to Psalm 111. It is good to be back here at Harvest for the last time I'll be here at Harvest. The name Harvest, anyway. I know you guys are embarking on an exciting change of venue and name and kind of retooling things, so I'm really excited to hear about that and to hope that I'll get to be somewhat a part of it in the future. And it's good to see so many of you who I know and recognize and so many new faces that I don't. For those of you who don't know, my name is Justin. I've come here to Harvest for the last five or six years, off and on, to help preach. And I guess I've done an okay job because they keep asking me to come back. So I guess those of you who have not heard me will be the judge of that. But this morning I want us to turn our attention to Psalm 111 together. We'll read all 10 verses and we'll pray together and we'll get to work. The psalmist writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused His wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear Him. He remembers His covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His works in giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of His hands are faithful and just. All His precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word, that it is true, that it is faithful, that it is without flaw or blemish, that we can trust it. I ask now that you would lead us into all truth by your spirit, that you would put myself and all of us in this room under the authority of your word and nothing else, and that by through its power we would be transformed in the image of Jesus. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I was reminded this week about the power of memory. The power that our memory has. Some of you are sitting here thinking my memory is not so strong anymore or perhaps has never been all that great. You're always looking for your keys or wondering where you put your shoes or so forth. You kids might know this saying quite well. Your mother may have said it. She said it to me. I swear if your head wasn't attached, you'd forget where you put that to. And while our memories certainly are for more mundane things like remembering where we put our keys, memory is a very powerful thing. I mean, I can close my eyes right now and put myself back into many situations. I can close my eyes right now and think back and I can become a five-year-old boy again sitting in the back of my parents' blue Dodge Spirit. If you don't know what that is, it's just a big old boat. It's just a big, literally just a big rectangle. It has no curve to the body of the car at all. It's just a big Rectangle, but it was almost brand-new. This is 1992 or three and it was almost brand-new And I'm sitting in the back. I'm four or five years old and we're making our first trip to Disney World We're driving. There's no AC and so the windows are down driving through Tennessee or Georgia wherever we may be Of course, I didn't know then The windows are down. It's blowing in. My mom is sitting up in the passenger seat flipping through a book. My dad is trying to stay awake behind the wheel. Thankfully, he was awake. My sister, who's 10 or so, is to my right. We always fought over that side of the car for some reason. I think I just wanted it because she had it. Everyone's kind of mind their own business and as a little boy. I'm sitting there and Bored not a lot to do on a car trip at that time. There were no iPads or no cell phones There were no digital devices. I could use I had a had a like a hotshot basketball hoop. That was like a finger thing None of you guys even know what that is. I mean your kids are kids are like what? And it only lasted the first hour because you lose all the balls. They'd be all over the car. You would never find them And I'm sitting in the back seat and the wind's blowing and my hand is just a little boy is playing with the door handle. And I'm, you know, I'm not pulling at the door handle, but I'm just kind of playing with it and this is before power locks. I'm old enough to have a car, I had a car without power locks. And I'm playing with the door handle and all of a sudden I pull just a little too hard on the door handle. And the door flies open as we're going 70 down the interstate. And immediately, everyone jumps into action. Thankfully, I had my seatbelt on or I probably wouldn't be here. But I could have been dangling outside of the car for a good while. Thankfully, my sister snapped and grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me in. My dad hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. My mom gasps, oh my gosh, what's going on? What are you doing? And everyone's worried for my safety. Once everyone realized there were no marks or scrapes that were still in the car, that concern quickly turned into anger. I won't repeat here what some of the words that may or may not have come out of my father's mouth as we sat on the side of the road, everyone panting, unsure of what just happened and why I would ever think to open a door on the highway. In my defense, I'm five years old. I mean, I'm barely five. I didn't have a clear understanding of what exactly could happen if I opened the door while we were moving. But that memory, as vivid as it is, I can see the color of that car, I can feel the interior, I can feel the wind on my face, I can feel the panic in my heart as the door opens and I realize I made a huge mistake. I feel relief as my sister pulls me into the car, I can see the look on my mom's face. The point of that memory is not just to think about it, or to transport myself there, it taught me a valuable lesson. It changed my behavior to this day. Never, under any circumstances, will I ever again open the door of a moving vehicle. Now that sounds like a lesson I should have known and maybe not learned quite that way, but that experience is what perhaps it took for me to learn not a wise decision to open the door of a moving vehicle. So our memories, and we can all put ourselves back in memories of our childhood, or our teenage years, or our college years, or wherever we might put ourselves, and we can put ourselves in those situations and know I learned a great lesson from this moment. Either from a positive experience or a negative experience. I learned something valuable. And not only did I learn something, but it changes me. It's changed how I live, how I behave, how I carry myself, because now I will never even play with the handle of the door. And it's often that that memory comes to my mind if I'm on a long trip. That story will pop into my mind. Not that I need that reminder to not open the car door. I'm matured in wisdom. But it's a helpful reminder nonetheless, and it's kind of a fun story to tell. And this morning, I think what the psalmist is trying to accomplish is to remind us of some things. And those memories and these reminders are not meant to just make us feel good or to think about those things as a past event, but as something that transforms us and changes who we are and what we do now. And so I want us to just look through this psalm together and pick out some of these things that the psalmist is trying to teach us. And just as a preface here, we don't really know who wrote this psalm. People say it may have been David. Others just say we just don't know. There's no title. There's no inscription or anything like many of the psalms have, so we're just kind of left to guess. So I'm going to try to say the psalmist. If I slip up and say David, just forgive me. Maybe it was David. And this psalm is it's a poem it's a song as we know the psalms are that way and this is particular because it's an acrostic poem and that all that means is each line of this poem in Hebrew begins with the successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet So it begins with, in English, it would begin with A, and the next line would begin with B, and the next line would begin with C. Of course, the Hebrew alphabet is a little bit different. But each line has that poetic form to it that would have made this not only a really beautiful poem to see on the page, but a really difficult form of poem to write and to construct. Which just tells us that It's worth putting in the effort the poetic effort and the work of what we do to make this make what we do beautiful and appealing and And well done When we do something for the Lord So with all that kind of said the psalmist has kind of two basic ideas things that he's moving through. He's talking in the first couple verses about a general revelation of God. And in the ending verses, verses five through nine, he's talking about a specific revelation of God. And so I want us to look at those two things and think through what he is really saying about God. And the overall theme of this passage is God reveals himself through his works. I think we're going to see that very clearly. If you just look, if you just glance back at this text and count quickly how many times the psalmist used the word works or work, you're going to start getting up. You're going to have to maybe take off your shoes if you need to count because he uses it a lot. And he is pointing us to the fact that the works of the Lord and the way he describes the works of the Lord are just the same as the way you would describe the character of God. And so he is teaching us something that we want to hit on and drive home this morning. But first, let's just think about what general revelation of God. What does that mean in terms of God's works? Well, I think when we read verses two and three, The psalmist has in mind the works of God's creation, his providence, his general care of the universe and people in general. I think that's what we see here. Verses 2 and 3, greater the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them, full of splendor and majesty is his work. His righteousness endures forever. He's going to begin to kind of quickly shift gears, but I think it's worth pausing here and just thinking about What does it mean when the psalmist says the works of the Lord, they're studied by all who delight in them. Now that may make us think about, well, not everyone delights in the works of God, only believers delight in the works of God, right? Well, let me ask you this, if I'm right in suggesting that he's talking specifically about creation and his work with Providence, who delights in his work of creation? Just believers? Or everyone? The moment someone walks out their door or wakes up in the morning and takes a breath, they're delighting in the works of God. And while they may not give thanks to God for that work, they are delighting in the works of God. The moment we sit down to lunch this afternoon and eat that meal, we are delighting in the works of God. Whether we thank Him for what He's given us or not, God is still responsible for all of that goodness. And it made me think, the word studied here could also be pondered, it might be pondered in your version. But studying made me really think. It made me think about all the sciences. You take all the sciences, and all the people that are devoting their lives to the study of anatomy, or medicine, or plant life, animal life, the sun and the moon, the solar system. All of those sciences that people are studying, all the softer sciences like psychology and all of those types of things are also sciences that people have devoted their lives to for centuries. to study and unearth these mysteries, and find new species, and explain why people are designed the way they are, and why the earth is how old the earth is, and where it came from, and all these things. And while their conclusions that they come to might be incorrect, sometimes, because of their faulty worldview, they're devoting their entire lives to the study of God's works. Even though they don't even know it. They may not even care. And they may hate God. But they are devoting their entire lives and they're making their entire livelihood based on what God has done. What he's created, what he's formed, what he's made so unique and so complex that it takes men centuries to unfold how the human mind works. And you take that to another level and think about all the historians who study all the different eras and timelines of history. And they can delve and spend their whole lives thinking about one figure or one time period and write page after page after page and book after book about all these things. And while they may talk about it, well, so George Washington made these political moves to get to his position. the Revolutionary War was won by the Americans because of this turning point in the war and all these things. And that's true. Those things are right. But at the end of the day, they're studying the providence of God and how he brought from every moment since he spoke the universe into existence to today. He has ordered every step, every human being, every decision, every political move, every military defeat and win. He has ordered it all. So every historian, whether they admit it or not, are studying the works of God and devoting their lives to the study of the works of God. Think about that for a second. Everything that we can think of that people are studying or spending their time on, they're really just studying what God has done. And as we'll see, because His works declare who He is, they're studying God. And they don't even know it. And they don't give Him thanks. And they could care less. Let me challenge us for a second. That's very outward. That's very, well, those people out there are wrong because they're studying all these things and they don't give God credit. But let me just ask you, because we're coming towards the end of the year quicker than we think. And it's that time of the year at the end where we start to take stock of the year and think about what we've experienced, what we've done, maybe some mistakes that we've made, the best choices we've made, the way God has blessed us. And are we studying those works of God in our lives this year through a lens of, well, it just happened that way. Well, I made this decision because it was the right thing. In my wisdom, I decided this is where I should go. I got that promotion because I worked hard and I earned it. I didn't get that job because it was unfair. They disqualified me for bad reasons. Or are we looking at our life over the past year through the lens of, look at all the ways God has moved me and helped me to step one foot in front of the other to the exact place I needed to be. Whether it's the place you want to be or not, it's the place God wants you to be. And are we going to spend some time at the end of this year thinking about all the things we've done, all the wisdom we've exercised, or are we going to spend time at the end of this year giving thanks to God for the way He's preserved us, for the way He's led us into the paths of righteousness, led us to the jobs and the families and the decisions that we've made, for better or for worse, because that's His will for your life. As I said, the psalmist spends little time on that and shifts his focus in verse 9. And we're going to come back to verse 4 towards the end. But let's look at verse 5 through 9 and look at how the psalmist switches gears from a general God has revealed himself to all men to a specific revelation of God. Verse 5, he says, he provides food for those who fear him and he remembers his covenant prayer. Now, pause right there. When he says he provides food, that made me think immediately of he provides food for everybody. I mean, we just talked about it, right? He sends the rain on the wicked and the righteous. all over the Psalms and all over the Old Testament the righteous kind of bemoan the fact that the wicked are fat and sleek and they're they're set up well and they eat well I mean even the rich man of Lazarus that we talked about earlier here's this rich man who's in who's in splendor and eating of the fat of the land and this poor man who's begging for just a crumb So God feeds everyone. So what makes this verse the pivot? What makes this verse the point where He's no longer talking about general revelation, He's talking about specific? Well, I think there's two key words. He provides food for those who fear Him. He remembers His covenant forever. Two words that are very important. Now I think it is true, it's certainly true, God provides food for all. He waters and plants and the earth grows and yields its fruit for all men. But he's not talking about physical food as much as he's talking about something more, because he's talking about those who fear him. And while we all, all men know there is a God, as Roman 1 says, they know deep down there is a God, but not all of them revere Him as God and give Him thanks. And so He's turning. Those who fear Him receive this kind of hope. And He remembers His covenant with these people forever. These are the people that he's made a covenant with. Now the question we start to ask ourselves is what covenant is he talking with? Because we could look at different covenants in the Old Testament. He makes a covenant with Noah. He makes a covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He makes a covenant with Moses. He makes a covenant with David. And they're kind of all building on each other, all leading to a final covenant that we'll get to. But what is he specifically referencing here? I think he's referencing the covenant at Sinai. I think he's talking about his covenant with Moses. It's suggested in the commentaries that I read this week that he provides food for those who fear him as a reference to the manna from heaven that the Lord provided for the Israelites and their wanderings in the wilderness just after the covenant at Sinai and their redemption from Egypt. He also says in verse six, he has shown his people the power of his works and giving them the inheritance of the nations. This seems to be pretty clear. Referencing the way God provided redemption from Egypt and brought them into the promised land and as As we know the story, it took them a lot longer to get to the promised land than was planned because of their disobedience. But nonetheless, God showed the power of His work, namely through the plagues of Egypt, the 10 plagues of Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea. he showed the power of his works to them and he has given them an inheritance now land flowing with milk and honey that they would live in and enjoy and so now we know what covenant we're talking about we're talking about covenant that dealt with A redemption, a rescue from slavery into freedom. A rescue from a land of oppression into a land of freedom that's flowing with milk and honey. A covenant based on the power of God's works. For those who fear him and it also verse 7 says the works of his hands are faithful and just all his precepts are trustworthy precepts referring to law or the teachings of God which clearly has a reference to at least the Ten Commandments in Mount Sinai and certainly would probably include the law given throughout the first five books of the Old Testament That are given to Israel to teach them how to be a people and how to be the people of God They are established forever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. So we see this and this covenant is glorious. It is wonderful. It is real redemption. Where Israel is enslaved to the Egyptians and they're oppressed and they cry out to the Lord and he hears their cry and he sends Moses to be their deliverer. And he sends plague after plague after plague until finally he breaks Pharaoh. People are released and he causes the Red Sea to split The people walk through the Israelites walk through on dry land and that same sea that was their redemption and their salvation is the destruction of the Egyptians as they are crushed under the weight of the waves as They fall back into place What does that mean for us? We're not Israel. We're not Jews. We didn't experience that kind of redemption from Israel. But all of this, as we learn throughout the rest of the scripture, is a type. It's a picture. It's a shadow of something better. Something better. Now we might say, well, wait a minute, what's better than that? I mean, that's pretty good. I mean, that seems good. Land, freedom, precepts, I get it. But let's look at Hebrews for just a second. And these are quick verses. You don't have to turn there if you can't find it in time. I want to read you a few quick verses from the book of Hebrews. First of all, chapter 7, verse 22. The author of Hebrews says, this makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. Keep that in mind. Look at verses 8, chapter 8, verses 6 and 7 if you're there. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better. Since it is enacted on better Promises and hear this for if that first covenant had been faultless There would not have been there would have been no occasion to look for a second. Did you catch that? If the first covenant was all it needed to be There wouldn't be a reason for a second, but we have a new covenant Jesus says tells his disciples at the Last Supper. This is the new covenant my blood and this covenant is better because it's an act on better promises it says and then chapter 9 verse 15 therefore he Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant so process that for a second Not only are we redeemed, but we're redeemed from the transgressions that we committed under the first covenant. The first covenant, great as it was, was a shadow. It wasn't enough to do all that needed to be done to save us from our depravity, from our sinfulness. Because the covenant at Sinai was enacted on promises of a physical promised land that at the end of all things will be burned. That covenant was enacted on the promise of a nation that would at some point be scattered and be no more. As we learn in the New Testament, there is no Jew or Greek. There is no barbarian, Scythian or slave or free. Christ is all and in all. This covenant comes and covers everyone. I just read this morning in the book of Acts about Cornelius and Peter going to Cornelius and Sharing the gospel for the first time with the Gentiles that this new this new revelation of God in Christ is not just for Israel It's not just for the Jews not just for the circumcised. It's for everybody so this covenant This moment of redemption is all a picture for what Christ is going to do He is not going to save us from slavery to some government or some nation or tyrant. He's saving us from the slavery of sin and death. It's because of what Jesus does in His covenant, shedding His blood, being the sacrifice that forgives sins under the first covenant, that we don't look to death as the end. Death is not the end. It's a beginning. And Christ is the guarantor of this covenant. Christ is the one who mediates this new and better covenant with better promises. He comes and says, your ancestors, the Israelites, they ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. You eat of me. I'm the bread of life. You'll never die. He shows his power. through the works he accomplishes, through all the things that Jesus did. The Apostle John says, if I were to write all of them, there weren't enough books to fill them. They would fill the whole world. We just have a snippet of his works in the Gospels. All the healings. the demons he casted out, the people he raised from the dead, the authority of his teaching, the way he could look at a man and say, I forgive you of your sins. And they were forgiven. And most of all, His willingness to lay down His life for those who would call on Him. To go to the cross, and as He says, I lay down my life for my friends. No one takes it from me. I have the authority to lay it down and take it up again. and he endures the shame and humiliation of bearing our sin the weight of our disobedience on himself like the perfect spotless lamb in the exodus but far better because he's no lamb he's a man and he is God and he spills his blood and he lays down his life and he rises from the dead of the power of God and is vindicated, vindicated of all His claims, all of His works are vindicated in His resurrection. And He purchases for us as we read in John 14 earlier this morning, I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'm coming back for you to take you there. If it were not so, would I have told you? This is our mediator. This is our Savior. This is our guarantor of a better covenant. Verse 9, he has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. Sent redemption. Think about that for a second. I've said that word multiple times already. It's here in the text. What is redemption? What is redemption? We say it enough that we think we know what it means. But could we really define it? Well, I looked it up this week and discovered that perhaps my understanding even of redemption was not quite what it should be. We have to take ourselves back to a time that maybe we can't completely wrap our minds around, but there was a time on this planet that human beings were sold and bought as if they were a loaf of bread or a piece of machinery. And as sad and horrible as that is, it's true. We cannot run from our past. And the reason I bring that up is because redemption is hard to explain other than to think of it in the sense of a person. Because to redeem someone meant not only that you were going to buy them, But that you are not, you are going to set them free. See slaves were bought and sold all the time. They could be bought and then sold again. But to redeem them then, I'm going to pay the price for them. And then I am going to take them off the market. They cannot be bought or sold ever again. I'm setting them free. Think about how counter-cultural that would have been, first of all, in the first century, and all the centuries that led up to, until thankfully slavery, at least in most places, has been abolished. Think about how counter-cultural that would have been to just actually buy a human being, number one, that's hard to wrap our minds around, and then to think, he's my property now, I can do with him as I please. No, not a Redeemer. A Redeemer doesn't think that way. A Redeemer sees the person and buys them and says, you're not a thing to be bought and sold. You're not a thing to be enslaved. You're a thing to be set free. And this is what the set of Jesus has done for us. He's redeemed us. He's taken us off the market. He doesn't buy us and make us his workhorses that have to do everything he says, or thread of wit. He doesn't buy us and think about, well, maybe I'll sell them later, or maybe I don't want them anymore. When I'm done with them and they're not useful to me anymore, I'll get rid of them. No, he buys us and he sets us free. And He buys us from the slavery of sin and death and the judgment and the shame that comes with it. And He frees us from it. And He gives us new life. And then He calls us to follow Him. He doesn't make us follow Him. We're no longer slaves. He calls us to follow Him, and we follow Him because He's our Redeemer. He's our mediator, because He's our Savior and our friend. Because of what He's done for us, He deserves our obedience. You see the difference between a slave and a free man? We're free. We're dead to sin, but we're alive to God. Now I skipped verse four and I want to go back there. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He has caused His works to be remembered. The reason I skipped it is because I think verse 4 is not just referring to what came before. Namely, the general revelation of God to all men. And it's not just referring to the revelation of God in His covenant with His people. It's referring to both. He's caused all of His works to be remembered. Why? I mean, you could just say, well, why not? I mean, that's a simple answer. But I want to give you two reasons. The first reason is what I alluded to at the very beginning, which is the works of God reveal the character of God. Look at the words that are used to describe the works of God. His works are great. His works are full of splendor and majesty. His righteousness endures forever. His works are remembered. His works are wondrous. His works are powerful. His works are faithful and just. Just as easily as we can describe His works as faithful, or just, or splendid, or majestic, we can describe God with the same adjectives, can't we? Just as rightly as we see a beautiful sunset over the ocean, and we go, gosh, that is majestic, it is beautiful. That's right. But it's only half the story. The other half is, and the God who made it, is twice as majestic, infinitely more majestic. Because all of that majestic, beautiful, splendid, great creation and providence that we see in the world and in our lives is an overflow of His goodness and His character. And just as easily as we can thank the Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sin. You are so full of mercy and grace and love that you would do such an act for me. That is right. That is right. but it's only half. Yes, we're thankful for what he has done, but what he did was because of who he is. He is not just acting loving and gracious and merciful and kind. He is gracious and merciful and kind. He is love. And so the Lord expresses Himself in all these works through the Old and the New Testament, not just to give us a lot of good stories to tell, not just to transport ourselves into those moments and put ourselves in the shoes of some of our favorite Bible characters. They're there to display the wonder and the glory and the character of God and who He is. The second reason is When we see and experience the character of God through His works, it naturally leads to a godly life. Think about that. Just pause for a second. Where am I getting that? Well, verse 10. All of a sudden, almost out of nowhere to me, this verse pops up in verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. His praise endures forever. That makes sense because it echoes what he's talked about in the very first verse. Praise the Lord, the whole heart, whole congregation. It's a psalm of praise. It's an extolling of God's works and his character. That's what this psalm is about. It's about the greatness and the might and the majestic beauty of God. But then, almost like it was plucked from Proverbs and put in the Psalms, this might be a good ending. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Why is that the natural ending? It's because the psalmist understands that people who know and experience God in their lives through the covenant love of Christ on the cross, through his general work of providence and preservation in our lives, when we experience his works and his character in that way, we will become godly men and women. It naturally becomes, not easily, but naturally flows into hearts that are full of praise, that want to give wholehearted thanks and praise to God. And it naturally flows to be people who fear the Lord. And that is the beginning of wisdom. That is the beginning of understanding. He is great and I am not. He is holy and I am needy. That is wisdom. That is wisdom. And the people who know that and understand His precepts and follow them, they are blessed. They are godly. I was kind of faced with a dilemma this week. It was a little bit short notice, the request to come. It was no problem at all. But as I started digging into Psalm 111, I realized Psalm 111, while it certainly stands alone, it actually links directly to Psalm 112. And I started having to wrestle with, well, do I prepare Psalm 112 too? Can I prepare 20 verses in a couple of days and do it justice? I thought, well, maybe retreat was the better part of valor on my part in that regard. But I couldn't just let it go by without showing you and giving you a little homework this afternoon to go home and read Psalm 112. Because if you want to know why Psalm 111 matters beyond, we should praise God and extol Him, and that is all the reason we need, right? That's all the reason we need. But He connects the dots for us in Psalm 112. That this all has a practical purpose. The covenant is not just something to revel in, to remember and soothe our souls with. It is that. But it is more. It is something that not only has a comforting power and a one-time event freedom power, but it has a transforming power. That when we revel in that, when we rest in it, when we ponder his works, when we study him, when we keep his precepts, when we fear the Lord, and that is the beginning of wisdom, Psalm 112, we are the blessed man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. We have wealth and riches in our house. His righteousness, not the Lord's righteousness, the blessed man's righteousness, just like the Lord's, endures forever. The light dawns in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious. The upright is gracious, merciful, and righteous. The same words that are used to describe the works of God and the character of God in Psalm 111 get applied to you and me. When we are the people of God, when we walk in the path of righteousness, we are the blessed man who deals generously with the poor and the oppressed, who's not afraid of bad news, whose heart is firm and steady, and looks in triumph on his adversaries. Let me Just challenge you this morning. First of all, some of you may be in this room, and this covenant of love and grace in the Lord Jesus is news to you. Or perhaps you've been sitting in one of these seats for week upon week, and you have yet to be struck with the reality that you are a desperate sinner in need of amazing rescue. Now, not only that, that's the bad news. The good news is, there has been a rescue. And it's for you, if, if you will succumb to the weight of that burden on your back, and fly to the Wicked Gate, and be pulled in by good will, and fly to the cross. And you will allow that burden to roll right off your back and into the tomb to be seen no more. And we will rejoice with you, giving three shouts of hooray. So I would plead with you, unbelievers. Do not wait another second under the weight of that sin and shame. It's been dealt with. It's been paid for. It's been rectified. Redemption is here. Today is the day of salvation. You have a mediator with a better covenant, better promises, and an eternal hope of glory with Christ. And to you believers, Is your heart full of praise for God? Can you say with the psalmist, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart? Not just in the privacy of my car on the way to work or in my closet at home. And you should do those things. But will you come here week after week with a heart full of joy in the presence of everyone and confess your praise of the Lord? Will you come here week after week and speak the truth of your freedom in Christ to your brothers and sisters around you because your faith is not your own It's not just yours. It's ours It's been delivered to us the Saints and we meet here not just as a formality. We don't meet here just because oh, we're supposed to Or because just just because the scriptures tell us they tell us to because we need each other We need to hear the praise of the saints we need to hear the songs on the hearts of the people around us We are you doing that is your heart full that full to the brim that you can't wait to get here on Sunday morning Seeing and to give thanks to God in the midst of his people And Let me just ask you Are you continuing to chase a godly life apart from the redemption that you received in the Lord Jesus Christ? None of us would say we are. I wouldn't. But I know functionally, week after week, I do. Functionally, week after week, I wake up and think, okay, I gotta do my best out for the Lord. Or He won't save me. Or He won't love me as much as He does. That's a lie. And if you think to be godly, you have to check off a list of things to do. You followed the wrong path. And that's not the Jesus we follow. The Jesus we follow charts a course and walks beside us. And his love never waxes or wanes. It is as full to the brim of love that he could have for you. It's not based on your performance. It's not based on what you can do. So I would challenge you. Flee from that temptation. Flee from the temptation to think you can get it all together. and confess that you need the bread of heaven to fill you. That you need the precepts of the Lord to transform you and to be your guide, yes. That you need to see and savor again and again the power of the works of the Lord in His Son, Jesus Christ. That you need to revel, that you need to enjoy the covenant promise here and now that you are redeemed set free no longer a slave but a free man or woman and submit yourself to his wisdom to his calling to fear the lord and practice his precepts not on your own strength not because you have to check off the box not because you want to earn his love but because you have his love and he is worthy of following Father, we come to you this morning just so thankful. Thankful that your word is true and without error. That if there's any wrong way in what I've said this morning, you have bought it from our minds. That your word, the truth of your word, will be what endures in our hearts and minds today and this week. God, I pray that indeed the knowledge of our redemption from our slavery to sin Would fuel in us a praise and a love for you That leads us to a life of truly blessed dogmas Because you are our Savior who is worthy of following We ask all this in Jesus name Amen