Sunday Morning, September 6, 2020 AM

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Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC "Praise the Lord for His Works" (Part 2) Psalm 111:1-10

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Good morning everyone.
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Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist this morning. We're glad that you are here with us. Start out with some announcements this morning, looking at the upcoming week.
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It is Labor Day weekend, so there are no evening services this weekend, so enjoy that time with your friends and family tonight.
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Wednesday, again, tag resumed last week. It'll continue to pick up this week, but there's still a tag meal for those tag families, only for those tag families this
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Wednesday. Tag starts at 6 .30. Prayer meeting is also at 6 .30.
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Our fighter verse for this week comes from John, John chapter 10, verse 10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
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I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. That's a good verse to memorize this week.
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Note in the bulletin, Diane McGarry is a notary public, so if you ever need anything notarized or with the upcoming election, have a mail -in ballot that needs to be taken care of, she said she'd be happy to do that on your behalf.
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Also it says due to social distancing limits, we're currently not able to serve a full meal. Just again, that's only for tag families.
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Offering plate continues to be on the back table and then nursery is available during Sunday school and morning worship.
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One last announcement. After church this morning, the elders met together this morning and they want to invite all church members after service to go and we're going to, as a church, surround outside the fence of the
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Durham's home and we want to pray for Sophia specifically, just that the
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Lord would be gracious and merciful to her and just grant her healing, give
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Michael and Becca and the rest of the family grace as they continue to minister to her.
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So that's immediately following the service this morning. We have an opportunity to just really be a blessing to them, so hopefully you'll be able to join us for that.
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Any other announcements this morning? All right, we're going to prepare our hearts for worship just in prayer and contemplation and then after,
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Brian will lead us in prayer. Our Father in heaven, what a joy to be here today.
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We would ask that you would open our hearts and our minds as we praise you, as we hear your word preached, as we contemplate the
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Creator of heaven and earth, the
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King, the one who brings healing and wisdom and joy to our hearts.
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We pray this day that our conduct, our attention, our desire would bring honor to your name and we thank you most of all for the death, the burial, the resurrection of your
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Son Christ, who bridged the gap of sin between us, who made a home in eternity possible.
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Oh what a mighty God, what a holy priest. Thank you.
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May each day we see you in our lives and the lives of others, that the evidence of the one we know would be obvious.
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May we be a light to our neighbors, our community, our nation.
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May your name be praised in Jesus' name. Amen. We rejoice with the
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Durham family for answer prayer and continue to live Sophia unto the Lord. Would you stand with me for our call to worship this morning?
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Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 47. We'll be reading verses 1 through 4.
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Read with me together. Clap your hands, all peoples. Shout to God with loud songs of joy.
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For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.
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He strewed peoples under us and nations under our feet.
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He chose our heritage for us. The pride of Jacob, whom he loves.
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Our first song this morning is on page 267, our blue hymnals,
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Come Thou Almighty King. Come Holy Comforter.
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Thy sacred flag high.
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Thou who almighty art, there's never more to fear.
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Thy sovereign majesty, may we in glory see.
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And to eternity, alleluia.
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Good morning. Would you open your Bibles with me to Deuteronomy chapter 17.
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We'll be reading the entire chapter. Deuteronomy 17, beginning in verse 1.
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You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the
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Lord your God. If there is found among you within any of your gates which the
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Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your
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God, in transgressing his covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which
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I have not commanded, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently.
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And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.
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Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
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He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.
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So you shall put away the evil from among you. If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the
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Lord your God chooses, and you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them.
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They shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the
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Lord chooses, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you.
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According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do.
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You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you.
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Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the
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Lord your God or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel, and all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
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When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it, and dwell in it, and say,
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I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me, you shall surely set a king over you from whom the
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Lord your God chooses. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you.
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You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother, but he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses.
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For the Lord has said to you, you shall not return that way again. Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
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Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests, the
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Levites, and it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the
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Lord his God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
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Would you pray with me? Thank you for this
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Lord's day that you have given us. This is the day that the
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Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. I pray that you would grow our faith today, multiply your grace to us in Christ Jesus.
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Lord, forgive us and heal us where our worship has grown dull, and I pray that the proclamation of your word would be met with lively hope and hearty amens in the heart of those who love your truth.
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Blessing and glory and honor are yours, Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Amen. You may be seated. Our next two songs are a song of praise, and a song of, though our sins there are many,
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God's mercy is more. So if you would turn in your little black hymnals,
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Hymns Modern and Ancient, to pages 73, and well, and then the second song,
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His Mercy is More, will be on the screen. Let your voices resound with praise to our
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His songs of praise to the
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Father's power and love. For the one who set each star in place, chose to set his heart on us.
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To the one whose might gives victory, yet his mercy's never ceased.
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As the tapestry of history tells the story of his grace.
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King and Lord, all faithful God, Christ the splendor rich in love.
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Let the heavens and the earth resound with songs of praise to you.
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We would be stilled before the sight of a
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Father's sacrifice that revealed the depth of love divine in the face of Jesus Christ.
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Through a life of full obedience and a death in agony, he removed the rebel's punishment and he set the prisoner free.
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King and Lord, all faithful God, Christ the splendor rich in love.
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Let the heavens and the earth resound with songs of praise to you.
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Let the earth resound with songs of faith and the wonder yet to come.
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When all sin and pain are put to death, and the church and Christ are one.
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When we stand as God's great family and we meet the
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Father's gaze. And we share in his eternal joy as we join in Caesar's praise.
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King and Lord, all faithful God, Christ the splendor rich in love.
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Let the heavens and the earth resound with songs of praise to you.
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His mercy is more. All the wrongs we have done, omniscient all knowing he counts not their sum, thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
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Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, his mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, new and reborn, our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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What patience would wait as we constantly roam, what
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Father so tender is calling us home. He welcomes the weakest, the vilest of all.
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Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, his mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, new and reborn, our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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What riches of kindness he lavished on us, his blood was the payment, his life was the cost.
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We stood near the dead we could never afford.
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Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, his mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, new and reborn, our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Praise the Lord, his mercy is more.
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Stronger than darkness, new and reborn, our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
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Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for bringing us together on this day to worship you, to praise you, to ascribe worth to your name, to glorify you.
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How good you are. You have shown yourself to be faithful and good and holy and righteous and true in every generation, including ours.
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Lord, we pray that you would help us to learn from your word. How to worship you, how to praise you.
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Give us joy as we learn. Give us zeal as we obey.
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And I pray that you would continue to do your work in us, that you would take your word and by your
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Holy Spirit apply it to our lives so that we may directly feel the authority of our
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Savior and King Jesus Christ as you renew us into his image.
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It is for these mercies that we pray. And seek them from you for the sake of Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.
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Amen. I would advise you to open your Bibles to Psalm 110 or Psalm 111.
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Psalm 111. And we'll be reading verses 1 through 10 in a moment.
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Last time we began looking at verse 1 and talked about the fact that this psalm is an alphabetical acrostic and so it follows the 22 letters of the
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Hebrew alphabet in order. And each line starts with the next letter of that Hebrew alphabet.
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So it's something that could be used by mothers and rabbis to instruct children in the praise of God.
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This psalm teaches us the ABCs of praising
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God or the Aleph, Beth, Gimels of praise. The very basics. And we talked about last week that the psalm begins with the very first word of praise.
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Hallelujah. You have it translated there, Praise the Lord. And that word stands above all the rest of the psalm.
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It doesn't begin the acrostic, it doesn't begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It stands outside of that, above it.
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It labels everything else that happens. We are learning how to praise the
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Lord in all the different ways we are called to it. Psalm 111 is similar to Psalm 112.
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Both of those are alphabetical acrostics teaching praise. They have their important distinctives.
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But then following those two psalms are Psalms 113 -118, often called the
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Great Hallel. A great hymn that was sung by the Jews during Passover.
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Probably the hymn that Jesus and his disciples sang. They went out to the
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Garden of Gethsemane on that last night before his crucifixion. And so we're going to be looking at these psalms and considering how it is that God would have us to worship him.
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What God would like us to do when we praise him. God does this for us because he knows our frame.
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He knows we are a butt dust. He knows that we are inclined towards unwise improv.
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God knows what's going on in our hearts. That we are apt to create idols in our hearts.
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When we go our own way and operate on instinct, we don't end up in the right place.
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We're kind of like sheep in that way. And we need to be led and guided in how to worship our creator, our savior.
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So that's what we are striving for as we look at Psalm 111.
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And this is a very general psalm. It is simply aiming to excite
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God's worship by calling us to examine God's works.
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To animate our worship of God when we study the works of the
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Lord. How great and awesome he is revealed in his works. And thus we should praise him.
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So if you would please stand with me, I'm going to read Psalm 111.
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These are the words of the Lord. Praise the
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Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly.
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Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them.
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Splendid and majestic is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonders to be remembered.
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The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear him.
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He will remember his covenant forever. He has made known to his people the power of his works, and giving them the heritage of the nations.
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The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure.
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They are upheld forever and ever. They are performed in truth and uprightness.
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He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments.
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His praise endures forever. This is the word of the
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Lord. You may be seated. Last Monday, this psalm was still fresh on my mind.
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As Becca and I and Benjamin and Emmeth were heading east on I -40 early in the morning.
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We had left before dark. And so as we were driving, the sky began to wake up.
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And it was alight with the glories of things that only our
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Creator could craft. There were towering white mountains of cloud that ponderously passed.
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They framed slivers of electric blue sky. There were plateaus and ridges and ranges that God had sculpted and just set loose to drift.
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I think he was having fun. And we were as well. And as we rolled on, the horizon was full of shredded, wispy, disconnected clouds.
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Stratocereus, nimbo cumulus, and others that defied any kind of definition. And they swirled like a dancing frame for the east.
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And then in the middle of all those intricate steps, there was one really ugly looking cloud.
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That was standing at attention. I mean, just due east. And behind that one ugly looking cloud, the sun kept sneaking upward and upward.
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Right behind that one cloud. And suddenly it was a sunburst. It was one that I've never seen a more beautiful sight in the skies.
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Heavy golden beams of light pouring around that one cloud, outlining it in fire.
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The finest sight I've ever seen set in the skies. And that's
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God's artistry. And not only is that what he created, but then how he timed it all.
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I mean, how did he do that? So carefully, so brilliantly. Timing the clouds, the earth's rotation, our departure time, the traffic, the construction.
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How few people actually got to see that particular sight. And enjoy it, and give him praise for it.
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The rest of the day I was primed for looking for beauty. And I was not disappointed. God's works in his world around us.
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Full of his glory. And we're not disappointed when we look to see the glories of God in his creation.
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This is the way our hearts and minds are to be. If we want to excite the worship of God, we need to examine his works.
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We should be like the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk. He said, I pour out my heart like a little finch in the poplars.
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I sing and know no other goal. God's works abound in the world and in his word.
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And we must behold his works and the works that he has done in creation. The works that he does in his providence.
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The works that he does in salvation. We should praise him for his works.
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To excite God's worship, examine God's works.
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Last week we talked about the works of the Lord in worshipful company. How it is that we are to worship the
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Lord. To praise the Lord. Hallelujah. What does that mean? To praise the Lord by our hands and with all our hearts.
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And to do so in company whether few or many. And this is the very beginning.
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The very basics of praising the Lord. There in verse 1. And we move along to verses 2 through the beginning of verse 4.
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The works of the Lord. The works of the Lord in the wonders of creation.
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Great are the works of the Lord. Verse 2 says, Great are the works of the
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Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is his work.
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And his righteousness endures forever. He has made his works. He has made his wonders to be remembered.
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An old Psalter that puts the Psalms to English meter and rhyme says this.
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The whole works of the Lord our God are great above all measure. Sought out they are of everyone that doth therein take pleasure.
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His work most honorable is, most glorious and pure. And his untainted righteousness forever doth endure.
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You know when we think about what was called of us. What was put upon us from verse 1.
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To praise the Lord with all our heart. With the company of the upright and in the assembly.
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What can sustain? What can sustain the praise of the Lord so thoroughly?
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So universally? You have the unfortunate image of people dying and going to heaven and playing a harp on a cloud.
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And the sage observation that that looks boring. But it's a total misunderstanding of the afterlife or the intermediate period.
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Intermediate state. But it's also a misunderstanding of the glories of God. The glories of God.
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And what we have remaining. That we have not even yet seen. What we have remaining that we have not yet heard and learned to give praise to God.
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Concerning. What can sustain the praise of the Lord so thoroughly and universally?
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What will the worshippers of God have to say? About the wonders and the worthiness of God?
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I'm always interested in that. Come together as the people of God to begin to worship
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Him and to praise Him. And we're going to sing some songs together. I'm always interested to find out what is it we're going to say together?
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I want to know. How are we going to together praise God for His glory, for His holiness, for His worthiness?
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I mean we're made for this. This is why God made us. I always look forward to say what do we get to say together in honoring
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God? And I appreciate what we were able to sing today. I mean sometimes, sometimes
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I'm very disappointed. I feel like I'm plagiarizing Joel Osteen's junior high love notes.
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It's like this isn't worth repeating. But we're not doomed to that, however.
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We're not doomed to that if we will study the works of the
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Lord. If we do that, we will delight in His worth. The first thing we are told about the works of the
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Lord here in the wonders of creation will be our focus. But there in verse 2, what does it say?
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It says, great, great are the works of the
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Lord. What does that mean? At the very least it means this. They surpass our appreciation.
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They're beyond our capacity to fully appreciate. Even though we enjoy them and we delight in them.
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They are not fully captured by our abilities to appreciate them.
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There's so much going on in the works of God. Our appreciation does not define the limits of the glories of the works of the
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Lord. Great are the works of the Lord. I've seen the Grand Canyon stretching away.
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A sculpture rendered anew by God every season and every day with new coverings and new light.
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I have traced the Milky Way's glowing course from a windswept field and counted the craters on the face of the moon.
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I have sat and watched a grass spider weave her web from start to finish.
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Check for mistakes and then go hide herself in the hollow of a blade of grass. I have kneeled, soaked in wonder amidst a thunderstorm.
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I have seen mountain peaks rising like islands through the tops of white clouds stretching to a golden blue horizon.
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And I have held my children gasping their first breaths moments from emerging from the womb. And you have seen and you have studied the works of the
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Lord as well. It is together in the company of the upright. It is together in the assembly of the worshippers of God that we share with one another our personal experiences of the works of the
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Lord and we can compare what we have studied and we can share in our delight. But a thousand lifetimes of men are not adequate for the study of the works of God.
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The works of the Lord are great. They are great in design. They are great in size.
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They are great in depth. They are great in number. They are great in excellence.
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All of the works of the Lord are great. They are magnificent.
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They are great like God is great. For they are the products of His infinite power and His infinite wisdom.
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Herman Bavinck writes, The entire world is a revelation of God, a mirror of His attributes and perfections.
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Every creature in its own way and degree is the embodiment of a divine thought.
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These are the vestiges of God. The Vestigia Dei. And they are wonder -filled inspiration for the worship offered by those made in the image of God.
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The Imago Dei. Psalm 111 verse 2. That verse,
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Greater the works of the Lord, they are studied by all who delight in them. That verse was chosen to grace the entrance to the
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Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. This is a very prestigious laboratory.
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It boasts of 30 different Nobel Prize winning researchers. The Cavendish Laboratory was where the electron and the neutron were discovered.
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Where the structure of DNA was discovered. Yet, laboring among the surpassing splendor of God's works, the mortal minds of Cambridge are not very far removed from a bunch of kindergartners trying to figure out how to make the
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Play -Doh work. Great are the works of the
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Lord. The works of the Lord surpass our appreciation. And they delight the student.
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They are studied by all who delight in them. A bunch of you just went back to school.
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A bunch of you just went back to school. Why are you there? Why are you going to school and learning?
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One way or another, you are there to delight in the works of your
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Creator, Jesus Christ. And to worship
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Him by studying His splendid and marvelous works.
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Language and logic. Mathematics and history.
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Theology and science. They are all of His works to be studied.
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They are all of His subjects to be taught. John 1, beginning in verse 1.
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In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God.
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And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him.
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And apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.
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In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. The light of men.
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So sit at the feet of Christ. Sit at the feet of Christ in your studies.
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Whatever the subject matter may be. Honor His light in all that you learn. Delight in all of His wonders.
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You may be compelled to study all manner of man's garbage in your particular schooling.
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But stench and flies make the glories of God all the sweeter. You may be compelled to study in exile.
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But bring that education into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
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Go to school and wonder at God. To excite
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God's worship, examine God's works. But I think again.
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Creation is neither to be deified. You know, Mother Earth. Creation is neither to be deified nor despoiled.
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But as the theater of God's glory, it is to be delighted in and used in a stewardly manner.
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It is God's good creation. And the first order of stewardship, as we learn from the
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Garden of Eden. The first order of stewardship is worship. That we would examine the works of the
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Lord so as to excite His worship. Now that is not a spoon -fed approach to feeling that good old worship feeling.
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There is some labor that is involved in this. But if you love your Maker and your Messiah, Jesus Christ, then you will delight in His handiworks.
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You will study them. You will study them in your vocation. You will study them for your recreation.
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Have you ever noticed that when you study the Word, when you study the Bible, the special revelation of God is full of depth and power and glory?
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That the way in which God revealed Himself is that you can immediately be blessed by the reading of God's Word.
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And that you can even be in amazement and enthralled by what you see immediately from the
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Word of God. And yet, if you study, and if you dig deeper, and if you begin to make connections, and you consider the beauties of God's revelation here in the
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Word of God, that you are amply rewarded for your labor.
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Are you not? God's general revelation is also not a mere scratch and sniff affair.
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We are to perceive that, yes, there is beauty at the first glance. There is grandeur even at the first glance.
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But there is more than what appears upon the surface. What a wonderful labor it is to study and understand ever deeper the complexities, and the beauties, and the glories of this universe that was made, as Colossians says, by Christ, and through Christ, and for Christ.
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And this is even true, in a surprising sense even true, as well, of God's providential works in our lives.
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That at first encounter the things that happen in our lives, as God brings us through another day, another week, another month, and another year.
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That at first glance, we may say, I don't really know what is going on.
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But upon longer and deeper reflection, as we take up the Word of God to understand what is it that we actually experienced, we discover more and more about how good
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God is, how faithful God is, how true God is, how righteous God is.
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Charles Spurgeon says of the works of God, They yield us instruction and pleasure wonderfully blended.
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And they grow to be far greater after investigation than before.
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The works of God grow to be far greater in our understanding, far more beyond our understanding, than before we tried to understand them.
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Men's works, Spurgeon writes, are noble from a distance. God's works are great when sought out.
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Man's works are noble from a distance. There's a particular distance you're supposed to stand away from the painting and from the sculpture to get the proper effect.
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Don't get too close. You're supposed to stand far from certain skylines so you can see what it looks like.
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Don't get too close into the middle of the city. Look at it from afar. That's where the effect is felt.
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But with God's works, he wants us to search out the details and the connections of his revelation, both general and special.
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Proverbs 25 says this, It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
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Why does God work that way? Because he made us to worship him. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
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He doesn't entirely remove it from our ability to investigate, but he does put some layers over the top, doesn't he?
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And then, our labor in the light of God, before the face of God, as we labor to understand his works and the things that he does, the things that he has made, it is our glory to search it out as those made in God's image.
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And we rejoice in what we discover about the righteousness and the glory and the goodness of God.
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To excite God's worship, we must examine God's works.
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So the works of God surpass our appreciation. Nevertheless, they delight the student and they enthrall the believer.
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It says, Splendid and majestic. Verse 3 says, Splendid and majestic is his work.
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It's his work. We've been using these phrases of great, that these things are delightful, but truly, as we consider the work of God, it is splendid and majestic.
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It is glorious. It is powerful. It is evocative of the authority of God, of the reign of God.
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And the psalmist is putting for us the basic program of worship. How do we learn how to worship? How do we praise
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God? Well, examine his works. They are splendid. They are majestic. Now, we don't have to constrain our focus even to the physical realm, to the things that God has created and how he governs them.
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We may also examine God's providence in history and his grace and salvation, but even if all we did for the moment as artists or scientists was to delight in and thoroughly examine the works of the
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Lord in the physical realm, we would never cease to be enthralled if our labor was performed in faith.
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The works of the Lord enthrall the believer. If our labor is performed in faith and with thanksgiving.
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Verse 1 compels us to give thanks to the Lord. Why is thanksgiving so essential to this praise and worship of God?
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Well, we confess by faith God as the origin of these wonders, and therefore we are grateful to him for these works.
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This is, yes, the Aleph, Beth, Gimel's of praise. This is the very basics of praise. But what happens when that breaks down?
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What happens when we are not approaching the works of God in faith? What happens if we shed thanksgiving as a part of our praise of God, our consideration of his works?
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We must begin with faith. Hebrews 11 .3 says, By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
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So when all are glorying in the works of the Lord, we are not limited to the general revelation of God, which is a gigantic book full of the revelation of God, full of his glories, but it is inadequate only on its own.
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God, from the very beginning, when he made everything, and he made it very good, he created
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Adam and Eve in his own image, he placed them in the throne room of the world that he made, and he spoke to them, so that they would know who made everything and how everything should be arranged.
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So we have to... Our enthrallment with the work of God has to begin with faith.
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We begin with what God has revealed to us through his special revelation, so that we understand his general revelation.
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We must begin from a position of faith. How often we, in our normal course of our lives, we experience a rain shower, or we hear a bird sing, or feel the warmth of the sun, or we fill our lungs with a deep and satisfying sigh, but then we don't give thought to the
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God who spoke it all into existence for his glory and our good. We need to approach it with faith.
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And what will excite our worship of God, examining God's works? Well, what will help us notice, with the eyes of faith, the glories that are cram -packed around us?
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Thankfulness will. Thankfulness will help us notice, with the eyes of faith, the works of God that will lead us to praise him.
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This is a vital connection. Romans 1 .20 says, For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes and his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they, meaning mankind, man is without excuse.
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In verses 18 and 19, it's telling us, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.
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Well, they are without excuse and they're suppressing of the truth because God has clearly revealed his glory, his attributes, his nature, his character through what he has made.
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Now, notice verse 21. For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks.
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They didn't give thanks. Well, what's the result of not approaching and looking at the world that God has made, his wonderful works, and you don't approach it in faith, and you don't approach it with thanksgiving to the
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God who made it all? Well, what happens? Even though they knew
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God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile, futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
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Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible
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God for an image in the form of corruptible man, and of birds, and four -footed animals, and crawling creatures.
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The reprobate mind that worships the creature rather than the creator is the thankless mind, the thankless mind that suppresses the splendor and the majesty of God in unrighteousness.
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Thankfulness is a spiritual discipline, and it is greatly mocked,
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I think, in our world. Why thank God for a little rain shower? That's so backwards.
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Thankfulness is a spiritual discipline, 1 Thessalonians 5 .18.
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In everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
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That's a tall task, isn't it? In everything, give thanks.
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Why? Because the works of God are great. They surpass our capacity to appreciate.
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The works of God are delightful when we study them. The works of God are splendid and majestic.
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We may not understand it, we may not get it right now, but the works of God, even the works of God of His providence in our suffering, in everything, give thanks, for this is
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God's will for you in Christ Jesus. There are a multitude of things to give thanks to God for in every suffering moment.
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Every complaint, every genuine complaint like the psalmist might have, is but a watchtower from which you may see a hundred things to praise
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God for. In everything, give thanks.
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That is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That's not natural, that is supernatural.
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That is bringing every thought into captivity to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And notice, fourthly, not only do the works of God surpass our appreciation and delight the student and enthrall the believer, they also remain and redound.
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End of verse 3, beginning of verse 4. And His righteousness endures forever. He has made
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His wonders to be remembered. The works of God do amaze us, they do enthrall us, especially when we take the time to pay close attention.
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Documentaries like The Riot and the Dance give us a window into the delights of God's works.
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That's a window that comes from the hard labor of someone's study and the careful art of filmmaking.
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But what else about the works of the Lord should we recognize? Yes, we say, how amazing.
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Yes, we say, wow, look at that. And God deserves our adoration on even that account.
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That He is so powerful in His creation. But it is also the case, as we notice in the psalm, it says
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His righteousness endures forever. Notice the connection. Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever.
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With Him there is no divorce between might and right. In all of God's works there is nothing low or wrong or degrading.
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The splendor and the majesty of His works are owing to His everlasting righteousness.
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Everything that God does, everything that God has made, has been done and has been made out of His everlasting righteousness.
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We need to remember that. All of His works are just and holy. He never did nor ever will do any wrong to even one of His creatures.
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Ecclesiastes 3 .14. And this is said in the context of a very dismal outlook on life.
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Everything is vanity. Vanity if you don't think of God. If you don't have
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God in mind. Without the fear of the Lord, what's the point of living? That's much of what
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Ecclesiastes is about. But he says in 3 .14, I know that everything God does will remain forever.
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There is nothing to add to it, and there is nothing to take away from it. For God has so worked that men should fear
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Him. We should fear Him. This is the way that God does
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His works. Everything that God does, in fact, all the works of the Lord, are fit to be registered.
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They are meant to be kept on record. He has done them in a fashion so that they should be remembered. It's a good thing for us to keep track of all of the glorious works of the
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Lord. Because to excite God's worship, we must examine God's works. Spurgeon again comments,
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Much of what we do is so trifling, it's not even fit to be spoken of again. The greatest kindness is to just forget it.
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But notice is to be taken of God's works and an account to be kept of them.
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We are to behold the creative, the providential acts of God that He parades past us.
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Let us make a record. Let us do the worshipful work of taxonomy and learn the names of His glorious deeds.
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Spurgeon continues, Deeds such as God has wrought are not to be admired for an hour and then forgotten.
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They are meant to be perpetual signs and instructive tokens to all coming generations.
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As we're considering all that God has made, and that He has made it by Christ and through Christ and for Christ, as we consider
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Jesus Christ as our second Adam, let's go back and remember what the first Adam did.
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What did the first Adam do? One of the first orders of stewardship for the first man.
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After hearing the word of God about why he was made and what the point of it all was, God paraded past him the creatures to see what the man would name them.
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These are all the other creatures that God has. Look at this parade of God's works.
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And Adam is naming the lions. He's naming the giraffes.
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He's naming the ostriches. He's naming them all as he sees them come past.
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Each one of these things is something that God has made, but Adam is naming them in the glory of God.
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So let us learn what Christ names the works of God on parade. Adam got to name all the animals, and thus they were named.
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That's what they were for the rest of the generations that knew his language until Babel. Right? Oh, that's that because Adam called it that.
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Listen, folks. What Christ names the works of God is its name.
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He is the second Adam. If he calls marriage something, that's what it is, and it's a glorious work of God.
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If he names the church something, that's what it is, and it's to the glory of God. If Jesus Christ names history something, that's what it is, and it's to the glory of God.
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If Christ names anything, that's what its name is.
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He gets to name it. He gets to label the works of God, and so we ought to be using his language.
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His works have been made for us to remember. He's made the works to be remembered.
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God has made his wonders to be remembered. It's not God who has the problem with forgetfulness, is it?
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You know, this coffee cup is an example. How did that get there? I forgot it.
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I didn't even plan it. Oh, yeah, I forgot that. We are full of forgetfulness in our fallen state.
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But God has made his works to be remembered. What happens when we do not remember the wonders of God and faith with thanksgiving and upright community?
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That's when we begin to exchange the truth of God for the lie. And generation after generation descends back into paganism, where the wisest of fools, figures who are but mutated apes, hideous simians, fleeing chromosomal ghosts, or worse.
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So we are to remember. We are to actively remember and remind one another of the great and splendid and marvelous works of our everlastingly righteous
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God. His works are great in creation. His works are great in history. His works are great in salvation.
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And throughout the grand scope of all of his sovereign rule, they are great. And the glory of them and the rightness of them and the goodness of them are all immediately felt when we remind one another of Christ our
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Creator, Christ our Savior, Christ our King. So to excite God's worship, examine
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God's work. This is what we should do this week. We should take time to study the works of the
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Lord in faith with thanksgiving. Will you marvel?
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Will you exalt? Will you offer worship and praise? In the
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Aleph, Bith, Gimel's of praise and worship, what we need to do is simply look around us and see and savor the greatness of our
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Creator. Let's praise. Father, we praise you for who you are and what you have done.
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You are indeed great and glorious, majestic and splendid, and thus your works tell of your character.
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Lord, we ask that you would increase our faith and that you would stoke the fires of our thankfulness, that we would be worshiping you and glorifying you every day, that your praise would never ever be far from our lips.
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Help us to live this way for your glory and for our own good.
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Help us to know the joy of praising you this week. We pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. As Brother Michael was preaching,
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I couldn't help but think of a sight I saw yesterday, unusual and amazing for Oklahoma. It was my bicycle crossing
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Lake Thunderbird, and it was perfectly still. It was like a sea of glass, blue glass with a wave of sun at an angle.
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Normally you don't see that in Lake Thunderbird, with all the red clay there, but it was just beautiful. This shows the glory of God and his creation even in Oklahoma.
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Stand, if you would, for our song of benediction. We're going to sing again, Let the
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Earth Resound. We're going to start off with the chorus, and then we'll do verse 3. May the love of the
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Father, and the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. We are dismissed.