Sunday, February 28, 2021 AM

කපා කෝප්පල් ස්තූතියි කරන අපි පත් ස්තූතියි පෙරී ස්තූතියි ස්තූතියි එයන්තාපි ප්පරන් නිදින් ගම ගා ශීති කිරීමට කානීම මෙය එකතුය ප්පරවි බගව අවශ්‍ය වෙන් ණඳා වතා වලට මින්නාවට කරාහයි ទᾲ៼ ᾷកᾹក᾽ᾳ ᾽ιᾭᾔᾳ᾽᾽Ᾰ᾽᾽ ᾰᾳᾰᾤᾳᾰᾳᾱᾳᾱᾰᾳᾱᾱᾲ ιᾜᾷᾳᾳᾱᾱᾰᾸᾷ᾽ᾱᾰᾰᾢᾱᾰᾳᾰᾱᾰᾳᾱᾱ කුඩින් පිරිසි.

6 .30 p .m. 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 going to share in the Lord's Supper together. So begin preparing your heart for that.

This week's fighter verse comes from 1 John. 1 John 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.

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. All right.

Any other announcements before we get started? God is good. God is faithful.

One of the signs of God's faithfulness, the fact that Devon is here this morning. It's 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.

Father, we're just 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?

As Kyle was saying, I'm so glad each one of you is here today. We're especially glad that our pastor and his family is here with us today.

So 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. My Jesus, I love thee.

I know thou art mine. For thee all of all is lost and I reside.

My gracious Redeemer, my

Savior, I bow. If ever

I loved thee, my Jesus is now.

I love thee because thou hast first loved me and purchased my body on Calvary's tree.

I love thee for wearing the cross on my brow.

If ever I loved thee, my

Jesus is now. I'll love thee in life.

I will love thee in death.

And praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath.

And stay with us if tears rise cold on my brow.

If ever I loved thee, my

Jesus is now. In mansions of glory and endless delight,

I'll ever adore thee, with heaven so bright.

I'll sing with a glittering crown on my brow.

If ever I loved thee, my

Jesus is now. Let's open our

Bibles together this morning to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 33, 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.

I 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 going to 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. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363.

More love to Thee, 363. More love to Thee, 363. Jesus, keep me near the cross.

අපට ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතිය දුදුනු පොට් ඔබ සියලු අවශ්‍ය ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, ස්තූතියි, අපි සේදය ක්තුරුදක් ඔබ බැලින් චෙවා වලෙනවන ගෙනවා මෙම පාස්පරාවය, නැරමෙනවා නමමෘට සෙමෙයකන් තලා.

tīl I reach the golden strand, just beyond the river.

But this, be my glory ever, til my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

Ὁ ὑ Fell Wikolướ᾽ Ὁ ὜ᾱ᾽ᾼ ᾽ᾱ᾽ ᾽ ᾶ᾽᾽ᾱ᾽᾽᾽ABᾱ᾽᾽ ᾱᾰᾼᾱᾼᾴᾰ᾽ᾷᾖ᾽ᾥᾝᾹ.

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 when

James is in prison was to 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 just little children and we don't really feel it until 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, and we pray that you would encourage him in his prison cell today.

We pray that you would help him 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 a husband and a father, that you would greatly bless that family and support them.

I pray for his flock. I pray 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, 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.

That they would fail in Canada, which is Christ's dominion, and they would fail here in the

United States, which is 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 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 would minister 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 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 say.

I'm going to 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 pangs 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, O 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 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. That we remember what God has done.

We consider his character. We 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 -6 connects with verses 7 -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 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 -11.

Even that order is helpful and instructive. How often do we start with speaking outward?

About the suffering. About the pains of death and the pains of Sheol. The trouble and the sorrow. We begin speaking outwardly first.

Before we ever begin to deal 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.

Or he talks to himself. I saw a wall hanging in someone's house the other day. And it said, of course

I talk 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 does matter what we say. It does matter what we say. The scriptures tell us that what we say matters to God.

How we talk matters to God. And this is not at 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 witchcraft. Anytime someone is using words to change one thing to another thing.

Using their own words. 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 fighting for faith in the face of suffering and difficulties.

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.

This should be what we say to ourselves. What we say to God. What we say outwardly for the world to hear.

This 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 that would be a very difficult task.

Why would we call upon him if we do not think him praiseworthy? Why would we call upon him if we're not considering his power and his goodness and 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,

O 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, O my soul. He's talking to himself.

In light of who God is. In light of his circumstances. In light of all that he's already said about God hearing him and his hurting.

And saving him in his goodness. The psalmist now addresses himself. He says, return to your rest,

O 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. And my mentor, we were in Memphis for a time and I was at a pastoral internship.

And my mentor couldn't help but chuckle in sharing this funny story about the pastor of Second Pres.

And it was an 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. To the nth degree Presbyterian. And all of a sudden, his congregants hear 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 to this big crowd. Go get him, tiger. Now, you have to be careful when talking to yourself.

But 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 going to 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 that's 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 in pain.

He's not only listening to the litany of the details of how bad things are getting.

He's going to talk to himself now. He's going to take himself in hand. How does he do that?

Just like the sons of Korah in the 42nd and 43rd Psalm. Like David in the 103rd

Psalm. He talks to himself. He says, here's the real truth of the matter.

And here's what you need to do. And 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 the word that can also be translated, repent.

The idea of go back. Turn back.

What brings to his mind the need for a change? Well, 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 going to put my trust, my affection. I'm going to put my difficulties, my anxieties, my problems back into your hands.

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' message begins with that call to change.

Repent. Return. Go back. And believe the gospel.

We see in verses 5 through 6, this is the basis for the direction of the change.

The direction of the turning. The reality of who God is 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 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 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, whatever activity you were engaged in, to take a rest.

And this psalmist is suffering.

He is reeling because of 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 going to fix it.

We're going to come up with plans A through D, possibly E, and then we're going to run them.

And then we're going to think about them and try to improve them on the fly and worry about them.

And we're going to be very, very active. Now, of course, prudence is honoring to God.

But the psalmist says, return to your rest, O my soul. Return to your rest,

O my soul. In the idea of rest, there is 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 rest,

O 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 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.

I know I do. I hear myself murmur and complain. I hear myself mutter in 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 pains 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. O 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 is a priority upon the soul. Not a degradation of the body.

Not an ignoring of the body, nor a casting 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.

C .S. 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 and 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 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. Nefash. God breathed the breath of life into Adam and he became a living soul.

A living nefash. That's the noun. In Exodus 31, 17, he rested and was refreshed.

That's the verb. Nefash. He ensouled 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 and is full of himself.

It means that man 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 Jesus treated it in the way that he did.

And pointed everyone 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 he's preaching to himself the truth of who

God is. And saying, I need to get back to God. You see, when we're in the fight for faith.

We should not be asking that God would simply give us a break. 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 conquered and dispersed and taken to Babylon in the first place?

Why was it? And why were they coming back? It wasn't just about rebuilding a city and a culture and a temple.

It was that, but it was about returning to God. It was about returning to God.

It's unsurprising that we have rest and soul. 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 fearing

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 size of their brains.

It wasn't going to be about some scheme that they could come up with. The zeal of the

Lord of the hosts was going to accomplish 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, O my soul. There was 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 sat around. And when the

Lord converted him and when he came to Christ, he also was very productive.

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 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. You cannot rest in God, your

Maker, until you have Him as your Savior. Adam and Eve, in their sin, were expelled from the

Garden of Eden from the place of abiding with God. And so, there must necessarily be a restoration to come back to the

God who made us to find our rest in Him. There must necessarily be new creation made through Christ Jesus.

Expelled from Eden, we are much like the dove sent out by Noah, which finds no resting place until it finally returns to the ark.

And Jesus knows this, and this is what He says in Matthew 11. 28 -30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. A yoke is an instrument of work.

A burden is something you have to carry. But you hear the kind of rest that Jesus is compelling you to take from Him and with Him.

One in which you are in tandem with Him. A yoke set across the shoulders of two.

But Christ is the one who brings us through. In those days, when they were training a new animal, a younger animal, one without strength, they would yoke the young animal, the inexperienced animal, the one who didn't understand the commands, didn't understand, didn't have the strength to really pull any loads.

And they would yoke it with the experienced, the strong animal, the one who did it all right.

And then they would begin to pull loads. And the master would begin to call out the commands and direct the load.

And then the experienced animal did everything right. And pulled the weight of the load. And the one who didn't know anything, and didn't have the strength, went with Him and learned.

That's why Jesus said, learn, come unto Me and learn. And that's the image He's giving.

Not one of where we do nothing, and we let go and let God, and we sit in our monasteries and hide out and say, well, whatever happens will happen.

But a restfulness in which we labor with God in the things of life. But with Christ it is rest.

With Christ it is rest. You see, resting assumes labor.

Resting assumes labor, but resting necessitates release. How do we labor for the

Lord? In all things. All authority has been given to Christ. In heaven and on earth. So how do we labor for Christ?

For God? In all things. We are stewards of our bodies. We are stewards of our bank accounts.

We are stewards of our properties. We are stewards of our talents and our skills and our rights and our privileges.

We are stewards in all these things. And these are for who? They are for the Lord. How do we labor for the

Lord? In our families. How do we labor for the Lord? In the ministries that God has provided for us.

In the works that we do. In providing for our families. In laboring. In doing things for our neighbors.

How do we labor for the Lord? In all these things and more. But having labored for the

Lord. Well, put it this way. We can't labor for the

Lord unless we are resting in the Lord. Do you see how in the language of the scriptures, the resting is more important than the labor?

Jesus told Martha that, about Mary. Not that the labor wasn't important.

Not that the labor wasn't significant and good. But that the resting was more important than the labor. And truly the labor that we do for the

Lord can't really be for the Lord unless we first rested in Him. Otherwise it's for something else.

I'm trying to get across that this does not occur naturally. This is not the natural default way that we operate.

We normally don't rest in the Lord and labor out of our rest for the Lord. Normally we try to figure out however we can make things work.

And we often are full of anxiety. And sometimes full of anger. And then we collapse finally. And say, well

God I couldn't do it. And of course He knows. But we are to be, as the psalmist is, preaching to our souls.

Taking ourselves in hand. There's a moment in the story of Ruth.

Naomi and Ruth have returned to Bethlehem. Husband's dead. No future.

Having left because of famine, they came back emptier than they were before. And Naomi has changed her name to Mara.

Bitter. But she loves Ruth and she's concerned for Ruth.

So at the beginning of chapter 3, she does something about it. She says, I am going to do something.

Isn't it right for me to seek your security? King James has rest.

I'm going to secure for you some rest. And what does she do? She sets about making sure that Ruth goes to her kinsman,

Redeemer. What a good analogy for how we should be about our souls.

That we make sure that our soul, that we make arrangements for our soul to find our rest in our

Redeemer. That we won't allow things to just tumble over themselves.

Like an unending avalanche. But that we will say, soul, let's get back to our rest.

And we would, as Jeremiah 6 .16 says, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it.

And then we will have rest for our souls. Well notice that the second portion of verse 7 supports, gives the motive, provides the logic for the first part of verse 7.

Return to your rest, O my soul, for, in other words, because the

Lord has dealt bountifully with you. Return to your rest is in the present tense.

The Lord has dealt bountifully with you is in the past tense. He has dealt bountifully with you.

What does that mean? Well, we see later, He says, will you deliver my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling.

So we see that God has dealt bountifully with the psalmist, both body and soul.

He has dealt with the psalmist in a gracious way. Not in the way that the psalmist deserves.

But in a bountiful way. In a gracious way. Psalm 103, verses 10 -13.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear

Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.

I mean, the very reason why this Psalm 116 could be composed and sung in Jerusalem at that time was because the

Lord had shown mercy. He had shown mercy upon them. And He had brought them back with a promise of a new covenant that they did not deserve.

He was showing gracious mercy upon them. He had been bountiful to them.

And so, the psalmist is reflecting upon that. Return to your rest, O my soul. Why? Because the

Lord has dealt bountifully with you. When we would rely on God in our present, we should remember

His grace in our past. And so, we would remember that the

Lord, who has proven Himself trustworthy at all times, is indeed praiseworthy even in these present things.

Let's close with prayer. Father, I thank You for the time You've given us in Your Word. I pray we would make good use of it and we would address ourselves in the manner in which

You have instructed. In the manner in which You have modeled in the midst of this song.

That we would take up Your praise and with it, exhort ourselves unto faith.

We pray that You would grace us with these mercies for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?

While Brother Michael was preaching, God just brought some verses to my mind.

The Apostle Paul in the book of Acts saying, Repent therefore and return. Your sins might be wiped away in order that refreshing might come from the presence of the

Lord. And also Peter in 1 Peter wrote, As obedient children, do not fashion yourselves according to the form of lust or ignorance.

But as He who has called you, be holy in all manner of life. Because it's written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

That's out of Leviticus, I guess. So, I would just exhort you, as Brother Michael has preached this morning,

That we rest in the Lord, we trust in the Lord, we serve the Lord, and we labor for the

Lord. So, my exhortation to you would be to sing this song of commitment to the

Lord this morning. Page 376, I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow

Jesus I have decided to follow

Jesus I have decided to follow

Jesus No turning back, no turning back

The world behind me, the cross before me

The world behind me, the cross before me

The world behind me, the cross before me

No turning back, no turning back

Though none go with me, I still will follow

Though none go with me, I still will follow

Though none go with me, I still will follow

No turning back, no turning back

May the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.