It works. Let's open this morning service
with hymn number 442 in your hardbacked hymnal. 442. Praise hymn, praise hymn. And let's all stand together.
Number 442. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strength and honor give to His
holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
His children. In His arms, He carries them
all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, His excellent
greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise him, praise him, tell
of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him, ever
in joyful song. Please be seated. I would think that Tom and I
get together and plan the music for the service. to go along
with the passage of scripture that we're going to be looking
at. But we don't. I don't know of a hymn that's
more appropriate to Psalm 67 than the one we just sang. That
was the Lord. If you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 67. Good morning. Good morning. I've titled this
message when God blesses, when God blesses, and when God does
bless, His people praise Him. They just praise Him and give
Him all the glory and all the honor, all the credit for what
He has done. Jill Olsen's father passed away
Wednesday night up in Illinois and her and Brian went up to
be with the family. So I want to remember to pray
for them. And also Deanna had to go in
the hospital last night. She went home around 2 o'clock
this morning. So they are home and she's recovering.
She was having some breathing difficulties. I don't know any
more details, but she texted me this morning, said she was
home and feeling better. So let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together. Oh, our merciful and gracious
heavenly Father, thank you for putting into our hearts a desire
to praise thee. And Lord, we confess to you that
our praise is so inadequate. And how hopeful we are that the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, who alone is able to praise the father
properly. Will stand in our stead. Take
our efforts and. Bless them in thy presence, making
them perfect in thy sight. Lord, you said that you do inhabit
the praise of your people. and how very hopeful we are that.
That you will. Increase the faith. That you've
given to us, Lord, those that are strangers to your grace and
without faith that you would call them out of darkness into
your marvelous light. And that you would enable us.
This morning. To worship and praise you. We
pray for Deanna and we ask for your hand of strength and healing
to be upon her and give her recovery that her and Robert be able to
return and be with us here. And we pray for Jill and. Asked
Lord that you would. Speak peace to her heart and
comfort her in Christ and give her and Brian the wisdom and
ability to. To speak truth to their family. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You have your Bibles open to
Psalm 67. Let's read these seven verses
together. God be merciful unto us. And bless us. Now I want you
to notice how many times this Psalm pleads with the Lord for
his blessings. And that's what we want. We want
God to bless us. And notice that the word and
is in italics. Just leave it out. Because in
fact. When God blesses. He causes his
face to shine upon us. It's not bless us and cause your
face to shine upon us, but that is the blessing. That's the blessing. that they might be known upon
the earth by saving health. I'm sorry, that thy way may be
known upon the earth by saving health among all nations. Let
the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt
judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. This is a song that was sang
in worship to a tune. And that word Selah is a rest
in the psalm. It's a time to stop and take
a moment to reflect upon what has been said. Might the Lord
give us Selah, rest in Christ, reflecting on what he has done
in judging his people righteously and governing the nations upon
the earth. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people
praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her
increase, and God, even our God, shall bless us. God shall bless
us. And all the ends of the earth
shall fear him. The scripture says that faith
looks not on the things that are seen, but on the things that
are unseen. For the things that are seen
are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal. You and I live in a world, and
we live in a body of flesh, that makes judgments based on what
can be seen physically. Our hope this morning is that
the Lord will give us spiritual eyes to see things like they
really are. Because the truth is that the
Lord shakes all those things that are temporal in order that
that which cannot be shaken might stand eternally. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Most people go to church in order
to figure out a way to better order the things that are seen. In other words, they see that
their greatest need is that which is temporal, and if we can just
figure out a way to better organize our temporal lives, we'll be
happier and more content with life. We've come here this morning
in hopes that the Lord will enable us to look beyond the temporal
and to see that which is eternal, because that's the only thing
that's going to stand in the end. You have your Bibles open
to Hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse 26, whose voice then
shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying yet once more,
I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. that's what we hope
that the voice of god will shake heaven and earth for what reason and this word yet once more signify
the removing up of those things that are shaken as of things
that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain the lord has sent us out into the world again
this week and he's gathered us back together. And all of us
have been influenced by the things which can be seen. And the Lord
has shaken many of those things which can be seen. In order to
show us the truth of those things which cannot be shaken, those
things which are eternal, those things which the natural man
cannot see. Wherefore, we receive a kingdom
which cannot be moved." The kingdom of God is built upon the rock
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he said. Whom do
you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood. Flesh and blood has not revealed
the Son to you. And upon this rock, I'm gonna
build my church. That's the kingdom of God. And
it cannot be moved. Let the wind blow, let the rain
fall, let whatever circumstances God has ordained to come, that
church cannot be moved. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for
our God is a consuming fire. Scripture says that all of these
things that so occupy our attention. All these things which can be
seen with the natural eye. All these things which are temporal.
All these things which trouble us and trouble the world so much
are going to be consumed. That's what that last verse of
Hebrews chapter 12 is talking about. That's not God's going
to consume you with fire. All these things that so bother
us are going to be burned up. They're going to be burned up. Wood, hay, and stubble. And only
the precious stone and the gold is going to survive. That's what
cannot be shaken. Might God be pleased this morning
to enable us to refocus our attention, our hearts, to set our affections
on those things which are above, not on the things of the earth,
not on the things of the earth. We all do it. That's our reason
for being here. Not to try to figure out a better
way to rearrange the temporal, the things that we can see so
that we can be happier and more content, but rather to be brought
to the truth and the realization that these things which are temporal
are just that. Temporary. And God shakes them in order
to show us that that which cannot be shaken that which cannot be
shaken will stand forever. There's our hope. Our hope is
in that which cannot be shaken. Our hope is in the eternal covenant
promises of God. That cannot be shaken. Everything
else is going to be shaken. Everything else is going to be
consumed by our God. Alright, go back with me to Psalm
67. What does the scripture say?
We walk by faith and not by sight. Not by sight. Now, people say to you and to me often,
God bless you, or have a good day. And the truth is that for
those who are in Christ, ultimately everything is good. Everything
is good. You know that all things work
together for good for them that love God, those that are the
called according to His purpose. And those that are not in Christ,
Ultimately, nothing's good. Nothing's good. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes,
please. Ecclesiastes, Psalm, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes chapter six. What does the world say? And
often we get caught up in the philosophy of this world. They
would say that a financial windfall, that's a blessing from God. Is
it? Is it? Not always. We all desire physical health
and when we're sick, we ask the Lord for healing, but can we
determine for sure whether or not the sickness or the health
is a blessing or is good or bad? Listen to what the Lord says
in Ecclesiastes chapter 6 at verse 12. For who knoweth what
is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life
which he spendeth as a shadow? That's all we are. Life is a shadow, a vapor. No
substance to that, is there? For who can tell a man what shall
be after him? under the sun. How do we know? We're talking
about when God blesses. How do we know if God has blessed? We can't always tell. The world
thinks that health and wealth are always the blessings of God. Who can tell? Who can tell what
God's doing? Who can tell whether something
is good or something is bad, something is helpful, or something
is going to lead to a true blessing? The blessings of God are always
eternal. They're always for the purpose
of that which is eternal. Maybe a financial windfall is
a blessing from God, maybe not. The Lord said it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It can be very difficult when the wealth of
this world provides for one all the comforts that they need.
It can be very difficult for them to see their need for God. The disciples asked, Lord, who
then can be saved? And the Lord said, with man it
is impossible. but with God, all things are
possible. So whether the Lord has, well,
David said, David said, Lord, don't make me so poor that I'm
tempted to steal or so rich that I forget my need of thee. Isn't
that where most of us, where the Lord has his children most
of the time, just right there, hand to mouth, depending upon
him for their every need. Paul said this to Timothy in
1 Timothy chapter 6, he says, the love of money is the root
of all evil. Last week we saw the temptations
of Christ in the wilderness, those temptations being for pleasure,
remember the stone to bread, for popularity, the casting off
of the pinnacle of the temple, and for power, Satan's promise
to give to the Lord all these nations if he would bow down
and worship him. And that goes all the way back
to the garden, doesn't it? when Satan tempted Eve back there
in the garden. And the scripture says that she
saw that the fruit was good to the taste, pleasing to the eye,
and able to make one wise. There's pleasure, popularity,
and power. And when John sums up the entire
world, he says, that which is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, there's popularity, the lust of the eyes, there's, I
mean, there's pleasure, the lust of the eyes, there's popularity,
and the pride of life, there's power. Power over my circumstances. And what does money do? It buys
all three of those. And Paul said to Timothy, he
said, which while some who have covered it after erred from the
faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So
financial wealth may not in the end be such a blessing. How do we know if God has blessed
us? Well, the scripture says that
godliness And this is the mystery of godliness, that God was made
in the flesh. To be in Christ is to be godly. And godliness with contentment
is great gain. What does the world say? The
world says gain is godliness. Gain is godliness. But I say
to you that godliness with contentment, being content with Christ, being
content with our circumstances, that's the blessing. That's the
blessing. Let the world measure blessings
all they want by their circumstances. The real blessing of God is that
which cannot be seen, that which cannot be shaken, that which
is not temporal but rather eternal. That's the blessing of God. Turn
to me to Psalm 119, Psalm 119. People think that sickness or
affliction is a curse. But here's what David had to
say about that in verse 67 of Psalm 119. Before I was afflicted,
I went astray, but now, now I've kept thy word. How is it that
we keep God's word? How is it that we keep God's
word? We look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for all our
blessings. That's how we keep God's word,
faith. that unseen spiritual blessing
of God that enables us to set our hopes on Christ that's and
David said before I was afflicted I'd gone astray before I was
afflicted I was I was just like the rest of the world I was looking
at all these temporal scene things these things that are going to
be consumed by the fire of God as my blessings but now but now
I see that these things are temporal. Look at verse 71 of that same
chapter. It is good for me that I have
been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Now the statutes
are the entire Word of God. And David's saying, oh it's been
good for me to be afflicted because that affliction has caused me
to see how temporal How temporary these seen things of the world
really are. And it has forced me once again
to set my sights on that which is unseen. Look at verse 75 in
the same chapter. I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments
are right. and that thou in faithfulness
hath afflicted me. Now that's being able to see
the unseen. That's being able to see the
unseen. Lord, I know that thy judgments are right and that
in faithfulness and in love and in mercy you have afflicted me,
causing me once again to believe thy statutes. and to come in
faith to that which cannot be shaken, the kingdom of God, the
accomplished work of salvation in that which you have ordained
and fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
from eternity past. And brethren, that's my prayer
this morning. All of us, just like the rest
of the world, because we're in this body of the flesh, are drawn
away from that which is unseen, and we're tempted to make judgments
in our lives based on what is seen. And God's saying to us, that's
not it. That's all going to be shaken. The reason I'm shaking it now
Reason I'm shaking it right now for you is for you to realize
how temporal these things really are and how one day very soon
God as a consuming fire is going to take them all away. Set your affections on those
things which are eternal. Eternal. So we don't make our judgments
based on our temporal circumstances. Sometimes that which appears
to be good, like health, wealth, and prosperity
might end up being bad if it causes us to lose our need for
Christ. And sometimes that which seems
to be bad, like David say, may be the afflicting hand of God
causing us once again. So how do we know? The world
says that which is good is a blessing. Have a good day, they say. Have
a good day. And by that, the world means,
you know, I hope you don't have to go through any afflictions.
I hope you have peace and prosperity and happiness and everything
goes well for you today. What is it exactly that makes
everything a blessing for the child of God? Well, go back with
me to Psalm 67. God be merciful unto me. There's the blessing. There's
the blessing. the mercy of God. What is mercy? What is mercy? Mercy is God withholding from
us that which we deserve. And so here's the voice of a
sinner who sees that if God's not merciful to me, I'm going
to hell. That's what I deserve. And if
God judges me based on my righteousness, I'm going to spend eternally
eternity separated from a holy God. God be merciful unto me. Only a sinner asks for mercy.
Only a sinner asks for mercy. And God delights in showing His
mercy. Titus put it, Paul put it like
this in writing to Titus, not by works of righteousness, which
we have done, but according to his mercy, he hath saved us. And then Paul makes it clear
in the book of Romans that God's mercy is sovereign. It's his
mercy. If you think you have a right
to God's mercy, you won't be a mercy beggar. And somebody said to me recently,
you always talk about being a mercy beggar. I don't beg. I don't
beg. You better beg. Because that's
what mercy is. God's sovereign over His mercy.
He said, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and whom
I will, I hardeneth. Therefore, it is not up to him
that doeth, nor to him that runneth. but of God that showeth mercy. Am I not the potter? Are you
not the clay? Do I not have the sovereign right
to make out of the same lump of clay some vessels of honor
and some vessels of dishonor? Now there's the blessing. The
blessing is when God makes you to be a sinner and you realize
you have no claim on God, you have no rights, you have no righteousness,
You can't present God anything other than be a mercy beggar.
That's a blessing. The natural man is not a mercy
beggar. The natural man believes he's got something that would
warrant his favor with God. And when God blesses, he blesses
first, making us to be a sinner. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. And you, verse 1, hath he quickened,
made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, Now there's
a blessing of God, the mercy of God that would take a dead
dog sinner and make him alive, raise them from the dead. There's
no contribution on the part of a dead corpse who's made alive. Lazarus didn't have anything
to say about his resuscitation. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. You were dead and didn't know
it. You didn't believe and you didn't know it. You were judging
everything based on what you could see. among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. There was no difference
in us. Now, there was a difference in
the covenant of grace, but there was no difference between a lost
child of God and a reprobate. in terms of where they are but
God here's the difference here's the difference he saw no different
who make it the to differ what do you have that you've not received
in the what the Lord said but God who is rich in mercy for
his great love or with he loved us even when we were dead in
sins at quick and us together with Christ but God who is rich in mercy. There's the blessing. The blessing
is that which cannot be seen. The blessing is that which is
eternal. The blessing is that which cannot be shaken and will
not be consumed by the fire of God. That's the blessing. Lord, make me, make me to depend
upon you for everything. That's the blessing. Oh, if God
even gives us that prayer to pray, that's the blessing. Go
back with me to Psalm 67. Remember the word and in verse
one is not there in the text. Here's the blessing that he would
cause his face to shine upon us. Now, if God causes his face
to shine upon us, he's gonna do it by his word. He's gonna
reflect his glory through his word into our hearts so that
the light of the gospel shines in our hearts in the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God, cause thy face to shine
upon me. Enable me to trust Christ alone
for all of my righteousness and all of my acceptance before God.
Enable me to believe the gospel. Enable me to praise you for that
which is eternal. Deliver me from this temporal
world that I live in. Look at verse 2. That thy way might be known upon
the earth, thy saving health among all nations. Thy saving
health. You know, every person that God's
ever healed from sickness has gotten sick again. and ultimately
every person is going to contract an illness that they're not going
to recover from. The saving health is the salvation
of our souls. It's the hope of everlasting
life that God gives as a true blessing. So hear the Lord saying,
Lord, make thy way known upon the earth. Now, that doesn't
mean that all the earth is going to know God. That means that
God's elect are scattered throughout all the earth, in every tribe,
in every nation, in every tongue, in every kingdom. as the Lord
describes his church in the book of Revelation. And as the Lord
said when he ascended back into glory, he told his disciples,
he goes, you go back into Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost is gonna come
upon you, and you're gonna be my witnesses. And you're gonna
start here in Jerusalem, then you're gonna go out to Judea,
and then to Samaria, and then you're gonna go to the uttermost
parts of the world, because I've got lost sheep in every nation.
That's the blessing. That's the blessing. that they're
going to hear the call. And the scripture says, how shall
they call upon him whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe on him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher, without the preaching of the gospel?
That's what we're doing together, brethren. The church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, as we're going to see in the next hour when
we look at Zechariah, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the
only blessing this world's got. And they don't know it. The gospel
of God's free grace in the accomplished work of Christ and the hope of
salvation that we have through faith in Him is the only real
blessing. Everything else is going to be
burned up. Everything else is temporary. All the things that
so consume your time and mine, our interest is... What did Solomon
say in Ecclesiastes? How can we know if it's good
or bad, if it's a blessing or not? We can't determine that. Things that men say are a blessing
end up being a curse. And things they call bad end
up being good. that notice in verse two, here's
the blessing that thy way may be known upon the earth. Now,
what is God's way? Well, you can be sure it's not
man's way. As the heavens are high above the earth, so are
my ways above your ways. Oh, you thought that it was this
way, but in fact, it was just the opposite. It was just the
opposite. What God's doing is unseen by
the natural eye. It can only be seen through the
eyes of faith. What is he doing? He's showing
his people the way. The way. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am the way. There's the blessing. The declaration
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is as the Son of God, as the
successful Savior of mercy-begging sinners, as the one who put away
our sins once and for all and established a righteousness before
God on our behalf, who bore our sins in His body upon that tree
and covered them by His precious blood. There's the blessing.
There's the blessing. When Paul and Silas were chained
to the floor of that Roman dungeon in Philippi and they were singing
praises to God, were they being blessed? They had just been beaten
to the end of their life. The world say that, that's not
a blessing. that thy way, oh, it ended up
being a blessing for that very jailer who had inflicted the
punishment upon them, taking them home to his home. Oh, what
must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved in thy household. And he took him home
and they preached the gospel to his whole family. And God
blessed the family of that jailer, saved them. As he tended to the
very wounds that he had inflicted upon them. There's the blessing. Thy way may be known upon the
earth. that the Lord Jesus Christ might
be known upon the earth. Don, you read from John 17 in
the study this morning before the service. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. What did Paul say towards the
end of his life? He said, oh, that I might know Him. That I
might know Him. There's the blessing to know
God. fellowship of his suffering,
the power of his resurrection. I'm not yet apprehended that
which is apprehended me, but this one thing I do, I press
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling. What's the
prize? The prize is the blessing. Christ himself is the blessing
that they may know that thy way, thy way may be known upon the
earth. The earth doesn't know God's
way. And the church is the reflector
of the light. The church is likened in the
scriptures to the moon. The moon doesn't generate its
own light. The moon only reflects the light
of the sun upon the earth. And the reason there's different
phases to the moon during the month is because the earth gets
between the moon and the sun, doesn't it? And the earth is
actually shadowing the moon. That's what causes the phases. And when the moon is completely
out of the way, the earth is completely out of the way, the
moon is full. And the dark nights are brightest. And the truth of that is that
to whatever degree this temporal world gets between us and the
source of the light, to that degree the reflection of the
moon is going to be lessened. My hope this morning is that
God will cause us once again to say, oh Lord, have mercy upon
me. Cause thy face to shine upon
me. Show me thy way. Lord, I've allowed
this world to get between me and you in so many ways. I've
taken on the philosophy of this world. I've set my affections
on those things which can be seen. I put my hope in that which
is temporal and that which is going to be burned up. Once again,
or just, oh, here it is, that thy way may be known upon the
earth, thy saving health among the nations. If the saving health
of God in Christ is going to be known among the nations, the
earth, the church is going to have to reflect the light of
the gospel. Let the people praise thee. What
is the result of God's blessings? Now I'll close with this. We
won't get to the rest of the psalm, but what is the result
of God's blessing? How do we know that God really
has blessed? He gets all the praise and all
the glory and all the credit. And we can't look to any other
source. For the real blessing, Lord,
I wouldn't have been a mercy beggar. I wouldn't have known
thy way. I wouldn't have the hope of salvation. I wouldn't
have any knowledge of Christ. I would not know that my sins
had been put away and that you're satisfied had you not blessed
me. And the praise of the glory of
thy grace is the response to God's blessings. Alright, let's take a break.