Sunday, February 28, 2021 AM

It's good to be together, good to be together. A few announcements as we get started this morning looking ahead for our week here at Sunnyside. Come back tonight for our evening service that starts at 530 and then Truth Group is that still on for this evening for the young adults after the service this evening and then Wednesday 545 dinner for the whole church.

The Browns are out of town this week and they normally help put together the meal so the Smoots have stepped up to take care of the meal this week. If you are not gonna be here for the meal on Wednesday if you could let Jill Smoot know that so she can plan accordingly for that and then at 630 on Wednesday we will have Bible study and prayer for the adults and then truth and grace for the kids as well and then looking ahead to next Sunday we're gonna share in the Lord's Supper together so begin preparing your heart for that.

This week's fighter verse comes from 1st John, 1st John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17. It reads, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

So good verse to meditate on this week. There's still a need in the nursery, the infant room in particular, during Sunday school hour. If you could let Marla Hovater know they still need to fill that position and then there's a few volunteer slots as well during Sunday morning services in the nursery area that need to be filled.

Operation Christmas Child we're still giving to that so they're doing hats and gloves and some small stuffed animals there as well and then if you haven't done so be sure to publicly thank Tristan Call for all the work that she's done on our directory.

I know it was nice putting some of those new pages in our directory with new members here at church but it takes work to do that so be sure and thank her if you see her. Any other announcements before we get started?

God is good. God is faithful. One of the signs of God's faithfulness is the fact that Devon is here this morning. So good to see him. Praise the Lord for that. We have many, many other things to be thankful for so give thanks to God this morning as we prepare our hearts for.

Worship and then after Randy will open us in prayer. It's thankful to be in this.

House today to worship you. I pray that you would encourage our hearts as we meet together. I pray that your name might be glorified and praised in word and song and thought and deed. And Father I just thank you for answering prayer this week.

We just give thanks to you for your goodness and Father we just pray that you would encourage our hearts as we hear your word today and that your Holy Spirit would speak through Brother Michael. Just thank you for each person here.

I pray that throughout this week that you'll make us mindful of who we are in Christ and Father pray that we would be a witness to those around us to share the hope that we have in Christ. Father we just thank you for Jesus and.

We ask these things in his name. Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship?

Kyle was saying I'm so glad each one of you is here today. I'm especially glad that our pastor and his family is here with us today. So or if you are with us online we're grateful that you're online as well.

And so we'll be reading from Psalms this morning chapter 59 verses 9 and 10. Read with me together. Oh my strength I will watch for you. For you O God are my fortress. My God in his steadfast love will meet me.

God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. Our first song this morning is on page 364. My Jesus I love thee. Sing with your.

Whole heart to the Lord. Our Bibles together this morning to Deuteronomy.

Chapter 233 pardon me. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 12. Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said the Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir.

He shone forth from Mount Paran and he came with ten thousands of saints. From his right hand came a fiery law for them. Yes he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sit down at your feet.

Everyone receives your words. Moses commanded a law for us. A heritage of the congregation of Jacob. And he was king in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people were gathered. All the tribes of Israel together.

Let Reuben live and not die. Nor let his men be few. And this he said of Judah. Hear Lord the voice of Judah and bring him to his people. Let his hands be sufficient for him. And may you be a help against his enemies.

And of Levi he said let your Thummim and your Urim be with your Holy One. Whom you tested at Massah. And with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah. Who says of his father and mother I have not seen them.

Nor did he acknowledge his brothers or know his own children. For they have observed your word and kept your covenant. They shall teach Jacob your judgments and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you and a whole burnt sacrifice on your altar.

Bless his substance Lord and accept the work of his hands. Strike the loins of those who rise against him. And of those who hate him that they rise not again. Of Benjamin he said the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him.

Who shelters him all the day long. And he shall dwell between his shoulders. Would you pray with me. Lord God may you bless the reading of your word in our hearing this morning. That we might receive it with reverence and thanksgiving and in hope.

I pray that you would lead us through your word to worship and praise the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior our King. He is the one who has done all things well. He is the one who alone is worthy to open the scroll and to receive an everlasting kingdom.

The one whose enemies are being made his footstool. The one through whom all of your blessings and goodness are mediated to us. Your humble servants. Your redeemed people. We thank you and we praise you Father in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Amen. You may be seated. Our normal pianist and.

Organist missed being here today. We really appreciate Brother Red filling in for us this morning and his preparations just really ministered to my heart already this morning. So our next two songs also again thank Haley also she leads singing as well.

Our next two songs this morning will continue in our songs of worship and hymns. We're gonna have hymn number 363 more love to thee and then we'll also have just a few pages over near the cross 385. More love.

To thee. 363. Thank you everybody who was praying for me. Lord answered our.

Prayers and come out of the hospital on Thursday morning. Good to be here with you today. I was burdened this morning. Blessed thinking I get to be with you today. Get to teach and preach which is always so satisfying to my soul to be with you and to worship with you in the ways that God has gifted each one of us to be together.

And I don't know if you know about James Coates our brother in Christ pastor in Canada who's been arrested and he's in prison now because he will not sign a document stating that he will only preach to those and in a certain fashion according to the Canadian government what they demand.

I know his story is not unique that we have brothers in Christ who are in prison now and have been there for quite some time all across the world but you know we're little children and it doesn't hit home until it gets close.

Why I get to get out of the hospital and preach to you today when James is in prison let's pray for James. Father we know you're good we know that you're in charge and we know that our brother James Coates is in prison and you tell us that we're supposed to pray pray for those who are in prison as though we're right there with them.

And Lord you know that we are we're just little children and we we don't really feel it till it hits close to home but I pray for James Coates today our brother in Christ your servant your child and we know that you are good and faithful we pray that you would encourage him in his prison cell today.

We pray that you would help him to to worship you and to rejoice in you and to reflect upon the victorious truth of Christ's resurrection today on this first day of the week and I pray for his wife and children that you would in this time especially bless them in the absence of of a husband and a father that you would greatly bless that family and support them.

I pray for his flock I for his church and those who labor with him that you would supply their every need and give them courage and strength in this time. Lord I pray for those who have put him into prison claiming to be your servant claiming to be doing good blaming our brother James for being faithful to you and calling calling what is good evil and calling what is evil good and I pray that you would make their speech as gravel in their mouth and I pray that you would make all of their efforts to build against you as the cacophony of Babel that you would scatter them to the winds and that they would fail they would fail in Canada which is Christ's dominion they would fail here in the United States just the territory of Christ as well.

I pray for those whose courage has long lapsed but their words keep tumbling out who have laid blame and seek to cast shade and to assign shame to a man who desires to preach your word to your people and would rather obey you than man.

Those who in the name of Christ condemn our brother James. Lord I pray that you would silence them and I pray that what they speak against faithful men that those words would fail as well. Lord I know that you are good and I pray that you would use this for good.

I pray that you would grant us courage that we would be of good comfort and that we would play the man in the face of the persecution and Lord I thank you for the sufficiency of your word. I thank you that whatever we need as your children you have supplied to us in our Savior Jesus Christ and this word is all about him and here we have your your word the very authority of Jesus Christ perfectly carefully powerfully given to us in a living way by your Holy Spirit and I thank you that we have a sufficient and powerful word today for us so I pray that you administer it to our hearts and I pray that you in your way through our weakness would show yourself strong and that you would do that in churches all over this country and in Canada and across the world so that you would show who the victory belongs to.

It's not it's not in us but it's in Christ. Let me pray these things in his name. Amen. The Lord who is praiseworthy in all things is trustworthy at all times. We are reminded of this in Psalm 116 and we'll be looking at verse 7 this morning as we think about how it is that we are to talk.

What are the things that we should say when we are in the midst of suffering. We certainly find this psalmist in the midst of suffering as he describes the pains of death and the pangs of Sheol as he describes finding trouble after sorrow.

We have already seen how he turns his attention to the Lord how good God is in his character and in the things that God does. And so he has turned his attention there. And that's really what it means to fear the Lord is to think of him first and to think of everything else in light of who God is.

And so now he turns his attention from thinking about the goodness of God what he knows about God. And then we begin to see what the God fear says. It's about what we know. Yes but it's also about what we what we say.

I'm gonna read for us. I encourage you to stand with me as I read Psalm 116. I'll read the entirety of the psalm. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice in my supplications. Because he has inclined his ear to me.

Therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. The pains of death surrounded me and the pains of Sheol laid hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord I implore you deliver my soul.

Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes our God he is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low had he saved me. Return to your rest O my soul. For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believe. Therefore I spoke. I am greatly afflicted. I said in my haste all men are liars.

What then shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me. I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints. O Lord truly I am your servant. I am your servant the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people in the courts of the Lord's house in the midst of you. Oh Jerusalem praise the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. It's so important that we follow the order that we see here in the psalm.

And this is not only the only place that we find it. It's throughout the Word of God especially in the Psalms that we first consider who God is and we remember what God has done. We consider his character consider his ways before we begin to characterize the things going on around us.

After all God is light. God is truth. How would we understand really what is going on around us unless we begin with him. That's why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the beginning of understanding the beginning of knowledge.

We have to begin with God. It is like a map like a map for journeying into unknown territory. So also is what we know about God's goodness before we start talking about our circumstances. And that's really how verses 5 through 6 connects with verses 7 through 11.

How what we know impacts what we say when we consider the fact that God saves us in his goodness as he hears us in our trouble as he shows himself so praiseworthy and trustworthy in our fight for faith.

When we in encounter difficult times and we see the psalmist begin to speak first inwardly. Consider what he says inwardly verse 7. Then consider what he says in an upward fashion in verse 8 and then what he says outward verses 9 through 11.

Even that order is helpful and instructive. How often do we do. We start with speaking outward about the suffering about the pains of death and the pangs of Sheol the trouble and the sorrow. We begin speaking outwardly first before we ever begin to deal with what's in with with what's in our own heart and really with who God is.

But we're going to talk about what the psalmist says to himself. He talks to himself. I saw a wall hanging in someone's house the other day and it said of course I talked to myself sometimes I need an expert opinion.

I won't tell you whose house it is. But there is a need to speak to ourselves in a particular way. And it doesn't matter what we say it does matter what we say. The scriptures tells us that what we say matters to God.

How we talk matters to God. And this is not all in the way of today's paganism of today's witchcraft which is so common putting things out there in the universe speaking things into reality speaking good not evil into our circumstances.

That's that's witchcraft. Anytime someone's using words to change one thing to another thing using their own words. That's what. That's the classic definition of witchcraft. Okay so I'm not talking about what we say matters in that way.

It matters to God. It matters to our our fighting for faith. In the face of suffering and difficulties we are. We are made in God's image to live according to God's Word to bring praise and glory and honor to God who has made us.

And so saying the wrong things you see saying the wrong things to ourselves and to God and to others. We actually can lose hold of the very praise for which we were made and for which we have been saved.

The key word here is hallelujah. We should this should be what we say to ourselves what we say to God what we say outwardly for the world to hear is what we have been called to. It matters what we say.

And as the title says we are to call upon the name of the Lord whom we praise. But are we really going to call upon the Lord if we don't praise him. I think it would be a very difficult task. Why would we call upon him if we do not think him praiseworthy.

Why would they call upon him if we're not considering his power and his goodness and his his character and so on. So we should be praising the Lord and thus calling upon him. Hallelujah is the highway through the fight into the feast.

What do we say. We begin with the n-word because it's there in verse 7. Return to your rest oh my soul for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. You have the image of the psalmist looking down at his belt buckle and doing this right.

Return to your rest oh my soul. He's talking to himself in light of who God is in light of his circumstances in light of all of it he's already said about God hearing him in his hurting and saving him in his goodness.

The psalmist now addresses himself. He says return to your rest oh my soul for the Lord has dealt bountifully for you. He's talking to himself. You have to be careful when you're talking to yourself. There's a pastor of a second Presbyterian Church in Memphis.

In my mentor we were in Memphis for a time and I was at a pastoral internship and my mentor couldn't help but chuckle and sharing this funny story about the the pastor of Second Pres and it was a object lesson for young preachers knowing what to do about their mics whether they're on or not.

And so this pastor of Second Pres and it's a very large very established old very Presbyterian very Presbyterian there is you know it's to the nth degree Presbyterian. And all of a sudden his congregants here over the speakers go get him tiger.

And he was just having a private moment in his bathroom in front of his mirror talking to himself and trying to get ready to preach this big crowd. Go get him tiger now you gotta be careful when talking to yourself.

But there's that there's that way. But there's also the way of what you say what you say now unless you're mic'd up you're just gonna be talking to yourself in the hearing of God. But it's vital. Martin Lloyd-Jones observed.

How do you realize that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself. He says the main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself.

You have to address yourself preach to yourself question yourself. And this is very important for all of us. And that's what the psalmist does here. He's preaching to himself. He's not simply listening to his own groaning and pain.

He's not only listening to the to the to the litany of the details of how bad things are getting. He's gonna talk to himself now. He's gonna take himself in hand. How does. How does he do that. Just like the sons of Korah in the 42nd and 43rd Psalm like like David in the hundred and third Psalm.

He talks to himself says here's the real truth of the matter. And here's what you need to do. And that's way. That's the way that he exhorts his own soul to trust in God and praise God. And he does so by two themes here first of all repentance and then remembrance.

And this is a call to repentance. In verse 7 he says return to your rest. Oh my soul. The idea is that change is needed. Change is called for. He says return. It's it's the word that it can also be translated repent.

The idea of go back turn back. What brings to his mind the need for a change. What we've already seen here is this man who was hunted by sorrow and fooled by false deliverance in verse 3. He's got a lot of problems in his life.

He's got a lot of trouble. It's not that he doesn't believe in God or that he doesn't love God but he knows that he is restless. He knows that he is not resting in God like he should. And so he calls his own soul to repent.

Think of the language in verse 3. The pains of death surrounded me and the pains of Sheol laid hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. So he was seeking for something. But what did he find. Trouble and sorrow.

So he calls upon the Lord and says I'm coming back to you. I'm gonna put my trust my affection. I'm going to put my difficulties my anxieties my problems back into your hands. He says I'm I need. He says to his own soul return go back.

So he sees the need for a change. But a change toward what. Toward whom. And that's the critical matter. Isn't it very often we feel the need for a change. There's this problem. There's this affliction.

There's this suffering. There's this barrier. Oh we need a change. Many many feel a need for a change. The question is do you feel a need for Christ. Do you feel a need to look to God and find in him your rest.

That's what we need to feel a need for Christ which of course Jesus's message begins with that call to change repent return go back and believe the gospel we see in verses five through six. This is the basis for the direction of the change the direction of the turning the reality of who God is and and what he does.

That's what moves this worshiper. This is what induces him to preach boldly to his own soul. He takes up the truth of God and then makes application from the truth of God to his own life. He's preaching to himself and he.

And he says soul go back. He says soul you're out of place. He says soul you are far from home. Go home go back return. How much had he been reeling in pain. But he needed to rest in God. How often had he been listening to the static rather than tuning to the Lord.

And so he tells himself what is most needful to hear the truth of God. We must make sermons for our own souls. And we must make personally and pointed applications of the Word of God to our own lives to not only be hearers of the word but then doers.

We are not to spare our own self-image of the spiritual strength and spiritual maturity. What good is that. Make hay of it. Bale it for fodder and for fire. Call out in the way that would glorify God.

Psalm 61 verses 2 through 4. From the end of the earth I will cry to you. When my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a shelter for me a strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings. We are to return to our rest. Turn to our rest. What does it mean to rest. What does it mean to have a rest. Well it fundamentally means that you cease with whatever you were trying to do.

Took a walk. Now I'm resting. Cooked a meal. Now I'm going to rest. Whatever you were working on. How whatever activity you were engaged in to take a rest. And this this this psalmist is is suffering.

He's he is. He is reeling because of the the problems in his life. So what has he been trying to do. Well obviously what we always try to do fix it. Right. We're gonna fix it. We're going to come up with plans a through d possibly e and then we're gonna run them.

And then we're gonna think about them and try to improve them on the fly and worry about them. And we're gonna be very very active now. Of course prudence is honoring to God. But the psalmist says return to your rest.

Oh my soul. Return to your rest. Oh my soul. In the idea of rest there is the the notion of relying upon God and trusting God and finding our peace in God. Indeed our confidence in God. And hasn't the Lord proved himself.

He is gracious and he is merciful and he is righteous. And he hears us when we call. He inclines his ear to us. Indeed he has been bountiful toward us. Has he not shown himself to be that perfect place of rest.

Return to your return to your rest. Oh my soul. And he means the Lord. He means God. There's no doubt about that. And is that what we are saying. Inwardly are we telling ourselves that that that God is our rest that he is the one whom we should trust.

Listen to the way you talk to yourself. And then talk to yourself in the way you should because you will. I know I do. I hear myself murmur and complain. I hear myself mutter and anxiety. I hear myself plot and connive in doubt.

And that is not what I should be saying to my soul. I should be saying soul return to your rest return to your rest. And isn't this often made clear by our suffering. Isn't it often in the times of suffering and pains of death and pangs of Sheol and times of trouble and sorrow that we are humbled and made ready to trust in the Lord whom we praise.

Psalm 131 is a beautiful little picture of rest of resting in the Lord. And it comes after two Psalms. Right before it that deal with suffering and deal with trouble. But right after those two Psalms we have Psalm 131.

Listen to this picture of rest. Lord my heart is not haughty nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother.

Like a weaned child is my soul within me. Oh Israel hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever. The psalmist says to his soul soul return to your rest. And that reminds us that there is rest for the body and there is rest for the soul.

There is rest for the body and rest for the soul. Now these are naturally related but they are not necessarily coordinated. And we know that by experience you can rest your body while restless in soul.

And you can be restless and suffering in your body yet restful in your soul. But we see the need to rest and the address to the soul. There's a prior there's a priority upon the soul not a degradation of the body not an ignoring of the body nor a off of the body.

But there is definitely a priority upon the soul. And why is that. Why is the soul primary. Well I thought it was an interesting way to put it. CS Lewis says. You don't possess a soul. You are a soul.

You possess a body. And at death your body will be laid to rest. But absent from the body you are present with the Lord. The soul is primary. Is this not what God was teaching through creation and to his people Israel the pattern of labor and rest.

He told them one day in seven expressly the seventh day the Sabbath they were to rest. And the letter of the law explicitly called for bodily rest physical rest. And it was an exercise in faith. I don't have to work every day of the week to make my life prosperous good stable.

I can stop with my physical activity on the seventh day of the week and let God handle it. A testament to the fact that God will provide. It's not really me a basic exercise of trust of resting in the Lord but that bodily exercise.

The law was a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ to show them that the rest that they took physically was to lead them to a rest that they needed soulfully. That they needed to rest in God that they needed to abide with God and to do so through his appointed mediator.

In fact God offering himself as the example of the Sabbath the seventh day God rested. Ergo all you all rest on the seventh day the pattern in creation established in his law. God offered himself as the example.

Do as I do. Well what did God do. In Exodus 31 verses 16 and 17 we read this. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath and to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made this the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed refreshed. How does God refresh himself.

In Psalm 116 it says. Return to your rest oh my soul. Hebrew word for soul nefesh. God breathed the breath of life into Adam and he became a living soul a living nefesh. That's the noun Exodus 31 17. He rested and was refreshed.

That's the verb nefesh. He insoled himself. Commentators wisely leave it alone. It's a nice big blank spot in all my commentaries on that verse. Why. Mystery. God was full of God. God rejoiced in God.

God abided in God. And he said that's how I do Sabbath. I'm the pattern. Now you do Sabbath. No that doesn't mean man abides in man is full of himself. It means that created in the image of God will be full of God.

Abiding with God rejoicing in God resting in God. That was the whole direction and point of the Sabbath. Which is why. Which is why Jesus treated it in the way that he did and pointed everyone in to himself in terms of abiding with him.

So in the fight for faith what are we saying. The psalmist is saying return to your rest oh my soul. He's not saying get back to following the Sabbath laws. What does he mean. He's returned to your rest oh my soul.

It means that is that he's. He's preaching to himself the truth of who God is and saying I need to get back to God. You see when when we're in the fight for faith we should not be asking that God would simply give us a break.

Which I've prayed that a lot. Oh give me a break. It's not that we're asking God to give us a break but that he would give us himself. That's where our rest is. Remember that psalm 116 is being written in a time period where the people of Israel are greatly diminished thousands have returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and rebuild the temple.

But why was it that they were. They were conquered and dispersed and taken to Babylon in the first place. Why was it and and why would they coming back. It wasn't just about rebuilding a city in a culture in a temple.

It was that. But it was about returning to God. It was returning to God. It's unsurprising that that we have rest and soul these these these Sabbath connected words here in verse 7. For it was because of the failure of Judah to Sabbath that their land was laid waste.

They didn't trust God. They didn't rest in God. They didn't rely on God. They went to foreign nations and foreign gods and tried to be self-sufficient. And they didn't keep Sabbath by the letter of the law because they had no desire in their heart to rest in God to rely upon him to rejoice in him.

But now they're back in the land. They're back in the land now. And you know what. They're under fire. Apparently politics both local and Empire wide were very often against them sometimes for them sometimes against them.

But they had a lot of practical problems day to day. Practical problems in the locale practical problems about what the Empire was going through. And they were under fire trying to rebuild this city and rebuild the temple and rebuild the culture of fear in God.

And what did they need to be reminded of. Not in the arm of the flesh. It wasn't going to be by the arm of the flesh. It wasn't going to be about the the size of their brains. It wasn't going to be about some scheme that they could come up with the zeal the Lord of the host was going to accomplished what needed to be accomplished.

And they needed to rest in the Lord. They needed to rest in God and not go back to the old ways or the sinful ways of trusting in other things and other people. So the psalmist says return to your rest.

Oh my soul. There's an old-timey preacher his name was Augustine. He said thou hast made us for thyself. He says to the Lord thou hast made us for thyself O Lord. And our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee now.

Augustine was not slack. He was not a lazy man. He did not sit around. He was very active and did a lot of things. And when he was without the Lord and in sin he did a lot of sin. He never stood he never sat around.

And when he came when the Lord converted him and when he came to Christ he also was very productive and he did a lot of stuff. He wasn't just sitting around but resting in God. Resting in the Lord is not about sitting around although it can be.

It's not about the the lack of any activity at all primarily it's a matter of the heart who we're relying on who we're trusting in. I think we'll see that through the rest of our time. Now you cannot rest in God.