Well, good evening. If you would,
open your Bibles with me to Psalm 65. Psalm 65. As you're turning, let me tell
you how sorry I am we can't be meeting together and have our
normal New Year's Eve service. I feel like it's safe and best
for everyone. And we'll look forward here in
a couple weeks when we can meet together again. Psalm 65, beginning
in verse 1. Praise waiteth for thee, O God,
in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities
prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and cause us to approach unto thee. that he may dwell
in thy courts, we should be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
even of thy holy temple. By terrible things and righteousness,
wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, who art the confidence
of all the ends of the earth and of them that are far off
upon the sea, which by his strength setteth fast the mountains, being
girded with power, which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise
of their waves, and the tumult of the They also that dwell in
the uttermost parts are afraid of thy tokens. Thou makest the
outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Thou visitest
the earth and waterest it. Thou greatly enrichest it with
the river of God, which is full of water. Thou preparest them
corn when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the riches
thereof abundantly. Thou settlest the furrows thereof.
Thou makest it soft with showers. Thou blessest the springing thereof.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop
fatness. They drop upon the pastures of
the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are
covered over with corn. They shout for joy. They also
sing." Well, thank God for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our great Father, great God,
and our Heavenly Father, oh, how we thank you that you have
crowned the year, this year, with thy goodness. Father, how
we thank you for your mercy and your grace to sinners as found
in our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for the mercy
that you have reserved for your people, not what we've deserved. Thankful we are that you have
not given us what we deserve, but that you have covered your
people with your mercy and your grace. And Father, we're thankful. And Father, I pray that this
evening that you would enable us to worship thee in spirit
and in truth, that you would let us put out of our minds the
goings on of this life, the cares, the worries, the joys, all the
things of this life. Let us set them aside, Father,
for this hour. Speak to us through your word.
Speak to our hearts. Comfort our hearts by pointing
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us see him afresh as our
all and in all. Let the Lord Jesus Christ be
all of our hope, the only hope we have, the only hope we desire. Father, bless us as we look into
your word that we might see more of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Father, we thank you for
this year. We thank you for the trials and heartaches and tribulations
that have come in it. They've come from by hand for
good. We know this. And we thank you for the joys,
the happiness, the smiles that we've had, the blessings. Those
have come from by hand as well. Father, we're thankful. And Father,
we I pray as we leave this year and go into the new year, Father,
that you would go with us. Go with us as you have gone with
your people in the past. Father, continue to bless this
place as a place where your Word is preached, where Christ is
preached. Continue to bless this place as a place where your people
have unity, unity of heart and spirit, unity of goals and desires,
that this might be a place where our God is worshiped, where the
gospel is preached, and where your people gather together in
the kind of love and unity that we ought to have around Christ
our Savior. And let Him, let Christ our Savior
be preeminent in all things. Father, we pray for those who
are sick and afflicted, those who are suffering this virus,
and those who are suffering other ailments of the sin that causes
so much problems in these bodies. Those who are sick of body and
heart and mind and soul, Father, we pray for them. There are so
many right now, but thou art the great physician. You can
heal, you can touch, you can lead and guide and deliver. And
Father, we pray that you would, in a special way, be with your
people at this time. Now, Fathers, we look into your
word now. We pray your blessing. enable us to see the Lord Jesus
Christ in all of His glory. For it's in His precious name
we pray and give thanks. Amen. Now I've titled the message this
evening, 2020, the year in review. You see those news programs,
the year in review. Well, I'd like for us tonight
to take a few moments to consider the year 2020, the year in review.
Now most of us will remember this year 2020 as a very stressful
year, won't we? But you know, in 2020, just like
every other year of our lives, we've said goodbye to some loved
ones. We've said goodbye to some old
friends that the Lord has called home. And just like every other
year, we've said hello to some new friends. We've had some new
babies born just at the very end of Last year, Nova was born. During this year, Baby Lynn was
born. We're all still waiting to hold them, aren't we? We haven't
been able to hold them. We've seen them. We've welcomed them
into our family. Just like every other year, some
folks have gotten sick. Some have gotten well. Some have
suffered loss. Some have been given great material
blessings. But most of all, all of us will
remember 2020. This has been an unforgettable
year, hasn't it? It will remember this as the
year we've had to deal with this pandemic that's caused us to
lose so much, lose so many material blessings, lose so many fleshly
comforts, lose time with loved ones and so forth. And this year
we've had to learn to do some things differently. Have you
ever heard or thought of the phrase social distancing until
this year? That's been a gift from 2020,
social distancing. None of us ever thought about
having to wear a mask in public as a way of life before 2020. We seldom thought of a show of
affection towards our loved ones as a way that we might put them
at risk like we have this year. And yet with all of that stress,
all of those hindrances, things that have changed, we will never
forget one thing has not changed. You already know this. The gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ has not been bound in the least.
The gospel has still gone out, just like it always has, to save
and to feed God's sheep. The worship of God has not been
bound at all. Worship has still taken place
from the heart. The order of service has changed,
but worship hasn't changed. Worship has still taken place
from the heart. God's sheep have remained faithful,
and God has remained faithful to His people. And you know,
that can be said of every year. Look here at verse 11 of Psalm
65. This is our text this evening. Thou crownest the year with thy
goodness, and thy paths drop fatness. Now the word here translated
with really is of. The Lord has crowned this year
of his goodness. 2020 has just been like every
other year. Since God created the world,
2020 has been the year of God's goodness. And that's true of
every year. The word translated year here
means a lifetime of years. It means just any measurement
of time in the lifetime of our years. Just take any measurement
of time in all the lifetime of our years and we'll find that
this, that God has been good. God has crowned those times with
His goodness. Now many of you may not think
of 2020 as a good year, but you know God has been good. In everything
that God has done in this year, He has been good, even when we
don't think so. We just don't see it as good. And all that means is, is we
need to change the natural way that we think about things. What
did the Lord say in Isaiah 55 verse 8? He said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. The way you think about things,
not the way God thinks about things, not naturally. The Lord
said, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways,
your ways. So we don't think that these
things are good, that God has crowned the year with goodness,
with His goodness. All that means is we need to
change the way we think about things. God has been good. He's crowned this year with His
goodness, just like every other year. Now look at Romans chapter
8. Romans 8, 28. And I know pretty
much everybody here listening can quote this verse. But I want
you to turn to it. and look at it. It does us good
to look at these things, these passages of God's Word that are
so familiar to us. And remember that these things
are God's Word. Be reminded what God tells us
here. Romans 8, verse 28. And we know. This is something
we know. There's no doubt about this. We know that all things
work together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Now, that word
all that Paul uses there means exactly what you think it means.
It means all things. It means that nothing is excluded
from this truth. It means that the Lord has sent
us nothing but good this year. There were some things that were
very painful to us this year, weren't they? But somehow, God
worked those things together for good. You know, it's painful. You think about the things that
happened to us this year that were painful. It's painful to
be pruned, isn't it? But it makes us more fruitful.
Those plants have to be pruned in order to be more fruitful.
That's what God's done for His people. It may have been painful,
but it worked together for good. There were things that came to
us that were scary, there were things that came to us that were
sad, but somehow God worked them together to produce good. God has crowned this year with
His goodness. If you look in Psalm 103, I'll
show you how God has crowned all of His people. Psalm 103. If you believe God, this is how
God has crowned you this year. Psalm 103 in verse 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Look up at verse 2. Bless the
Lord, O my soul. And forget not all his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases,
all your spiritual diseases, your spiritual wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness
and tender mercies. God has crowned. The word is
covered. He has covered his people with
his goodness. God has covered his people in
salvation. God has covered his people in
redeeming their souls from destruction by being condemned for them. God has done that for all of
his people. He is crowned. He has completely covered his
people with his loving kindness and his tender mercy. Completely
covered. God hasn't left one part of his
people hanging out to dry. He's completely covered his people. with his loving kindness and
his tender mercies. That's an eternal truth. It's
true this year. It's true every year. God has
crowned, covered his people with his loving kindness and his tender
mercy. Now, I want us in the time we
have left this evening to review this year, to see this year 2020
in review and see five ways from our text that the Lord has crowned,
covered this year with his goodness. Number one, back in Psalm 65
is this. God is crowned this year with
His covenant mercies toward His people. Verse one, Psalm 65. Praise waiteth for thee, O God,
in Zion. And unto thee shall the vow be
performed. Now, I've told you this several
times throughout our study in the Psalms, that the one who
performed his vow to God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He made a
vow to His Father, You know, many people, many people have
made a vow unto God, haven't they? Oh God, if you get me out
of this, I'll do this, that or the other. Or if you get me out
of this, I'll never miss a service. If you get me out of this, I'll
never do this, that or the other again. And not one of those vows
has ever been kept. The only one who's ever kept
his vow to the Father is the Lord Jesus Christ. He performed
the vow. In the covenant of grace, there
was a vow made. There was a vow made between
the Godhead. The Father vowed that he would save the people
that he had chosen to save through the obedience and through the
sacrifice of his son, who would be made flesh and come and dwell
among his people. And the son vowed to become a
man. He vowed to, in the flesh, obey
the law for his people. And he vowed to be made sin for
his people and to purge that sin away with the blood, the
precious blood that he would shed as a willing sacrifice for
the sin of his people. And at God's appointed time,
the Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh and he fulfilled all
of that vow. He kept the law perfectly. In
every jot, in every tittle, in every minute detail, he obeyed
the law perfectly. Both outwardly and inwardly. In action, in motive, and in
heart. The Lord Jesus Christ kept the
law perfectly. Worked out a perfect obedience
that he would give to his people. Now, here's why all that is so
important to us. That this salvation, this righteousness is ours through
Christ, our representative. Now, I told you that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the only one who fulfilled his vow to his
father. But you know, all of God's elect have fulfilled their
vow to their father, too. How did they do that? In Christ. In Christ, our representative.
When Christ obeyed the law, his people obeyed it, too. In Christ,
our representative. And nothing will ever stop the
Father from accepting those people because they're in Christ. They're
perfect in Christ. There's no reason that the Father
would ever reject them. He'll always accept them in Christ,
our representative. And you know, a lot of things
have changed in this year 2020, haven't they? The way we do things,
the way we think about things, a lot of things have changed,
but God's covenant has not changed because God's covenant is eternal. In this year, 2020, people have
changed the way that they've treated one another. But God
hasn't changed. God's way of salvation hasn't
changed. Salvation is still in God's covenant
mercies in Christ Jesus. And that will never change. People
have changed the way that they say they feel about one another.
Division is rampant in our society. Division is rampant. People's
so-called love for one another has changed. But God's love God's
mercy, His loving kindness that He crowns, covers His people
with, has not changed. God is still merciful to His
people. And I tell you, that's a good
thing. Because no matter what we do or we don't do, we can't
do anything to deserve God's favor. Not one thing, can we?
But the Lord Jesus Christ did. He earned God's favor by fulfilling
His vow to the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ has ratified
that covenant, that covenant of grace, that vow made between
the Godhead. Christ has ratified it, sealed
it with his precious blood so that now nothing that happens,
whether we think it's good or whether we happen to think it's
bad, nothing that ever happens will change this truth. God's
covenant has been sealed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And like I said, lots changed this year, hadn't it? But no
one, this is something that has not changed. No one that God
has promised to save has fallen out of God's covenant of mercies.
Not one of them. God has covered them with His
covenant mercies and nothing that happens in the year can
change that. That's the year in the view.
God's covenant has stood firm. Alright, here's the second thing.
God has crowned this year with His goodness by hearing the prayer
of His people. Verse two says, O thou that hearest
prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. God said his ear is not
heavy that it cannot hear. And that's still true. And this
year, 2020, with all the difficulties, with all the stress of this year,
this has remained unchanged. God's ear is not heavy that it
cannot hear. God hears the cries of his people. And it's a good
thing because there's been many reasons for us to cry out to
God in prayer this year, haven't they? But it's just like every
year, just like God has given us in every year, many reasons
to cry out to him in prayer. God has heard our cries for mercy
because he always does. God always hears the cry of a
mercy beggar and God delights to show mercy to the miserable.
He delights in it. God has heard our cries for help.
How many times have you cried for help this year? How many
times have you cried out and begged God for grace sufficient
for the trial that He sent you? That's God's promise to His people.
We can always plead God's promise. If we beg and plead God's promise,
He'll always hear, because that's been His promise to His people,
that He'll give them grace sufficient for the trial. God has heard
the cries of His people. When we cry out to Him for comfort
of heart, when we cry out to Him for strength to endure, for
strength to keep going, for strength to preserve, to persevere in
the faith. God's heard our cries, hasn't
He? And then, don't forget this, God has heard our cries of praise
and He's heard our cries of thanksgiving, too. Oh, God's given us many
reasons to cry out to Him and beg Him for mercy and help and
comfort. And God has given us many, many,
many reasons to cry out, thank you, Lord. Thank You, Lord, for
saving my soul. Thank You, Lord. Oh, thank You.
All of our prayers should include thanksgiving. Oh, how thankful.
God's given us so many reasons to be thankful. And God has heard
our cries of worship from the heart. Even though this year,
2020, has caused us to have some changes in our order of service,
worship hasn't changed. Worship hasn't changed because
worship is not in ceremony. is from the heart. Worship always
happens through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching
of Christ. Now the world has changed a great deal, but God
still hears, he still hears the cries of his people. He still
accepts the cries of worship from his people that comes from
the heart. Because worship is a heart matter
that always happens around the preaching of God's son. Like
I said, a lot has changed in this year, 2020, but this hasn't
changed. The message we're preaching still hasn't changed. We're still
here, still preaching the same gospel, still worshiping God
the same way, but worshiping Him from the heart, worshiping
Him in Christ our Savior. And David makes an interesting
statement here. I'm not exactly sure what he means, but he says,
unto thee shall all flesh come. Now, I know this. I know that
all flesh will not come to God in saving faith. David could
mean that there'll be a time that all people, all people in
the flesh will cry out to God. I would imagine in this pandemic,
a lot more people have been crying out to God. But I know this from
Scripture. I know this, that God will not
hear the cries of all men. There are times God says, I will
not hear you. But you who believe God, you take comfort in this.
You take encouragement from this now. God always hears the cries
of his people. God always hears the cries of
his children. And God has given his children
many reasons to cry out to him this year, hasn't he? Both for
help, for comfort, for praise, for worship, for thanksgiving.
God's given us many reasons to cry out to him. And God has always
heard the cries of his people. That's this year in review. God's
heard the cries of his people. Here's the third thing. God has
crowned this year with His goodness by purging the sin of His people
away. Verse 3, Psalm 65, you got it? Iniquities prevail against me. We can't do anything about them.
As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Now I've
already touched on this. Here's how God has purged the
sin of His people away. By the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling
His vow. By fulfilling His vow, the Lord
Jesus Christ has purged away the sin of His people by the
blood of His sacrifice. God's people are always cleansed
from their sin by being washed in the blood of Christ. God's
people are saved, they're redeemed, they're cleansed by the sin-atoning
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has crowned, not just
this year, but He's crowned His people from eternity by cleansing
them in the blood of Christ. In the blood of Christ, the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. That's how God's people
have always been cleansed. Now God did that in eternity,
in the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now you mark this
down, nothing that happens in time will ever change that. Nothing
that happens in time will change God's eternal purpose. Matter
of fact, everything that happens in time is God's eternal purpose. It's just God's eternal purpose
unfolding before our eyes. God cleansed His people. He atoned
for the sin of His people in the blood of Christ, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. That means that none
of God's people ever did anything to purge our sin away. Nothing. Our iniquities have prevailed
against us. We couldn't do anything to put them away. Now you know
that, don't you? You believe that? I know you
believe that. You believe that we didn't do anything to purge
our sin away. Christ our Savior had to come
in the flesh and He had to purge our sin away. Now you know that,
don't you? You believe that? I know you
do. Then take comfort in this. Nothing we did purged our sin
away and nothing we do will bring the stain of sin back upon us.
Now if Christ died for us at See, nothing that happens in
this year, nothing that's happened in the lifetime of our years
will ever cause one of God's elect to lose their cleansing
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the summary
of this year in review. God hadn't yet lost one of his
people. One of God's people has not yet lost their cleansing
in the blood of Christ. And that means we can cry out
to God in Thanksgiving and praise and worship for that, can't we?
God's cleansed his people in the blood of his son. That's
this year in the view. All right, here's the fourth
thing. God has crowned this year with
his goodness and his electing love for his people. Verse four. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple." Now, Almighty
God, before time began, chose, elected a people unto salvation. God the Father elected those
people, just because He would. Not because there was anything
good found in them, because they were all sinful, they were all
deserving of God's wrath, but just because He would, God chose
a people to save, just out of His goodness, His mercy and His
grace to His people. And nothing can be more plain
to you if you read the Word of God honestly. God elected a people
unto salvation. God's electing love is all through
the Word of God. This truth, the doctrine of election,
the doctrine of God's electing love is the very foundation of
all of God's salvation. That's where it all began. Salvation
all began in the mind and purpose of God in His electing love for
His people. And those people that God has
elected unto salvation, every last one of them is going to
be drawn to Christ. They're all, that's what David
said here, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes
to approach unto thee. That's the same person. Everybody
God chose unto salvation, God has caused them to approach unto
him. God has drawn them to Christ
through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching
of Christ. This is what God has said to
all of His people. I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. An everlasting, electing love. Therefore, because of my love
to thee, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. And God does
that with His people every year. God this year has drawn more
of His people to Himself, just like every other year. And all
those people that God has drawn to Himself, God has kept them.
He has kept them drawn to Himself. You know, being drawn to Christ
isn't a one-time thing, is it? Peter said, to whom? Coming.
We're constantly being drawn. Constantly coming to Christ because
God is constantly drawing us to His Son through the preaching
of His Son. It's the preaching of Christ
that reveals the glory of Christ. That reveals to me and to you
that Christ is all we need. That keeps us being drawn to
Christ through the preaching of Him. God has drawn his people
to himself and he's kept his people close to him. This year,
just like every other year, the difficulties and stresses of
this year have not changed that. Those people that God has chosen,
that he has drawn to Christ, David says they dwell in God's
courts. They dwell in Christ. They stay
there because that's where God's put them. And you just think
how tenderly God draws His people to Himself. How tenderly He draws
His people to Himself by revealing Christ to their hearts. You know,
even the conviction of sin, the conviction of sin is very painful
to us, isn't it? But even that, even the painful
conviction of our sin, seeing who and what we are by nature,
all that is, is God tenderly drawing us to Christ, showing
us our sin, showing us the vileness of our sin so that we will trust
in those things. and will turn to trust Christ
as the Savior. Even that painful conviction of sin that causes
so much sorrow is God tenderly drawing His people to Himself.
And that's what makes the preaching of Christ so precious to God's
people. It's hearing Christ preach, hearing
the glory of His person that draws us to Christ, isn't it?
And it's that same gospel. The hearing of Christ preached
makes us content to stay in Christ, makes us content to have no other
hope but Christ our Savior. David here says God's people
will be satisfied in God's house. They'll be satisfied in God's
holy temple. Well, that's not a place. That
holy temple is not a place. It's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's people are completely satisfied
with Christ. Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied
to have no other hope, to have no other plea than the Lord Jesus
Christ? His blood, His righteousness.
God's people are satisfied with Christ. And the Father is satisfied
with Christ too. And He's satisfied with all of
His people in Christ. And nothing that ever happens
in time, even in a stressful year like this one, nothing that
ever happens in time will make God cast away the people that
He has chosen and drawn to Himself. Paul says, God's going to cast
away His people that He chose? God forbid. No, He's not going
to do that. You know why he's not? Because
he's satisfied with him in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There have been a lot of changes in our society this year. There's
been a lot of changes in the way we live our lives this year.
But here's one thing that will never, ever, ever change. God
will never cast away the people that he foreknew. God will never
cast away a sinner that comes to him begging for mercy. You
come to God begging for forgiveness of your sin. You come to God
begging for salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ's
sake, and this is what you'll find. You'll find it's true what
the Savior said. I'll never cast them out. All
those that come to me, he said, come to me begging for mercy,
come to me begging for forgiveness. I will never cast them out. That is this year, 2020 interview. All right, here's the fifth thing. God has crowned this year with
His goodness by giving life to His sheep and by sustaining that
life, by feeding His sheep. Now, verse 11, which was our
text this evening. Thou crownest the year with Thy
goodness, and Thy paths drop fatness. Now, if you want the
year 2020 in review, here it is. And it's the same review
for every year of our lifetime. God has crowned His people. He
has covered his people with blessing by covering them with Christ. Two key words here. The first
one is paths. That word paths means ruts, ruts
in the road that were made by a wooden wagon wheel. Well, God's
paths is God's way. God's way is Christ. He's the
way, the truth and the life. God's people are put in the way,
in the path, in the rut. and they can't get out of it. Because God won't let them depart
from it. He won't let them depart from salvation in Christ. God
has crowned, covered this year with His goodness by putting
His people in Christ's way and not letting them get out of it.
And then David says this, here's the other key word, is fatness. David says God's paths drop fatness. And again, that's being covered
with Christ, being blessed in Christ. This word fatness means
the ashes of the sacrifice. The ashes of the sacrifice. God's
people are blessed in the sacrifice of Christ, in the burnt offering
of Christ, where he was burnt up in God's wrath against the
sin of his people. God's people are blessed in Christ
and because of Christ, because of his sacrifice. All of the
blessings that come to God's people come to us through the
sacrifice of Christ. That's this year in review. God's
people have life because God has dropped fatness upon us. He's dropped upon us the benefits
of Christ's sacrifice. Just like grass grows in the
pastures. See these pastures all around
the area. We don't have sheep pastures. We typically have cow
pastures, but grass grows in those pastures. You know why?
God sends rain and sunshine upon it. and that grass grows. Well,
that's God's people. God's people have spiritual life
because God drops fatness upon us. He drops the blessings of
Christ's sacrifice upon us. Look at verse 12. These paths
that drop fatness, they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness.
They were just dry, barren, dead wilderness, but God drops the
fatness of His paths upon them and that wilderness becomes a
pasture. And the little hills rejoice on every side. Grass grows on a pasture because
God causes rain and sunshine to fall upon it. Well, God's
people grow because God drops the blessings of Christ's sacrifice
upon us. He drops it on us from above.
And when God drops this fatness of His ways upon His people,
God makes sure His people drink it. The water that comes from
above, the spiritual water, the water of life that God showers
on His people from above, never is in vain. God makes sure His
people drink when He waters them with this water from above. You
know why? Because before God drops the
water upon them, He makes His people thirsty. Look up here
at verse 9. Thou visitest the earth and waterest
it. Thou greatly enrichest it with
the river of God, which is full of water. thou prepares them
corn when thou hast so provided for it. Now your center reference,
if you've got the Cambridge here, says that thou visitest the earth
after thou hast made it to desire rain. After God makes his people
thirsty, after he makes his people desire rain, after he makes his
people desire Christ, the living water, then God visits them. When he makes them thirsty, then
he visits them with this water. and blesses them and gives them
life. God causes these pastures to grow for His people. And where
are those pastures? Those pastures are the places
where Christ is preached. This place right here where Christ
is preached, that's a pasture for God's seed. Look at verse
13. The pastures are clothed with
flocks. The valleys also are covered over with corn. They
shout for joy. They also sing. The pastures
are clothed with flocks. God's sheep, they just gather
all over the hill where there's grass to eat. Where there's grass
to eat, that's where you find the sheep congregating. Well,
that's God's sheep. They gather where Christ, the
good shepherd, has put them. Christ, the good shepherd, has
led them to a place where Christ is faithfully preached by one
of his under-shepherds, and there God's sheep eat. The life that God has given them
is fed and sustained through the preaching of Christ. See,
God gives life by the preaching of Christ, and he sustains life
by the preaching of Christ, by this fatness that drops in his
paths, by all the benefits of Christ's sacrifice being applied
to the hearts of God's people through the preaching of the
gospel. So that is this year, 2020, in review for God's people. God has continued to give life
to his people through the preaching of Christ. He has continued to
sustain that life by feeding his people through the preaching
of Christ. And no matter what else goes
on in this world, whether we think it's good or whether we
think it's bad, God's people are always being blessed through
the benefits of Christ's sacrifice for us. Not by our works, but
by God's grace through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's Christ's sacrifice. That's what gives us life, isn't
it? The only reason we live is because Christ died for us. And
it's that same sacrifice that sustains our life. It's Christ
being lifted up that continually draws us to God. It's Christ's
sacrifice that continually keeps us staying close to God. It's
Christ's sacrifice that keeps us coming back for more and more
and more and more. It's Christ's sacrifice that
keeps us worshiping God. And that's this year in review.
That's this year 2020 in review. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful
for this year. I hope this will make you look
at this stressful year of 2020 in a totally different light. God has crowned this year with
His goodness. I don't know what 2021 holds. Got no idea what 2021 holds for
all of us. Yet I do. Yet I do. I do know what the year 2021
holds for all of us. If the Lord tarries, 365 days
from now, we're allowed to meet again. You know what we'll say
about the year 2021 in review? We'll say, thou hast crowned
the year with thy goodness and thy paths have dropped fatness. That's what we'll say about it. I want to wish all of you a very
happy new year. Pray God will bless you. Pray
that God will continue to drop fatness upon us. in His ways. And He'll bless you, He'll keep
us safe. And I hope soon in this year,
it won't come as soon as we hoped, I hope soon in this year we'll
be able to meet together with none of these restrictions and
be able to worship in the way that we've grown accustomed over
the years. But till that time, I do know
this, I do know this, God will continue to bless His Word. And
I pray He'll bless you. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, oh, how we thank
You for this, Your Word. And how we thank You that You
have crowned this year with Your goodness. And how thankful we
are to know as we go into this next year, that this next year
will still be the same. It'll be Your year. It'll be
the year of our Lord. The year that You purposed for
Your people. and that you'll crown it with your goodness.
And Father, we pray that you would continue to bless your
word as it's preached here and in other places. Father, bless
your word. Get much glory to yourself in
this coming year through the preaching of your word. Father,
let this be a year we see you by your mercy and your grace. Reach your mighty arm of power
down among us and stir up the hearts of your people. Call out
your sheep, call those who as of this moment have not yet believed
on you, that you might reach down and give them faith and
repentance, call them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let
this be a year where we see your power and feeding and comforting
and edifying your sheep through the preaching of your word. Let
this be a year where you reach down and move the hearts of your
people to care for one another, to watch out for one another
and help one another. Give us the grace and the wisdom
to protect the unity of the saints that we unified around this one
cause, the glory of Christ our Savior. For it's in his precious
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. I pray the Lord bless you
and keep you.