Sunday Morning October 18 2020 AM

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"Praise the LORD for the God-Fearing Man" (Part 2) Psalm 112-1-10 Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC

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Heavenly Father, what a joy to see the faith of a child, unhindered by the fear of man, but emboldened by the
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Spirit of God. Would you renew in us that same joy, overflowing to share this gospel, unlike any message throughout time.
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What a privilege, through the abundance we have of sharing in ministries like Shoebox.
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What a joy to share in the abundance of our heart with our neighbors, folks we come in contact with.
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May we be like gatekeepers, sharing a message that keeps the unsaved from spending an eternity in separation from God.
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We thank you for your power, your glory, and most of all, your
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Son. We ask these things in Christ's name.
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Amen. Good morning. If you would stand with me, we're going to have our call to worship.
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Thank you for being here this morning. If you would read it along with me, the
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Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the setting.
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Out of Zion, the Perfect Trinity, God shines forth.
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Our first song will be in your Hymns Modern and Ancient, number 29,
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Creation Sings, and we will sing each verse and each chorus.
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With our palms spinning o 'er, He charged the eagles' flight,
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Commands the newborns' baby cry. Alleluia!
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Let all creation stand and sing. Alleluia! Fill the earth with songs of worship.
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Tell the wonders of creation's day. Creation gazed upon His face.
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The ageless One in times embraced, Unveiled the
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Father's plan. Love reconciled God and man.
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A second Adam walked the earth. His weightless life would break the curse.
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His death would set us free. To live with Him eternally.
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Alleluia! Let all creation stand and sing.
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Alleluia! Fill the earth with songs of worship.
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Tell the wonders of creation's day. Creation longs for His return.
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When Christ shall reign upon the earth. The bitter wars that rage.
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Our birth pains of all coming age. When He renews the land and sky.
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The penitents on earth reply. With one resplendent theme.
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The glory of our God and King. Alleluia!
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Let all creation stand and sing. Alleluia! Fill the earth with songs of worship.
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Tell the wonders of creation's day. Good morning.
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Let's open the scriptures together to Deuteronomy chapter 22.
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We'll begin in verse 13 and finish up the chapter. If any man takes a wife and goes into her and detests her.
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The charges and charges her with shameful conduct and brings a bad name upon her and says.
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I took this woman and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin. Then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman's virginity.
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To the elders of the city at the gate. And the young woman's father shall say to the elders.
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I gave my daughter to this man as wife and he detests her. Now he has charged her with shameful conduct saying.
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I found your daughter was not a virgin. And yet these are the evidences of my daughter's virginity.
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And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him.
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And they shall find him 100 shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman.
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Because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife.
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He cannot divorce her all his days. But if the thing is true and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman.
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Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house. And the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones.
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Because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel. To play the harlot in her father's house.
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So you shall put away the evil from among you. If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband.
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Then both of them shall die. The man that lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.
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If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband. And a man finds her in the city and lies with her.
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Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city. And you shall stone them to death with stones.
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The young woman because she did not cry out in the city. And the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife.
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So you shall put away the evil from among you. But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside.
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And the man forces her and lies with her. Then only the man who lay with her shall die.
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But you shall do nothing to the young woman. There is in the young woman no sin deserving of death.
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For just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him. Even so is this matter.
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For he found her in the countryside. And the betrothed young woman cried out. But there was no one to save her.
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If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin. Who is not betrothed. And he seizes her and lies with her.
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And they are found out. Then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father.
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Fifty shekels of silver. And she shall be his wife. Because he has humbled her.
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He shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days. A man shall not take his father's wife.
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Nor uncover his father's bed. Will you pray with me. Lord God we thank you for your word.
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For it is good and true. We pray that you would use your word.
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To shape our hearts. And our minds. That we might grow in sanctification.
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Grow in holiness. Lord I pray that you would bring to our minds today.
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The many good and gracious things that you have done for us. Through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. That we might praise you with joy. And with hope.
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Unite our hearts to fear your name oh God. And bless us with your nearness.
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And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you.
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Our next two songs. The first one is HMA 21 out of your black hymnal.
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By faith. And on that song we'll sing the first three verses. And we'll save the last two for our benediction at the end of the service.
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And then the second one is in your blue hymnal. 486.
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It's a standard that many of you know. Faith is the victory. 486 in the blue.
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And 21 in HMA. Okay. We will fix our eyes on him.
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Our souls reward. Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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We'll walk by faith and not by sight.
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By faith our fathers roamed the earth.
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With power of his promise in their hearts.
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A holy city built by God's own hands.
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A place where peace and justice reign. We will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on him. Our souls reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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We'll walk by faith and not by sight. By faith the prophets saw the day.
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When the longed for Messiah would appear.
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With the power to break the chains of sin and death.
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And rise triumphant from the grave. We will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on him. Our souls reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done.
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We'll walk by faith and not by sight. Hills of light, ye
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Christians, hold true's rise. And press the battle e 'er the night.
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Set trail the glowing skies. Against the foe in vales below.
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Let all our strength be hurled. Faith is the victory we know.
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That overcomes the world. Faith is the victory.
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Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory.
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That overcomes the world. His banner over us is love.
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Our sword the word of God. We tread the road the saints above.
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With shouts of triumph strong. By faith they like a whirlwind's breath.
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Swept on o 'er every field. The faith by which they conquered death.
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Is still our shining shield. Faith is the victory.
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Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory.
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That overcomes the world. On every hand the foe we fight.
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Drawn up in dread array. Let tents of ease be left behind.
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And onward to the fray. Salvation's helmet on each head.
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With truth all burnt about. The earth shall tremble beneath our tread.
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And echo with our shout. Faith is the victory.
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Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory.
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That overcomes the world. To him that overcomes the foe.
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What brave men shall begin. Before the angels he shall know.
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His fame confessed in heaven. And onward from the hills of white.
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Our hearts with love aflame. Will vanquish all the foes of night.
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In Jesus conquering name. Faith is the victory.
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Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory.
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That overcomes the world.
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Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for bringing us together this morning to rejoice in your goodness.
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To give our attention to Christ. And in light of his glory to give you the praise.
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I pray that you would help us to do this today. With hearts that you have blessed with the grace of repentance and faith.
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That we would be trusting and holding fast to your truth.
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To your son Jesus Christ. And looking to follow him in all areas of our lives.
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I pray that you would help us now and bless us with your Holy Spirit.
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That we would be ready and willing to hear and affirm your words.
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We pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 112.
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And we're going to be finishing up our look at this Psalm.
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Praise the Lord for the God -fearing man. It's a surprising thing to see what the
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Lord finds praiseworthy. Things that the Lord wants his children to praise him for.
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He reveals his blessings on all various accounts. And then wants us to see them and enjoy them and delight in them.
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And to give him the glory for them. And we're looking at Psalms 111 through 118.
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And looking there at how God wants us to praise him.
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He lets us know how to. And he lets us know why we ought to praise him. And then gives us a great many things that we can think upon and meditate on.
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And then give him praise concerning. And in Psalm 112, the focus is on the man of God.
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The one who fears God. And this is an excellent partner to Psalm 111.
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Where the focus is on the works of God. And how good God is in all that he does.
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So let's read the Psalm together again. If you please stand with me, I'll read Psalm 112. These are the words of our
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Lord. Praise the Lord. How blessed is the man who fears the
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Lord. Who greatly delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth.
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The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house. And his righteousness endures forever.
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Light arises in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
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It is well with the man who is gracious and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
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For he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil tidings.
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His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld. He will not fear.
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Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries. He is given freely to the poor.
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His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor. The wicked will see it and be vexed.
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He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.
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These are the words of our Lord. Praise be to God. You may be seated. There's a perennial question that has been asked throughout the generations of mankind.
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One that is still very current today. Not unique to our generation, but is certainly being asked a lot.
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And it goes like this. I have everything that I want, and I'm still unhappy. Why? I have everything that I want, but I'm still unhappy.
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Why? And people are asking that even today.
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I mean, they've got free room and board. The Wi -Fi works great, even in the basement. They've got a group of friends who always agree with them.
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And they're committed to all the right causes. And no matter how many buildings they burn or statues they rip down or old ladies they maul, they just can't find happiness.
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But not all riots are external. Many hide their unsettledness deep in their souls.
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But their inner protests are anything but peaceful. When folks shout this question into the void, usually it's the
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Internet that responds in a variety of ways. I have everything that I want, and yet I'm still unhappy.
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Why? And the answers come back in various ways.
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Sometimes the answer is, you're blaming yourself. It's the other people in your life making you unhappy.
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Why are you still with them? Sometimes the answer comes back and says, well, happiness is found within.
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You must reach deep inside and push all the right mystical levers.
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Sometimes the answer comes back, well, happiness is made up of four different brain chemicals. To release adequate amounts in the right mixture, take these following steps.
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I'm not making that up. I just shouted into the void, and these are the answers that came back.
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But as we read about the God -fearing man in Psalm 112, what do we notice about this man?
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We see, and we'll see today, well, he's got everything. You read the portrait of the
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God -fearing man, you just read through it. My goodness, he's got everything. But here's a man who has everything, and yet there is no riot in his soul.
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He is not unsettled. There is no tormenting, tumultuous fear in his life.
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And why is that? Well, it's at the heart of the matter, isn't it? Because he is fixed upon God. He trusts the
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Lord. He fears the Lord, which means that no matter how his blessings wax or wane, his heart remains steadfast.
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And when we look at this man, we're going to look at the portrait of the God -fearing man today and consider the heart of the
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God -fearing man. As we look at this ideal portrait of how humans are supposed to live, what humanity is really all about, being made in God's image, this is what it should look like.
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As we look at this portrait, we are to give praise to God, because the outcome, this kind of a life can only be the result, the fruit of God's grace, of God's saving work.
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But more importantly, as we look at this portrait of a God -fearing man and the heart of a God -fearing man, we're not just looking at some sort of culture -shaping ideal.
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We certainly are. We're looking at something more. We're looking at a prophetic anticipation of the psalmist, of the one to come, the
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Messiah, God's chosen one. So that's why we are to give praise. And as you look at the heart of the matter, the
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God -fearing man, you see that he is fearless. And so we're going to sum up this whole psalm. We'd say this, fearless is the
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God -fearing man. Fearless is the God -fearing man. Praise the
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Lord, or hallelujah. We talked about the contrast of the God -fearing man last time and talked about what it means to fear the
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Lord. And in contrast, we saw the wicked in verse 10. And this is a good point to remind ourselves that Psalm 112 is structured in a series of parallel thoughts that move inward to the middle, and the middle is where we have the main point, is that the
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God -fearing man is fearless. He lives without fear because he trusts the Lord. But these parallels move in and focus our thoughts to the main point.
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So we're going to be following with that pattern. So we looked at the outward parallel of the psalm, the contrast of the
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God -fearing with the wicked. And now we're moving in, and we're going to have four sets of parallels which give us a portrait of a
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God -fearing man. What does a God -fearing man look like? What is his life like?
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And as the worshipers of God, as the children are learning this psalm arranged alphabetically, as the
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Levites are teaching this psalm in worship, they are thinking about the blessings of God upon one who fears the
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Lord and then giving praise to God for it because he deserves all the glory for all of the grace.
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So consider, first of all, the ascendancy of the God -fearing man.
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We hear about this in verses 2 and 3 and in verse 9. Let me read those sections for us.
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His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed.
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Wealth and riches are in his house. And then at the very end of verse 9, a word that sums all of those things up, his horn will be exalted in honor.
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So we have four images here to think about, seed, generation, house, and horn.
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I want us to think about how those all come together to paint a picture of the ascendancy, the power and significance, the authority, the influence of a
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God -fearing man. And the first three stanzas there in verse 2 and the beginning of verse 3, these images build on one another.
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We start off with the descendants or the seed of the God -fearing man, which will be mighty, and we move from those descendants of the
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God -fearing man to something broader, the generation of the upright. But the word generation can also, in some contexts, mean house or a dwelling place for a family.
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So it connects well with the very next phrase, wealth and riches are in his house.
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Now, if you have mighty descendants, if you have a blessed generation, and if you have a wealthy house, guess what?
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Your horn, whether you know it or not, your horn is exalted. And so there's the parallel.
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And I want us to think about the significance of this. First of all, the seed. The God -fearing man delights in God's commandments.
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We've already seen that from verse 1. The God -fearing man delights in God's commandments, and so he keeps the covenant.
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He keeps the covenant. And God said to the people of Israel that when they kept covenant with him, he would do what?
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He would bless them. He would pour out all of the promised blessings upon them when they kept his covenant, when they delighted in him and feared him and did his statutes.
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Now, this is a man who was blessed by God, and he knows the blessing of descendants of a seed that it says that are mighty on the earth.
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In what way are they mighty? Well, they're mighty in number because they turn into a whole generation, you see, a whole generation of the upright.
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They're mighty in number, but they're also mighty in power and authority. That's the very idea of what it means to be mighty on earth, not just here and there on the earth, but mighty on the earth.
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They have some sort of strength manifest upon the planet, and this is what
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God promised Abraham, a seed that was mighty in number and mighty in power and authority.
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So Genesis 22, 17 through 18, this is after Abraham proved his faith in God by showing his willingness to sacrifice
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Isaac. God stopped him just before he did sacrifice Isaac, but Abraham proved his faith in the
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Lord, and now God is responding to Abraham as one who clearly fears the
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Lord. The Lord tells me to do this. I will do it. So he has proven that he fears the
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Lord, and so now God is responding, and he is affirming the covenant blessings. Here's what he says in Genesis 22, 17 through 18.
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Indeed, I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed.
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Number, mighty in number. Multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.
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You see? Mighty in number and also mighty in power and authority.
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In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.
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This dynamic reminds us that the obedience to God was the prerequisite for covenant blessings, and that the covenant blessings were necessary for accomplishing the task that God gave to his people, to his creature man.
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The covenant blessings are necessary for accomplishing the cultural mandate. Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.
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That cultural mandate from Genesis 1 gets reframed by all of the covenants that follow.
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But that was the basic idea. How are you going to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it unless you have the blessings of God?
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You're not going to succeed. You're not going to be able to do it. And so this promise to the
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God -fearing man, your seed will be mighty on earth, number and in power. This is the blessing you see of God upon the
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God -fearer, the obedient one. So the seed and then there's the word generation, a blessed generation.
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We need to catch the vision that is being laid out for the Israelites in this psalm.
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You see, the seed of the God -fearing man will be ascendant. They will be mighty, and as they fear
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God, and as they continue in their covenant keeping, their generation will be blessed.
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Most of the stories that we remember from the Old Testament are about all those times when things were really bad, right?
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Remember that really awful king who did that thing, and then there was this great child.
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We think of Daniel in the lion's den. Man, things were bad. Joseph betrayed by his brothers and sold as a slave to Egypt.
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Man, things are bad. But when you read the Old Testament, note the times where there are many 40 -year or 80 -year pockets whereby
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God's grace, the land was filled with a righteous generation or two, and there were people who were born and who lived and who died knowing nothing but blessing.
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And this is a promise of God to his people. When you keep covenant, there will be blessing.
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Your seed will be mighty upon the earth, and the generation will be blessed. God -fearing man has this as a promise, a blessing to him.
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Thirdly, a wealthy house. And this is the third in a series of images that go together.
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Well, how would a God -fearing man sire mighty descendants who would become the ascendant influence in the land who could bring decades of blessing?
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I mean, how in the world is that going to happen? Well, how did God prime the pump of Abraham's family?
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Wealth and riches. He plundered Egypt. Remember? God's people with Abraham, they left
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Egypt plundering it. Well, that sounds familiar. It's going to happen again later. Wealth and riches.
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Wealth and riches he also gave to Isaac and to Jacob who were mighty in their own way, in their own time.
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Wealth and riches he gave to Israel in their exit from Egypt and in their conquering of Canaan. Wealth and riches he gave to David and let's not forget
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Solomon who made silver as valuable as gravel with all the gold that showed up in the centerpiece of God's redemptive dealings upon the earth.
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Wealth and riches. And let's not forget the wealth and riches he gave to Adam and to Noah who were both in their own time kings of the whole earth.
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Now, we can easily get wealth and riches twisted. There's Prosperity Gospel 1 .0.
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It's the TBN version. Piety or faith or holiness or real spirituality.
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Piety means receiving prosperity individually by words of faith.
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Right? That's Prosperity Gospel 1 .0. Piety means receiving prosperity individually by words of faith.
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And then there's Prosperity Gospel 2 .0. Piety means redistributing prosperity communally by deeds of faith.
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Redistributing prosperity communally by deeds of faith. And that's how you show you're really holy. Right? So both of these missed the point.
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Both of these approaches missed the point of riches and wealth in the Scriptures. For the
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Jews, the promise of wealth came with an understanding. Riches were an essential tool for global dominion.
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How were they going to be a blessing to all the families of the earth if they were reduced to adobe hobbles and the cracks of famine -baked rocks?
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And they were thus reduced in their disobedience to the covenant, weren't they?
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Wealth, of course, could be a snare. Now, the love of money is the root of much evil or all evil.
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The love of gold, you know, is a snare. Now, there's a reason why the Ten Commandments begins with worshiping
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God alone, no idolatry, and then it ends up with no covetousness. And, in fact, if you think about the first commandment, worship
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God alone, and then you have the second commandment, make no graven image, which were often covered in, you know, precious metals.
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If you think of the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You know, don't work every day of the week.
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Rest one day and trust your care to God. You can think of, not steal.
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And then you add, do not covet. Like, half of the Ten Commandments are in some way saying, don't love money.
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Okay? So, the love of money is a problem, but there is no commandment, notice, against wealth itself.
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Remember that when God made Adam and made everything very good, he put him in a garden where the world river was flowing out of, and there was gold everywhere, just like laying on the ground.
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God did not want his people trusting wealth, but he did want them maximizing its use as personal stewards for his glory.
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Because they had a job to do, and it was worldwide. Now, if you have a mighty seed, and you have a blessed generation, and you have a wealthy house, what do you have?
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You have an exalted horn. Your horn is exalted.
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Now, you have to understand the imagery. For a people that came from a family of nomadic herdsmen, meaning they wandered around and made sure that their flocks and herds had enough to eat, enough to drink, what did a horn represent to them?
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It wasn't a musical instrument. They weren't playing their trumpet high. Okay? To have an exalted horn, think about how they watched the rams fight.
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How they watched the goats fight in the field. A little bit of entertainment from the tedious boredom of watching sheep.
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Oh, there they go again. And they would watch the beasts, the males, fight one another with their horns.
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And then, eventually, one of the beasts would win. The other one would be, like, on the ground, or maybe their horn got broken off in the fight, and the other beast would be head held high.
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The horns would be exalted, ascendant. And that became the image for ascendancy amongst the people of God.
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When Hannah prayed that amazing prayer in 1
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Samuel 2, as she has come to the point of triumphing over Penina, her adversary, what does she say?
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You have exalted my horn. Ascendancy. This is the promise for the covenant keepers.
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Psalm 75, verse 10. And all the horns of the wicked he will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
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You see, God blesses the God -fearing man. This is what we're learning from Psalm 112. God blesses the God -fearing man with generational ascendancy.
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The God -fearing man has no reason to fear either death or fear men, because as a covenant keeper, he knows that the covenant maker will not fail to bless.
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And so, there's praise given to the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So there's his ascendancy, but secondly, there's his righteousness to consider.
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Notice verse 3 picks up there in the middle. And his righteousness endures forever.
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And his righteousness endures forever. That's what the middle of verse 9 says. You see the parallel exactly.
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And his righteousness endures forever. Not only does his righteousness endure forever, but verse 4 says,
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Light arises in the darkness for the upright. So two things about the righteousness of the
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God -fearing man. First of all, it continues. Second, it conquers.
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What is this righteousness? You know, when you think about the God -fearing man who delights in God's commandments, and so he keeps
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God's covenant, why in the world would anyone want to do that? Why would anyone delight in God, anybody who's descended from Adam, born in sin, whose heart is only evil continually, why would anyone delight in God and fear him and keep his commandments and so on?
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It all has to come back to the fact that God did something in and of himself for the sake of this person who became a
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God -fearer. How? Because God circumcised his heart. God did something in the heart of this person.
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And that's why the praise goes to the Lord. When you look at the
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God -fearing man and you say his righteousness endures forever, and then this is under the heading of praise the
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Lord, who gets the credit? The Lord gets the credit for the righteousness that continues.
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See, Abraham was circumcised of heart long before he ever cut into his flesh. He was born again of imperishable seed.
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The scriptures preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. Abraham received the promise of God concerning his seed.
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And Abraham then believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.
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This righteousness was not Abraham's. It was alien to Abraham.
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It was reckoned to his account. It was imputed to his account by the grace of faith, the faith that he had in the promised seed whose name is
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Jesus Christ. And so all the perfections of the ideal covenant keeper that you see here in Psalm 112, all of those perfections are reckoned to Abraham as if it were his qualifications.
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And that's what it means to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to you through faith, that God sees you, not guilty, righteous in Christ.
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And this is the objective divine righteousness which endures forever. And why does it endure forever?
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Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, when believers in every age who are in living union with our
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Savior, Jesus Christ, when we are saved in this way, not only are we known righteous by God, declared righteous by God, but in living union with Jesus Christ, we are freed and empowered to live righteously before God and before all men.
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Integrity, right dealing. The God -fearer lives correctly, morally, virtuous with justice and rectitude.
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And that will remain the legacy of the God -fearer, and the fruit of that life will not be in vain. The righteousness continues, and the righteousness conquers, it overcomes.
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Now, it's important to see that the man who fears the Lord, this is the man who fears the
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Lord by the grace of God, so God gets all the glory. Notice that he is ascendant in the earth, ascendant in the world.
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But his ascendancy, you see, is in agreement with righteousness.
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Do you see that? You see that in the text? He is ascendant. He has all of these blessings, mighty descendants, blessed generation, wealth and riches in his house.
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His horn is exalted. He is ascendant. And he's also at the same time righteous in God's eyes and living righteous amongst everyone around him.
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Which means what? If you fear God and are blessed for it, and you're ascendant on the earth, you're not sinning.
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We live in a day where the assumption is that the wealthy, the dominant and the powerful have their privilege by injustice every time.
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It certainly can be the case in many times. But it is not the case every time.
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If you fear God and God blesses you for it, and you're living a life of hallelujah, and you're righteous in God's sight and living with integrity, and you're ascendant upon the earth, you are not guilty for being ascendant.
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You are called blessed, and you're a reason to praise God. Do you see this? Here's a psalm saying,
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Look at the ascendant, shall we say, privileged God -fearing man who loves the
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Lord, who fears God. Look at his ascendancy on the earth. Look how much influence and wealth that he has.
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And we look at all of that, and instead of burning it down, we turn around and say, Praise God!
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Hallelujah! That's pretty countercultural, and I thought I would mention it. Not only is this ascendancy righteous, but there's also hope for the righteous in recovery.
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Everything does not always go well for the God -fearer. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
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There are going to be ups and downs in the life of the God -fearer, but notice the hope that the God -fearer has, especially for the
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God -fearer who perhaps does not at this point know these many blessings. Look, light arises in the darkness for the upright.
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God will uphold. God will sustain. Light will arise in the darkness for the upright.
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There is hope for the God -fearer for their recovery, for their righteous recovery. The righteousness that he has will overcome.
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Micah 7 through 8, But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the
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God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall,
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I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. And in this way, we see the righteousness that we have by grace.
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We are righteous in God. If he has given us this new heart, we have hope. We have hope that this will continue.
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Thirdly, we notice the generosity of this God -fearing man.
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He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. It is well with the man who is gracious and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
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He is given freely to the poor. So here is a portrait of a
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God -fearing man. Notice the combination of two different things. On the one hand, he is gracious and compassionate.
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He is gracious and he lends. You have the idea in the scripture of lending without any expectation of return.
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You're not trying to charge interest on the poor and make money off the poor and so on. But you're willing to lend.
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There's an openness there, a generosity there. And also, he's given freely to the poor.
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So nobody is twisting his arm. He is given freely. Now, you have that on the one hand. And something very different than that, but can live in great harmony with that, is the fact that he is righteous, that he is just, that he maintains his cause in judgment.
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Or in other words, he guides his affairs with the Hebrew word mishpat, meaning that his generosity, his compassion, his just giving freely to the poor is never conducted outside the bounds of God's law, which means he never uses different weights and measures.
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He's never perverting God's law. He's always doing everything that is just and right while at the same time being generous and compassionate and freely helping the poor.
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Now, what a character is that? That is hard to hold those two things together. But I think of Boaz.
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Right? You think of Boaz, who was known as a man of righteousness, a man of integrity, and that how did he treat this
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Moabite widow? He did more than just leave the corners of his field unharvested, did more than just leave the sheaves that were dropped behind.
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He made sure that she ate well, that she was protected. He made sure that she would not come to any harm.
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He gave her extra times for rest. He told his workers to drop extra to help feed her because he knew that she and Naomi were in dire straits.
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You see how generous he was? Above and beyond anything that was asked of him. This is a
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God -fearing man. And at the same time, how careful was he with the law of God? How careful he was to follow the exact requirements of leverate marriage, making sure that the other person who was a near relative had his chance first and all those things.
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You see that he was completely in line and loving the commandments of God and doing what was just and right, while at the same time was freely generous with the poor.
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That's a good picture of this kind of compassionate character. But who gets the praise for that? Should we praise
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Boaz? We should praise the Lord because this whole way of living comes from a compassionate covenant, the kind that God determined.
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The character comes from the God who made this type of covenant, the way of living with one another in a way that was just, but also there was compassion involved as well.
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In Psalm 111 verse 4, it says, The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
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And then when we look over in Psalm 112, we see that the man of God, the one who fears the Lord, is gracious and compassionate.
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So what's going on in the life of the God -fearer is first seen in the character of God himself. We become like that which we worship.
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The God -fearer who worships the Lord becomes gracious and compassionate as the Lord does, while at the same time delighting in the law of God and living his life in righteousness and justice.
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It's an amazing thing that this God -fearing man, this God -fearing man, can live both just and compassionate without conflating the two categories as many muddle -headed dufflepuds do today.
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On to the victory. Verses 6 and 8. For he will never be shaken.
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The righteous will be remembered forever. And then verse 8 says, Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.
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This is the idea of victory. It's very close to the idea of ascendancy, but we're looking particularly at the man himself, not his descendants.
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And notice his victory, that he will not fail. He will not fail. He will never be shaken.
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The word shaken envisions a man who wavers, a man who slips and falls, a man who is forcibly moved out of his position.
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Now, every one of those images is doom to a soldier in a battle. But notice, this
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God -fearer will never be shaken. It says, he will not fail.
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He will win. In fact, he'll write the history books and none will forget to praise the Lord for the outcome. So he will not fail.
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And then verse 8 tells us that he will triumph over his foes. You see, the necessary corollary to the
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God -fearer winning and his horn being exalted in honor is that the enemy of God, the adversary of the covenant, himself, must be shaken.
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He must be broken down. He must be cast down to the ground. And notice that there's praise being given to the
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Lord for the God -fearer seeing the defeat of the enemy of God.
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That's a blessing of the Lord. This will come to pass. The enemy will be defeated to the satisfaction of the
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God -fearing man. Now that's the portrait. Here's a man who has it all. The God -fearer. He has ascendancy.
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He has righteousness. He has generosity. He has victory. Here's a man who has it all.
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A display for any Jew who lived in the time of the author of Psalm 112 who lived in this day.
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Oh yeah, that's the man who has it all. The God -fearer. But why does he have it all? He has it all because he fears the
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Lord. And that's the ideal being presented. The culture, the kind of culture that God wanted to see amongst his people, amongst his creatures made in his image.
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But this is also exactly who Jesus Christ is. This is who Jesus Christ is,
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Psalm 112. This is who he is in his ascendancy, in his righteousness, in his grace, and in his victory.
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Because the gates of Hades will not prevail against Christ's church, against his seed. His people will volunteer freely in the day of his power and holy array.
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Christ's people are the most blessed people in all the world. As the heir of all things,
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Jesus Christ has blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and wealth and power and might. He is the light of the world who shines in the darkness.
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And his righteousness is forever and ever. His grace and compassion and righteousness are by his victorious cross and his resurrection given unto those who have nothing, who are without righteousness, who are without grace.
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He will reign from the right hand until all of his enemies are placed as a footstool for his feet.
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And his return will be in consummate exaltation and glory. So praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Ten thousands times ten thousands.
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Praise the Lord. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
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That's what this psalm is about. Praise the Lord for the God -fearing man. Praise the Lord for Christ.
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By praising Christ, you see, by praising Christ, we will aspire to become more like him in all these ways.
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By looking at Christ in the word, we will look more like him in this world.
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Paul says we will be a letter of Christ written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts and such confidence we have in God through Christ.
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When Jesus Christ says, follow me, when he says, follow me, let's follow him.
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Let's follow him. And that means more than being nice to children, but we should be nice to children.
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Following Christ means we take up our cross daily and we follow after him.
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We die to ourselves to live to Christ. And when we live to Christ, to follow him, we're going to follow him where? Follow him into his ascendancy.
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Follow him in his righteousness. Follow him in his graciousness. Follow him in his victory.
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Follow Christ. We're not on this earth to promote some mythical neutrality so that everyone can flourish in their own preferred way of thinking.
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That's not why we're here. All has been given to Christ and he is being fruitful and he is multiplying and he will fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea and he will subdue all the nations under his rule.
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There is no neutrality. And so we are to orient all of our lives, we are to orient our families, our labors, even our recreation, we are to orient our church toward what?
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Manifesting the supremacy of Jesus Christ. For example, we're not raising our children in such a way so that when we get older we'll feel better about how we did.
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The goal of raising children is not so that in our latter years we don't feel so bad. Or the influence that we exert upon our grandchildren is not so that I don't have to have a bad news somewhere down.
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That is not the goal to please ourselves or to bring honor to ourselves. The goal in all of this is to raise children, to influence grandchildren, to have an influence on folks so that they will fear the
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Lord. They will fear the Lord and praise Christ. And that's where everything is going.
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That's where everything is going. What it looks like to fear the
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Lord and be blessed for it in Christ doesn't happen by accident, but I think the first of many purposeful steps is simply this, that we would praise
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God for Christ. We consider who he is as the God -fearing man in all his blessings and praise God for him.
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And now the heart of a God -fearing man, verses 7 and 8. Here's the centerpiece. The man who has everything in Psalm 112, we also see that he's not asking the question, what is this all for?
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What does it all mean? There's no riot in his soul. Why? Because he fears the Lord. He trusts in the Lord. He is not shaken.
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Notice that his heart is established in the Lord. His heart is steadfast. His heart is upheld.
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His heart is steadfast. His heart is upheld. If you were to wander through the woods and you come upon a great boulder that has been set up on its side and it is massive in size and it is so sturdy that you can climb it or you can watch one of your grandchildren climb it, and it's not going to wobble at all.
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I mean, it is upright. It is solid. You might marvel at first. Like, wow, this thing is stuck fast.
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It is not going to move. But then the second thing you begin to marvel at is, how in the world does somebody get that up there into that position in the first place?
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Look at the heart of the God -fearer. His heart is steadfast. It is firm. It is not moving.
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But notice, it is more than that. It is upheld. It is placed in such a way by God so that it will not fail.
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It will not fall. It will not totter. It is sturdy. So praise is being offered to the
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Lord, hallelujah, for the steadfast and upheld heart of the God -fearer. His heart is established in the
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Lord. His heart is trusting in the Lord. Twice we are told that the God -fearer will not fear.
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He will not fear evil tidings, verse 7. He will not fear his enemies, verse 8. If there's anything that we fear, it's what?
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Bad news and bad men. How often do our conversations swirl around bad news and bad men?
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The God -fearer does not fear evil tidings and he does not fear his enemies whom he knows he will see their end and he will see it with his satisfaction.
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His heart is trusting in the Lord. He will not fear evil tidings or his enemies because his focus is upon God. He is trusting in the
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Lord. This word for trust means to hide for refuge. To hide for refuge.
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He is bold in the Lord. He is hoping in the Lord. He is confident in the Lord. The fear of the
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Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the end of anxiety and the end of despair.
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Consider Christ, whose heart was steadfast. He did not fear his enemies. He did not fear their plotting.
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But notice that he spoke with them face to face and calmly confronted their devilry. He set his
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Father continually before him. We see the prayer life of Christ.
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We're seeing the prayer life of a God -fearing man. The God -fearing man is always at prayer.
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It's not up to me. It's up to you. I know you're in charge. I know you're powerful. I know your word. The God -fearing man is always in prayer.
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In communion with God, Christ was not shaken. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. And God did not abandon his soul to Sheol, nor did he allow his
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Holy One to undergo decay, but he brought him back to life. And in the fullness of joy, he brought him to his right hand forever.
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As we fear God, we praise Christ. As we praise Christ, we fear God. In union with Christ, as we have died and been buried and raised with him, then we know that there is no report or adversary who should ever cause us to quake.
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In Christ and through Christ and with Christ, the worst thing that could ever happen to us has already happened, and we're safely on the other side.
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Buried with Christ, raised to new life. So fearless is the God -fearing man.
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This is so essential for us. Fearing God relieves us from fearing man and fearing death.
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There are many reports, there are many evil tidings. We can't go a few days or a few hours without some prediction of civil war or societal collapse or pestilential outbreak or nefarious scheme, can we?
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And in this regard, we are not at all unique in this generation, nor are we unique in our corner of the earth.
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If God turns and that's what he's eventually going to do.
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However, those who fear the Lord is worthy to be feared.
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How? Well, it's very simple. Psalm 112 comes after Psalm 111.
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Right? So Psalm 111 tells you how powerful God is, how good he is. Psalm 111 and 112.
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Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for the time you've given us in your ways.
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Fearing man and through Christ.
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Piano music Precious God, how how our spirits are lost to deliver captives and to preach good news in every corner of the earth
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We will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done, we'll walk by faith and not by sight.
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By faith this mountain shall be moved.
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And the power of the gospel shall prevail. For we know in Christ all things are possible.
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For all who call upon His name.
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We will stand as children of the promise.
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We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward.
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Till the race is finished and the work is done, we'll walk by faith and not by sight.
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We'll walk by faith and not by sight. We'll walk by faith and not by sight.
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May the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.