you.
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No condemnation. The next verse, verse nine. The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed and a refuge in times of trouble.
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Our Lord is a refuge for his people. When that day of judgment comes, we will have a refuge in our
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God. A friend of mine once put it this way. When the books of judgment are open against you and they are about to read the charges against you, the
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Lord Jesus will say, I cannot read this. It is covered in blood. The blood of the lamb.
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He will be a refuge for the meek of the earth. That's us. He will be a shelter for his people.
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David continues in verse 10. And for those who know your name will put their trust in you.
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For you Lord have not forsaken those who seek you. There it is again.
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The name of God. It's important for us to remember that name. You may remember when we considered
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Ephesians one, that's the name that we bear. When he adopted us, our given name was removed.
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That given name was Adamson. And now we have a new name, Yahweh's son.
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That's what's on our now rebirth certificate or perhaps better, new birth certificate.
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Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Seek the
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Lord while he may be found, he says. So we are to trust in the
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Lord. We should seek him and all who seek him, he will not turn away. He is ever ready to receive you.
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He never changes. That's why we can trust him. Remember what's written in Psalm 37, verses five and six.
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Commit your ways to the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring at the pass.
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He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.
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We can trust in the Lord. We can seek him in our times of trouble. And this should motivate us.
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And what does it motivate us to do? What David notes in the very next verse, verse 11.
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Sing praises to the Lord who dwell in Zion. Declare his deeds among the people.
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Again, praise tied to declaring the deeds which God has done in your life and in the lives of his people.
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But just like in verse one, we have the deeds of the past, but we were looking at the deeds of the future.
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Just a moment. So what God has done in the past, he will do in the future. He will not forget his promises to protect his people and destroy his enemies.
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In verse 12, he writes, when he avenges blood, he remembers them.
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He does not forget the cry of the humble, no matter how desperate our times look. And depending on what podcasts you listen to or what blog posts you read or what you watch on the news, it looks pretty bad.
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You may think again, we might be tempted that God has forgotten us, but he remembers and does not forget the cry of the humble.
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Well, now David continues. David writes in verse 13, have mercy on me,
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O Lord. Consider my trouble. David here, in some ways, has looked to the past.
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Then he has looked to the future in this Psalm. Again, in his encounter with Goliath, he had confidence in God that God would act in the future because he has acted in the past, but yet David needed to act in the then present.
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Have mercy on me, O Lord. Consider my trouble. That is great confidence or should give us great confidence in the present.
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We cannot think, well, yes, God has done it before. Oh yes, and God will do it again. But somehow he is powerless to do it now.
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Many are tempted to think that way. Many are tempted to think that we are on our own, that we have to lean on our own understanding.
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If you think that way, or if we are thinking that way, let us cry out with David, have mercy on me,
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O Lord. Consider my troubles. Well, what troubles are you facing today?
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Are you concerned about your health, your finances, your job, your family, our crumbling culture that crumbles down around us, the large tasks that stand before you that may be overwhelming?
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Are those your troubles? Cry out to God. Have mercy on me,
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O Lord, and consider my troubles. But it is not just the troubles and challenges we face in daily life, although it includes those, but he will also deal with us, deal for us rather, with our enemies.
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Verse 13 again, have mercy on me, O Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me.
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This is sometimes forgotten today in America that we have enemies. After all, we worship in safety.
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We worship in comfort. The air conditioning is on. We have no concern that somebody's going to bust through and interrupt our service.
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We can talk about the things of God every day on the street with no fear of reprisal, maybe rejection, but no fear of reprisal.
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We think that if we use winsome and friendly, soft -spoken tones, that we will win a favorable impression from our enemies.
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This may lull us into a dullness, thinking that our enemies don't exist and they're not out there, but rest assured, brethren, our enemies are out there and they hate us.
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Jesus said in John 15, 18, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before you.
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The world hates Christ and they will hate us who are called by his name.
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The enemies of God are all about us and we must cry out to God for them too.
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And he will lift us up from the gates of death. Our enemies at the moment are only using speech against us, but we know that the
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Lord has raised the bar. You can't say I hate you and think that it's just mere words.
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What does he say when you say that you hate somebody, that you commit murder in your heart?
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We just heard read in our public reading of the first murder, hatred in the heart.
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It started with, well, we don't know about words, but certainly feelings. And what is the outcome when we cry to our
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Lord? Verse 14, that I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion and I will rejoice in your salvation.
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When we cry out to the Lord, asking him to consider our troubles and to save us from our enemies, the very next verse,
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David says, I'm gonna praise you. I'm gonna praise you again as certainly you are going to save me.
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He expects God to act. After all, he has acted in the past. He has acted in the future.
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There's no reason to David to think that he would not act in the present as well. And he will rejoice in the
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God of his salvation. Well, David continues. What does the judgment of God look like?
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You may be thinking that. Well, David gives us in verse 15 and 16 a description of what that looks like.
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The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made, in the net which they hid.
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Their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes.
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The wicked is snared in the works of his own hands. What does judgment look like?
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The wicked being caught in their own devices. The pit that they dug for us, they will fall into.
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The snare that they set for us, they will be caught up in it. Remember, Goliath was killed by his own sword, the very instrument that he was going to use against the enemies of God.
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And when we think sometimes that the wicked will prosper, I know I talked about this all to an extent, and we do think that they prosper.
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And we think because of their prosperity, I can use their tactics for myself.
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I can use their strategies for me. The wicked are caught in their devices.
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I think this might have been a little bit about behind what Jesus said to Peter. You remember in the garden,
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Peter drew the sword and was ready to fight. That may be a long shot, but it may be what the
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Lord had in mind there. Our works are not the wicked's works.
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Our works are God's works. We should put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We should remember our elder brother and imitate his works.
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Well, David now kind of gives us a pause. I don't know how many
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Psalms have meditation right in the middle of it, but this one surely does.
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So let us meditate. It's like David is crying out, meditate on these things, meditate on the judgments of God.
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There is a seriousness about this. This is no light subject. And we often talk about the judgment of God very lightly, don't we?
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We must be humble when we think of the judgments of God. There's a seriousness to the subject.
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The very character of God requires punishment for sin. The wages of sin are death.
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We're so used to death that it doesn't even surprise us. It's not arbitrary.
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God hates iniquity. He hates sin. Despite what that billboard says, he is angry with the wicked every day.
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And his anger is displayed in his judgment and punishment for it.
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In verse 17, it says here, the wicked shall be turned into hell.
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Well, that word is actually sheol, the grave. But I think the translators did the right thing in saying hell.
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Hell is before those who are judged by God. The lake of fire, eternal punishment.
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This is no light thing. Your neighbors, your friends, your relatives may have that before them.
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But we who are redeemed by the blood of Christ should take special note too, that God's hatred for sin required punishment for it.
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God cannot spare the guilty. He cannot just wink at sin and have it go away.
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No, it requires punishment. And he spared not his only son, but offered him as a propitiation for our sins.
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And when we read these verses that David wrote, we should meditate on that seriousness of that judgment, because if not by the grace of God, that would be us.
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And this should move us to even more praise. Praise in the gates.
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And it should deepen the gladness and joy in our hearts. But even more so, when we read the next verse, verse 18, for the needy shall not always be forgotten.
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And the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. The truth is, the needy, those who need salvation are not forgotten.
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Sometimes we think the needy are forgotten. Well, sometimes they think that. They think that they are forgotten.
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It may only appear that way. The Lord never forgets the cause of his people.
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Remember, the armies of Israel had forgotten that, had thought, rather, that God had forgotten about them.
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When Goliath challenged him all those days, it required probably a teenager to remind him of that.
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God never forgets the poor. And we think of poor here, we shouldn't be thinking of the financially burdened or those people who have less money than others.
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And we shouldn't think of the needy as those who are in want of any material goods. No, rather, the poor and needy are those who are hard -pressed and afflicted by adversity.
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That could be us and various things and needy souls, often fear that they are forgotten.
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Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt forgotten or forsaken by the
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Lord? Satan will tempt you to, but we must remember the words of our
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Lord in Hebrews 13, five, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
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He says substantially the same thing at the end of the Great Commission. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
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And then it is confirmed right after that with an amen. And amen, as you know, means whatever was just said, so be it, let it happen.
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For those who wait on the Lord, and I think this is the hardest thing in the Christian life, to wait on the
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Lord. We live in an immediacy culture. If it doesn't happen right away, must not be true, right?
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Even in the church, we think that way. Can you imagine if the pilgrims felt that way?
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Half of them died on the voyage over. They get here and it's terrible.
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If they were the modern Christian, they'd say, well, I guess we ought to pack up and go. The Lord must not be in it. No, they waited on the
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Lord. And for those who wait on the Lord, they will find that they never waited in vain.
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He has not forgotten us and he will not forget you. What should be the result of all this that David has reviewed for us?
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How should we respond to these things? When we consider the past works of God, when we think of the future works that God is having, we think and consider our present troubles and trials which
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God is alleviating day by day. Or what should we think as we seek to take dominion in this world and establish a new
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Christendom and take Longwood for Christ? Well, as we are doing these activities, there's one thing that we know it's going to happen.
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We know that the enemies of God will come out in force. But not only that, even in our daily lives, we all face
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Goliaths. We all face insurmountable trials. How should we respond?
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How should we respond when the enemies of God array themselves against us?
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And we are not only faced with enemies without, as I've already mentioned, but also enemies within here.
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Doubt, fear. What should be our response?
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Well, thankfully, David has given it to us. In verse 19, arise, O Lord.
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He calls out to God to act. We can think of all the weapons of our warfare.
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The most powerful one we have is prayer. One man called it, it's like having air superiority.
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He cries out to God. Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail.
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Now, he's talking about his enemies. But maybe when we read, do not let man prevail, the number one man we should think about is ourselves.
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Don't let our way of thinking, don't let leaning on our understanding prevail. But he is talking about external enemies here.
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Do not let man prevail. When the enemies of God come in like a flood, and you remember that verse from Isaiah 59, 19, when the enemy of God come in like a flood, the spirit of the
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Lord will lift up a standard against them. When Satan and his followers, and that sometimes, sadly, includes deceived
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Christians, shall come in like a flood, and it will come in, and they will come in.
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And like a flood, it will give us the impression or threaten to sweep everything that we're trying to do and carry it away before it.
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It looks overwhelming, and it cannot be stopped. But when we cry out, arise,
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O Lord, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard. The Lord God will respond in that day.
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Remember David, when he faced Goliath, he knew he could trust in the
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Lord. Arise, O Lord, do not let that man prevail.
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He knew that he could trust God. But not only that, the
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Lord, David cries out, the nations will have fear put into them.
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Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.
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Let them know that they're not facing against other flesh and blood, but they're facing the living and true
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God. Remind them that they are but men. Well, that calls into question something for us.
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And as we consider these imprecatory Psalms, well, this is not truly one, but it gives the same context.
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We want God to destroy the wicked, but how best shall we ask
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God to destroy the wicked? Well, I would like to say that the very first thing that we should ask for is not to send them to hell, but the best way to defeat the enemies of God is that God would make our enemies our friends, that God would make his enemies into his friends, and not only friends, but also brothers and sisters in Christ into children of God.
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We have two great examples of, well, we have more than two, but we have many great examples. I'll give you two. Saul, not
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Saul, the first king of Israel, but Saul, who became the apostle
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Paul. He was an enemy of God. He was in the ranks of the enemies of God.
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He persecuted the church. He was at least complicit with murder and torture.
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But then the Lord defeated his enemy, utterly ruined him by making him his friend.
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That's how we should look at our enemies. But another one I only learned recently. It's a very interesting story.
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We were talking about him earlier today, King Alfred. There's a lot about King Alfred that I can't get into.
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Time does not permit that. But many of you may have heard of him. He was king in England in the 800s.
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And over a long period of time, he had an enemy by the name of Guthrum, a
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Viking. This was against the Norman, the Northmen, a Dane. And Guthrum and his people plagued
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Alfred and his people for many years. But when Alfred finally defeated him in battle, but he didn't kill
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Guthrum. Instead of killing him, Alfred had him baptized and took him as his godson and gave him a new name,
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Athelstan, and Athelstan lived at peace with Alfred and his people the rest of his days.
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Guthrum was utterly defeated. And when we think of our enemies in our day, that's how we would see them defeated.
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That's how we should call out and say, arise, O Lord. Let that be before us.
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Let us not despair, but let us trust in God. Let us pray.
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Our gracious God and Father, we thank you, O Lord, that you have caused these types of Psalms to be written for us.
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That they would remind us, O Lord, of all your marvelous works and that we should consider them, not only so that we would know them, but that we would live by them.
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We pray, Father, that we would not be, like we've heard recently, hearers of the word only, but also doers, that as we go out and fight and fight in the fields which you have given us to fight, that we would remember that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual and powerful to pulling down of principalities and strongholds.
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And that, Lord, we would pray that our enemies would be utterly defeated and that our enemies would become our friends, just as we, once your enemies, have now become not only your friends, but your adopted children.
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And we ask this in Christ's name, amen. Well, let's continue our worship through the presentation of tithes and offerings.
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Please stand and let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, if we were to think about in how many ways you have blessed us, we would be greatly embarrassed, for it is an embarrassment of riches and blessings that you have poured down upon us.
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And it would be an embarrassment for us not to have such blessings, but to have forgotten about all the blessings that you have given us, including the work you have given us to do, the funds by which some of that work bring in, and our ability to bless the church by it.
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We thank you, oh Lord, that we have this time of Thanksgiving put into our liturgy, that we may always give back to you a portion of what has been given to us.
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We pray, Father, for those who use these funds, that they would use them wisely in the care for this church and for your people.
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And we ask this in Jesus's name, amen. Well, let us give glory to God in the singing of the
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Gloria Patri. ♪ Glory be to the
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Father, and to the
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Son, and to the Holy Ghost. ♪ ♪ As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
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♪ The Lord be with you.
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And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the
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Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, oh
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Holy Lord. Father Almighty, Everlasting God, because you sent your beloved
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Son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, that we may, without shame or fear, rejoice to behold his appearing.
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Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.
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Hosanna. Please be seated.
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And let us pray. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who of your tender mercy gave your only
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Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption, who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world and did institute and in his holy gospel commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of that as precious death until his coming again.
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Hear us, oh merciful Father, we beseech you and grant that we, receiving these, your creatures of bread and wine, according to your
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Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood.
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And we are bold to ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. For in the night in which he was portrayed, our
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Lord took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, hey, eat.
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This is my body which is broken for you. Likewise, after supper he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink this all of you.
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This is the new testament or new covenant in my blood. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the
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Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, we proclaim the faith. Let us pray.
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Let us prepare our hearts to approach the table with this prayer. Let us pray.
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Come to this, your table, oh merciful
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Lord, trusting in our own righteousness and in your manifold and great mercies.
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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same
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Lord who always shows mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son,
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Jesus Christ, and to drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be cleaned by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us, amen.
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Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us. The gifts of God for the people of God.
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I don't know if you noticed when we were getting ready to prepare to come to the table that I believe a youth cried out like, yeah, that's how we should approach the table.
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The victory is already won. We should be, I hope somebody one day writes a non -somber communion hymn, right?
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There should be some sense of victory there. Well, let us make this prayer of commitment together.
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Let us pray. Almighty and ever -living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your son, our savior,
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Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.
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And oh Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily, safe which is at work in every good deed.
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And now Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our
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Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, the honor and glory now and forever.
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Amen. Please stand. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
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Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him, all heavenly hosts.
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Praise Father, Son. Receive now the blessing.
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Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
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To God, our savior, who alone is wise, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and forever.
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Amen. ♪ Christ within me,