Psalm 66

like the precious oil poured out upon the land, which, running down from heaven's pier, upon his guard It is as though Mount Vernon's hue on Zion's hills distends, For there the Lord withstrove the gift of life that never ends. For he is good, he is gracious, love endures. All that love is, I will now say, is gracious, love endures. and say, His gracious love endures. Let all who fear the Lord now say, His gracious love endures. In anguish to the poor I cry, the Lord is standing near me. All who fear the Lord. He at my side, he gives his health to me, and so in triumph I will look on all those giving me. O magnify Jesus the Lord, When I shall be nigh, let earth find Trust the Lord, and let me take His side.
Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Hey, good morning and welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all of the wisdom literature. This morning, we are at Psalm 66. Psalm 66.
Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee? pray and get into God's word. It's really great to have you this morning. I just wanted to say I'm so thankful to get to do this with you every day. It's just a huge blessing to me and enriching time for my soul and I hope it is for you too. Let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, you are good. You're gracious to us every day. Your mercies are new every morning. We pray now that as we Read your word that you would prepare our hearts for it, that your Holy Spirit would impress these truths, these words in our minds and in our souls, that we would know them and live them in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, Psalm 66, why don't we go ahead and turn over there, Psalm 66. Let me get there in my Bible here. And you know, I don't like to do this very often, but if you could do me a huge favor and hit that like button or subscribe, let Facebook and YouTube, let all the algorithms know that this is helpful content to you and you want other people to see it as well. So why don't we go ahead and turn to Psalm 66.
To the chief musician, a song, a psalm. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth. Sing out the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say to God, how awesome are your works! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name. Selah.
Come and see the works of God. For He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There they will rejoice in Him. He rules by His power forever. His eyes observe the nations. Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. Oh, bless our God, you peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard, who keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved.
For you, oh God, have tested us. You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net. You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads. We went through the fire. through the water, but you brought us out to rich fulfillment.
I will go into your house with burnt offerings. I will pay you my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer you burnt sacrifices of fat animals with a sweet aroma of rams. I will offer bulls with goats. Selah.
Come and hear all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul.' I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue." If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me."
What an amazing psalm. Some difficult things and some amazing things. So what is this psalm about? A psalm is, we can say, is about a few different parts, right? We can say that God has cared for his people historically. God is caring for his people at the time of the writing of the psalm, and all the nations will be brought to the Lord, or are called to come to the Lord. We find those in three different parts throughout here, and it's this amazing thing, right? We see in verses one through four, make a joyful shout to God.
All the earth, all the earth is to shout to God's glory, right? All the earth is called to praise God and to worship him. All of the earth is to sing the honor of his name and make his praise glorious. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name. This is a psalm that starts with the glory of God. This is a psalm that starts with saying, God is worthy of praise in all the nations. All the earth should worship him.
But specifically the people of God, he's cared for them. Look what he says in verses five through seven. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot, and there we will rejoice in Him. God had split the Red Sea, but more specifically here, it's even the Jordan River, when they had entered into the promised land, God departed that river and brought them into the promised land, brought them into the land of their inheritance, had given them the promises that He had made to Abraham.
So God is to be worshiped by all the people, God has cared for his people, and then God has cared for the psalmist specifically. Oh, bless our God, you peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. And he goes on, he who keeps our soul among the living. And he starts talking about how God has rescued him and cared for him and heard his prayers.
So what does this look like in our lives? What does this look like in your lives? Are you gonna say with the psalmist here, I will offer you burnt sacrifices of fat animals with sweet aroma of rams? I will offer bulls with goats? Is that what you should do? Should you make a little altar in your backyard and have a barbecue? No, that's not what this is talking about, because we know that we have a final sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the righteous one, died once for all. We know that the sacrificial lamb has been slain. And yet, what does Paul tell Christians to do in Romans chapter 12 verse 1?
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship. We still now live our lives to God's glory, not setting our hearts on iniquity, but praying to Him, praising Him with our mouths, loving Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. And as we love Him and as we praise Him, our hearts are turned away, more and more away from sin and more and more towards Christ.
So put your sin behind you. Repent and turn towards Jesus Christ. Pray and praise. Pray and praise, knowing that the Lamb has been slain and that you are redeemed if you have faith in Christ. And go and walk in peace, having your heart filled with joy.
Pray and praise today, brothers and sisters. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for what a rich blessing it is to know that you are a mighty God, the ruler of heaven and earth. Father, we pray that you would fill our heart with praise and that you would move us towards prayer. In Jesus's name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May he fill you with joy and peace. May you go with a song of praise in your heart as you pray to the Lord always. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.