Very good. Please be seated. Psalm 117 is where we're going this morning, and the Gospel in Psalm is what we're calling this time. Now, I want to do something that I got in trouble for doing when I was in radio and television in Cincinnati, that I would do things for people on the air, you know, like call out to them and kind of shout outs and play songs for them when I was in the radio. And the program director said, there's more people than just that one person. And I would get in trouble every time. But I want to tell you some good news. Number one, we live stream our service actually from the sermon on. So we don't pay the rights to have our music on there so that you understand that. So we live stream. And Jeff was sharing with me the report. And the latest report this month is that we have reached 50 different countries along with a lot of different states. So people are tuned in to Christ Community Presbyterian Church. That's exciting. So not only that, but now he hits the button back there. Have you hit the button already, Jeff? Okay, he's hit the button. So when he hits the button, we live stream through this organization called Sermon Audio that puts it out on the internet. Not only that, but it goes live stream through, what's that place called? YouTube, okay, and not only that, through Facebook lives. We're just going everywhere, folks. Okay, so here's where I get in trouble. One of our founding members, Dottie Fritchman, has been really, really sick with a virus. Whether it's COVID or not, they haven't declared that. I don't think it is, but nevertheless, she's been homebound, and so today she was going to really break through her technological hindrances. She's going to step it up and try to watch the live stream. We don't know for sure, but if she's watching, I would like us to say, God bless you, Dottie. Is that all right? All right, I break the rules, okay, I mean, because there's millions of people around, I don't, people all over the world are watching, and now we're going to say, God bless you, Dottie, on the count of three. One, two, three. God bless you, Dottie. We miss her. She was so dedicated that while she was going through chemotherapy and even lost her hair and everything else, she was very good to be up here singing during that time, and so what a faithful member of our church, and we really do miss her. Okay. Second thing I want to bring up is that I do put the sermon notes available. And people ask me, what is this all about, Bob? Well, years ago, I started this when I preached because I sometimes get carried away and I preach and I bring in a lot of scripture. Well, that was what I vowed to do when I when I took a vow and first ordained the ministry in 1983 that I would preach the word. And so when I preach the word, sometimes I get carried away and use a lot of scripture. And so I started putting them down on the paper so that you could have them. And then I realized when I heard this other pastor talking about who also did that, said that his people actually share that with others because it's a way of sharing the gospel. And they had a report of a man who came to the church and said that he found one of the sermon note pages at the bus stop, and he was reading this, and God convicted him of his sins while he read the scriptures. That's what the Word of God does. It's sharper than any two-edged sword that can pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow thereof. Okay, so when he did that, the person came and said he came to Christ because of one of these. All right. I'm not that preacher. I mean, I don't know. I'm not doing it for credit anyway. But anyway, that's what this is all about. And so when you look at that and say, what's the pastor up with that, you know? So that's the reasoning behind it. It kind of helps you keep things together. All right. So we started this series of summer series and psalms in 2015. Now we're up to Psalm 117, and I'm calling this the Gospel in Psalm. Matter of fact, it's the Gospel in Psalm in the shortest psalm of the Bible. You say, that's a little trivia, Bob. Okay, well, let me ask you, what's the shortest verse in the Bible? Jesus wept, right? OK. I got a friend of mine one time. He's a Christian, and he came to our group ride one time, and he kind of bragged. He says, I've memorized the scripture. You always tell me to memorize scripture, Bob. And I memorized the scripture. I said, well, what was it? He said, well, Jesus wept. I said, hey, that's good. Where's it found? I don't know. It's in the Bible somewhere. I said, it doesn't count, you don't know where it is, it's John 1135, okay? All right, this is more than a trivia question, what we're talking about, the shortest psalm in the Bible, is the fact that he is presenting the gospel. I want you to just adore this, what this has happened, that a psalmist writes, this is a gospel presentation in mere two verses. It's interesting, Martin Luther wrote commentary on these two verses and took 30 pages. I'm not doing that this morning, but I am going to follow the Apostle Paul. When you talk about the gospel, the Apostle Paul said, I am determined not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's why he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. There it is, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. So what we're doing is looking at Psalm 117 and realize this is a presentation of God's marvelous grace that we understand now is in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's accomplished. Well, we need God's help to discern these things and to understand these things and to glean these things. So let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your marvelous word. I thank you for Psalm 117. It is a glorious presentation of the gospel. And I pray that we would receive it as such this morning, that you, by your power and the work of your Holy Spirit, would take the word of God to the people of God and provide that gospel explosion. If there's never been a belief in you and repentance unto salvation, that they would be moved today But all of us, Lord, that you would take the word of God to our hearts and fill our hearts with exceedingly great grace, that we would have a greater appreciation of your marvelous love and your everlasting kindness through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen. I'd like to begin, I started this year during our summer series of Psalms kind of things to connect you with where we're going, okay? And so I ask you to take out your little sermon note page and answer, there's three spaces there, one, two, three. I just want to hear three questions I ask you to answer with one. Just one word answers, okay, and the first thing that comes to your mind. But I want you to take that, and I want you to share your answers with somebody before you leave in the congregation that kind of takes the Word of God to the next step. And then you bring it back next week, and I want you to share those answers and hear their answers before the service next week. It kind of connects and gets us in the right frame of mind to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Question number one, what is the best word your mind to describe the gospel. What's the best word in your mind to describe the gospel? What's the best word? Okay, I thought of words like love or grace or faithfulness. What's the best word in your mind that describes the gospel? Second question, what is one word to describe your response to the gospel? One word that describes your response could be humble, submit, or exchange, going from exchange darkness for light, that's pretty good. Okay, and then third. And I think everybody would probably have the same answer. But nevertheless, name one thing that keeps you from sharing the gospel. One thing that keeps you from sharing the gospel. I suspect the word would be fear. Because most people are fear of rejection, or fear of failure, or fear of messing it up. But in reality, we know that he overcomes our fears. But nevertheless, it's good to admit it. And so those three questions. And please share them with somebody before you leave today. And then bring them back and share and hear their answers again next week as you prepare for the service. All right, four points that we're looking at, all based on two parts of either verse. Both verses, the blessing on the nations, the blessing upon all peoples, the great, it's his steadfast love and God's faithfulness that endures forever. All right, here it is, Psalm 117. I'll read the text, follow with me. Praise the Lord, all nations. Extol him, all peoples. For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Blessing upon all nations. Now, when we talk about the nations, the word nations sometimes translated Gentiles. So sometimes you'll see this in other texts, the words quoted, and it says, praise the Lord, all Gentiles. Well, it's the same word. It's just sometimes nations, Gentiles. And the reason is because when we look at what this is described, it's kind of what you might call total depravity of the nations. Now, when I say total depravity, it's because back in the olden days, after John Calvin preached, there was this guy named James Arminius who went around and said everything that John Calvin taught, he preached the opposite. What? Can you imagine that? And so John Calvin's people believed in God's sovereignty and salvation, and James Arminius didn't believe that. And so James Arminius went around saying, well, first of all, that man is not totally depraved, he's just sick. And he says that God made an unconditional, it's not an unconditional election, he looked and saw who would come to Christ. And Christ died for everybody, and the irresistible grace, man can put it off, and man will not persevere. He can get out of grace anytime he messes up. So there was a group of people that met, and they called it the Synod of Dort. And they came across what we call Tulip Doctrine, T-U-L-I-P. Total depravity, which means man is dead and trespasses into sins. He can't get himself out of it. He's not as bad as he could be, but he's so bad that he can't come to Christ, right? Okay, he's dead and trespassed in sin. Secondly, we believe it's an unconditional election. Unconditional election. God made it a choice of people, not based on anything about them. It's unconditional. God just did it. That's wonderful, because we could never come up to any standard, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, because we have no good works at all. Then the limited atonement, it's not limited in its effectiveness, but limited in the sphere of where it was done. Some people call it particular redemption. Christ died for his people. It's like he said, his name should be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Irresistible grace means that we are so dead, if God doesn't raise us up, okay, and do a marvelous work and change us from darkness to light, we would never come to him. And in the perseverance of the saints, as we will persevere forever in God's grace, all because he perseveres in his love toward us. And sometimes we fall, but he picks us up. Sometimes we mess up, he brings us back. And he does that because his love is unchanging. So when we first look at this, the nations, all the nations, first of all we must look at the nations and understand the nations declare total depravity. The nations around us are the world system. And the world system is all based on the fact that they've been deceived by Satan himself. In the book of Revelation, we get an insight of that when it says he saw the angel coming down from heaven, opening up his hand and the key to the bottomless pit and the great chain. And he seized the dragon, who's also called the ancient serpent, who is the devil, and Satan, and bound him 1,000 years and threw him into the pit, shut it up, and sealed over it, that he might not deceive the nations. Well, if we look at that and say, that's what Satan does is deceive entire nations. It's described in the book of Revelation as the beast. It's the world system. It's described in 1 John chapter 2 that he says, love not the world, neither the things of the world. The things of the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That describes the world system or the beast that's described in the book of Revelation. When we look at that then, Satan is behind that, deceiving. Well, we're easily deceived. It says in Jeremiah chapter 17, the heart of man is deceitful above all measure. Who can know it? We are deceived. It says in the book of 2 Timothy that evil people are not only deceived, but they deceive others. And we're told in the book of 2 Peter that we deliberately overlook the things of God, or as King James says, we're deliberately ignorant. In other words, God has shown his marvelous work in creation, and man turns from that and tries to hide under something else. You're deliberately ignorant of what God has shown us. So here's the look of it. When we see the nations, It's a sign of total depravity. Look at how it is driven and shown us in the second chapter of the book of Ephesians. You were dead in trespasses and in sins, in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passion of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Now, by the way, if we left it there, that's not a good story, is it? But the next verse says, but God, who is rich in his mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, that even when we were dead in sins, he has quickened us, made us alive in Jesus Christ. Now, that's the good news. All right, but let's go back to what he says, the nations. And so when he says the nations, first of all, it says nations are wicked because they're deceived by Satan. But let's look at it another way. In the book of Genesis, chapter 22, God speaks to Abraham and says, in your offspring, or sometimes the word is in the King James, seed. He says, in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Whoa. Catch that. In the book of Galatians, chapter 3, it describes when God said that to Abraham, he didn't say seeds, plural. He said seed, singular. And so in your seed, in the descendant, in a particular descendant, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the seed of Abraham. So in him, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. In the book of Genesis, or excuse me, Psalm 2, it says, ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. Now, Psalm 2 is like the, Like the gathering together of the people where God says, I want to display the victory that my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has had. And so he says, this is my son, this is my chosen vessel here, and look what he has done. And he makes a promise to him, says, that just ask of me and I'll give you all the nations as inheritance. So there's a choice made of people in the nations, and so all the nations will come to praise him. Listen to how much you'll notice this, how this happened in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, because his gospel that he preached went from just coming to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to the time when he left, before he left, he gave the Great Commission, and he said, go and make disciples of what? All nations. And so here, on the day of Pentecost, it says, at the time of Pentecost, there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. All the nations came together at Pentecost. Now, this is something that a Jewish festival would bring. They would bring people. They marked this out, the time of year they would come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. While they were there, this is what God did. Remember, they were praying in the upper room, 120 people, they were devoutly praying to God, and they were waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit was poured out of them, they had tongues of fire, looked like flames coming out of their mouths. But more than that, they spoke declaring the wonderful works of God. There wasn't gibberish. They were declaring the wonderful works of God. And all these men from all over the known world at that time heard it in their native language. Wow. They were marveled at that. And some people said, oh, they're drunk. Peter got up and used the occasion to preach the gospel to them. And in that gospel, he declared that the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who they had crucified, is risen again from the dead. And then he concluded his message by saying, this Jesus, whom you have crucified, God hath made both Lord and Christ. To which they said, what shall we do? He said, arise and be baptized in the name of Jesus, every one of you, for the remission of sins, for the promises unto you and to your children and to those who are far off. And 3,000 people were baptized that day. But it didn't stop there. You go a couple chapters later, and Peter is preaching after he raises a man who is lame on his feet from birth. He raises a man by the power of Jesus Christ. And next thing you know, there's a crowd gathering around him at the temple, and 5,000 came to Christ that day. And it just continued. There were some added to the Christ every single day. So much so that the religious leaders looked at the apostles, and they said, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. You think so? Probably over 500,000 to a million people were in the early church in Jerusalem. Whoa! OK, but that didn't stop there, because then there was persecution, and the church dispersed. Some people think that's a dispersion, and it says in Acts chapter 8 that they were dispersed because there's the people like Saul of Tarsus pushing them out, looking to persecute them. But the word dispersed is actually the word that they were planted, like as a farmer plants seed. And little pockets of believers went here, there, and everywhere. Next thing you know, the gospel's going to the ends of the known world at that time. Isn't our God marvelous? So, when he says this, in Revelation chapter 5, it says, when he's speaking of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 5, you ransom people for God from every tribe and language, people, and nation. In Revelation chapter 7, it says, and no one could number the number of the multitude from every nation. In Psalm 22, it says, the kingship belongs to the Lord, for he rules over the nations. And in Psalm 96, it says, declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among the peoples. And so in Psalm 144, blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. Praise the Lord all nations. God does a work. God does the work in people and all nations. That's so good. All right. This goes beyond. And so he comes up and says, extol him all peoples. It's interesting that We see the exclusion of people. We find that God had a chosen race of the descendants of Abraham for a particular time because God was bringing forth through that lineage, eventually, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Okay, but during that time, there was an exclusion. So there was a difference between people. I love to talk about the difference in the book of Exodus. When God sent the plagues upon the Egyptians, a little record says, Not even a dog lift his bark against the children of Israel. Wow. The other day I was riding my bike through this neighborhood. I ride with my friend over at the beach and we go up and down about 32 miles or so. And I was riding through this neighborhood and there was a lady with, had a big old dog. It doesn't take much to scare me. You could have a little hound dog, whatever, you know, and baby dachshund, or whatever. I don't even know dogs that well, but it scared me to death. I was bit when I was a kid, and so when I see a person with a dog, I purposely go to the other side of the road on my bicycle, because I don't want to even be near it, because they scare me. And sure enough, her dog barked really, just about crashed my bike. You say, what a chicken you are. Yes. OK. So when I see that passage, I love that passage, that God made it such a difference between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. The Egyptians are suffering all kinds of plagues, but not even a dog lifted his bark. Boy, I'd love that. While I'm riding my bike, there's no dogs bark at me, because it just sends me chills up my spine, and they're going to get me next. I mean, one time I was, OK. I've been chased a number of times by pit bulls, so I'm very conscientious of it. So when God made a distinction between the clean and the unclean, and when children of Israel went into the Canaan land, God said, there is a difference. I want you to dress different. I want you to act differently. You are a representative of God. Now, we come down to the New Testament. And Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, Therefore, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision." That's to all of us who are not born in Jewish culture, okay? And he says, you're called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in flesh by hands. Remember that you were at one time separate from Christ. You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise and having no hope without God in the world. That's where we were. I mean, as Gentiles, we had nothing to claim. Now, a Jew, a Jewish person, they might claim, they say, well, we came up under the promises, we came up under... And so Paul makes it known in the book of Romans, by the way, that's more responsibility. There's more judgment on you because look what God has given you. And all those things pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, for them rejecting Christ takes everything that God had pointed to them in the Old Testament, saying, pfft, they don't even care. We're going to do our own thing. And there were some who were followers, true followers of Jesus Christ, and they were looking for Messiah, okay? But they were, he says, looked to Gentiles. He said, you weren't following the things of God. You didn't have it. And he says, he says, but now Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Oh, God's irresistible grace. that in Christ, the seed of Abraham, all the nations are blessed. All the nations come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising sun. Now Paul quotes from Psalm 117 as he makes the point that the Jews and Gentiles are together in this and they are blessed because it's all because God is bringing in the Gentiles of all people. And he makes several quotations in Romans chapter 15 verses 9 through 12, several quotations from the Old Testament, including Psalm 117 verse 1. So here we were just reading, in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written, therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again, it says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all Gentiles, and let the people extol him. That's from Psalm 117. And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come, and he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope. Now, this is where the Gentiles heard the gospel as the church grew, and even the Apostle Peter was going to the house of Cornelius, and he rose to preach the gospel, and they respond positively. And Peter scratches his beard a little bit and says, you know, it's of a truth that God is no respecter of persons. Because out of every tribe, every nation, he that fears God, And works of righteousness is already accepted by God. That's the gospel. We respond and it shows what God has already done in the heart. Wow. And so it says in Romans chapter 3, we understand we don't do that. There's none righteous, no not one. So let me take you through John chapter 3, when Jesus points to Nicodemus about the need to be born again. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. And Jesus says to him, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Now, can he enter a second time into his mother's womb? And Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, that's a statement that just people just run with. Okay, there's some people who run with and say, unless you believe and baptize, you can't even be saved. Okay, that's, I mean, some people run at that and just run amok. Wait a minute, what is this all about? Because Jesus says, unless you're born of water and the spirit, people try to explainify it, okay? Nicodemus should have known it because it's taken from the Old Testament Ezekiel. But in order to get the key to unlock this, it's found in the next verse that Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said unto you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear that sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going, so is everyone who is born of the spirit. Key, the spirit of God brings this salvation, this born again stuff, okay? The key is the Holy Spirit does that work. In Ezekiel, then, chapter 36, verses 24 through 27, this is New Covenant language. Okay, there are several covenants in the Old Testament, and one is the New Covenant that points to Christ and his finished work. And he says, I will take you from nations and gather you from all countries and bring you to your own land. I will sprinkle you with clean water on you and will clean you from all your unrighteousness." This is language of a bathing, but it's not a literal bathing. Our baptism points to it, but it just says, here's what God has done. He has washed us clean, just like the circumcision was like a change of the heart. taking out the old stony hearts, that pointed to that, and baptism, and also, and this washing is a, not a literal washing with water, but it is the water of God that washes us clean on the inside. He says, I will clean your uncleanness. In the book of Titus chapter three, this is what the Apostle Paul says in Titus, he says, we were hateful, hating one another, we were going this way and that way, and he says, but after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, by his mercy he saved us. By the washing of regeneration, the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that good? Now watch. He says, I will clean your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put in you. And I'll remove the heart of stone and your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and put my spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes and obey my rules. So, praise the Lord all nations, extol him all peoples. Look what he's done. Very quickly, let's look at the steadfast love. Steadfast love is, His love is applied to us. You know, it's talked about in the book of Ephesians that we're to know, have the grace, we pray for the grace to comprehend with all saints the breadth, the height, the length, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. And he also says in 1 John 4, verse 10, that this is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation of our sins. But it comes to us, his love toward us, as he says, great is his steadfast love toward us. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3 says that I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you to myself. It says in the King James in the ESV it says that loving kindness I have continued my faithfulness to you. We turn to Ephesians or 1st John chapter 3 it says behold what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God. What kind of love is this? He says, beloved, now are we God's children. It does not yet appear what we shall be. We know this. When he shall appear, we shall be like him. His love that was given to us even before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and without blame before him. And in love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has made us accepted in the beloved. So his faithfulness then. He says, not only that, but he says, great is his steadfast love toward us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Faithfulness. He persevered because God is, you know, God cannot change. Aren't you glad he cannot change? How many times you will not find this from God saying, I don't love you anymore. You talk to couples all the time, they're having marital problems. One of them says, I don't love you anymore. I don't feel love. Where did you feel it? Did you feel it in your elbow? Did you feel it in your side? What is this about? Love is a commitment. So when God says, I have loved you with an everlasting love, it means that before the foundation world, he loved us and then will love us for all eternity. It never stops. Isn't that grand? And so when we look at his love, he's the rock. You know, when you go travel around the Mediterranean, as you're entering the Mediterranean Sea, right, from the Atlantic, there's this big rock, it's called the Rock of Gibraltar. Okay? And it's something that the mariners use all the time, because it never moves, right? Other things move, but that Rock of Gibraltar's not moving. It's going to be there. Well, this is what it says in Deuteronomy. I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. The rock, his work, is perfect, and all his ways are justice. And so that's why David says, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Why? Because God, who began a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He'll never stop. And that's why we turn to him in times of need. You know, there's a book of lamentations. It's called the Book of Lamentations. Wow. Okay? Isn't that the brightest thing you ever heard today? I mean, was that worth coming or what? That was worth the price of admission this morning. Okay. Now, let's understand. Lamentation, a lament includes an addressing God, offering a complaint, offering your request, and a statement of faith. It's interesting, Lamentations was written by Jeremiah the prophet. When God called him to service, he told him that people wouldn't listen to him, but he says, I want you to preach to them because they're going to be taken into captivity. So Jeremiah knew the end, even from the beginning, that God had opened to him, yet he told him to preach. So he preached repentance, hear this, but he knew the people wouldn't do it. So now the Babylonian people have come in and taken the people captive and burned the city, and now the Book of Lamentations is Jeremiah walking around the city and just lamenting over what happened. In chapter three, he describes it almost like he feels like God has punched him in the face, or as he describes it, he says it's like God had taken gravel and thrown it into his teeth and broken his teeth. But notice verse 19, remembering the affliction My wanderings, the wormwind and the gall, my soul continually remembers and is bowed down within me. But this I recall to mine, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The faithfulness of God. As Romans chapter 8 ends and says, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. What's the response? Praise the Lord, all nations. Extol him, all peoples. Great is his steadfast love toward us. And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. the Lord. God took all of us from the nations that were totally out of his will, totally depraved, could never come to him. Chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Jesus died for his people. He died for us according to the scriptures. He was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He calls us by the work of his Holy Spirit to changes. He does a heart transplant, takes out the heart and stony heart, puts in a heart of flesh that feels after God and makes us willing. And we call upon the Lord. And we will persevere in his grace forever. Is that good or what? All of that is in Psalm 117. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for Psalm 117. Thank you for the great declaration that you have been merciful and kind to the nations and to all peoples, including wretches like us, all because of your loving kindness. And we go on and press forward in life because of your faithfulness, and you cannot lie. Thank you, Father, for this word. In Jesus' name, amen.