Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 67. Psalm 67. Being that this is the last service
that we will have in the year 2020. As we leave the things which
are behind us. and look to the things which
are ahead of us. I felt led to bring a message
tonight titled a prayer for a new year, a prayer for a new year. That's what Psalm 67 is. It's a prayer of requests. There are many requests in this
song. And it's a prayer of confidence and comfort, much confidence
and much comfort. If you look at the last verse,
verse seven says, God shall bless us. Here we are headed, headed
into another year. Another in many ways, I believe
this will be new chapters in this ministry here. And it says,
God shall bless us. When I first read that, I thought,
is that presumptuous on our part? God shall bless us. I read that and thought about
that. I thought about us and the thought went through
my mind. Could that be too bold of a statement for us to make? Then the comfort came to me that
this is God's word. I'm not saying that. David is
not saying that. God is saying that. God Almighty
is saying that. God is the one who inspired this
to be recorded for his people to trust in and to find comfort
in. He's the one who told David to
write it down for all of his people to read and to cling to,
and to know you just think about this. God shall bless us. That's a promise to the us. That's who the promises to God
shall bless us. That's a promise to the us. And
it's a promise that we can head into the new year with. And because
of that promise, these are our requests. This is our prayer
to God as he carries us forward into the new year. Verse one
has three separate requests in it. And the first one is this.
He said, God be merciful to us. God be merciful to us. This life in this world is all
fun and games until we step into eternity. You know that people
don't have time and I'm not here to whip goats. I'm here to feed
sheep. But the honest reality is people don't have time for
God. They don't have time to worship God. They don't have
time to think about these things. You know, just a little nod his
way is enough. Oh, dear God, be merciful to
us. I mean, just the moment we step
into eternity and all this goes away, the moment we leave all
this behind, it's just a veil, just like you walk through a
curtain, just boom. Oh, dear God, be merciful to
us. God's people know what they are. God's people know that they are
sinners. Sometimes as I write notes, I
hear what I'm writing through the ears of someone who's never
known the truth. And the thought goes through
my mind. Is that all y'all talk about? You just talk about people
being sinners and yes, that's all we talk about. God's people know that we are
sinners against him. That's our issue. It's the whole
reason we're here. We're still sinners against him. David said in Psalm 51 against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
I know what I am. I know what I am. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner against
you. That publican in the temple could
not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast crying, God be merciful to me. I'm a sinner. I'm such a sinner. God's people
know what they are. Those who are not God's people
don't know what they are. They're just not concerned about
it. They don't know what they are. They cannot truly see their
sin. They are blind and dead to their
sin. And, you know, you talk about
people being spiritually blind and spiritually dead. And the
way you can see that the clearest is in their own sin. They are
so blind. To their own sin. And so dead
to their own sin, therefore, They see no need of crying out
to God for mercy, mercy. But God's people, those that
the father chose to reveal these things to, reveal the truth to
them, God's people have been made alive to the truth of these
things and they see themselves for what they truly are. Therefore
they cry out from the depths of their souls. God be merciful
to us. Oh, be merciful to us. What that
means is spare us from the judgment that we deserve because of our
sin against you. Spare us, spare us. Everyone
here, every person here is either a husband or a wife, a father
or a mother, A son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, a friend,
a whatever, everybody is something. And if God would just have mercy
on our souls, if God would have mercy on our spouses. and have mercy on our parents
and have mercy on our children and have mercy on our siblings
and have mercy on our friends. Is there anything else really
that we would need from him? If God would just have mercy,
if he would just have mercy, mercy from God is eternal. It's eternal. Have you ever known
people in this world who gained a lot and lost it all? Like for a moment, they were
riding high. And where is it? Mercy is eternal. It's eternal. Mercy from God
is eternal safety, eternal forgiveness. This is something that the world,
it just doesn't talk about because The world does not have a knowledge
of the need of mercy. What a blessing it is to know
that need. Let's enter into this for one
second. What a blessing it is to know that need. God shall
bless his people with a knowledge of that need. As we head into
this new year, God shall bless us with a knowledge of knowing
our need of mercy. He's gonna give us that. He's
gonna give us an eye of faith to see the true source of mercy. He's gonna give us a heart of
faith to cry out for mercy. He's gonna bless us with that.
Do you realize how unblessed the people are who don't have
that? who are just not smiting themselves, crying, God, be merciful
to me. God's going to bless us. Verse
one says, God be merciful unto us and bless us. Spare us from the judgment we
deserve. And he said, give us the blessing.
We don't deserve mercy and grace. That's what we're crying out
for mercy and grace. That's the cry for the new year.
We cry out for your mercy and grace. What is the mercy and
the grace of God? Look at the end of verse one.
He said, cause his face to shine upon us. The mercy of God and
the grace of God is a person, a man to be exact. Our prayer is to the Father concerning
the Son. And that prayer, that request
for these days ahead of us, this is what it is. Heavenly Father,
would you make His face shine on us? Would you make the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ to shine on us, have mercy on us? bless
us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Turn with me, if you
would, to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1 says, therefore seeing we have this
ministry, and you talk about a blessing, you talk about a
blessing, God has given us a ministry. He has given us a congregation
of believers. and the message of the gospel,
he's given us a ministry to those that he's gathered here and to
those that he will gather here. And verse one says, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience and the sight
of God. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake." Verse six says, for God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
what glory it is when the light of his countenance shines on
us the glory of God the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ when he looks on
us when He considers us, when He is mindful of us. Don't turn
to this, but number six, verses 24 to 26. That's a beautiful
benediction. We quote it often. I end all
of my wedding ceremonies with those verses because it's a true
desire for God's people. And this is what it says. It
says, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his
face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee and give me peace. I pray that for you. I pray that for us. That's our
prayer for this coming year. Dear Lord, would you look on
us? Would you just look on us? That
would be glory. We just sang that song. That'll
be glory. Friends will be there I've loved
long ago. Joy like a river around me will
flow. Yet just a smile from my Savior
I know will through the ages be glory for me. That'll be glory
there and that would be glory here. Lord, cause your face to
smile on us. Just look our way. Go with me
back to Psalm 67. Verse one says, God be merciful
unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. that Thy way may be known upon
earth, Thy saving health among all nations." This is our request
moving forward. Lord, would You bless the message
of the gospel? We do the TV broadcasts. We do it on Tuesday mornings.
And before we do that broadcast, we have a word of prayer together.
We thought about him hitting record and leaving and me doing
it by myself. But our Lord said where two or
three are gathered in my name, I'm among you. So he stays. And
we have a word of prayer, and this is what we pray almost every
time. Not in vain jangling, but we get around to it. Lord, would
you bless the gospel to this city? Would you let these words not
fall on deaf ears? Let them not return void like
you promised they won't. Give the gospel success. Here
we are, we're about to leave this year, we're gonna go to
the next year. Lord, bless the gospel. Please bless the gospel. Bless the message, make your
way to be known on this earth. Every time that message goes
out and it goes into people's televisions and they're sitting
there listening to it, love it or hate it, by His grace, His
way is being known. It may be shocking, it may be,
I don't know what it is, but His way is being known. What is God's way? Christ is
God's way. Christ is. Man's works are not
the way, Christ's blood is the way. Let that be known. It's not man's accomplishment
for Christ, it's Christ's accomplishment for man. Lord, as we move forward,
let that be known. Let that be known what we take
so for granted because we've had the blessing of hearing it
so many times. He has blessed us. He shall bless
us. Bless others. Let it be known.
Let it be known that salvation is of the Lord. Please let that be known in the
city of Kingsport, Tennessee. Let that be known. I think about
when the prophet Daniel cried for the salvation of his city.
And I, this has been very fervent to me because I also think about
the importunate widow who would not stop begging and would not
stop begging. Our Lord said, you listen to
her and would not stop begging and would not stop crying. Daniel
did the same thing. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
nine, just after Ezekiel. Daniel chapter 9 verse three,
uh, Daniel is just, just begging God. He's realizing the sin of
his city, Jerusalem against God. And, and, uh, they're being taken
into captivity. And in verse three, he said,
I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the
Lord, my God, and made my confession and said, Oh Lord, The great
and dreadful God keeping the covenant of mercy to them that
love Him and to them that keep His commandments. We have sinned. and have committed iniquity,
and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from
thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto
thy servants, the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings,
our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the
land." Verse seven, he said, righteousness belongs to you.
Verse nine, he said, mercy and forgiveness belong to you. though
we have rebelled against him." Verse 10, he said, we haven't
obeyed. Verse 11, he said, all Israel
has transgressed thy law. Verse 16, He said, O Lord, according
to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thine
fury be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, the holy mountain,
because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers,
Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that
are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear
the prayer of thy servant and his supplications, and cause
thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's
sake. Do it for the Lord's sake. Verse
18, O my God, incline thine ear and hear. Open thine eyes and
behold our desolations in the city which is called by thy name,
for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses,
but for thy great mercies." He said, we're not crying this,
pleading our self-righteousnesses. We're crying all this, pleading
your mercy. Verse 19, he said, Oh Lord, hear. Oh Lord, forgive. Oh Lord, hearken
and do. Defer not, please don't put it
off. For thine own sake, oh my God,
for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. May that
be our prayer for this city. Oh Lord, please let thy salvation
become known. Let it become known. It's in
your hands, only you can do it. Please, please, for your name's
sake. Go with me back to Psalm 67. Verse one says, God be merciful
unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us, that
thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O
God. Let all the people praise thee. There is going to come a day
when in judgment, all people will be forced to bow the knee
and to praise him. There's going to come a day of
judgment when every knee shall bow. But the evidence of the
fact that a blessing has come. The evidence of the fact that
the saving health of Christ has come to a center is this. God
makes that center willing to bow and praise him right now. right now. Reverence, fear, a
willing heart comes. That is the blessing of God on
a sinner, that willing heart to praise Him. That blessing
has to come from Him. No sinner will be willing to
do that until the Spirit of God makes that sinner willing in
the day of His power. So this is our prayer moving
forward. for ourselves, our children, our loved ones. Lord, please
let the people praise Thee. Do you hear what that's saying?
That grabbed a hold of me. Oh, would you please let these
people praise You. We don't have the right to praise
Him. We don't have the ability to praise Him. We don't have
the desire to praise Him until He does a work of grace on us.
and sends a blessing to us. The blessing from God would be
that He would allow the people to praise Him. Oh, please let the people give
us the privilege. What a privilege it is to praise
Him. Please give us the privilege and the honor of praising You. Give us Your heart, Your faith,
Your Spirit. Give all the people that. I pray
for Kingsport. Give all the people that. Verse
three, let the people praise Thee, O God, let all the people
praise Thee. Verse four says, oh, let the
nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the
people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. Let the
nations be glad and sing for joy. This is what Charles Spurgeon
said. He said, what a sweet word is that, to sing for joy. Some sing for form. He's right
about this. He said, some sing for form,
others for show, some as a duty, others as an amusement, but to
sing from the heart, Because overflowing joy must find a vent,
this is singing indeed. Let us sing for joy. Would it
not thrill your heart to see the city of Kingsport renounce
its self-righteous idolatry, just count it all done, turn
from all of its error, all the works of its flesh, to praise
and to bow to the true and living God and to sing in absolute joy
to Him for what He's done for sinners. Sing for the salvation
He's provided in His righteous judgment on His people through
that bloodshed and death of His cross. Wouldn't it thrill your
heart to see a room full of people just at the top of their lungs
singing for joy, singing for joy. Marching to Zion, we sang
that a minute ago. It says, let those refuse to
sing who never knew our God. When a sinner sees God and comes
to know God and comes to know his salvation, that sinner will
start singing. He'll start singing for joy.
Lord, as we move forward with this ministry of your gospel,
this is our prayer. Verse four says, let the nations
be glad and sing for joy. For thou shalt judge the people
righteously and govern the nations upon earth. If you'll be willing,
Lord, please let that happen. Verse five, let the people praise
thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. That is word for
word what verse three says. And Spurgeon said, these words
are no vain repetition, but a chorus worthy to be sung again and again. Let the people praise Thee, O
God. Let all the people praise Thee. Verse six says, then shall the
earth yield her increase. Because of man and his sin, God
said, cursed is the ground. But because of Christ and His
redemption, His blood put all that sin away, and because of
that, God said, no more curse. If the sin is gone, the curse
is gone. Verse 6 says, Then shall the earth yield her increase,
and God, even our own God, shall bless us. Now you talk about
a lion grabbing you. He said, our own God. Our own God. He's not just the
God. He said, I'll be your God. Moses
said, their God is not like our God. David said, happy is he
who has, possesses the God of Jacob for his help. For those
who are truly looking to him, he is our God. And here's the
comfort and the hope of all of our requests to him. The end
of verse six says, our own God shall bless us. He will bless
us with the cry of mercy. He will bless us with the grace
of Christ. He will bless us with a heart
of praise. He'll bless us with a song of
joy. And He will give us the increase
of all the promises of His Word. Verse seven says, God shall bless
us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. He will save
his chosen people. He'll save them to the uttermost
ends of the earth. And that is a hope that we can
carry with us into the next year, into the future. With that hope
and that promise, this is our prayer. God be merciful to us. Be merciful to us and bless us
and cause the face of the Lord Jesus Christ to shine upon us. Be with us. That's what he's
saying. God be with us. Wherever we go, wherever you
take us, be with us. All right, let's all stand together.