And if you would take your Bible and join with me, please, in the book of Psalms, and Psalm 9, Psalm 9. I wanted to share with you at least something from the BBYC. The kids had to memorize, or however they divvied that up between them in the youth groups, Psalm 7 through 7 through 14. That's a lot of memorization. Psalm 7 through Psalm 14. And they did a great job as we heard. And we led the way and then we were not leading in the way and at the very end we were up by a hair and then by the hair of our chinny chin chin we won the trophy. And of course, we wanted to win. Amen. Teens, did you want to win? Okay. Yeah, because we were all hanging on Colter jumped the last question, and I hadn't finished stating the question. It's like, If he doesn't state the question correctly, it's wrong, and it would be ten points off, and the other teams would have an opportunity to jump in. than we would have been tied. And I didn't have 20 questions for a tiebreaker. I'm gonna have to talk to Gwen. She needs to write more questions, because I used all the extras and was bumping into the others, actually. But I want you to look at Psalm 9, because it talks about the nations, and I thought, well, it's the Sunday before Veterans Day, And that is important. I'm not so sure, and this is not meant to be a great condemnation, I think it's kind of normal, actually, that a nation doesn't always understand the commitment and sacrifice that her veterans give her. I don't think we're unique in that, and I don't think Israel was unique in that. There are currently, according to the stats I could find, 16.2 million veterans presently in our country. From Not too many World War II vets left. That's pretty rare anymore. All the way through what they're now calling the Gulf War number two. That's a lot of veterans. Roughly in Montana, we have 6.2% of those living in our state. And according to the stats, there is 0.8% of that 16.2 million are World War II vets. So there's not too many, pretty rare. 4.1% are veterans from the Korean War. And then it skipped most significant war, And this is from the Census Bureau. I'm not sure why they did that. Because then it jumped from Korea to the Gulf War. 24.4% of the living veterans are from the first Gulf War. 26.3% are from Gulf War number two. And I thought, well, where are the Vietnam War vets? I don't know if it's because it was never officially a war, so it gets qualified differently, I don't know. But I had to do a little digging. Of those 16.2 million vets today living in America, 44% of those are Vietnam War vets, almost half. And you add that all together and it comes up to 98%. So I'm not sure, the other 2% weren't in a war. And that does happen too. Praise, amen, it'd be wonderful if all the vets were like non-combat vets, because that would mean we didn't have to go shoot anybody or get shot at. That would have been a good thing. Also it said to me as I was researching, There are 650,000 who died in battle from the Civil War forward. Now a lot more died in the Civil War itself. I think the casualties were over 600,000. But not all of that was battle dead. A lot of individuals died due to injuries and other kinds of issues, not actually from battle. They gave, as Lincoln said, the last full measure. I mentioned, I'm not preaching this morning about veterans necessarily, but just highlighting that sometimes we don't realize the debt we owe to those who willingly would give their lives to protect their country. Now, I know not every veteran, not every veteran was the sharpest tool in the box. I get it, okay. Some veterans, it was go to jail, go to war. They made the choice to go to war. That does happen. I get that as well. But however they got there, once you're on the battlefield, we want them to win. We don't want to lose. And we owe a great debt. And it's not until recently that it's dawned upon me, just within my own family, My dad never served in the military, but both grandpas, my dad's stepdad and my mom's dad, so both grandpas, I never knew my dad's real dad. I don't know hardly anything about him. But the two grandpas were both World War II vets, both in the Army, except my dad's stepdad was in the Army Air Corps. He never went to battle, he actually worked in Detroit for Chrysler writing tech manuals for military airplanes that were being constructed. My grandpa on my mom's side was on the boat headed to Germany when my grandma got him off the boat by calling a senator or somebody. He was not happy. He was excited to go to Germany. Yeah, I won't say the words he said. He wasn't happy that he didn't get to go. But I'm glad he didn't get to go. He stayed, and I got to have a grandpa, amen. But he was a supply clerk on stateside. My great-grandfather that I'm named after on my dad's side was a Marine in World War I. And I have the flag that draped his casket. My great-grandma gave me that. My Uncle Duane, which would have been my great-grandpa's son, he also was a Marine, I think World War II, I think that's correct. He lived in Alaska, we didn't have a lot of contact. My Uncle Larry, who was my hero as a little kid, he was Army, either toward the very end of Vietnam, but he served his duty in Germany. And then nephews, both my sister's boys are veterans. Bridget has several veterans on her side, both her brother's two boys. And then even now some others have gone in as well, some younger ones. I guess that's because I'm older now. They're younger and they're able to do that. I say all that just to stop and think about the debt that I owe and how thankful I am that in a small way I could be a part of that. But we all owe a great debt to those who would serve our country. Our nation, I believe, owes a debt. A lot of times the Veterans Administration for Veterans Day The chairman of the VA is, by presidential appointment, is the chairman of the Veterans Day Celebration Committee or something like that. I forget its title. But oftentimes on the marketing products that they put out for posters and stuff like that, it'll say, a grateful nation. And we ought to be grateful. There's things as a nation that we owe to others. There are things as a nation that sometimes we do not realize the obligations that we have. And we could go back in the Old Testament and look at the exodus of Israel leaving Egypt, and especially when there was the death of the firstborn. The nation did not realize from that day forward all firstborn would belong to God. It's as if God established a spiritual law and they were obligated to obey but they didn't quite understand their obligation. They found out a little later. There are several things kind of like that. A nation owes. The scriptures tell us that righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. There are things our nation does not realize in reference to the Lord. And I'm not implying in some way that, I know we have this phrase, America is called a Christian nation, and in our recent history, some have debated that issue. We do have a Christian heritage. You know, modern day America has a heritage of Bible-believing people and so forth. And so I personally believe that as a nation we have been very privileged because of that. We haven't always lived honorably in light of that. But it is a heritage, I think, in the proper sense that we can be proud of. We don't have to be ashamed. But that special relationship, I believe, that may be not the same as Israel, I understand, but that special relationship that I believe does exist between America and the Lord puts obligations upon us as a nation. And I'm not so sure our nation understands and potentially could violate, and I don't know if that's the right word, could offend this great God who's blessed us. You know, we've just come through the big election cycle, and those people who run, it's so easy for them to go around, make speeches, and say things like, God bless America, when the rest of their life, they don't live for the Lord at all. And I think that's wrong. If you're not really a Bible-believing person who lives for God, please don't try to invoke the name of God to validate you. That's hypocritical at best. But God has blessed our nation. Psalms 9. Let me get to the thoughts I wanna share with you this morning. And let me start at verse 13, okay? Have mercy upon me, O Lord, consider my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made, In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executed. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higeion, Sila. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. Father, would you help us This morning, and while maybe we have focused on veterans and the honoring of them tomorrow at Veterans Day, we understand that just because we're Americans, that doesn't make us Christians. Our citizenship here in this country is not a guarantee of citizenship in heaven. But I pray you'd help us as we might stop to think about some things this morning. Would you give me clear thought and clear speech, please, I pray. I work in hearts for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. I want you to notice or think about, first off, verse 20 is our text. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. The first thing I want us to consider this morning, for just a short moment, is the sovereignty of God. Now that phrase gets all kinds of press, you might say, in the theological world when we talk about the sovereignty of God. Oftentimes, they're discussing the doctrine of salvation and whether or not God picks and chooses who goes to heaven and hell, et cetera, okay? Because he's God. Well, he is God. And there is no debate on whether or not he is sovereign. But the sovereign, all that means is he has absolute power, but it doesn't mean that he exercises all minute control of all your every actions. He's not the dictator of your life. He could if he wishes. Because he's God, he's all-powerful. All power belongeth unto God, Psalm 62. He has all power in heaven, earth, et cetera. It's mentioned in lots of places, okay? But he is the one who has all power. Notice it says, put them in fear, oh Lord. He has a right and the ability to cause you to realize he's worthy of admiration and awe and we ought to tremble in the presence of his holiness in light of our sinfulness. No one in this room today, no one in this town, no one in this state, in our country, on the planet, is without sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone. And God's holy and righteous and sinless, and to recognize who He is, there ought to be a sense of trembling and awe on my part that I'm not worthy to be in His presence. I'm not worthy to be in his shadow. I'm not worthy to be at all in light of who he is. That becomes quite clear when we think about creation. Job 26 and verse 7 And every Sunday morning, my mom sends me a text. And when she started doing that, that was really weird. to think about my mom sending me a text. I'm not even a big, big texter, but my sister bought mom a phone, a smartphone, because I don't think dad would do that. He likes a landline phone. And if you call, he lets it ring until it goes to the answering machine. And when you leave a message, he decides if he wants to talk to you or not. He's very old school. So he's like, no, I'm not buying one of those stupid smartphones. I don't want that computer nonsense. Nope, not doing it. So my sister Susie's like, oh, mom, I'm going to get you a phone. So she gets my mom a smartphone. So now mom texts me. And we send pictures and stuff. So that's pretty neat. But the point is, every Sunday morning, mom sends me a text. Something about she's praying for me, praying for us, praying for the church, that God would give us a great Sunday service. And that means a lot to me. This morning, she texted me this verse. Verse seven. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing. It's just out there on His power. Think about just the amazingness of creation. And it speaks about God's supreme power and authority. Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, beginning at verse six. says that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else. You can't be more supreme than being the singular one. Okay. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Verse 12, I have made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. Verse 18, for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it. He hath established it. He created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else. God's sovereignty is a reference to His supreme and absolute authority and power. But He's not just sovereign, He's also gracious and kind and He lets you make your own choices. Because you can make choices and I can make choices contrary to what He wants and that doesn't threaten Him. He's not threatened by you choosing to follow him. He's not threatened when someone says, I'm not gonna believe in God. I don't like that. Okay, whatever. He's not threatened by someone who says, I don't even believe God is. He's not threatened by that at all. That doesn't rattle his cage because he is the one and only supreme. Creation is an evidence of that. When we look at the nations, in our text verse here, it says that the nations may know. In verse 17, it talks about the nations that forget God. We sometimes forget that God works in the nations of men. Daniel, in chapter four, is the wonderful story about Nebuchadnezzar's dream about this tree and so forth and he's warned by Daniel about his pride and the king sort of in verse 40, excuse me, verse 30 Daniel 4 in verse 30 so he gets this dream and he gets the interpretation from Daniel but he doesn't really take the advice very well verse 30, the king spake and said it says he's walking in his palace and he's maybe in the cool of the day and he looks out at the mass of amazing ancient miracles, you know one of those wonders of the ancient world, the hanging gardens of Babylon and he's looking out there at all this and he's the king, okay? Verse 30, the king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? He's a little full of himself, isn't he? Just a little bit. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over, that's a reference to seven years, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in heaven of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And that's what happens. Verse 33, the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen. Isn't that wonderful? He's out grazing in the backyard. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. How long would your fingernails be if you didn't trim them for seven years? They'd be, man, ever see those Swami guys? And they're like doing some sort of Swami, Swami sort of thing. And they got fingernails that kind of like wee, wee, wee. It's like, how are you supposed to eat a hot dog? And that's crazy. But seven years, this is what happens to Nebuchadnezzar. He's acting like a cow. His hair grows out of his body like feathers. I don't think he had feathers I'm not really sure what that means if it got all matted and clumpy and I Mean if you're out grazing grass like a cow you're acting like a cow you're behaving like cows you're doing cow like things and I don't need to be more graphic than that. I imagine it's pretty, yeah, he's not ready to go to a, you know, like a black tie dinner party at the end here until he gets a haircut and a bath and some fingernails climped. But here, I want you to notice what Nebuchadnezzar says, okay? Verse 34, and at the end of the days, now Nebuchadnezzar is speaking. So we had sort of some narration going on, but now what's recorded is the words of Nebuchadnezzar. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? In other places we read about the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it withers whoever he will. Or I think it's Psalm 75 where the psalmist says that he raises up one and he takes down another. I think sometimes we get a little full of ourselves and we think that somehow we're in control of things and we are not. God at any moment can step in and change it to whatever he wants it to be. Now, I'm not saying that, you just think about that, okay? I think about this every election cycle, okay? Because everybody has their desire of who they want to be elected, what issues they want to be passed, et cetera, okay? I get it, that's a great privilege of being an American, isn't it? We get to vote. We get to exercise a right to vote, and that is a wonderful right. What the bottom line is, whoever gets in is the one the Lord allows to get in. Whether I like them, don't like them. The Lord's in charge. And the nation sometimes has this naive opinion that they're in charge. If they'd have spent more money or said this, done this, whatever, that would have swayed the election. Afterwards, we're making excuses why we failed or pumping ourselves on the back why we won. And we don't realize that God's in charge of some of these things. And that would be good for us to realize that. He is sovereign in creation, in the nations. He's sovereign in salvation. I'm not gonna turn there for sake of time, but back in Isaiah 45, 22, he talks about, come unto me. You need salvation. I'm the one that gives salvation. That wonderful, famous verse, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave He's in charge of that, isn't he? He is. Paul says in Ephesians, but God, who is rich in mercy, salvation is really based on his mercy, isn't it? It's not based on anything we've done. We haven't earned it. Nobody can go around pumping their chest saying, look at me, I'm so good. I know I'm gonna get to go to heaven. If that's your attitude, I almost can guarantee you're not gonna make it. Because it's not about how good you are, how holy you might be. It's all about how gracious God is, and how sufficient the blood of Christ is to wash away your sin. So, right here in this verse, back now to Psalm 9, verse 20, put them in fear, oh Lord. Put them in fear. He's the one that, the idea is he places them. He places people in positions. He can adjust the circumstances to create within you what it is he wants there to be. He can do that. I want you to notice the sovereignty of God. But on the other side of that is I want you to consider the responsibility of man. Just because he's sovereign and if he wishes he could control every dinky minutiae of details. If he wanted to, he could do that. But he's made us to reflect him. And part of our ability to reflect God is our free will. There is no argument between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. The free will of man is simply the reflection of God's sovereignty Our free will is limited because we are limited beings, but we are reflective beings. We reflect all the attributes of God. Let us make man in our image. That's what he said. And so we, you are a person because God is a person. You have emotions because God has emotions. Anybody here ever get angry? Okay, about 10% of you will be honest. Okay, that means 100% of you are, well, we won't go down that road. Yeah, you have emotions, good ones and bad ones. That's how we would describe them. God gets angry and the Psalms says he's angry with the wicked every day. He's angry, in fact, in one place it says he hates the evildoer. Oh, that's like totally non-politically correct speech to talk about hating someone. But God says it in his word. So we have those same kinds of emotional expressions, though twisted because we have a sinful nature and he does not, and limited because we are created beings and he is not. But the ability you have to make choices, to believe, to not believe, to obey, to disobey, all that is is a reflection of the complete absolute sovereignty that God has to make choices. You reflect God in that way. And so the second part of this verse I want us to recognize is the responsibility that we have in how we respond. The word responsibility has the word A chunk of it respond in the very word, doesn't it? So a responsibility, just really, you know what a responsibility is? Is you making the proper response. That's responsibility. Making the proper response. The responsibility of man. In Ecclesiastes, in chapter five, I'm getting there. Ecclesiastes chapter five, Solomon writes, starting at verse one, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they consider not that they do evil. Wow, that makes me think here of Psalms, it says, that the nations may know, because there's things the nation doesn't know. And he says, you know, you better be careful when you go to church, because all that you're doing at church might be foolish. It's not because of what you do, the sacrifices aren't foolish, but my attitude makes my actions foolish. He says, you better think about that. He says, for they consider not that they do evil. Verse two, be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. Boy, God knows what we say, doesn't he? that the nations may know. In chapter eight, Psalm eight, verses three and four, when I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him. I need to be careful in my expressions toward God. I need to be careful in my confession, the responsibility of my confession of my own conditions, okay? 1 John 1, 9, okay? We confess our sins, He's faithful just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, okay? The importance of confession. If I'm gonna claim the Lord, then there ought to be certain things evident in my life. Otherwise, my confession is not true. Now I'm the man in Ecclesiastes who's got foolish words coming out of his mouth. Which is why in the book of Acts, you'll find places where Paul goes and Peter goes and Philip goes and they preach and in some places, it's almost like the whole city gets saved and they bring all their stuff, which in today's culture would be they bring all their cultic books, and their Ouija boards, and all the rest of that spiritist nonsense, and maybe little crystals clipped to your lapel, and all that kind of stuff that's kind of mystically spiritual, but it's not biblical. If it's not biblical, then it's not godly. Then the other option is not very good, is it? Okay? And so the people who got saved said, you know what? We can't be doing this no more. What is the chorus that we sing? The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore, right? The places I used to go, the things I used to say, the thoughts I used to think, you know, on and on and on and on and on. There's a change. There's been a great change come over me. And the people in action are like, you know what? If we're gonna follow Jesus, we can't be having this stuff in our house. They told me in Burma, there was a, I don't remember his name now, But he was like an evangelist, he would go up to the more remote areas there in the northern part of the country. And the folks who live up there are kind of spiritist and it's kind of a mixed sort of bag thing. And he'd go up there and preach the gospel. And people would get saved and he'd have a core of people who got saved. And they'd want him to start a church and he said not. until you bring all your gods and idols out of your house and we're gonna burn them publicly. Because you need a public testimony that you've renounced idolatry and your spiritism and you've embraced Jesus Christ. And they'd go in, they'd bring all this stuff, idols and whatever, and they'd burn it right there in the village as a testimony. I have a responsibility to watch my mouth, my expressions. I have a responsibility in the confessions that I make. I have a responsibility in my submission to the Lord's leading. Romans 6, 16, know ye not that whosoever ye choose to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey? Am I obeying the Lord or the devil? Well, let me hasten on, I need to finish. It says, put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know Themselves to be but men the last point is the fragility of life But men You know when we compare Look at man's creation He's dust It's what he is dust In Psalm 39 verse one, 144 and verse four, it talks about him as vanity, which is another way of saying he's breath. James says, your life is but a vapor. Here and, that's what we are. So when you think about this sovereign God, this eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and all the rest of those big words that describe God, and then there's us. We're just a, that's it. We're not even that. We're like a millisecond of that. We're just, we're nothing, nothing. That's why he says back in Psalm 8, what is man? What is man that you'd even consider us at all? Life is fragile, it's universal. Hebrews 9, 27, is a pointer to man wants to die. And after this, the judgment. In Genesis 5, you'll find the phrase repeated over and over and over. And he died. And he died. And he died. And he died. Some of them lived over 900 years old. Whoa, that guy's like, he's like eternally long. No, he's not, he's only 900 and something years old. Because it says, and he died. Your life's gonna come to an end. And the only way you're gonna escape that is if Jesus comes and you're saved and you're raptured out of here. Otherwise, everybody in this room is facing death. Life is fragile. There's a universal judgment, there's a special judgment, Romans 14, 10. Before the judgment seat of Christ, we'll almost give an account. Everyone in this room who knows Christ as their Savior will give an answer to the Lord for what you did with your life. What you did, what you said, where you went, what you invested in, what you gave yourself to. You're going to answer to God for that. And that answering to me, I have to answer for myself. And that's scary enough. Every one of us are going to answer. There goes the wood, hay, and stubble, all burned up. Gold and silver and precious stones, maybe. We'll see. Because I'm gonna stand before my God, who is a consuming fire. And all the dross in my life, and all the scaffolding, and all the, you know, maybe not even bad stuff, but temporary stuff, it's all going away. Am I concerned about the eternal? It's final. In Luke 16, you probably remember the story about the rich man and Lazarus. Which I believe is not just a story, I believe it's an actual recounting. In no other parable does Jesus give a name. But he names Lazarus, he's a real guy. And he seems to be a godly man, because he dies and the angels come and take him to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man dies, lifting up his eyes, being in torment. Father Abraham, send Lazarus over here that he may dip his finger and touch my tongue. He's in such torment, a wet fingertip is a refreshment. It's hard to imagine the intensity of that torment. And what does Father Abraham say? Sorry, there is a great gulf fixed. You can't come here, and he can't go there. You have, and I have, this life to serve God. When yours ends and when mine ends, whenever that may be, young or old, soon or far away, in this place or another place, when my life comes to an end on this planet, I don't get a second chance. I'm not gonna go somewhere and sweat it off. Nobody's gonna buy me out of some sort of torture chamber somewhere in the cosmos. I have now. That's what all you have and all I, we don't even have tomorrow, do we? We have now. That's what you have, you have now. And will my response to God be correctly because I understand that he's a sovereign God. He has every right to put me in fear, He has every right because I need to know that I'm just mortal man. That's the idea there of that they be but men. The phrase technically means a mortal man. There is mortality. There is death almost eminent. You are nothing. You are dust. You are breath. That's what I am. I have now to make a choice to do right for God. Because I don't know about the next hour, the next minute, the next day. I'm not guaranteed that. That's why this psalm ends with Sila, which technically is a pause, but it's there. And in essence, the psalmist is saying, you better think about this. You better consider this. God is sovereign. You're responsible. And your life is fragile. You'll stand before him. Are you ready? Are you ready? If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I would hasten to encourage you to trust Jesus to save you from your sin. He paid the price. We didn't deserve that. But that's how much he loved us. If you're here today and you say, well, I have trusted Christ as my Savior, wonderful. Are you living like it? Are you living like it? Father, would you help us? Would you work on our lives for your glory, please?