Would you turn to Psalm 66. 66
Psalm. Make a joyful noise unto God
all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy works. Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the
earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall
sing to thy name, Selah. Come and see the works of God.
He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned
the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on
foot. There did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power forever. His eyes behold the nations.
Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. Now remember that word Selah.
It doesn't necessarily have to be read. Anytime you read that,
it means think about this. Give thought to this. Selah.
Oh, bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise
to be heard. which holdeth our soul in life,
and suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, O God, hast
proved us. Thou hast tried us as silver
is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net.
Thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to
ride over our heads. We went through fire and through
water, but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. I will
go into thy house with burnt offerings. I will pay thee my
vows, which my lips have uttered, my mouth has spoken when I was
in trouble. I will offer unto thee burnt
sacrifices of fatlings with the incense of rams. I will offer
bullocks with goats. Selah. Just to pause, what would
that mean if we didn't know the gospel? We see these offering
of bullocks and goats and rams, and we think, what's this about?
What's about the cross? That's the only way he is to
be approached at all times. Verse 16, come and hear all ye
that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath heard me,
he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God,
which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are, how we thank you for your word. And Lord, we're completely
dependent upon you to make yourself known to us. Do your word. And we ask that you would give
us a. Fear. A godly fear. Of yourself. We pray that you would forgive
us of our sins. We pray that you'd cleanse us.
We pray that you would give us hearing ears, receptive hearts
with regard to the hearing of your gospel. We pray that you
would deliver us from hearing the words, the thoughts, the
ideas of a man cause us to only hear your word. Be with all your
people wherever they meet together. Be with our friends that aren't
here. Keep them by your grace. Lord, we anticipate hearing from
you for the glory of your name. In Christ's name we pray, amen. For many years, I would have
called this my least favorite song because I would be terrified
Every time I would read verse 18, if I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me. And thinking of that, meditating
upon that, what all it meant, just scared me, because what
does that mean? Because there is always iniquity
in my heart. Always, it's always there. And
to say that I have no iniquity, that I do not regard in my heart,
I couldn't deal with that honestly. It would scare me to death. And
I would actually not look forward to this psalm because of that
verse before I understood it. And I hope that the Lord will
give us some light in dealing with this passage of scripture.
Psalm 66, Make a joyful noise, a loud noise,
a shout in triumph, a shout of victory is what that's talking
about. Make a joyful noise unto God all ye lambs. He's calling
upon all nations, Gentiles, Jews, to make this joyful noise. And think of this scripture.
Thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Not most of the time. Not 99%
of the time. Every believer always triumphs
in Christ. Thanks be unto God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We're more than
conquerors. through him that loved us. That's the promise of the gospel. And that's why we're called upon
to make this joyful noise. Verse two, sing forth the honor
of his name. Make his praise glorious. Now
remember, his name is the person behind the name. It's not just
articulating verbally his name, it's knowing the person behind
the name. I hope that there are certain
things that you think about, no doubt some bad stuff, but
hopefully some good stuff when you think of Todd Nyberg. You
think of this guy, you know him, you think of the person behind
the name. You're not just thinking of the name, you're thinking
of the person. So everybody in here, I know your name, there's
a person I know. This is talking about the name
of God. His attributes, his holiness,
his justice, his sovereignty, his kindness, his grace, his
power. It's the person behind the name
and that's what we're celebrating. He says, sing forth the honor
of his name, make his praise glorious. Oh, I want to praise
him, don't you? As he ought to be praised. Verse three, say unto God, he
tells us what to say to him. Say unto God, how terrible, how
awesome art thou in thy works. Now the works of God. divided
into, not that I don't want to be technical about it, but his
works, plural, works of creation. How awesome he is in creating
the universe. His power. His works of providence. Do you know that everything that
happens he's in control of and he willed it and he's behind
it and it's his purpose and it's not difficult for him in any
way. He's so awesome in his power that he controls everything.
That's what the known unto God are all his works from the beginning.
He do it according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? He is an absolute control of
everything. And most especially his works of salvation to give
his son to die for sinners, to Birth them, give them life. They were dead, he gives them
life. The work in preserving us all the way to the end. How
glorious, how terrible, how awesome are all his works. His works
of creation, his works of providence, his works in saving a sinner
for the glory of his name. Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Now, make
no mistake about it. Anybody outside of Christ, they
hate him. They're his enemies, and they're
all going to be made to submit by his power. You know, no one
can fight against the Lord. Now, they can fight against the
Lord, but they can't defeat him. Everybody is going to bow the knee to the
Lord Jesus Christ, either willingly, rejoicing in his lordship, or
unwillingly, but all will be made to bow before him. Verse four says, all the earth
shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee. They shall sing
to thy name. Come and see the works of God.
He mentions this again. This is something that is to
always be in our mind. You know, I'm his work. I'm his
work. Every believer is his work. If
I believe the gospel, I'm his work. I'm a demonstration of
his work. Creation's his work. Everything that happens in time,
he's gloriously God. He controls everything. So he
repeats this. Come and see the works of God. He is terrible in his doing toward
the children of men. Now, I think of this scripture. I think it, I wish that we didn't
get caught at this verse of scripture. I know that when we hear John
3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, we have a tendency to think, well, he only died for the elect. And that's true. That's true. I wouldn't diminish that in any
way. Our only hope is that he died
for us. But don't you love the way he says, God so loved the
world. He's the savior of the world. Oh, I love this statement
with regard to his God so loved the world. Somebody says, does
that mean he loves every individual? No, it doesn't. Huh. Thou hatest
all workers of iniquity. I know he didn't love Esau. The
scripture says that, but don't you love the magnitude of this?
God so loved the world. Are you in the world? This is
for you. This is for you. Come and see the works of God.
He's terrible in his doing towards the children of men that God
would so love the world that he would give his son. How terribly
awesome and glorious that is. Verse six, he turned the sea
into dry land, talking about the parting of the Red Sea. They
went through the flood on foot. There did we rejoice in him. I love to think of these, some
say two million, walking through the dry land with a wall of water
on either side. And there, we rejoiced in him. Remember when Moses said, stand
still. Don't move. Stand still and see
the salvation. They see the water part and then
he said, why are you standing? March forth, go forth. And he turned the sea into dry
land. They went through the flood on
foot and there did we rejoice in him. Verse seven, he ruleth
by his power forever. Now that's talking about his
eternal omnipotence. Whatever he wills will take place
because he is omnipotent. Now, somebody says God can do
anything. He can't act contrary to his nature. He can't sin.
He can't lie. But anything that is consistent
with his attributes, he has the power to do. eternally. It's always been that way. It
never will be anything but that. He ruleth by his power. His eyes
behold the nations. I love that scripture. The Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men. He's looking
at me right now. He's looking at you right now.
He's looking at somebody in Africa right now. He's looking at everybody
in Asia right now. Doesn't matter where they're
at. He beholds, he sees. Let not the rebellious exalt
themselves to exalt yourself before him. Selah, think about
that. Oh, bless, verse eight, oh, bless
our God, ye people. Ascribe blessedness to him, glory
in him. Oh, bless our God, ye people.
And make the voice of his praise to be heard. Now, what we're
saying is to be heard. You know, I've heard people say,
well, you're a believer privately. You don't need to be heard. Yeah,
you do. Yeah, you do. Make his praise to be heard.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. David said, I believed,
therefore have I spoken. We want the world to hear of
the glorious majesty of the God of the Bible. We want the world
to hear of the freeness of his grace, the power of his blood. This is to be heard, and we want
it to be heard, don't we? Look at verse nine. Which holdeth
our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved. Now that word holdeth, my marginal
reading says put or ordained. He puts He holds, He puts, He
ordains our soul, and He puts our soul in life. What's that
mean? He puts us in Christ. of him
or you in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ, God put
you there. And I love the way he says he
puts us in life. Christ is our life. When he put me in Christ, he
put me in life, and I have life before God. And the only reason
I continue in the faith and am preserved is because it says
in verse nine, he suffers not our feet to be moved. Now if
you're, you know, that if he doesn't suffer your feet to be
moved, how quickly will you be moved? Do you know yourself enough
to know that you'll be moved right quick? And if he doesn't
keep you. We're toast. But the psalmist
knows that. And he says, he suffers not our
feet to be moved. We're not moved from the hope
of the gospel. It's because he doesn't allow us to be. But we
personally are not moved from Christ. We persevere in the faith
because of him. He suffers our feet not to be
moved. Verse 10. For thou, O God, I want to read
verses 10 through 12 together. For thou, O God, hast proved
us. Thou has tried us as silver is
tried. And that's in a furnace. Thou
has tried us as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net. Thou laidest affliction upon
our loins. Thou has caused men to ride over
our heads. We went through fire and through
water, but. Thou brought us out into a wealthy
place. Now what he is talking about
is the trials that every believer is going to have. And they're
given to prove the reality, to test the reality of my faith. Trials, afflictions, troubles,
heartaches, disappointments, confusion. Every one of us are faced with
trials. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. The Lord promised that. Now,
you have trials ahead of you. I have trials ahead of me. I've
got trials behind me that have already taken place. I don't
want to know what's going to happen tomorrow. Young boy says,
I'd like to know, not me. Matter of fact, I don't know
what I'd do, but I don't want to know, but I know this. And
the Lord did tempt Abraham. The Lord tried him. And you will be tried. I will
be tried to test the reality of our faith. You're going to
be tempted to give up. You're going to be tempted to
quit. You're going to be tempted, I guess, just like Peter was
when he said, I've had it with this disciple business. I'm going
back to fishing. You're going to be tempted. And if I'm real, my faith will
prove real. I'm going to continue. A couple
of weeks ago, I had the privilege of being around Brother D. Parks
in College Grove. He's got cancer that is, I mean,
Lord might preserve him. We don't know, but his prognosis
is not very long. He has two junior high age kids. He sees that he's leaving. He
has a wife that he's leaving, a family that he's leaving. He
knows it. He's dying. And I don't know
if I've ever been so encouraged being around somebody. The way
the Lord just gave him grace to shine in that trial. And I just admired him. And this
is a, the Lord did tempt Abraham. God said, with regard to Job,
have you considered my servant Job? Now the Lord's gonna bring
trial and temptation and heartache in your life, in my life. By God's grace, if I have God-given
faith, I'm gonna persevere through all that, continuing to walk
with Christ, continuing to look to Christ. Now, the psalmist
said, you've brought all these things our way, and we've ended
up in a wealthy, Now verse 13, I will go into thy house with
burnt offerings. I will pay thee my vows. Now, I will go into your house and
burn offerings. I'll go into your house only pleading the
sacrifice of Christ. That's what that means. I mean,
you go on reading these things, it seems like what an animalistic,
violent, killing animals all the time and talking about, you
know, coming into your house with these sacrifices and killing
goats and killing bulls and bringing in blood. That reminds us, at
all times, my only way of entrance into the Father is through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, at all times. He's always the
new and the living way. We always have boldness to enter
into the holiest by what these sacrifices signify, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. My standing is in the blood of
Christ. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow. And that's what the writer is
talking about when he's talking about coming with these sacrifices.
Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Now, he says, I will pay thee
my vows. Now, two things. Christ made a vow to his father,
and this can be seen, yes, as the words of Christ. He paid
his vows. Salvation is of the Lord. When
he agreed to be my surety before time began, he took a vow to
save me with his own precious blood. And He's paying that vow. And by His grace, we vow to look
nowhere but Him. That's our hope. Only Him. We want to walk with Him. Listen,
I want to be His in every respect. There's no respect I don't want
to be His. I want to walk with Him. I want to glorify Him. My
vow is this. My only salvation is Christ.
That is what David said when he said, although my house be
not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things. And sure, this is all my salvation. This is all my desire. How about
you? I can say the same thing. This
is all my salvation. This is all my desire, what he
did for me. That's it. Now he said, I will go into thy
house with burnt offerings, I will pay thee my vows which my lips
have uttered, and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. How many times in trouble have
you made some kind of promise? I have, you have. How'd it work
for you? If you're honest, you know that
that which is born in a storm, you know what it's gonna do?
It's gonna die in a calm every time. But that being said, in
my trouble, Lord have mercy on me. Give me grace. Look in favor upon me for Christ's
sake. Those are the things I'm in trouble. Lord, get me out of this. How many times have you had to
pray, Lord, get me out of this and make it to where there's
not consequences because of what I've done, because of what I've
said, because of what, get me out, save me, save me. That's not a one-time prayer,
that's an everyday prayer. Lord, save me, save me, look
down in mercy upon me in my time of trouble, look down in mercy,
have mercy on me. He says, in verse 15, I will
offer unto thee burnt offerings, burnt sacrifices of fatlings
with the incense of rams. I will offer bullocks with goats.
Now, somebody says that's that ancient primitive religion. No,
it's coming into the presence of God only with Christ. I wish I could emphasize this.
At no time do I want to be seen in any way but covered in the
blood of His Son. And that is the way I come. Now look what he says in verse
16, come and hear, come and hear all ye that fear God. Now there are those who fear
him and there are those who have no fear of him. Now, when we're
talking about the fear of God, we're not talking about the fear
of punishment. We're not talking about the fear of hell. We're
not talking about the fear of I'm going to get, God's going
to get me if I do this, he's going to, he's going to take
it out in the coffin or he's going to cause me to wreck my
car or my children and get sick or I'm going to get, that's not
the fear of God. The fear of God is that all of
God, that reverence, that respect of him that makes you afraid
to look anywhere but Christ alone. That is the fear of God. Now he says, come and hear all
ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Isn't that our message? What
he has done? Not what I've done. No, we declare
what he has done for our soul. I cried unto him, verse 17, with
my mouth, and he was extolled, he was exalted with my tongue.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now that's the verse, as I said,
that troubled me. Regard, esteem, iniquity in my heart. Well, there's
no time in my experience where I don't see iniquity in my heart. Right now, right now, iniquity
is in my heart. So what does this mean if I have
iniquity in my heart? And this is what was very helpful
to me. Do you remember when the high
priest would bear the iniquity of the holy things of Israel? That's what it says, the iniquity
of the holy things. Now, what does the scripture
teach with regard to my righteousness and your righteousness? What's
the Bible say? Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. If I regard my filthy rags, my
iniquity, you know what? Lord's not going to hear me. Lord's not going to hear me.
I'm looking to my works. I'm looking to my filthy rags.
I'm looking to the iniquity of the holy things I've believed.
I've, I've, I've, you know, anything that starts with an I is bad.
You can just write that down. I, watch out. But he says, if
I regard my iniquity, my filthy righteousness, the Lord will
not hear me. And you can count on it. He won't.
The only way we can come is in the blood of Christ. He makes
that so clear. I'll come with burnt offerings
and sacrifices. I'll come in Christ's name. If
I regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear, but verily
God hath heard. You see, I'm looking to Christ
only, and that's only by his grace. Right now, while I'm talking
to you by his grace, and only by his grace, the only thing
I have is the Lord Jesus Christ. I look to him only. I don't have
anything else. I really don't. I look to him
only, and he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. He's
heard me. Blessed be God, which hath not
turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. He's heard me. He's received me. He's not turned
away my prayer, and here's why he's not turned away my prayer.
He's not turned away his mercy from me. His saving, sovereign,
glorious, free mercy. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Amen.