Sunday, March 28, 2021 AM

A good Sunday school hour. I want to welcome you to Sunnyside Baptist this morning. If you're visiting, we're especially glad that you're here with us to worship with us today. We'll get started with a few announcements this morning as everyone gets seated.

Looking ahead to our upcoming activities for the week, come back this evening for our evening service at 5 30 here at the church. There is truth group for the young adults in the congregation after the service.

That's happening tonight. And then Wednesday dinner at 5 45 for the whole church. You're welcome to attend their 6 30 Bible study and prayer and tag for the kids. And this week is passion week. So Palm Sunday today, we've got good Friday, this Friday coming up, there'll be a service for good Friday at 6 30 here at the church along with the Lord's supper.

And then Easter next Sunday, no evening service next Sunday. And also because Mrs. Roberts is going to be out of town, there will not be children's church next Sunday. Kids will be in here during worship as well.

This week's fighter verse comes from Philippians continuing in chapter two, Philippians chapter two, verses 12 through 13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. We still have the need in the nursery as far as nursery workers are concerned. I'm going to leave that out there. I thought I had heard that maybe that was still filled, but it's still in the bulletin.

If you are interested in helping out in the nursery, please contact Marla Hovarter for the Sunday school hour. We're also still doing operation Christmas child stuff. So for April donate yo-yos, jump ropes, and then small puzzle sets.

Again, we want to try and get something that can fit inside of a shoe box, but we're doing that throughout the year. So it's easy to gather those things rather than all at the very end of the year. A few announcements in the bulletin regarding some craft needs for tag.

And then we also want to, it's open to the church, but a wedding shower for Hannah Horner and Daryl Hamilton is going to be coming up on Saturday, April 17th, here at the church. The time, exact time is still to be determined, but they're registered at Amazon and they would love it if you could attend there.

And then lastly, on April 24th, here at the church from 8 a .m. until 11 a .m., there's going to be a church work day. The exact projects are still to be determined, but be on the lookout for more information there.

So April 24th, church work day. Any other announcements before we get started this morning? All right. Well, we are going to have a time of preparation and prayer this morning. And then after we're done with that, Michael will open.

Us in prayer. Heavenly Father, we praise your name today. Who you are and what you do is thoroughly,.

Completely, eternally good. And here on this day, as we remember the triumphal entry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the fulfillment of your promises, entering in to Jerusalem to declare the good news of the kingdom.

And here we are today, so many generations past, and we give you the praise and we give you the glory for advancing the fame of your name and the good news of your son, Jesus Christ, and the power of your Holy Spirit throughout the world.

And here we are, named and numbered among the Gentiles who have been blessed with the light of Jesus Christ, that even this far off land, in this far distant time, that we too join with the choir to sing Hosanna to the Son of David, to pledge our allegiance to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, to do our part in the song and the praise and worship of the Lord.

And we do not do this by our own merits or in our own strength. Heavenly Father, we look to you for these things. We need your grace. We need your understanding. We need your Holy Spirit. Help us to worship you today.

Fill our view with the excellencies of your Son, Jesus Christ. We ask for these mercies all in the name of your Son, the one with whom you are well pleased. Amen.

Call to Worship and Scripture Reading

Well, good morning, Sunnyside. What a beautiful day the Lord has made on this Palm Sunday. And there are some folks we haven't seen for some time that have joined us today, so you be sure to welcome them back into the fold live and in person.

If you don't know who they are, they're sitting over on this side of the—they're about halfway, three-fourths of the way back. If you would stand with me and read, call to worship together. This is from Psalm 61, one through four.

Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. Our first song is going to be hymn number one, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. And you sing from the heart because it's a great day to be joyful.

Scripture reading this morning is from 1 John, a little book close to the back of your Bible.

John wrote the gospel that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in believing have life. And he wrote this letter that we might know that we have life. Chapter two, 1 John, verse 17.

I'm going to start at verse one. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And by this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him truly, the love of God is perfected.

By this, we may be sure that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.

The old commandment is the word that you have heard. And at the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you. Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his namesake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, children, because you know the father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the father but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your apostle John who recorded these words for us, that we may be encouraged, that we may be strengthened, that we may learn to walk in your will and your ways to further your kingdom, to share Christ and to bring you glory and honor through your son, the Lord Jesus.

In his name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you. Our first next song will be through HMA 73, your hymns modern and ancient, Black Hymnal 73. And then the next will be hopefully the handout that you picked up for the cause.

And we will sing the first and second chorus, third and fourth chorus, fifth chorus twice. If you didn't follow that, I'll repeat it. So let the earth resound. Chorus and the fifth, the Gettys piece. I know many of you remember this.

We sang this in.

Children's Choir on this day in this place for this purpose, to praise you, glorify you, to respond.

To the truths of your word in a way that would be honoring to you and fitting for our submission unto you. Lord, we pray for grace. I pray that we would hear your word and rejoice in it. I pray that we would receive your word and that we would be the amen of your will on earth as you desire it to be in heaven.

Lord, we ask that you would bring great joy to our hearts today as we consider the worthiness of your son, Jesus Christ, that especially on this week of all weeks, no matter what kind of bad news is declared over and again, that we would respond with good news, that our refrain would be praise to Christ, for he is indeed worthy.

And we pray these things, looking to you, humbling ourselves before you as little children in need of their father's guidance, as hungry beggars in need of your bread. We pray these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 117. Psalm 117. The title of the sermon is Praise the Lord, All the Nations. Praise the Lord, all the nations. We see there at the end of this small little chapter, the refrain, praise the Lord.

The same at the end of chapter or Psalm 116, the same at the end of Psalm 115 and so on. This is indeed the key phrase, the key word of, yes, all the Psalms, but especially here in what is known as the Great Hallel, Psalms 113 through 118, the great hymn that was sung by the Jews around Passover time.

The hymn that undoubtedly Jesus and his disciples sang after their last supper. So this hymn is full of reflections upon God's goodness and grace, anticipations of celebrating the feast of Passover together.

These Psalms were composed and compiled by those brought back from the exile, who have gathered back in Jerusalem, rebuild the walls and the temple in anticipation of the coming of the son of David, in anticipation of the Messiah, because God had promised that there in that place among those people, he would forge a new covenant.

So they live in hope and they sing these songs and they keep the feasts and they believe. Psalm 117, though it is small, is part of this great hymn and we rejoice in this word. If you would stand with me, I'm going to read the entirety of the psalm.

This is the word of the Lord. Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Laud him, all you peoples, for his merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated. Today is Palm Sunday. Is this still on the calendar, by the way? Some calendars, it's still there. Some calendars, they've dropped it off. What's so important about Palm Sunday? We read the story in the Gospels that Jesus, as part of the preparation for the Passover week, sent his disciples to secure a colt, a donkey for him to ride.

In fulfillment of prophecies in Zechariah, he rides upon the donkey into Jerusalem. He starts on the other side of the Mount of Olives and he's heading towards Jerusalem and the people immediately understand what he's doing.

They see the picture of Messiah promised so long ago. They know the timing that Daniel gave. It is the season for Messiah. They know it's time. Surely this Jesus of Nazareth, with all of his wonders and all of his powers, certainly this must be Messiah.

So they sing. They sing refrains from the great Hallel and honor Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah on this Passover week. Luke 19, we can read the story of what we call the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Verse 37 and 38.

Then as he was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen. Saying, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven. Glory in the highest. People have been laying down their coats along the ground, paving the road for their emperor to enter the city. They had but poor pavement to offer. They had but poor tribute to bring.

They cut down the palm branches, a sign of independence and revolution from their Maccabean days. But they bring the palm branches, a sign of their solidarity as Israelites. And they come and they wave the palm branches in honor of their Messiah.

They don't know what kind of deliverance is coming. They don't know what kind of power is going to be revealed. They don't really know what kind of Messiah he is yet. So they're all about just half right.

But they do sing this praise to Jesus from Psalm 118. They're thinking about the great Hillel. It is Passover week. And they honor him and they call him Messiah. They call him the King that God has sent.

And the religious leaders present rebukes Jesus for allowing them to do that. Telling him, you quiet them down. They shouldn't be saying that of you. And Jesus said, if they were quiet, the rocks would cry out.

Even the stones would cry out praise if they were silent. Of course, he's quoting from Habakkuk, a passage that rebukes corrupt religious leaders. So that probably didn't settle them down at all. But he's in this parade.

These Israelites are excited. Messiah is here and he's coming to Jerusalem and he begins the descent, the winding descent down the slopes of Mount Olive, the Mount of Olives. He's heading into the Kidron Valley.

And then he's going to wind his way back up the slope of Mount Zion into the Eastern Gate, right there into the temple. And as he begins his descent, he looks upon the city of Jerusalem and he begins to weep.

He begins to weep, not for his own suffering, not for his own crucifixion that is on the horizon. And he knows it's coming and he's been talking about it, but he weeps because he knows what's going to happen to Jerusalem.

And he says it in detail, that armies are going to come and besiege them and build ramps around them and they're going, and these armies are going to destroy Jerusalem and not one brick will be left upon another.

And the horrendous slaughter that's going to occur moves him to tears. So Jerusalem, if you only knew the things that make for peace, that they would not repent. They would not come to him as chicks would to a mother hen.

They would not turn to the good news of the Messiah. In fact, they would soon reject him and crucify him on a hill outside Jerusalem. And he says, now the things that would make for peace are hidden from your eyes.

Judgment is set. He declares judgment as he enters into Jerusalem. But the parade continues and the climax of the parade is the temple itself. When Jesus comes into the temple, he looks about at all that is going on and he sees a great deal of activity.

Why wouldn't there be? It is Passover week. It is crampacked, this very large and spacious temple grounds. It is crampacked with people, crampacked with their livestock and the tables of the money changers.

And Jesus begins to clean house. He begins to flip tables and send livestock scattering. People begin to flee the disturbance. Jesus is cleaning out the temple. He begins to make room and space in the temple.

All of a sudden, it's not as crowded anymore. All of a sudden, there's a whole lot of room. Why is Jesus making room in the temple? Why is he clearing out all the clutter and the mess of this apostate second temple Judaism that is turned away from the truth of the scriptures?

Why is he making room? Why is he doing this act of judgment? He tells us. He doesn't leave it to us to guess. He tells us what he's doing with his live action parable. He says, verses 45 and 46, he went into the temple, began to drive out those who bought and sold it and saying to them, it is written, my house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.

The den of thieves quote is from Jeremiah, judgment upon the religious leaders back then, who also lost their city and their temple. But here he says, my house is a house of prayer. The full quote is from Isaiah 56, seven.

He says, it is written, my house is a house of prayer for all nations, for all nations. Isaiah 56 is a very hope filled chapter. Begins to talk about the foreigner and the children of the foreigner, the children of the Gentiles, then the descendants of the nations.

It talks about the eunuch. These were not the ones who were allowed to come into the temple and worship and feel that they were close to God. No, they were kept at arm's length, especially, especially in the time of Christ.

They had erected physical barriers and put up signs. It says no Gentiles allowed. You keep away. But in Isaiah 56, what is promised? It is promised that the Gentiles and the eunuch would come into the temple and find acceptance with God.

And the house of the Lord would be a house of prayer for all nations. So Jesus comes into the temple and he begins to make room. Why is he making room? He's making room for the nations. And that parade would continue.

In the language of the Old Testament, the nations would stream, will stream upwards into Jerusalem. Jesus would say as he cleansed the temple, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

That week he was crucified upon the cross and he was raised the third day and into his temple who comes? Jew and Gentile, living stones. Christ is building a new temple full of the nations. Palm Sunday is an amazing day, a day worthy of honor that we praise the Lord and rejoice in the hope of the gospel.

And it is a day that should not be a surprise at all in the story of the Bible, especially when we read passages like Psalm 117. Psalm 117 points us toward the scale of the resurrection. Palm Sunday points us toward the scale of the resurrection.

What's going to happen? Oh, the nations are going to come to the Lord because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So when we read in Psalm 117 that the nations, the Gentiles, are to praise the Lord and to laud him because of his grace and his truth toward them.

We recognize something here in this Psalm that we see elsewhere in the scriptures. The fact of the matter is the horizon of grace marks the dawn of praise. The horizon of grace marks the dawn of praise.

Everywhere grace goes, praise rises. Those who are sitting in darkness at long last upon them a light dawned and coming to know who Christ is, the praise, his praise rises. Well, in Psalm 117, having set the theme of Palm Sunday, what do we have here in Psalm 117?

First of all, the nations are called to praise in verse one. The nations are called to praise. And in verse two tells us that the nations have cause to praise. Psalm 117 is so small that sometimes in the ancient manuscripts it's appended to Psalm 116.

It's just two verses, tack it on to the end of 116. But its scope is so expansive it has rightly been given its own number. And this is a call to worship, a call to worship most excellent. It is five stanzas long, but in just these five brief standards, we are transported across all of culture and time.

The doctrines of creation and the incarnation and eschatology are all glimpsed. We are told of a transition between the old and new covenant and all of this, all of this, and the worshiper is ably instructed in the ways of praise.

There's a lot packed in to this Psalm, but notice how the nations are instructed, how the worshipers are called to give honor and glory to God. Two instructive words, praise and laud. We have been talking about that word praise for quite some time.

It is the hallel and hallelujah. Hallel is a very common word in the Old Testament to praise the Lord. What does this mean? The word means to clarify in boast, to clarify in boast. At its heart is a word which depicts making color clear through light.

So the one who praises the Lord then is as the prism which refracts light into its many colors. Those who are made in God's image and filled with the light of his glory are to make clear the myriad colors of his excellencies and not just the Jews, but the Gentiles too.

All the nations are to do this. Praise and laud. You know, laud, laud and honor. How often do we use the word laud? Hardly at all. What does this word mean? When God paints an especially beautiful sunset, often one of us in the family will come running inside and say, hey everybody, you've got to come see this.

And we stop everything we're doing because you've got to go then to see the full effect. And we go out and see what God has done. That is the meaning of laud. It means to stop everything with a loud voice.

You see in our English the connection between laud and loud, very close. So what are the nations, the tribes, the Gentiles, the peoples, what are they being instructed to do? What are they being called to do?

They're being called to worship God by putting everything else on hold to loudly make God's glories clear. Just stop whatever we're doing and let's make the glories of God clear by boasting in who he is.

And both these words, praise and laud, were present on Palm Sunday. We read them in Luke 19 in verse 37. Then as he was drawing, then as he was now drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen.

There it is, praise and laud. They were both present in this parade that winded its way up into Jerusalem. So this is the exaltation that is compelled. But all of it is called of from the Gentiles and the peoples, all of you give praise and laud to God.

And notice that there's no exception then. Certainly the Jews are called to this, but if all the nations and all the tribes are called to it as well, that means there's no exception allowed. There's nobody left out of these groups, these identifiers.

Hallelujah is for everybody. That's the command, the compulsion of everyone made in God's image is this, to praise the Lord. But everything that has breath, praise the Lord. Psalm 150 says, everybody should be praising the Lord.

Hallelujah shall be the watchword of the nations and the shibboleth of the tribes. Hallelujah, calling upon us all. Yes, nations rage and people plot to no avail. They pursue rebellion as leaves upon the wind, but they all belong to Christ.

They are His as vessels either of judgment or as vessels of mercy, but they belong to Him. And all Kings and all magistrates should bow the knee and kiss the reigning right hand of Jesus Christ and find refuge in Him.

Everybody is called to this. No nation and no people, no culture, no tribe, no community, no clan, no neighborhood, and no family. None of them have a right to believe what they want or to think of God as they please, or to worship according to their preferences.

Though all the nations worship gods of stone and wood, they are compelled to turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And God who sent forth His Son as the Savior of the world affords not one drop of His blood to waste.

The throne room, worthy is the lamb. The new song, they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.

What did he get one from everyone? A nice representative demographic, a token individual from everyone so that all is equitable. No statistics end with grace. Revelation 7 verses 9 and 11, same group.

After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands.

See where the parade ends up on Palm Sunday? Where did the Palm Sunday parade end? And crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Spurgeon comments on Psalm 117.

He says this, he would call them a people who are not a people and her beloved who was not beloved. We know and believe that no one tribe of men shall be unrepresented in the universal song which will ascend to the Lord of all.

Individuals have already been gathered out of every kindred and people and tongue by the preaching of the gospel and these have right heartedly joined in magnifying the grace which sought them out and brought them to know the Savior.

These are but the advanced guard of a number which no man can number who will come ere long to worship the all-glorious one. So when we make disciples of all nations we teach them to praise and laud their Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

All nations are called to this, to praise and laud. We have far too much praise and laud of the self. We have far too much praise and laud of the of the self amongst the tribes. Too much clarifying of the self.

Too much everybody hold up and pay attention to the self. The clarifying and halting amongst the tribes in the name of the self is not honoring to God. We are to abandon idols for the one and true living God.

All nations are called to praise and the nations have cause to praise. Notice the magnitude of their salvation here in the psalm. The magnitude of their salvation in verse two. For his merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endures forever.

What is the expression of of their salvation? We have the words merciful kindness and truth. What is the expanse of it? Well we see that it is great and that it endures forever. This is a magnificent salvation.

Yes the nations are called to praise but they have every reason to do so in reflection upon the nature of the salvation that is being presented to them in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is not poor pittance for beggars.

This is not some righteously forced decorum for inmates. We are not to despise the the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and long suffering. We are to remember it is the goodness of God. It is the kindness of God which leads us to repentance.

What are the what is the expression of this salvation? We have merciful kindness and truth. Translations vary. Sometimes it's just mercy and truth. Sometimes loving kindness and truth. Covenant faithfulness and truth.

What are these words that go together so often in the scriptures? Well they're the names of my two oldest sons. Little names of my two oldest sons. Chesed and Emeth. Chesed and Emeth. What is what does Chesed mean?

It means that that God loves because of who he is. That he has set his love on you because of who he is and not because of who you are. And thus we often translate this word grace. Grace. What about the word Emeth?

Fundamentally it means truth as it is translated. But it is truth with with God being faithful to his word. Keeping all of his promises because of who he is. And not whether we have kept up our end of the bargain.

Chesed and Emeth. Mercy and truth. Grace and truth. God had revealed himself full of grace and truth to the Israelites in many portions and in many ways throughout their generations. God had shown them that he was a God of grace and a God of truth.

But here these two aspects of God's goodness are presented to the Gentiles. To the nations. To the tribes outside of Israel. And then they are called to praise and laud God for his grace and his truth.

And these things could not be ignored. Not when his grace is great and his truth is forever. These are too massive to be ignored. We read that his merciful kindness is great. His mercy is great. His grace is great.

What is this word great? It means strong. It means prevailing. We read in Genesis chapters 6 through 8 that the earth was filled up with violence. And we read that the waters of the flood prevailed over the highest mountains.

That word is used. Prevailed over the highest mountains. And those sin abounds. Grace much more abounds. Grace prevails. The grace of God says to sin, depravity, the devil, death, and the grave, let my people go.

Grace abounds. Grace prevails. So the nations give praise to God. And the truth of the Lord endures forever. And forever it remains. And this does not mean that the words of God and the promises of God get old and manage to stick around.

It means that God's plans and God's promises, what God says is as fresh and as new and as sharp and as clear as the day he said it. That's what that means. So these great and prevailing mercies of God and these enduring promises of God, they are presented to the nations, presented to the tribes, and this is their great cause for praising God and lauding God.

Why? Because Jesus Christ is the only Savior for the world. There is one name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. And that is the name of Jesus Christ. For here in Psalm 117, not only do we see the magnitude of our salvation that we have caused to praise, but we also have the manifestation of our Savior.

Let's pay attention to the way that God uses pronouns. Verse 1. Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Do you see it? Laud him, all you peoples. Why do they say it like that? Because they're a bunch of Jews.

And they're in Jerusalem on top of Mount Zion, and they've been gathered back there to, you know, be faithful to the Lord in anticipation of what he's going to do. They've been brought back out of the nations, and boy, they've seen a lot of the nations.

And now they're calling upon the nations where some of their cousins and relatives still live. And they're pointing outward, and they're saying, hey, you Gentiles, hey, you peoples, praise Yahweh. Laud the one true God.

Now, so you see the pronoun you. They're pointing at others. Now watch this. Verse 2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us. Well, how does that work? Doesn't that seem a little odd? All you nations out there, you should praise and honor God for how much he loves us.