Let's open up the sacred scriptures together this morning and turn to Psalm 18. Psalm 18, let's read together the first 35 verses. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills were moved and were shaken because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly. Yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place. His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before Him, His thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me. but they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because He delighted in me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also upright before Him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore, hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyesight with the merciful. Thou wilt show thyself merciful With an upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure. And with the froward, thou wilt show thyself froward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people, but wilt bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee have I run through a troop, And by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God? Save the Lord. Or who is a rock? Save our God. It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. Thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thus far we read the divinely inspired sacred scripture this morning. May God bless the reading of it to our hearts. The text for the sermon is verse 30. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to tell you that I've preached this sermon in a number of our churches. And I first preached this sermon about a year ago when I was privileged to go back to Redlands, California to administer baptism to a little baby. It was a very special occasion. A little baby who was born right before I left Redlands and moved to Michigan. A little baby who was born one pound, two ounces. a little baby who was born after a pregnancy of many complications, so that medical staff was advising the father and mother to consider an abortion. And that more than once, at the occasion of the baptism of this child, many, many months later, we said together, as for God, His way is perfect. And then I preached this sermon in a number of churches, and I never imagined that I would stand in a pulpit like I am this morning and preach this sermon in a context like that of today. But God has brought me here, here I am, and whatever Trouble and turmoil may belong to a woman and her womb. When there are complications with a little child in the womb, that trouble and that turmoil doesn't compare to the trouble and turmoil that is sometimes found in the womb of the church, in the bosom, of God's beloved church in the walls of Jerusalem. So what will we say? Well, there are many things we can say, and we do say about people. But what will we say about God? And this morning we want to confess with David, as for God, His way is perfect. My way isn't perfect. Your way isn't perfect. But let's look up to our great God this morning and say God's way is always perfect. That's what David said. David wrote this psalm likely toward the end of his life, and that's evident from two considerations. First of all, this psalm is repeated almost word for word in 2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel covers the reign of David. It consists of 24 chapters, and by the time we get to chapter 22, where this psalm is found, his reign and his life is almost over. And then in the second place, we read in the heading of this psalm, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this psalm in the day, that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies. And then special mention is made of him who is arguably David's worst enemy, and from the hand of Saul. So if we would stand where David stood, likely when he wrote this psalm, we could look back over David's life and we see that the whole of his life was characterized by continual conflict. whether that be the early period of his life when he wrestled and fought against a lion and a bear and a Philistine giant and was chased by Saul for a long time or whether that be the middle period of his life when he was in his prime and he had been publicly anointed the king of Israel and for the establishment of the kingdom there externally in the Holy Land over against all of the enemies. He was constantly warring against the Philistines and all of the neighboring Canaanite nations. Or, whether it be in the latter period of his life, when all of his sons have grown and become old, and his own son Absalom, rebels against him and tries to seize the throne and seeks the life of his father David. The whole of David's life was characterized by strife and conflict and struggle. When was his life ever like that of solemn and especially early in his reign with peace and quietness? David was the warrior king. His life was one of conflict. And now later in his life, Now, after the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies, including especially Saul. Now, after David had completed nearly all that arduous work that the Lord had laid out before him as the warrior king. Now, he writes Psalm 18, and he joyfully extols the name of Jehovah, the God of salvation, who has delivered him. from the hand of all of his enemies. And right in the middle of this song of praise to the God of deliverance, David looks back over the whole course of his life. He takes his whole life with all of its conflict and struggle and strife, and he reduces it to the simple confession of the text, which is the confession we consider this morning. As for God, His way is perfect. My life in all its perfect plan was ordered by God ere my days began. And God's way for my life is perfect. Let's take that confession this morning, lift it up out of the text, make it the theme of our sermon. As for God, His way is perfect. Let's state it and restate it and emphasize it. And if God would be so gracious, then we may be able to leave here this morning and all the way to the very end of our life, no matter what happens, always be able to say, as for God, His way is perfect. Let's consider that text then under that theme, looking first at the content of this confession, second, the source of this confession, and third, the making of this confession. Content, source, making. Three parts to the confession. First, way. As for God, His way is perfect. The word way here literally refers to a path as a beginning. It moves in a certain direction and it has an end. Here however it is used figuratively, we'll come back to the literal idea in just a moment, but here it is used figuratively to refer to the manner in which God governs all things according to His plan. So that just as we speak of a CEO of a company who has a way, He has a plan. He does things a certain way in His company. He administers, He manages things a certain way in His business. So God has His way, the manner in which He governs things. And our God governs the whole world, everything. Our God is in the heavens, Psalm 115 verse 3, and He doeth whatsoever He pleaseth. He has His way. He gets His way. He does everything His way. He's sovereign. And David underscores that here, not in the use of the name Jehovah or Lord, the covenantal name, but David uses the very name of God found in the first sentence of the Bible. In the beginning God, Almighty, Sovereign, Powerful God created. And now here, as for God, His way is perfect. God's way. However, David's focus in the psalm is not upon God's way for the whole of the world, but for David personally. And that's evident from all of the personal pronouns throughout the psalm. As for God in his dealings with me personally, God's way is perfect. David, and each one of us, has a way in the literal sense of the word. It's called the path of our life. It begins in the womb of our mother. And that way runs the whole course of our life and it ends in the grave. God's way The manner in which He governs all things according to His plan, His way determines our way from the beginning to the end. From the beginning we don't have any say over the circumstances in which we are conceived and born. We have no say. We don't determine how we begin to grow in the belly. And when we will be born, and how we will be born, and to whom we will be born. What will our parents be like? Will they be rich or poor? Will they be Christians or pagans? Will they even love each other? Into what kind of world will we be born? Into what kind of church will we be born into a church? David had no say over the fact he was born of Jesse and Jesse's wife. And he was born right into the lineage of the Messiah. God's way determines the beginning of our way in the belly and then the whole course of our life. Every step, every detail, every moment, every occurrence, every joy, every sorrow, every relationship, moment by moment by moment, our life is governed by God. all the way to the grave, the final beatings of the heart, and the closing of the eyes, and the dying, and the placing of our corpse into the casket, and the closing of the lid, and the putting of the box into the earth, goodbye. God's way. determines our way from the beginning to the end. And that was so true of David, of course. David didn't die by the paw of the bear or the lion. He didn't die by the spear of Goliath. He didn't die by the spear of Saul. He didn't die by the sword of any one of the Canaanites. He didn't die by the sword of Absalom. But God would have him old and stricken and years lying on his deathbed so that he could give a final charge to his son Solomon. And then only then, Only then did David die. God's way determines our way from the belly to the grave. And then what's even more amazing is every man has a way. And God determines the path, governs the path of every single human being. and not only the path of each one individually, but the whole of the organic connection, the interrelatedness between all of the paths of all of the people so that we have a path and every path that runs alongside of ours or intersects with ours and for how long, that's determined by God. Look at all of the people in David's life who had an impact upon his life. From Jesse, his father, to his mother, to the prophets like Samuel and Nathan, to the priests like Abiathar and Zadok, to a friend like Jonathan, a father-in-law like Saul, a wife like Michael, that woman Bathsheba, and Uriah, and Nabal, and Abigail, and old Barzillai, and all of the Canaanites, and Joab, all these people, they had an impact upon, they were involved in David's life somehow, in some way, in God's way. The manner in which he governs all things according to his sovereign plan, God's way, determines our way, from the belly all the way, to the grave. And about that way, David says, perfect. As for God, His way is perfect. Perfect means conforming absolutely to the highest standard of good. And God is in His own infinitely glorious being, absolute goodness, absolute righteousness, who is a God like unto our God. And that His way is perfect means His way conforms absolutely to His own infinitely good and righteous being. And David confesses that the way of God for him is perfect, as every child of God does, looking in three different directions. First of all, and always first, David looks up. to God as he sees Him by faith. And that's where the psalm begins. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. Nothing God does is wrong. Nothing God does is arbitrary. Nothing God does is foolish. Everything God does, He does purposefully, and He does for the glory of His own blessed name. Everything serves God's glory. And David believes that everything God does in his life Whether David can understand it or not, everything God does is for God's glory. And that always makes God's way perfect. It's for Him. Hallowed be Thy name. Secondly, David can confess perfect as he looks around him and he sees the kingdom of Israel. All these people, these men and women and young people, these boys and girls, all of these Israelites. And as David sees the coming of the kingdom, the advancement of the kingdom, there in the Holy Land through warfare and the subduing of all of the enemies. And as he looks out into the future and he sees the coming of the Kingdom, through the coming of the promised Messiah and King of the Kingdom, whom we know as our Lord Jesus Christ. And David believing that everything God does in his life, every single detail, whether he can understand it or not, somehow, in some way, it. serves the kingdom. It serves the coming of the kingdom, the church, as we know it, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that always makes God's way perfect. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. And then third, David can say perfect as he looks at himself. And he believes by faith that everything God does in his life, and that includes all of the conflict, the struggle, the warfare, everything, it's for him. for Him, for His salvation, for the strengthening of His faith, drawing Him away from His self-reliance, drawing Him unto God in faith, for the conforming of Him more and more to the image of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, for the preparing of Him for His place in the glory of heaven. Everything God does is for David. For God's glory, for God's kingdom, for God's man, David. So now David stands here later in his life and he looks back over the whole of his life and all of the conflict and struggle. And he says, perfect. God's way for my life is perfect. And that's such a remarkable adjective for David to use in light of the fact that David's life was not one of peace and rest from so many points of view, but one of turmoil. And that's really brought out in so many ways in the psalm too. He speaks of the sorrows of hell encompassing him, verse 5. He speaks of those who hated him, verse 17, right before the text. In verse 29 he says, For by thee have I run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. Troops, walls everywhere, warfare for David. So think about his life. There was a time in his life, a long time, where he was hunted by Saul. Have you ever been hunted? As David was hunted by another man on the run. Think of Absalom, his own son, who turned against him. And when the report came back from the battle that Absalom had been killed, though Absalom was the enemy, the rebel, out of the depths of David's soul came that bitter lamentation at the news of Absalom's death, because David knew exactly where Absalom, his son, went the moment he died. And though Absalom was the enemy, Absalom was the son of his own loins. His son, Absalom. Oh Absalom, my son Absalom, the grief of David. And then you back up and think of the punch to the gut it must have been when his trusted advisor Ahithophel turned against him, betrayed him, and he joined the cause of that rebel Absalom. And what that must have been like for David. And then there's Shimei up on the cliff. He's throwing rocks at the Lord's anointed, cursing him as a bloody man, the man of Belial. God could have arranged for David a life that was so much easier, fewer battles and enemies and tears, but he ordained for David a royal life of conflict, continually. And that makes David's confession remarkable. As for God, his way is perfect. And we will join our voices with David this morning and confess that God's way for David, for David, was perfect. Because we understand that David stands here in the old dispensation as a type, a historical prefiguration of the royal life of conflict that would come, the life of the Messiah. That's so clear in this history. The Messiah came, and according to His humanity, He had a beginning in the belly. And as soon as He came out of the womb, He was hunted by Herod, and had to be hastened into Egypt. And then you fast forward into His ministry. The whole of His ministry, He was opposed. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the chief prescribes, they were always trying to trap Him in His words, plotting against Him. The devil was seeking to tempt Him over and over again. But more than all of that, there's something we can't even understand. And that's the inner struggle and conflict within Him. For He carried our guilt. What was that like for him? He was the sin bearer. He carried that massive weight of all of our guilt, and therefore he endured the just wrath of God. That wrath spoken of earlier in Psalm 18, especially in the three hours of darkness on the cross. He bore all that wrath of God as the sin bearer. What must that have been like for the Messiah within him? He bore it, and the whole time he confessed, as for God, my God and Father, His way for me, which leads all the way here to this bitter and shameful death, His way for me, which is the way of His glory, which is the way that serves His kingdom and the coming of it, which is the way that serves the salvation of my people, though it means inexpressible agony for me. God's way for me is perfect. Jesus said that in perfect submission to God. And now you go back into the old dispensation and that royal life of conflict of David, that was a picture, weak though it was, a picture of the better, the saving royal life of conflict to come. How can you not say about God's way for David that it was perfect. God's way, perfect. Finally, as to the content of this confession, David says, as for His. You can ignore the italics. As for God, His way is perfect. David doesn't say God's way is perfect. He says, as for God. And what David is doing is he's setting up a contrast between God and everyone else. Everyone else has a way that is not perfect. David is implicitly acknowledging about himself, my way is not perfect. I am so short-sighted. I get so caught up in all of the immediate details of my life and what's happening right now. I often don't see the big picture. I often don't take that perspective, even when I do. I can't see the end from the beginning. Not only am I short-sighted, I'm so selfish. I always want that way that is easiest, that is smoothest. The easy way. I wouldn't have ordained for me a rebel of a son like Absalom or the hunting of Saul. Never. I want the easy way. And my way is sinful. When I say, no God, I don't want the way of righteousness. I want my way. And I seek to do things my way. Well, then I see my neighbor's wife, and I lust after her, and I tell my servant, you bring her into my bedchamber, and I defile myself, and I bring a sword into my house, and into all of Israel. That's what happens when I say, my way, I'll do things my way. And look at all of these enemies of mine. They have their way, their way for me. I'm merciful. They don't show themselves to be merciful to me. I'm pure. They don't show themselves to be pure to me. They're froward. They seek my destruction. Their way for my life is that I be destroyed everlastingly. All men, everywhere have their way. Their way is not perfect. It's wrong. It's sinful. As for God, His way is perfect. Always perfect. God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As for God, His way is perfect. Only the believer who has the word of Jehovah planted deeply in his heart will make this confession because the source of this confession is the word of Jehovah as he puts his word in David's heart and that's the teaching whether or not it's immediately clear that's the teaching of the second half of the text the second part of David's confession when he says The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. The word is so very important. The word of the Lord is tried. The word of the Lord is the word of God's revelation as the God of the covenant, the God of gracious salvation in the Messiah. And so David uses here the covenantal name Lord. And David had that word of the Lord, he had it written down. It was known in that day as the Book of the Covenant. The first five books of our Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, that was the Word of the Lord, the Word of His Covenant. And David had that Word spoken as it was, we might say, preached to him through the prophet Samuel and then Nathan, the Word of the Lord. David says the Word of the Lord is tried. That means it's tested. It's proved. And it always shows itself to be reliable, invaluable. Just as a man takes a piece of metal and he puts it into the fire, heats it up, and he draws the metal out of the fire with all of the impurities and the dross having been taken away, that metal's shining now. It shows itself to be the reliable, valuable piece that it is. It's tried. so the word and that means the word of the Lord goes into the fire and it does that When David is in the middle of the conflict, in the midst of the struggle, the battle, whatever it may be, David has nowhere to go, nowhere to turn, but to the Word of the Lord, so that the Word of the Lord is with David in the fires of adversity, and thus the Word itself is in the fire, and it always proves itself. to be reliable, invaluable. Through all the generations of the covenant, there has never been one saint who's turned to the Word in the day of trouble and found that it failed him. Never fails. The Word of Jehovah is tried. Proves itself. Reliable. Invaluable. How so? Well David continues, the word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. The buckler is that small round shield the soldier wielded in order to deflect the darts and arrows of the enemy. Buckler. Trust in Him. David trusts in the Lord. God has given him the wonderful gift of faith so that David puts his trust in the Lord. And he does that when he puts his trust in the Word of the Lord. And as David is trusting the Word of the Lord, God Himself has put that Word into David. Into his soul. deep, deep down into his soul. And when God puts His Word into David's soul, God Himself becomes David's buckler. to protect his heart from all of those fiery darts of the temptation, to be jealous of others who might have it easier than I do, to be angry against him or her, to be full of bitterness and resentment against God because of more trouble in my life. God Himself is the buckler to protect David from those temptations striking him in the heart, and to preserve in David's heart confidence in God, and joy, and encouragement, and hope, and peace. The Word of the Lord is tried. He, Jehovah God through that Word, becomes a buckler to David and all those that trust in Him, so that then that Word Jehovah puts within is the source Out of which will come the confession of the text. For you see, without the word, David has no buckler. Without the buckler, the arrows of temptation, they strike him in the heart. Then without that word and without that buckler, David doesn't see God. Everything for His glory. David doesn't see the kingdom and its coming. Everything for the kingdom. David doesn't see himself and that everything is working for his good when the temptations are striking him in the heart. Then he faints and he fails. He murmurs against God or he says nothing. But when Jehovah God puts His Word deep, deep in David's heart, and in that way Jehovah Himself becomes David's buckler, then no matter what happens, how fiery the conflict may be, David will always be able to say, as for God, His way is perfect. The power is in the Word. which is the source of the confession of the text. A word like this, the word of the atonement, Leviticus 16 verse 34, which David had in the book of the covenant. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. That word. When David is on the run, he's far away from home in the tabernacle, he's on the other side of the Jordan, he's cold, he's shaking in a wet cave, and here comes Saul, or here comes Absalom. The great temptation brought by the devil is for David. That's not Saul. That's not Absalom. That's God. God is coming, David. God is hunting you. God will find you here, and God will judge you, and God will condemn you, because though you're very merciful and you're very pure compared to your enemies, you know your heart. You know yourself as a sinner before God, and God is coming to judge and destroy you. That's the great temptation in the day of conflict. And the word of Jehovah is, you've seen that blood dripping from that altar. You know, David, what that blood points ahead to. David, I love you. I've always loved you. I always will love you. You are my Son in the covenant. I will give the blood of my Son to cover all your sins. You are right with me, David. When that word that orients David with respect to the altar, we would say with respect to the cross, when that word is put deep, deep in David's heart, no matter what happens, no matter how difficult his way may be, he will always be able to say, God's way for me is perfect. For this word from the book of the covenant called Deuteronomy, 31 verse 6, Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Deuteronomy 33, 25 through 27, Thy shoes shall be iron and brass. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. There's none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in Thy help, and in His excellency on the sky, the eternal God is Thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He shall thrust out the enemy from before Thee, and shall say, Destroy them. No one in all the ages of the covenant has ever turned to those words and found that those words fail. The word of God faileth never. When God puts that tried word deep in David's heart, that word is the source out of which David makes the remarkable confession of the text. the confession that we make this morning. With the word of Jehovah proclaimed out of the scriptures as gospel to us, what word the Spirit takes and puts in our hearts this morning, we make the confession of the text. That's true for us individually, personally, in our own private lives. No matter what the conflict and struggle may be, maybe Satan is presently your Saul, as you are a doubting, perplexed, perhaps even depressed believer, as Satan relentlessly hunts you, makes you very afraid of the darkness and the everlasting darkness of hell. Or if for you the conflict is that you have a Shimei in your life who's cursing you, and a Hithophel who has betrayed you. Or if cancer has come as a troop of microscopic soldiers to eat up your flesh, or if not it, then the chemotherapy that follows, makes you weary, or if there's some adversity in your home, some contention in some relationship, so that you're weary of life itself, or you've lost a dear loved one, maybe even a child, and you grieve in a profound way, whatever the conflict, whatever the struggle may be, we have a confession this morning. But then more broadly, for all of us together, are the fiery darts of the temptation to be afraid striking you in the heart? So that you're full of fear. as you look at how things are going nationally in our own country, or you look at how things are going ecclesiastically, and how things are going here in your own congregation. Whatever the conflict, the struggle, the tension may be, this morning we want to stand with David. Each one of us, whether we're in the early, the middle, or the latter period of our life, stand with David and by the grace of God, confess what David confessed. So look at your life. I like to put it this way, Imagine the whole of your life written out on a timeline, on a long banner that's hundreds of yards long. On one end of the banner, your mother's womb, and on the other end of the banner, today. This morning, right now, and on that timeline, everything that has ever happened to you in your life, every circumstance, every detail, your whole life, is written out on that timeline. And up above the timeline are the words, God's way for my life. And now don't look at your timeline so much from the point of view of your sin, which will cause you to hang your head and cover your face in shame. Unless anyone is stubbornly persisting in unconfessed sin and rebellion, then all you must see is your sin. And God says, repent. But people of God, Don't look at your timeline so much from the point of view of your sin, but from the point of view of God's sovereignty and what God has ordained for you in your life, which includes everything evil itself. Now what will we say? Imagine you have a bright red sharpie pen and now you may circle anything on your timeline that God ought to have done differently, part of his plan that should be changed. So you look at your timeline, go back to your mother's belly and move through your childhood and the teenage years into adulthood, however old you are, and bring it all the way up to November of 2020, and this past week, everything God brought into your life, and right up to this morning, this present hour, as we stand and sit here this morning, look at your whole timeline, and is there anything you would circle and say, God's way for my life ought to be different? The child of God who has the word of Jehovah planted deeply in his heart and sees the face of Jehovah God will put the pen down, will not draw one circle, but will confess, as for God, His way is perfect. without the Word, without the Word of the Gospel of Consolation preached to us every week, without the Word of the Sacred Scriptures opened up in our homes every day, without the Word of the Gospel brought to us by friends and family as encouragement, without God's Word, if God doesn't put His Word in our heart, We'll never make this confession. We'll never say perfect. I know that. You know that. Without the Word, we might say, not fair. God's way for my life is not fair. Why me? Why all of this? This isn't fair for me, right? Why God? We might say that. We will never say perfect. We might say mysterious, and that's true. God's way for us is profoundly mysterious. Who can fathom the way of the Lord? We might say profound, but we will never say perfect. But when Jehovah God takes His Word, the Gospel of the Covenant, And He puts it in our hearts, deep in our hearts, so that His Word, as it were, is like His living voice reverberating off the walls of our heart, always orienting us with respect to the cross. When He puts His Word in our heart, then we see God. And whether we understand it or not, every single detail on the timeline of my life, somehow, in some way, it serves God's glory. We see the kingdom, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ manifested in this world. And whether we understand it or not, every single detail on my personal timeline, it serves the church, the coming of the church, and the Messiah Himself one day. Whether we understand it or not, we believe the Word of God in us, That everything God does in our life, everything on our own timeline, personally and ecclesiastically, it is for us, for our advantage, and preparing us for everlasting life in heaven when God puts His Word in us. Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good. To them that love God, Them who are the called according to His purpose. All things work together for good. Together. All things work together for good. Meaning if you draw one circle on your timeline and say one part of God's plan ought to have been different. The whole plan fails. The whole timeline is ruined because all these things, personally, ecclesiastically, all these things God has ordained for us, they all work together for good. When God takes His Word and He puts it in our heart, no matter who we are as His children, no matter what our history has been to this present moment, we are able to say, and we say it as for God, His way is perfect. Amen. Let us pray. Jehovah God, grant that we and all men may renounce our own will. And without murmuring, obey thy will, which is only good. that so everyone may attend to and perform the duties of his station and calling as willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven, granted for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let's respond to the Gospel of Grace with 211. The wonderful deeds of God for Israel of old, for us today. Notice especially the third stanza. Let's sing all three of 211. O God, most holy art thy ways, and to thy feet these paths my praise. ♪ Thou only doest wondrous things ♪ ♪ The whole wide world Thy glory sings ♪ ♪ Thine altar shone, Thy people stand ♪ ♪ Whose glorious trusts they found ♪ The swelling clouds in torrents pour, And o'er the earth the tempest roars. With lightning's flash and thunder sound, Great families of the solid ground, ♪ Through mighty waters deep and broad ♪ ♪ One understood the God of all ♪ ♪ To them thy footsteps were unknown ♪ ♪ But safe thy people were found ♪ ♪ Almighty shepherd of my sheep ♪ ♪ Have mercy on me, O my sheep ♪ in glory let excel. And blessed be his glorious name, long as the ages shall endure, for all the earth extend his fame, amen, amen, amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.