Psalm 132 - "The Blessings of Honoring the Lord"

Have you ever been in a time in your life where you feel like you're doing your best to follow God,

to pray, to do what He's asking you to do, to listen to Him, keep His commandments,

and yet, to be honest, if we're being real about it, you feel like, well, I'm doing my part,

but God's not doing His part. You know, I'm working at this thing, I'm seeking you,

and it doesn't seem like your end is getting done. You feel like you're hitting a wall,

and things are not going maybe the way you thought they would. You almost feel like,

come on, God. I mean, I'm doing my thing. I'm trying to honor you, and what are you doing?

You know? Now, that sounds really sacrilegious, and you might think a lightning bolt might hit

me if I'm thinking that, but to be honest, sometimes we get this.

And we're going to talk about that today, and how theologically, we know better than that,

or at least we should, that it doesn't work that way. Our relationship with God is not transactional.

It's not the kind of relationship where we come to God and go, okay, God, if I do this for you,

then you're supposed to do this for me, okay? It's not supposed to work that way in reality.

And here's the deal. God always holds us,

his end of the bargain, his end of the deal. Even when we don't, we see that over and over again,

but we can get in a position emotionally where at least we feel that way, that I'm doing my part,

and God is not. We're wondering if God is going to come through, and sometimes, to be honest,

we get a little bit impatient, or we start to doubt. I mean, God has blessed us with a variety

of a lot of people, but we have a chunk of people here that are single that would love to be married.

I've been in those shoes before. I was 28 when I got married, and sometimes you go, okay, God,

you said he who finds a wife finds a good thing. When is this thing going to happen? I'm trying to

follow you. I'm trying to put you first, you know, and fill in the blank. We can do that with a

variety of different things in our lives where we feel that way. Now, there is a truth from Scripture

that says blessings always do come with obedience. That is a truth of Scripture,

okay? Obedience is called for and is very important, but we are never earning from God

or manipulating God into blessing us. So, sometimes we get it wrong in our head and our hearts.

God doesn't owe us anything. It's not transactional, okay? Today, as we are looking at Psalm 132,

we see the writer almost reminded,

reminding God. He's saying, God, remember. God, remember. Remember what David did,

how David honored you in his actions. Remember that, God. And God comes along and says, yeah,

I remember that. I know that. Of course, I'm an all-knowing God. Of course, I know that.

Don't fret. You don't need to fret. I've got it. I know what I'm doing. I'm going to fulfill my

promises because I always do. I'm going to fulfill my promises because I always do. I'm going to fulfill

my promises because I always do. And we know that. An all-knowing God already knows. We don't

have to remind him. Sometimes when we come to him, like in this psalm, and we say those words,

remember, actually, those words are for us. We're saying, God, remember. And really,

what we are saying and need to hear is, yeah, remember. Remember who God is. God is always

true to his promises, and he always comes through, even when we don't, because God is

not like us. He never fails. He is consistent. He has no limitations like we do, and he has a future

for his people, for those who are his. He's got an incredible future for you guys.

It's incredible. It's beyond your wildest dreams. And this psalm walks us through this process

a little bit, and we're going to see that this morning. So that's where we're headed. You get it?

We're going to look at the psalm.

Remember, and God comes along and says, yeah, I got it. And check out the blessings I'm going

to have for you. That is kind of the structure of this psalm. Now, it pains me to say it, but

we are nearing the end of the summer, and as a kid, I dreaded that. I actually loved school.

School was cool. I had friends there, sports. School wasn't bad, but man, trading in the warm

days of summer, trading in time at the beach, almost anything. I was like, I'm going to go to

school. I'm going to go to school. I'm going to go to school. I'm going to go to school. I'm going to

every day. I'd grip a mile from the beach. You know, it's just like, oh, end of summer. And

we are nearing the end of a summer here. We are ending this series pretty soon,

our series of songs for the summer that we have been looking at. And what we have been looking

at is these psalms of ascent, these psalms, psalms in the scriptures, ending with 134.

We've got a couple more weeks in this, that the people of God would sing and recite and remind

themselves that we are nearing the end of the summer. And we are nearing the end of the summer.

as they would go up to Jerusalem to worship in the temple on Mount Zion. And so these were a

series of songs that they would sing. And today is one of our longer ones. And then the next two

are incredibly short. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I'm going to have to make up

something. I don't know. If you look at them, 133 and 134, they're really short. No, come back.

We're going to have a good time. But today's a little bit longer. And what is interesting about

today is a lot of these psalms, as we read them, they just make sense to us. You read it,

and you go, ah, that makes sense to me where I'm at right now. I get it. But the psalm we're

looking at, 132, there's some important background information that you need to have for this psalm

to make sense. And so I want to give a little bit of that up front. I've given some of the

structure where we're headed. But the one we're looking at today, that background makes more

sense. And so basically, before we even read the psalm, before we get into it,

I encourage you, turn to it in your Bibles. I'm not even going to have it up on the screen yet.

But look at it, Psalm 132. It kind of can be broken structurally into two waves or segments or parts.

In the first part, verses 1 through 10, it opens up on the front end with the writer speaking to

God and reminding God that David made great effort to honor God by securing a permanent place for the

Ark of the Covenant.

To build this permanent temple for the Ark of the Covenant to be placed in. And we're going to go

into what the Ark of the Covenant was. And David highly esteemed and honored God. And that's what

the first part of the psalm talks about. Now, the second part is pretty interesting, verses 11

through 18, because for the first time in these psalms of ascent, now God himself speaks back to

his people. He's responding. And he says,

I know your heart and what you have done, David, to honor me. And I will not turn back from my

promises to you. I will preserve your kingly line of descendants if they keep my commandments. And

I will establish my kingdom forever. And what we'll see is forever, regardless of what his

descendants do, because he's got some good descendants, but some bad descendants. But my

blessings are way beyond what you could ever earn or deserve.

And in this part of the psalm, we see a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus, the king of

kings, who will deliver his people once and for all from sin and death and tyranny and set up a

kingdom that will reign forever and ever, that there will be no more death and sorrow, no end,

and Satan and our enemies will be vanquished. And this is what the kingdom to come will do.

And that's where this psalm takes us. So that's the background of this psalm. And I think it's

helpful, again, to hear the background, the outline, to help us make sense as we dig in.

And we're going to see God's blessings for his people as a result of our progress through this

psalm this morning. So if you haven't already, 132, and I'm going to read the first 10 verses for us.

I remember, O Lord, on David's behalf of his affliction, how he swore to the Lord and vowed

to the mighty one of Jacob, surely I will not enter my house nor lie on my bed. I will not

give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling

place for the mighty one of Jacob. Now, we're going to stop there, not do all of the first 10 verses,

just to give some more background, okay? The psalm begins with this prayer and this

plea for God to remember all that David, King David, do to find a permanent resting place

for the ark of the covenant. Now, we know theologically and scriptures teach that God

is omnipresent, okay? He doesn't live in a house. We talk about him being in heaven,

but he doesn't just reside in heaven. He is omnipresent. He's everywhere,

and he knows everything, okay? And the psalms tell us in another psalm that there's nowhere we

can flee from the presence of God. This is the God we serve. However, when the children of

Israel were fleeing Egypt and their slavery and their captivity, and Moses was leading them

out into the desert to worship God and then to prepare them to go into the promised land,

God came to Moses and gave his law, gave his instructions,

for the people of God, Israel at that time. And God told Moses to build something that

is referred to as the ark of the covenant. And basically, it was a very elaborate, ornate,

kind of a box worship center that could be carried around with the tribes of Israel as

they wandered through the desert. And it was very specific how it should be made,

with precious stones and metals and things like that. And inside the box were placed the stone

tablets, the Ten Commandments, and a variety of other things to remind Israel of what God is,

who he is, what he's done. And this ark of the covenant was placed in an area in the tabernacle

tent called the Holy of Holies, and later in the temple, when the temple was built,

the Holy of Holies. And it was a tangible reminder to Israel of God and his presence.

Now, later on, historically, a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of people,

a lot of myths developed about it. It was lost, and as we, in a few weeks, get into the book of

Daniel, and we see the captivity of Israel into Babylon, during that period, it was lost and lost

forever. However, a lot of myths have come up about it, okay? That first Indiana Jones movie,

Raiders of the Lost Ark, okay? That movie is all about that, although it has a lot of Hollywood in

it, and a lot of stuff made up, and things like that. But there's all kinds of myths about it.

But here's...

the deal. In reality, the Ark of the Covenant acted as a symbol of God's holiness,

and a reminder of God's covenant to Israel. And the power of the Ark of the Covenant was not in

the thing itself, but in the wonder and majesty of Yahweh, whose presence once rested there.

The fact that the Ark was the place of the Lord's presence among his people brought great assurance

to the people of God. This high, lofty,

majestic,

resplendent king dwelt among his grumbling, complaining, bickering, and sinful people.

Now, when Israel got into the Promised Land, the Ark of the Covenant had moved around place to

place. And in fact, one time, one of their enemies, the Philistines, they actually captured the Ark,

brought it into one of their cities, and it caused all kind of chaos for the Philistines. They're

like, we don't want this thing, and they sent it back. And it was just kind of hanging out on the

threshing floor in somebody's farm, basically.

And what happens is, when David becomes king, this guy that the Bible says was a man after the

very own heart of God, David was sitting in his palace in Jerusalem. He's looking at his cedar

walls, and he's going, gosh, things are pretty good. We conquered Jerusalem. Our enemies are at bay.

But the Ark of the Covenant of God, his presence, where is that? Yeah, it's in some dude's farm

out in a village. I'm sitting in my palace, and I'm sitting in the palace, and I'm sitting in the

palace. I love God more than anything. I want to build him a special place. I want to build a

permanent temple. And so the prophet Nathan says, yeah, that's a good thing. Although later we read

that God says, well, David, you collect the supplies, do the design, but I'm going to have

your son Solomon build it, because you are a man of war, and he isn't. But the heart is right in

the intent. And so what David does is he goes, and he gathers the Ark, and he has this big possession,

and it's a crazy thing. You read about it in the Bible, and it's a crazy thing. And he's like,

in 2 Samuel 6 and 7, great passage to read to understand this. But basically,

he's bringing it to Jerusalem, to Mount Zion, the Temple Mount, and the goal is to honor God,

and to esteem God, and to go, you know what? I have it so good, but I want to honor this God.

And so that's the background on this. Now, David had to work hard at it to,

get the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. In fact, after one guy, Uzzah, goes out to study the Ark,

and he's struck dead, and that's a whole other story. You can read about it there. It says that

every, I think it was every four steps, they would stop, sacrifice something, an animal,

and then do another four steps. I mean, it was a big, laborious, big effort to get the Ark

into Jerusalem, God's holy city, where he was going to set up the Temple on Mount Zion.

David honored God. David remembered God, and he put God first in his life.

And a great personal application for us right now is just to pause. Sometimes we do applications

at the very end, and I like to sprinkle it through. But a great application for us is to

think about the effort, and what David went through, the battles to create peace, and then

to go get the Ark, and bring it into Jerusalem, and to honor God. And then this Temple, which is

going to be the Ark of the Covenant, and then to go get the Ark, and bring it into Jerusalem,

to be built by Solomon, which was a wonder of the ancient world, this splendid Temple,

was there to honor God, to esteem Him, to bless Him. And when you think about an application for

you, are you living your life to honor God first? Do you esteem Him as the highest priority? That's

all you need. You have to understand that. Do you have any expectations for anything else in our lives to

eclipse our love for God? As you think about your own life, is God a part of your life? Is He a

second, or third, or fourth, a little addition, a tag-along while you do your own thing?

You know, if God is first in your life, it's going to show up in your priorities.

Is your life centered around the gospel? Do you so understand what Jesus has done for you?

And how it's going to affect you? And how it's going to affect you? And how it's going to affect you? And how it's going to affect you?

incredible his forgiveness is, that you want others to experience that too. That you can't

stop talking about it. I mean, when you get a new kid, a new car, a new job, a barrel,

a great time up in the mountains, you talk about it because it was awesome.

We can't stop talking about Jesus if we understand what he's done for us.

And people are going to marginalize it. That's okay. You may think my kid is ugly. I love my kid.

You know, you may think my Jesus is terrible. I am devoted to him. It's going to show up in the

way we live when we honor God with our lives. Do we prioritize the worship of God by being with

his people on Sunday when we gather? Or is church one of the weekend options when I think, well,

I might surf today. I might,

watch a game. I might go to my kid's game. I might let my kid play on Sunday and we skip church.

You know, is this gathering that we do? And I'm preaching to the choir. You guys have prioritized

it. You're here today. Do we make that a priority? Do we honor God, the gathering of the saints for

the worship of God? It shows up in our daily routines. Is God an afterthought or do you start

your day with him? Are you,

are you walking with God or doing your own thing and asking God to bless your own thing? That's

just, these are just good questions to think about. What does it mean to honor God with my life?

It's going to show up in your giving, your money. Do you prioritize off the top, your first fruits,

your first giving to the work of God in our church and to supporting world missions? Is that a

priority? You know, this week we sent out a quarterly,

giving statement. We do it all the time. If you clicked on that and you saw that, did you go,

yeah, ah, man, I'm just kind of tipping God. Or, or worse yet, maybe you didn't get a statement

because you're not honoring God with any of your first fruits. It shows up in the way we spend our

money. It also shows up with your vocation. As an engineer, as a doctor, as a lawyer, as a

groundskeeper, when you do that, you're not honoring God with your first fruits. You're not honoring God with your

first fruits. You're not honoring God with your first fruits. You're not honoring God with your first fruits.

Are you doing it as unto the Lord, worshiping him? Or are you just doing your thing? Or some of you are

sitting here, and I know, and I'm looking at eyes right now, God is tapping you on the shoulder. Some

of you high school students, some of you young adults, some of you married with kids in the thick

of it, God is tapping you on the shoulder and saying, you know what? Being a teacher is awesome.

You're serving me that way.

But I've got something else for you. I want you to leave the comfort zone, to leave the U.S.,

which is not always so comfortable these days, but to leave and go to the foreign mission field.

You know, we've talked a lot about church planning here at the fields.

We haven't talked a lot about missions. Folks, some of you right now are being called by God

to vocationally serve him in some difficult places.

Are you going to honor that call? Folks, I was an engineer. I was going to seminary night,

but I didn't plan to be a pastor. I was an aerospace engineer doing my thing,

and God kept tugging and tugging. And praise God, it's been the best life ever.

God's calling some of you into vocational ministry. I don't know who that is, but he is.

David was a man after God's own heart, and God was front and center for him. And as this psalm

recounted, he said, I'm going to be a pastor. I'm going to be a pastor. I'm going to be a pastor. I'm going to be a pastor.

And it goes on in verse six to talk about the retrieval of the Ark of the Covenant and the

surrounding facts. Look at verse six there.

Behold, we heard of it in a path with a, we found it in the field of jar.

Let us go into his dwelling place. Let us worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord,

to your resting place, you and the Ark of your strength.

Let your priests be clothed.

Let your priests be clothed with righteousness and let your godly ones sing for joy.

David and his crew go to retrieve the Ark from its temporary resting place so they could bring

it to Jerusalem, to bring it to Mount Zion. And it was this incredible act of worship. And here we

see that at that time, it was a holy consecration of incredible joy. We dropped off my fifth child

at Biola on Friday night. And this is the third kid that has gone there. We've had kids go to Cal

Poly and other schools, but this one's there. And one of the things that it's always a tearful,

joyous time. I'm crying a little less because he's the fifth. Just another one. But they have

a consecration ceremony where after the end, they do the parent welcome, the whole thing.

They have a worship service, but then they have a time of communion and a time of blessing the

students, consecrating them for the work that God has called them to. Biola has an incredible film

school. Some of them are going to make films that point people to Jesus. They have business school.

They have a mission school. They have nursing. They have all kinds of things. Whatever they are

going to be doing, they're consecrating them. This was a time of consecration as they brought

the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem. And it makes sense that this is a psalm of

because they're headed to the temple area where Solomon had built this temple, David's

son, a place to worship God. And the Ark was at the center of that in the Holy of Holies

and was most importantly representing the presence of God in his people's, the country

that he had given them. And we see that in these verses. It's a reminder that there should be great

joy when we worship our God. These people are headed to Jerusalem. They've been reciting these

psalms. And now they get to this one and go, yeah, as we get to Jerusalem, we're reminded that the

Ark of the Covenant is the Holy of the Holy in the temple that Solomon built, which is a wonder of

the world. Praise God we get to go worship this God. You know, sometimes when I'm here on Sundays

and I look around during our time of music and worship through music, I just see arms lifted up.

I see hearts given. I see sometimes,

once in a while, people kneeling. Folks, we don't want to be the frozen chosen here. Amen?

Praise God. Yes, I love that. We want you to feel that freedom. Folks, if you want to dance, dance.

Maybe at the back so it doesn't distract us, okay? But dance. Raise your hands. Sing out loud.

We see this in the psalms and we see this here. Feel the wild abandonment. Folks, when you look at

2 Samuel 6 and read about it, okay?

David is bringing the Ark into Jerusalem and it says he is dancing like crazy the whole way

through. This king that killed Goliath, that has vanquished the enemies, this high and pious king

is wild abandonment, worshiping God with some sort of breakdance. And it didn't look like the

Australian breakdancer in the Olympic, okay? It was probably cool. If you didn't see that,

look at it. It's horrible. Our Australians that were staying with us recently, they're like,

yeah, we're so embarrassed. Anyways, but David's son,

daughter, I mean, not daughter, wife, she looks at him dancing and she ridicules him.

You're so embarrassing. Oh, dad, you're so embarrassing. No, you don't. And David goes,

I don't care. I'm dancing. Wild abandonment and worship. Guys, don't be embarrassed when you're

worshiping. Just let it out. Enjoy God. David did. This is a great example for us.

Guys, let those,

feet get a little loose on Sunday when we worship. It's okay. It's okay. Sing loud.

As long as you're not making it about yourself and you're making it about God.

Well, this part of the psalm concludes with an important reminder in verse 10.

All of this for the sake of David, your servant. Remember all that David did to try to honor you,

God?

Don't turn away the face of your anointed.

God, remember when we were doing well and putting you first in our lives.

Remember when we were honoring you like David did. Remember that in turn towards us,

not away from us. Now, guys, here's a little bit of the trickiness here.

We know in the gospel that there is absolutely nothing you can do to earn God's favor. Amen?

You don't earn his blessing. It's not transactional. We were sinners clearly in need of a savior,

and God has shown us grace. Grace is getting the good that you don't deserve. That's it. It's clear.

You can't earn it. That's why it's grace. Look at,

look at Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

That's how we're saved. It's God's grace. It's through faith in the work of Christ.

And it's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Why? So that you won't boast. It's not a result

of works. Okay? That is clear gospel, okay? But our response to that grace is a life spent honoring

God, putting him first, following him, obeying him, and following him. That's how we're saved.

Obedience is a part of the package. It's the right response to God's grace. Remember Jesus said

that if we love him, we will obey him. So it's not trying to manipulate or earn or transactional.

It's with David, just this response. God had blessed him amazingly. He wasn't

choosing himself to be king. God chose him. The least of all the brothers. And now God has

vanquished the evil. He's vanquished the evil. He's vanquished the evil. He's vanquished the evil. He's

vanquished the enemies. Now David is bringing the ark in to worship. And it's just this response

of worship. I want to honor you because you've been so kind to me, God. You've been so good to

me. The context of Ephesians 2, 8, 9 has verse 10. Let's look at that. It's so important.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared

beforehand so that we would walk in them. Folks, I know that in some of the circles,

we walk in them. We walk in them. We walk in them. We walk in them. We walk in them. We walk in

them. Some of these reformed guys or whatever, we're so afraid of being legalistic or moralistic

that we step back from the call to obedience. And that's not right. Obedience is important.

And you can't get away from that. But it's an obedience that comes from the heart out of a love

for what God has done and God's calling in our lives. We obey because we love God,

not because we're trying to earn anything from him. See that clear distinction, okay? And that's

where in this psalm, God, remember David. Remember what he did. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

And then we get to this pivot point where we have this focused shifting away from David

to who God is and what God is going to do. And God declares his faithfulness to his promises

in the remainder of this psalm. Look again. I'm going to back up to verse 10,

but go forward from there. For the sake of David, your servant, do not turn away the face of your

anointed. The Lord has sworn to David a truth from which he will not turn back. And here's what God

says. Of the fruit of your body, I will set upon your throne. If your sons will keep my covenant

and my testimony, which I will teach them, their sons shall also sit upon your throne,

forever. God makes a promise to David called the Davidic covenant. God is honoring his covenant

that he made with Abraham and then Moses and Israel and now with David. From your line, David,

there's going to come a king that will never lose the throne. Because here's the deal. Historically,

we know David had a lot of loser grandsons and grandsons and grandsons, okay? A lot of those

kings didn't follow David. David had a lot of losers grandsons and grandsons and grandsons,

there were some that did. If you look at the lineage, now in northern Israel after the civil

war and it broke, not one king in northern Israel ever followed God. But in David's line,

there were some that did, but most of them were yo-yos. And yet God is still going to be true

to his promise. From your line, David, there's going to come a king that will sit on the throne

forever. And of course, we know that that's Jesus, the king of kings and the Lord of kings.

And this new covenant we find in the New Testament shows up when Jesus arrives. But it's based on the

old covenants and the fulfillments of the old covenants. Jesus doesn't come to negate the law.

He comes to fulfill the law and then offer this new covenant in his name. Now, verse 12, we see

that while the promises are sure, the individual participation in the covenant and its promises

required faithfulness. And so, we see that the individual participation in the covenant and its promises

required faithfulness. And again, historically, we see some of his descendants that don't do it

and they weren't blessed. But God is still true to his word. And he even works through those

crooked sticks, those crooked grandsons and great-grandsons of David to eventually bring Jesus

to the throne. God doesn't give up on Israel nor David's line. And we get Jesus.

And God looks forward to that.

And the next part of the psalm, let these words just soak over you. I'm going to read them.

Now that you've gotten that background, maybe they don't need as much explanation,

but just listen. I'm not going to exposit on them long, but listen to them. Verse 13,

for the Lord has chosen Zion. Okay, Zion is the highest little hill in the city of Jerusalem.

It's where the temple is. The Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. Now,

again, God doesn't dwell in houses, but at this time, his presence in the house of the Lord is

holy of holies in the ark of the covenant. It's going to be there on Mount Zion where the temple

is going to be built. He desires it. This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell

for I have desired it. And when we get to the book of Daniel, we'll see cities torn down,

temples torn down. It's all, is God gone? No, this points to something bigger and better

and eternal kingdom, the reign of Jesus in the hearts of his people, but also in the universe.

Verse 13,

verse 13,

I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her needy with bread. Her priests also I

will clothe with salvation and her godly ones will sing aloud for joy. There I will cause the horn

of David to spring forth. I prepared a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame,

but upon himself,

his crown shall shine.

This is so prophetic. It's so looking forward to the reign of Christ, to the coming of Christ for

the first time and to the return of Christ for his eternal reign. Here we read that God chose

Mount Zion in Jerusalem for his temple and that represents his reign forever. He's going to bless

her and will satisfy her. Her priests will be clothed with salvation and there will be joy in

singing and loud singing and celebration. And that is the way that God will bless her. And that is the

worship of our God. But God doesn't dwell in temples. Now he dwells in his people with his people

in the church. There will be a new Jerusalem. There will be an eternal kingdom where the sun

never sets for he is the sun. Now, because of what Jesus has done, we have access to the king

of kings. We have access to the God of gods. And do you know what? We have access to the king of

gods. And do we rejoice like the psalm here? Do we rejoice in that? Do we prioritize that in our

lives? We also see here in these verses that David's offspring, his kingly line will endure

forever. And we see that fulfilled in the coming of Jesus and God's enemies will be shamed,

but Jesus will be victorious. And we see that on the cross.

Jesus's enemies, those who crucify,

they're either brought into salvation or they are shamed. Philippians says at the end that every

knee shall bow and every tongue will confess what? That Jesus is Lord of lords and king of kings.

That is the blessed future that this psalm points us to. The enemies that crucified Jesus,

they're shamed because of the resurrection where Jesus is vindicated. And God reigns right now.

Jesus reigns right now. The line of David, God true to his promise to David, Jesus, the son of David

sits on his throne. Now, at the beginning of our time together this morning, I talked about

attention. Attention that we sometimes feel where like, God, I'm following you. I'm doing my part.

What about your part?

What about your part? This psalm reminds us, yeah, obedience is important. Following God is

important. And God will always come through. His promises are true. He seals the deal.

He's victorious. He is with you. He does what he says he will do. Christian,

your future is bright. Regardless of what you're feeling right now, your future is secure in him.

Whatever trial you may be facing, that is temporary. There is this eternality that we

see in this psalm. And what it should do in our hearts is cause us to rejoice

that God reigns. Jesus reigns. His kingdom is eternal. And if we're part of his family,

we have that eternal inheritance. Folks, there's hope. Hope for you in this psalm.

There's hope for the future, whatever you are facing. And right now, you might be sitting here

enjoying God's blessings. Praise God. That's a part of his blessing. And right now, you may not

be seeing any of his blessing. If you are in Christ Jesus, if you have put your faith and trust

in Christ Jesus, you have everything. The riches of heaven reside in you because Jesus and his

spirit dwells in you. Amen? We're going to celebrate again. We're going to have a song.

And as we do,

every week, we celebrate by remembering the gospel. We remember Jesus came as one of us.

He died on the cross. His body was broken. The bread at communion represents the body. It was

broken. The cup represents the blood that was shed for what? For the forgiveness of sins.

If you're a follower of Jesus, and every week we do this, we invite you during the last song or two

to come up, take some bread, dip it in the cup, take it by yourself, take it with a friend,

take it with a family member, huddle around, pray,

pray for each other, and let's worship this God, this God who reigns, this God that is true

to his promises, this God that has promised you a future if you are in him. And if you are not in

him, if you have not come to Jesus and received his salvation, today could be the day of salvation

for you. Simply repent. Say, I'm a sinner. I need you, God. I need your forgiveness. I want to put

my faith and trust in your finished work and join your family.

Great. God, thank you so much for the hope that we have in this psalm, your message of goodness for

us. Thank you that these psalms remind us of you and your faithfulness to your word and to your

people. Father, I pray that if there's a brother or sister here that is discouraged, they would

turn their eyes upon Jesus. They would look at you and see the hope that we would see as we're

about to sing, you sitting on your throne,

preachers adoring you. The whole world will at one point bend their knee and worship you,

whether into eternal salvation or eternal damnation. May we join the chorus of heaven

on the right side of the equation as your people honoring you. We thank you in your name. Amen.