that they are a true reflection of what you would have us to know and hear this morning. Send forth your spirit, I would pray, to guard my words, and I would pray, Father, that you would send forth your spirit to open the hearts of your congregation for those who know you that we might truly believe everything that you have for us. And for those who do not know you, that you would send forth your spirit, combine it with your word, that they may come to the knowledge of the truth and forever be able to truly praise you. Oh, Father. let your words have their desired effect on us today, whether it be in conviction, to further our praise, to alter the way that we live our lives, but always, always to praise you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I mentioned to someone this morning that since I've been gone these last four weeks, or at least attended half of a service in these last four weeks, I kind of feel like a visitor. I kind of feel like a guest preacher. I kind of think that maybe an honorarium is in order, don't you? I jest, of course, but I do welcome all of you who are here, and I just truly am anxious to bring you the word of the Lord this morning. And we have read from Psalm 111, the genesis of my thoughts and preaching from Psalm 111 began actually about five or six weeks ago when this psalm was read during the service. I don't know if it was the call to worship or what the occasion was, but it impressed me and I have since then I read it almost every day, every morning in that time. And so I have a little diversion from our series in 1 Peter in order to bring you Psalm 111. And it's an interesting psalm. As I was looking at it over these last number of weeks, and I read the psalms around it, it occurred to me that Psalm 111, 112, and 113 all began with these same words, hallelujah, or praise the Lord. So I went further into it to see if they were connected. Maybe not so much 113, but certainly, 1.11 and Psalm 1.12 are connected. The Psalm has 10 verses as does Psalm 1.12 and Psalm has 22 phrases as does Psalm 1.12 if you're not counting the introduction to praise the Lord. And further those 22 verses or phrases rather began in both psalms with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and then successively through the Hebrew alphabet is the beginning of each phrase within this psalm. So the psalmist that wrote this certainly went through a lot of effort to present this in this manner. It's an acrostic. And maybe it was to help people remember the psalm better or to be able to memorize it or most certainly it was sung in the worship service of the Jewish community. And most likely Psalm 111 and 112 were sung together. The other interesting thing about the Psalms is that verse 10 of 111 is really an introduction to 112. They are separate Psalms, but they are an introduction. We have in chapter or Psalm 111, a psalm of praise and relating to us of the great works of God. And Psalm 112 then is the response of how we are to respond to the great works of God. So the Psalm begins, praise the Lord. It's an exhortation to give thanks to the Lord, to praise the Lord. What does that mean? What does it mean to praise the Lord? Now, when I was in my college days, way back in the last century, when I was in my college days and involved with the campus ministry, oftentimes you heard people respond, praise the Lord. And I would respond, kind of trying to be cute or being a smart aleck really, okay, go ahead, praise the Lord, right? But in reflection, especially as we consider the psalm, maybe that thought is worthy of a little bit more exploration. What does it mean to praise the Lord? And so I'm gonna give you the conclusion right up front. And this is my understanding as working through this psalm. To praise the Lord is a biblical meditation on the character and nature of our God. It's a biblical meditation on the works of God. And also, it's a response in reverential obedience to what God has done in those works. So the psalm begins, praise the Lord, and then the psalmist enters into the worship of God. Verse 1, praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation. I will give thanks. It's a resolution that the psalmist is making. Or in legal terms, be it resolved. I will give thanks. This is what I will do. Now, this is the time of the year for resolutions, right? Some of us make it for a few days, some of us a week, but oftentimes those resolutions fall by the wayside. But I like the psalmist resolution here. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will. His praise and thanksgiving in this verse is connected. Praise the Lord, I will give thanks. They are connected. Praise and thanksgiving is always connected. And in Romans chapter one, which we read from this morning, we have the negative side of that, don't we? When it talks about the unrighteous in verse 21, it says that the unrighteous, although they knew God, they did not honor Him, did not praise Him, nor did they give thanks to Him. So the unrighteous fail to praise God, fail to give thanks. And by contrast, we as the community of God's people are to give praise and thanks to God. In fact, it's the only thing that we have to offer to God. Sacrifices of praise, sacrifices of thanksgiving. He has done everything for the salvation of his people. Let me say that again. He has done everything for the salvation of his people. And our only response then could be to have thankful hearts, hearts of gratitude, and praise for what he has done. And then the psalmist says that he will praise the Lord with his whole heart. What does that mean? Pretty simple, I think, that all his motivations, all his thoughts, all his actions, from the very depth of his being, his whole heart, he will praise the Lord. And that is our exhortation, is it not? Whatever we do in our work, in our speech, all of our actions, whether public or private, our whole being, our whole heart is to praise the Lord. And therefore, we need to be careful what's in our heart, don't we? Because in Matthew, we read that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Whatever goes in will necessarily come out. That's why Paul speaks in Romans chapter 12 and Peter in chapter 1 about the guarding our heart and guarding our mind, being careful to fill our mind with things that are godly. Because whatever goes into our heart, whether good or evil, will come out. Out of the abundance of our heart, the mouth will speak. We need to guard our heart. So, individually, we know that praise flows from a pure character. Guard our hearts. Our heart needs to be united to the things of God. A heart needs to be united to God himself and aligned with his purposes. We need to commit ourselves to obedience to the law of God and to be thankful in all circumstances. Some of them aren't fun, some of them are difficult, but God has a purpose for all of it. And we need to have an end game view of what God is doing in our lives to conform us to the very image of Christ. And also in guarding our hearts and to be able to have true praise There needs to be no unconfessed sin in our heart. We are to reserve nothing for ourselves. Hide it from God. Everything needs to be brought before God. Because in Hebrews, it tells us that the word of God is like a two-edged sword. It opens our heart and exposes everything that is there. God already knows. If we are to praise God, our heart needs to be unburdened by sin. Now that's individually, but it also says in this psalm that we are to praise and thank God in the company of the upright. That is to say that we are to praise God in the congregation as the congregation meets. Here we're talking about the public worship of God at the gathering of the church, even as this morning, corporately. Individually, we praise God, but corporately, we praise God as well. And here we find in Hebrews chapter 10, the writer of Hebrews tells us that we are to be confident in the blood of Jesus, that we have a great High Priest, we are to draw near with full assurance, with confidence, and to hold fast the confession of our hope. And then in verse 24, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as we see the day drawn near. I've got a revelation for you. We need each other. We need each other. We are to work hard to encourage and exhort one another onto love and good works. And as we meet together, as we meet together as a church, the means by which God most ordinarily dispenses his grace is found right here in the gathering of the church. as His Word is sung, as His Word is read, as His Word is proclaimed. It's found here, the ordinary means of grace, as we gather together in corporate prayer, and we can bring one another together before the Lord in prayer. as this morning we even gathered together around the Lord's table to remember the high cost of our salvation, the very blood of Christ. We gathered together the ordinances and the fellowship as we gathered together and we disciplined one another. I'm not talking about a Matthew 18 discipline. As we gather, as we talk, as we encourage one another, as we hear the concerns of one another, how can we pray for one another unless that fellowship is growing within the church that we might bring one another together before the Lord in prayer? Individually and corporately. There needs to be a transparency. And I know that as we gather in a church service such as this, that it is hard to get into deep conversations. And a lot of times, if you're like me, and you are, as soon as we gather, and how are you, I tell you what, shields go up, right? We're not transparent. We don't share our deepest needs or concerns. As an example, simple example, How are you this morning? What's the response? 10 times out of 10. Well, maybe 9 times out of 10. I'm fine. When we're not, we have needs. We have things that we need to bring before one another. We need to be transparent in order that we can grow together in obedience, that we can grow in holiness, that we can grow in love for one another. In fact, that we can grow as a community. Ephesians chapter four addresses this in verses one through four. I therefore, prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. Here we have an exhortation to walk in a worthy manner, to walk in obedience. With all humility and gentleness, and with patience, an exhortation to walk in holiness, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, an exhortation to love one another. There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all, a call to community. We need each other. We need to be able to praise the Lord individually as well as corporately. So back to Psalm 111, we have there the works of the Lord portrayed in a public worship, His name praised. And then in verse two and through chapter, or verse four, first part of verse four, we have His works praised. It says there, great are the works of the Lord, They are covered in splendor. They are honorable, His works. His works are majestic, and with majestic you get the idea that there is authority in the works of God. They are wonderful to be remembered, memorable. They are important and weighty. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered. They are important. They are weighty. So what would have the original readers of this psalm thought of when they heard this, when they read this, when they pondered this? Clearly, they would have thought about creation. The original reader would have thought about their heritage, the calling of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob, and the sons of Jacob. They would have remembered their deliverance from Egypt, the Exodus, receiving the law of God on Mount Sinai, and then crossing of the Jordan some years later, and the conquest of the land that God had promised them, and God's continual preservation throughout that whole time. They would have remembered and studied the works of God, and they would have commemorated these events as well. Starting with the Sabbath rest, God's created order is that one day in seven is set aside for the worship of God, a special worship of God. They would have remembered the Passover, and they would have commemorated God's passing over of their sin while in Egypt by the Passover, and annually they would celebrate the Passover. When they crossed over the Jordan, they set up 12 stones for the 12 tribes that God had delivered. And then, of course, at that same period of time, in their own bodies, they would have commemorated the works of God in circumcision. So these Old Testament readers would have remembered the work of God and had done activities to commemorate the very work of God. But we also are to ponder. We also are to study the works of God, studied by all who delight in them. We also can consider creation because it reveals something. we've already read from Psalm 19. And we know there that the heavens declare the glory of God. This past week I walked out a few different evenings, walked outside and looked, and even some early morning hours and saw those things that God has created. And it says here that the heavens declare the glory of God. And the sky, above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. Very creation has something to say to us about God, has something to say to us about the works of God. As you've left your houses this past week and went outside and you saw whatever you saw, be it trees, the flowers, the grass, the sky, what was your first thought? Mine usually is, oh, I'm glad it's not so cold out. But more recently, I've been thinking, at least this past week, thinking, God created this. God created this. Creation has something to say to us. It says something about God. What does it say about God? Romans 1, 16 to 20. We've also already read from this, but I will read part of it as well. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As is it written, the righteous shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Here's the operative words here. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. No one can say that they don't know that there is a God. because scriptures here tell us, for what can be known about God is clearly seen. His divine attributes, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived. This is natural revelation. We can know about God, know there is God. Of course, as we have talked about before, it takes God's special revelation Word and spirit for us to know who this God is. So creation and the works of God speaks to us. And then it says in verse three, that his righteousness endures forever. So I got a question for you children this morning. Are you awake? All right. How many times does dad have to say something and instructing you that you should obey? How many times? A lot? Okay. All right. Transparency. Truth. Okay. All right. Most of the time we would say once, right? Okay. All right. How many times does God have to say something before it has weight or it's valid? One time. So I think it's important to note here that we find in chapter 3 that His righteousness endures forever. In verse 5, verse 3 rather, verse 5, He remembers His covenant forever. Verse 8, they are established, that is His law, forever and ever. He has commanded His covenants forever in verse 9. And lastly in verse 10, His praise endures forever. Five times in this one chapter we find this term that God is working and His works and He's working out His decrees and they are forever. His works are eternal. They are unchanging. They are immutable. They are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And this is His creation. Speaking of creation, if his creation is eternal in terms of his purposes, how much more the creator, God himself, is eternal. If his works are great, God is even greater. If his works have splendor and are honorable, God is even more honorable. If his works are majestic, the authority of God exceeds that. And if his works are wonderful and memorable, how much more wonderful and memorable is God himself? And we delight in studying it, studied by all who delight in them. Now when I get up in the morning, I'm sure I'm like some of you, not all of you, And I'm committed. I'm going to read my Bible. I'm going to pray. And I think, man, I've got all these other things I can do. And then my mind gets off on a different track. And then I open up the news and start reading that. Oh, yeah, I have to read the word of God. OK, I haven't got time to do it, but I'm going to do it. It becomes a delight. Have you experienced that? We fight against that, but it becomes a delight. The works of God and the word of God are memorable, and they are delightful. And we need them in order to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. So the Old Testament readers of this psalm also had signs, but we also have signs. And the signs that God has given us in the New Testament age are the ordinances, the Lord's table, and baptism, that we might remember the works of God, that we might remember that we are united to the life of Jesus Christ. We are united to him in his life, his obedience, his death, and his resurrection. These are the signs that God has given us. And there are other things, though not necessarily called out as the specific signs that Jesus has given to us. But we also have the Lord's Day, the one day in seven that are set aside from our normal activity in order that we might focus on the worship of the true God. It's interesting that this day of rest, as there's a study that had been done some time ago, where there was no rest, that people were to work constantly. And then they thought, well, what happens if there's rest in one day in 10? Guess what the number of days to work and to rest were that provided the most efficient production? A non-Christian survey, one day in seven required for rest. And though the world may declare that there is no God, yet they have the same calendar we do. One day in seven, part of the creation order. So we delight in the study of God and we have our signs, we have the Lord's Day, we have the Bible. We have the completed work of God, completed canon of scripture, a more complete revelation than our Old Testament saints and brothers did. And we have the gathering of the church. So we also have things that help us to remember. And verse two, great are his works. And we could stop here, but it gets better. It gets better. Because in verse five, or rather the end of verse four, the psalmist anticipates our greatest need. Our greatest need, the Lord is gracious and merciful. And this next section begins with the grace and mercy of God, and in verse nine, it completes the thought that he sent redemption. to His people. Let's read that. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear Him. He remembers His covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His works in giving them the inheritance of the nation. The works of His hands are faithful and just. All His precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. He sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. So verse four says that the Lord is gracious and merciful. In mercy, we've talked about this before, we do not receive what we deserve. We do not receive what we have earned. And in grace, we do receive that which we have not earned, what we have not deserved. What do we deserve? What have we earned? Romans 5 tells us that we have earned condemnation and wrath, even death. Why? Because of our sin. because we have not measured up to the straight edge of the law of God. Both by our nature as descendants of Adam and by our own actions, we have earned condemnation. A grace is a gift of God, completely unearned, completely unmerited. We have said from this lectern many times, we are justified, that is a legal or a judicial decree, we are justified by God's grace alone, through the instrument of faith alone, through the work of Christ alone, both his active obedience and obeying the whole law of God in our stead, and his passive obedience by taking upon himself this condemnation that we have earned, all this for God's glory alone, all this revealed by word and spirit through scripture alone. Karl's not here, but I can still cite Romans 4. One of his favorite verses. Romans two rather. Beginning in verse four and beyond. Being spiritually dead and by nature children of wrath, God being rich in mercy. There's that word again. A merciful God being rich in mercy because of the love with which he has loved us. has caused us to be made alive, even though we are dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Mercy. and grace, a work of God, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for his own glory. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Amen. Is that praiseworthy? Amen, it certainly is. Great, great are the works of the Lord. And I want to get to verse nine, really want to get there, but let us touch on the intermediate verses a little bit first through the eyes of the Old Testament believer as well as that of the New Testament believer. Verse five, he provides food for those who fear him. And I gotta believe that the Old Testament reader would have thought immediately of the wilderness experience, how God provided bread in form of manna, and meat in the form of quail, and water. God provided food for those who fear him. Provided food for the people of God. But again, the operative word here we find is provided. God provides everything, doesn't he? All provision, even common grace, he provides for all people, believers and unbelievers alike. It's called his providence. In our catechism, in Romans chapter 12, or actually, yeah, Catechism question 14. I'm sure some of the kids are onto this already. What are God's works of providence? God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. God is at work in a very powerful way to preserve and everything according to his eternal decrees. And he governs all his creatures in all of our actions. And the backdrop of this is that God's nature, his holiness, his wisdom, and his power is able to do this, is able to accomplish this. Great are the works of the Lord. Verse six, he has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the inheritance of the nations. Inheritance. We're familiar with that word, are we not? As we do our succession planning and there's wills out there and people inherit things upon the death of the benefactor. They receive something. But in the present time, it's only a promise, right? He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the inheritance, the promise of the nations. and God had promised to the people that He would bring them into a land that He would bring them rest on all sides. And we're familiar with the conquest of Canaan and we're familiar with the work of the book of Joshua and all the nations that were subdued by the power of God. And then near the end of the book, it talks about the allotment for the tribe of Judah, the allotment for Ephraim, for Manasseh, for Asher, for Zebulun, for Simeon. They all received what God has promised. And near the end of chapter 21 in Joshua, beginning in verse 43, hear what God says. Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that He swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass. How good are the promises of God? Now, we may be promised by someone else a certain thing, and it may happen and it may not. Most often it does, but sometimes it doesn't. But here we have God making a promise, who cannot lie, who cannot sin, who always speaks truth. He has promised, and not one promise that God had made to the house of Israel had failed. all came to pass. We live in the New Testament age. What do we look forward to? How does the inheritance of God apply to us? How can we understand that? Well, I think what the scripture is teaching us is that we inherit, we inherit, pause, the kingdom of God. We inherit the kingdom of God. What's that? Well, it's eternal life, first of all. It's an eternal, joyful existence with the creator of all that is, forever. Hear what Peter has to say concerning this in 1 Peter chapter one, beginning in verse three, I believe it is. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, his mercy is there again. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. We are born again to a hope, to a promise based on the resurrection of Christ to an inheritance. So first of all, what is our hope? What is our hope? What is your hope? What's it mean to be a Christian? Why do you want to be a Christian when all you have is hope and promises? Our hope is that God is willing and able to do everything that he has promised. Everything that he has promised. And what has he promised? An inheritance that is imperishable. An inheritance that is undefiled. An inheritance that is unfading. An inheritance that does not fade in terms of the natural order of things, as rust and moth. An inheritance that cannot be stolen, or a thief cannot take it from you. An inheritance that is undefiled, absolutely pure, clean, and pure, and unfading. We have an eternity to praise God. It will not fade. It will always be glorious. It will always have its luster. It will always be exciting and new. An inheritance. An inheritance that by God's power is kept in heaven for us. An inheritance that tells us that God's power is protecting us at this very hour to bring us to that point because we don't have that ability. We don't have the strength that is required to bring us to the end, but God does. And so we have that inheritance. It says here that he's shown his people, he's showing to us the power of his work in giving us the inheritance of the nations and giving us, in this age, the very kingdom of God. Great are the works of the Lord. Verses 7 and 8. The works of his hands are faithful and just. All his precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. the precepts of the Lord, it's the law of God. The Old Testament saint would be thinking of the law of Moses, the Torah, the books of the prophets, the Old Testament canon. And they are faithful, it says here in the psalm, and true and real, they are what is reality, unwavering, Trustworthy and sure, even as we read from Psalm 19. They are faithful and dependable. In short, they are what is right. And they are eternal, forever. They are a reflection of the character and nature of God. Law of God. You wanna know what God is like? Read his law. That's what he's like. The reflection of character and nature of God. And for us today, all of the above, all of the above, because God's law does not change. However, we have a fuller revelation than the Old Testament saints. We have the New Testament. They look forward to what was promised, and we look back to the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises in Christ, though we still look forward to the fulfillment of our salvation even into eternity and all of glory. Therefore, we have a greater reason to praise God because he has given us a greater revelation to praise God for his greatest of works, the finished, accomplished work of salvation in Christ. And that is his great work. Finally arrived, verse nine. He sent redemption to his people. His great work, the work of Christ. Our need for mercy and grace in verse four fulfilled in Christ in the redemption that we have in Christ. We had this need for mercy and grace And by God's providence, he provides everything we need. By God's promises, he provides for us an inheritance. By his precepts, he provides for us the straight edge by which we must now live in a reflection of who he is. And now we have God's provision, the redemption of our souls, that we might be reunited or united to God himself, reconciled to God. A redemption, another way of interpreting that word, the Hebrew word that is there is a ransom. What is a ransom? It's paying a price in order to set free someone or something that is captive. A ransom provides liberty to the captive. You can think like the chief priests and elders of John who said, oh, we have never been captive to anyone as the Roman cohorts marched outside their door. We're not going to do that. We're not going to deny that we were born into and were enslaved to sin without hope of escape. But again, Ephesians chapter two, but God, but God, because of his mercy and the great love with which he loved us, he made us alive and raised us up and caused us to be seated with him in heavenly places. all according to the work of Christ. The ransom price was the very blood of Christ, and innocent, thus securing an eternal salvation. Hebrews 9, verse 12. And even as Pastor Logan said last week, the work of Christ did not make salvation possible. It secured an eternal salvation for his people. How do we know that? How do we know that redemption is secure? And why do we hope in the promises of God? Why would we? We have the bookends here. Verse five, he remembers his covenant forever. And then coming to verse nine, he has commanded his covenant forever. The covenant faithfulness of God. It's the bookends. It's the backdrop. It's the foundation. It's the overarching work of God is based on his covenant faithfulness. We see that in this section, but we see that also in all of scripture. God is a covenantally faithful God. Now I know that Pastor Logan said that it's kind of dangerous to say and use the words always, usually get in trouble. I think he would make an exception and agree with me that you can say that about God. And I'm going to say right now that God has always dealt with all of his creation via covenant, always has. And I'm not going to get into talking about the covenant of redemption, or a suzerain vassal covenant, or what's a royal grand covenant, or the covenants of the Old Testament. I will say just a couple of things. The Bible's a covenantal book. In fact, it was at one time interpreted, the Old Covenant and New Covenant. Now we got the Old Testament and New Testament. And God is a covenantal God. What does that mean? Really simple, we don't have to to argue against straw dogs, it means that God is a God of promise. He has covenanted to do something, he has promised to do something, and he does it because he is faithful. We are born again onto a living hope through the resurrection of Christ and onto an eternal redemption. Again, our hope that as God is able to be able to do everything he has promised to do, and it's only through the work of Christ. Peter, in Acts 4, in his great proclamation of the work of Christ, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which one must be saved. No one else. Only Christ. God's covenant faithfulness is focused on Christ. He is the fulfillment of God's promise, God's covenant of grace. So what is the response of the psalmist in all of this? Holy and awesome is his name. It's literally a verbal shout out to God. Holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Just the beginning. All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. What is our response? I hope it's the same. Hope it's the same. That we recognize that the works of God validate who he is and his name is holy. His name is awesome. Not like that word is used so much in our society today. I'm going to the mall. Oh, awesome. No, no. The fear of the Lord, the holy reverence of his name produces awe in the people who understand the works of God. Great, great indeed are the works of the Lord. Amen. Let's pray. And Father, I'm almost without words as we consider your works and the greatest of your works, salvation in Christ and in Christ alone. Father, I would pray that you would continue to work in our hearts as we consider your words from this psalm, as we go from this gathering, that we would really well up within our hearts, within the depths of our being, true praise and worship for you and for your works and for your work in Christ. Father, I would pray that you would move our spirit, move with your spirit in us to resolve to praise you with everything that we do, with every motivation that we would have, that we would consider the works of God. We know that that is not possible within us, but with you, it is possible. We plead with you, our Father, that we would be instruments of praise to you. And Father, we would pray for those who have heard this sermon today, your words in this congregation or going forth from here online that do not know you. We just pray, Father, that you would accomplish your work in them, that you would bring people to a saving, relationship with Jesus Christ that they may understand the truth of your word that he is the only one that can save and he has accomplished an eternal salvation for his people. We thank you for that. Praise be to the name of Jesus. Amen.