Psalm 67, Psalm 67, and we'll
look at these seven verses in the way of a Bible study. Psalm
67, I'm entitling the message from what is said in verse, the
last part of verse six. In the first part of verse seven,
you see that? God, our own God, shall bless
us. Our own God. We have God who
is our own God. He's our own God. You remember
Isaiah? Many times we read, he says,
I am God. Beside me there is no other. Look unto me. So God, even our
own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. It says again
in verse seven, God shall bless us. And the response of that
is worship. When God blesses his people,
they worship him. They worship him. So that'll
be the title of the message. God shall bless us. He has done so in, through, and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he will continue to bless us, not that we are deserving,
but rather because he's merciful. God will continue to bless us
for Christ's name's sake, for one reason, for Christ's sake,
for Christ's sake, for the gospel's sake, and to the glory of our
God. Now, this is not ungodly. and unholy presumption, God shall
bless us. Well, that's presumption, isn't
it? No, not when God says he shall bless us, but rather it's
holy confidence and assurance in the God of all grace, the
father of mercies, the God of all comfort, that he shall not
fail. to bless us, he cannot fail to
bless us. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes, and in him, and amen, and to the glory of our God. I'm persuaded like Abraham of
old, if all that God had promised, he's able to perform. Solomon
prayed that in dedication to the temple. Joshua said that
upon his last word when he was dying, all that God had promised,
not one word will fail. Isn't that comforting? Everything
God has promised, it will come to pass. As Abraham said, I'm
persuaded that all that God has promised, he is able to perform. You see, our salvation is based
upon his doing, not ours. His purpose, His will, His doing. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Now, let's start with verse one. And we see this prayer of God's
people. And it starts, I love how this
starts. God be merciful. It starts where
everything starts. In the beginning, God. You remember
how the book of Hebrews starts? The book of Hebrews starts the
same way. God, who in sunbury times and divers manners, spake
in time past unto the fathers, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by Jesus Christ. God, God who is God. God, God
who is God. Almighty, sovereign. Beside him
there is no other. And our prayer is for mercy. Not for judgment, not for justice,
but mercy, mercy. We are, as I've often said, you've
heard this before, right? We're mercy beggars. We come
to God as mercy beggars. We take our place before the
throne of God as mercy beggars. I read a statement or heard a
statement today, I was listening to a message And the old preacher
said, the banquet of mercy is served up by one host. The banquet
of mercy is served up by one host, the Lord of glory. The
banquet of mercy. God be merciful unto us. That's
our cry. And then secondly, bless us.
Bless us. bless us, and he has blessed
us. You think of all the blessings,
spiritual blessings I'm talking about, that we enjoy in Christ,
and then cause your face, your presence, your mercy to shine
upon us, to shine upon us, to radiate upon us. Some of you
have been out in the sun working these last sunny warm days, and
you feel that sun feel so good, doesn't it? It radiates on your
face. The sun is shining upon your
face. That's exactly what Christ does
in the Gospel. He shines upon our face. We feel
that radiant beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, that love of God
that's shed abroad in our hearts. petition of prayer is God shall
bless us, as it says in verse 7. God shall bless us. God be
merciful unto us. Be merciful unto us. Here's what
we need now and forever. It includes all grace now and
glory forever. It's a repeated prayer of God's
priests, God's people. God bless us. Be merciful unto
us. Be merciful unto us. When Moses
cried unto the Lord, Lord, show me your glory. Remember what
the Lord said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee.
I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. God delights to
show mercy to his people. God's greatest glory is his mercy,
sovereign mercy, and that's our greatest need, isn't it? I need
his mercy. Our plea is not of merit, but
of mercy. It's not of works, but of grace. It's not of ceremony, but of
Christ. It's not tradition, but truth. The Lord is merciful. The Lord
is merciful. We know the scriptures says that
God is good, But I was reading over here earlier today where
it says in Psalm 116, don't turn, let me just read it to you. Gracious
is the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. Our God is good. Oh, taste and
see, the Lord is good. He's good. The Lord preserveth
the simple. I was brought low and he helped
me. Gracious is the Lord. He is gracious. He is righteous.
Yea, our God is. He is merciful. He is merciful. Mercy is God not giving us what
we do deserve. What do we deserve? Judgment,
wrath, condemnation. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. It's not
by works of righteousness which we have done, But according to
his mercy, he saved us. God be merciful unto us. The publican in the temple that
the Lord said went home justified. You know what he prayed? And the Lord answered his prayer.
He prayed seven words. God be merciful to me, the sinner. And the Lord showed mercy. It's
good and right for us to seek mercy where mercy's found. Mercy's
not found in the law. Don't go to Mount Sinai. We're
gonna see in our Bible study on Sunday that Mount Sinai that
quaked and thundered and lightning and God spoke and people said,
people backed up and said, don't let God speak to us anymore.
They couldn't touch that mountain. judgment, justice, holy justice
of God revealed in Mount Sinai. So don't go to Mount Sinai expecting
mercy. Go to Mount Calvary, where mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. We're going to see that in a
few weeks. We may look at Psalm 85 again. And then it says there, be merciful
unto us and bless us. Bless us. God bless us. Now, we know these blessings
are in Christ. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless
us. Bless us. Not that we're deserving
but bless us because you're merciful. Now, listen to this. He may in
the process of and smite us, and strip us, and
break us, and slay us, but God must and will, for Christ's sake,
bless us. And in the process of blessing
us, he may chasten us, but God will bless his people. He's blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Look just across the page there, Psalm 68, across the page, Look at verse 18, Psalm 68 verse
18. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou
hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men. Yea, the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell
among them. Now that sounds familiar because
that's quoted in Ephesians chapter 4. Now look at verse 19. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits, blessings, even the God of our salvation.
He that is our God is a God of salvation. Unto God the Lord
belongeth the issues of death and salvation. He daily loathes
us with benefits. Everybody wants a good job with
a lot of benefits, don't they? We have all spiritual blessings
in Christ Jesus. And then the third thing he says
there back in Psalm 67, the last part, cause thy face, cause his
face to shine upon us, to be with us. Cause his face, cause
Christ to be with us and to shine upon us. Now, That first word
there is real important, cause. Cause, cause and effect, cause. He's the first cause of all spiritual
blessings. He's the first cause of all spiritual
blessing. Cause, or this word is also can
be rendered make. Make his face to shine upon us,
the face of Christ. God is the first cause. He's
the author and finisher of our faith, remember. He's the reason
of our faith. He gives us faith as a gift of
God. And the reason the face of Christ
shines upon us, the glory of God that shines in the face of
Christ, is because God is merciful. Let us see the glory of God in
the face of Christ, for he is the express image of the invisible
God, We see in the Lord Jesus Christ the glory of God revealed
in Christ Jesus, in his person. We see the glory of his love.
He loved us with everlasting love. We see the glory of his
salvation. We see the glory of his mercy.
We see all things in Christ. And he's God with us. Emmanuel,
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined
in our heart. that we might see the glory of
God in the face of Christ. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and he shall call his name Emmanuel. What does that mean? God with us. Think about that. God with us? He said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. Well,
someone might say, I just don't feel his presence. He didn't
ask you to feel his presence. He said, believe my word. I'm
with you always, even to the end of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, he does
make his face shine upon us. Turn over here, turn to Psalm
31, Psalm 31, look at this. Psalm 31, look at verse 15, Psalm
31, 15. Thinking upon this statement
here, make his face to shine upon us. Psalm 31, verse 15,
you got it? My times are in thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute
me. Make thy face to shine upon thy
servant and save me for thy mercy's sake. Make your face to shine. Make Christ to shine upon us.
Now, I want you to turn to Psalm 80. Turn over there to Psalm
80. Psalm 80. And three times in this psalm,
this statement is repeated. Psalm 80, look at verse three.
Psalm 80, verse three. You got it? Turn us again, O
God, and cause thy face to shine upon us and we shall be saved. Same psalm, Psalm 80, look at
verse seven. Turn us again, O God, of hosts,
cause thy face to shine Shine, and we shall be saved. Verse
19, turn us again, O God. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts, and cause thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be
saved. Christ, cause him to shine upon
us, and we shall be saved. We shall be saved. Look at verse two, Psalm 67 verse
two, that, that. So be merciful unto us and bless
us and cause the face of Christ, his beauty, his glory to shine
upon us, that thy way may be known upon the earth. That's
the only way we know anything about God's mercy and God's blessing. is by the revelation of the glory
of God that shines in the face of Christ, that thy way may be
known upon the earth. By nature, we're in the dark.
By nature, we have no understanding. By nature, we're ignorant. We
don't know God. till he blesses us and reveals
himself unto it, then we know thy way may be known and thy
saving help among the nation. You see that in verse two. This
is God's method of salvation as it's revealed and known only
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice it, thy way. Christ alone is the way. He's the way, right? Remember
John 14 verse 6, the Lord said, I am the way, the truth, the
life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through me. Christ is the only way, neither
is there salvation in any other. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
in him crucified, points out the way of salvation through
him, the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember from Hebrews 9,
verse 19, excuse me, Hebrews 10, verse 19 and 20, that Christ
is called the new and living way. He's the new way, ever new,
and He's the living way. I've been reading through the
Proverbs, and in Proverbs 14, verse 12, we read, There is a
way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof is a
way of death. There is a way that seems right.
unto a fallen sinful man. It's a way of what? Works, doing,
ceremony, these different things. There is a way that seems right
unto men, but the end of that way is death. Any way apart from
Christ alone, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, Christ alone. Anything apart from that way
is death. Add anything to that way is death, not life. And then it says in the second
part of verse two, thy saving health. You see that? What is
thy saving health? That's salvation, isn't it? Salvation,
how many times have we read this in the scripture? Salvation of
the Lord, right? Salvation of the Lord. That thy
saving health may be known among the nations. Thy saving
health. And the reference is there to
Luke 2, verse 30, where they brought the babe, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to the temple to do according to the law. And the Lord promised
old Simeon that he would not die until he'd seen the Lord's
Christ. Remember the story? He held that baby up, looked
in his face, said, God, I'm ready to die. I've seen thy salvation. Salvation's in a person. The
Lord Jesus Christ in a person. Now, the health. Everybody's
concerned about personal health, aren't they? Personal health. Whether it's physical health,
mental health, everybody interested. And I'm all in on good health. I wanna be healthy. I don't wanna
be sick and weakly. weekly, week, but that's where
this flesh is going. But everybody's, they take extra
precaution, extra concern about being healthy. And I'm not saying
that we shouldn't eat right and exercise and do those things,
go to your doctor and all that stuff. But everybody's concerned
about being healthy, but this here talking about our spiritual
health. Not many people are concerned
about their spiritual health. And he's talking about those
who are sin sick, they need to be healed, don't they? They need
spiritual health, spiritual health. How are we healed? Wounded for
our transgression, bruised for our iniquity, with his stripes
we are healed. That's the health of our salvation
is Christ in him crucified. God's salvation, he's appointed
us not unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ
who died for us. that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. I'm interested in spiritual
health, spiritual well-being in Christ. Salvation is by his
appointing, his promising, his sending. Salvation is by the
Lord Jesus Christ and by him only. He came to obtain it. He's the author of it, the finisher
of it, the strength of it, the power of it, the health of it. We are healthy people. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, we'll never die. That's the kind of health
I'm interested in, eternal salvation, eternal blessings. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called the physician of our soul. His blood is the
ointment that cures every disease so that he is our savior, our
salvation, our saving health to all of his people wherever
they are in this world. Die saving help among the nations. God has a people among every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue under heaven that are redeemed,
chosen in Christ and redeemed with his precious blood. Now,
if you know that Christ is the way, that he's our saving help,
that he is our God and savior, that he has been merciful to
us, that he has blessed us, that he's caused his face to shine
upon us, what does that leave us with? Verse three and verse
five. Let the people praise thee. Let
the people praise thee. Let the people worship thee.
Let all the people, definite article, the people, who are
the people, Call His name Jesus, He shall save His people from
their sin. Let the people praise Thee, O
God. Let all the people praise Thee.
To praise Him is to worship Him. To praise Him is to submit to
Him and to rejoice in Him. And then it says again in verse
5, let the people praise Thee, O God. Let all the people praise
Thee. The Lord. Now this is heart worship
is what this is. It's not this outward show of
emotion or religion. This is in the heart. God looks
upon the heart. This is worship in the heart.
That all the people praise thee, confess thee, and worship thee. Remember Psalm 103, David said,
bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. This word here, praise, also
has the meaning of worship and the meaning of confession. We
worship him, don't we? Now, who is worthy of worship?
None but God. If we worship anything else,
we're idolaters. God alone is to be worshiped.
The father seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth. It
is impossible to approach God apart from Christ. That's just
so. It's impossible to approach God
apart from Christ. But it's also impossible to worship
a true and living God apart from Christ, apart from the gospel
of Christ. Now listen to me, where the gospel
is denied, Where the truth is denied, there's no true worship. Now, you might be going through
the religious exercise, but where the gospel is denied and where
the truth of God is denied, his sovereignty and salvation, his
righteousness revealed and imputed in Christ, where that's denied,
there's no worship. You see, it's worshiping the
true and living God. You shall know the truth and
the truth will set you free. So those who worship him do so
in spirit and in truth. There is no spiritual worship
apart from Christ who is the truth, the truth. And we also,
the second part of that is we confess him. We can only do that,
worship him as we confess him, confess him and make a confession
that we are sinners in total dependence upon him We confess
Christ as our only hope of salvation. What is our confession? Christ.
What is our hope? Christ. Who is our savior? Christ. Who is our righteousness? Christ. These sound like a broken
record. Good. Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all. Remember
them old 33s? You put, we had a little record
player, and we used to play them little teeny records over and
over and over and over and over again, and they'd get scratched,
remember? And then you'd play them, and
they'd go bump, bump, and they'd just keep repeating the same
thing over. This is back in the 50s now. You younger people don't even
know what a record is. It's all MP3s. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, with the mouth confession, confession
is made unto salvation. Whosoever believeth in him shall
not be ashamed. Not be ashamed, believing, trusting,
resting in Christ. Who are these people that do
praise him and worship him and confess him? Those chosen in
that covenant of grace. He said, you didn't choose me,
I've chosen you. Remember from last week in Psalm
65 verse 4, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest
to approach unto him. Who are these people that do
praise him, to worship him, and confess him, those chosen by
his sovereign grace, electing love? Those redeemed by the blood
of Christ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of His grace. Those who are regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. Those who are regenerated by
the Spirit of God. Our Lord said, except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't perceive,
understand, believe, unless he's born again. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, he's born of God. Who are these people who praise
Him, worship Him, and confess Him, chosen by sovereign grace,
redeemed by the blood of Christ? He says, you know more your own,
you're bought with a price, regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Look
at verse 4 now. Oh, let the nations, verse 4,
oh, let the nations be glad. Remember what David said in another
Psalm, was it Psalm 122, maybe, I'm not sure. I was glad when
they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. Let the
nations be glad. And here he's talking about Gentile
nations. He's talking about God's elect
that he has among all nations. Let all, let the nation, let
the elect of God, wherever they may be, be glad. Be glad and let them sing for
joy. Oh, with gladness and joy. For thou shalt judge the people
righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. When sinners, his elect, among
the nations when they know God's way of salvation and they see
all the promises of God fulfilled in Christ, what does it bring?
Joy. and gladness being justified
by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we also have joy. We joy, we
rejoice in him, and we have gladness of heart. Gladness of heart and
we sing for joy. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessing, and power, both now
and forever. Turn over here to Psalm 98. Psalm
98 verse 1. I remember the first time I saw
this. Psalm 98 verse 1. You got it? Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song. For he had done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm
had gotten him to victory. We sing. this new song that's the everlasting
song of redemption, what he hath done for us. He performed all
things for us, hadn't he? Christ is the joy of our heart. He has righteously judged, you
see that? Thou shalt judge the people righteously. He is the righteous judge. He
has righteously judged our sin in our substitute, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and put them away, that he might be just and the justifier
of those who believe. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He had
judged our sin in Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ. Our sin's been put away in Christ
Jesus. Completely, thoroughly, eternally,
so much so that God said, as far as the east is from the west,
I've separated you from your sin. He said, we studied this
in Hebrews 10, remember? He said, their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. How can that be? Because Christ
put away our sin completely, eternally. He obtained for us
eternal redemption. In Isaiah 38, he says that our
sin has been cast behind God's back. Thou hast in love to my
soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. Thou hast cast
all my sin behind God's back. Where is that? I don't know,
but our sin is gone. He doesn't see our sin. He doesn't
see our sin. They're cast, Micah 7, 19 says,
they're cast into the depth of the sea. God had put away our
sin. And then the second part of verse
four, We are glad and we sing for joy because he's put away
our sin. We are glad and we sing for joy
because he governs the nations of the earth. He governs the
nations of the earth. I mentioned that verse a moment
ago, Isaiah 9, 6, unto us, a child is born, a son is given, and
the government is upon his shoulder. He governs the nations. Now he
sets up one king and he puts down another king. He controls
and rules all things. These, I was going to use a pretty strong
word, these people who think they have such
power, these dictators. Russia, China, Iran, whatever
country it might be. These dictators, these tin horn
dictators, they think they govern, they think they have power. They
don't have any power. God can manipulate them and snuff
them out like that, and one day he will. But right now, God governs
and controls all things. Nothing is out of control. Everything
under his sovereign dominion. He does, shall not the judge
of all the earth do that which is right? And he will. That gives
me comfort. I know we have in this country
political division and political turmoil and this political season
until we get through November. And then beyond that, it's just
going to be chaos. It's just going to be political
chaos. God ruled and reigns over all
things. All things. He's the sovereign.
He's the governor. He's the sovereign over the nation,
but especially his people. His sheep. God is absolute sovereign
over all things. In Psalm 135, remember, whatsoever
the Lord please, that did He in heaven, earth, sea, and all
deep places. But this is especially comforting to God's people. He
does lead us as our great shepherd who provides all things for us.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. My God shall supply
all your need according to his riches in glory. He is a good
shepherd who laid down his life for us. He is the chief shepherd
that shall appear. When a chief shepherd shall appear,
you shall receive a crown of glory that will not fade away. Christ leads and governs his
people, governs his people, protects his people, defends his people,
holds them with the right hand of his righteousness, guides
them, counsels them, and receives them to glory. You remember John
14, he said, I go away to prepare a place for you And if I go away,
I'll come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there
you may be also. And then look down to verse 6. I've got to wind this up. Then,
I love those two words, that and then. Then the earth shall
yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless
us. God our own God shall bless us. I'm not being irreverent when
I say this. But God's people, we have our
own true and living God. He is God, my Savior. Isn't that what Thomas said when
the resurrected Lord revealed to him? He said, my Lord and
my God. I own him as such. I own him
as such. God shall bless us. Verse seven,
God shall bless us. That's not presumption, it's
confidence. Confidence in what God says is true. We can take him at his word.
God shall bless us. He has and he will now and forever. and the ends of the earth shall,
God shall bless us and his people shall worship him. We shall worship
him.