We are back in the book of Psalms today. We'll be looking at Psalm 76, titled the sermon, His Name is Great in Israel. Indeed, it will be along the lines of the two Psalms we just sang in God's worship. So please take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 76. And let us give our attention to the Lord as his word is read to us. To the chief musician on stringed instruments, a psalm of Asaph. A psalm. In Judah, God is known. His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion. There he broke the arrows of the bow, the shield, and sword of battle, Selah. You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted were plundered. They have sunk into their sleep, and none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep. You yourself are to be feared and who may stand in your presence when once you are angry You cause judgment to be heard from heaven the earth feared and was still When God arose to judgment to deliver all the oppressed of the earth see long surely the wrath of man shall praise you and With the remainder of wrath you shall gird yourself. Make vows to the Lord your God and pay them. Let all who are around him bring presents to him who ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes. He is awesome to the kings of the earth. And may the Lord add to us the blessing of hearing and believing his holy word, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do seek for you to minister and to bless your people. And so, Lord, may we understand what you have recorded in your holy word for your church and for your holy people. May we take it to heart, may we apply it to our faith, and may we draw from it in the times of persecution, the times of trial and warfare. And may we take a holy spiritual courage and the great captain of our faith, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose name we do pray, amen. First point of consideration as we consider the first five verses of this psalm is the declaration of God's majesty and gracious presence in his church. Similar to Psalm 75, this psalm declares the power and victory of King Jesus against his enemies, who fight fiercely against him and his church. We speak concerning the church. The psalm identifies God in a very covenantal way. Speaks of in Judah. And what is Judah? A nation built by the Lord himself by his decree with his chosen people centuries ago. God is known. to that people, that covenant God is known. For it is the Jewish people who worship the Lord God. It is the Jewish people who made supplication, a confession to that same God. And they know that that testimony is true, that they receive from the Lord. And so indeed, in Israel or in Judah, and indeed today in the church, the name of the Lord is great. We say great because it's great in magnitude, great in power, great in significance, and great in comfort. We agree with what is said in Jeremiah 10, verse six. And as much as there is none like you, O Lord, you are great and your name is great in might. And so we do rejoice any time the mention of God the Father, the Heavenly Father, the Holy Father, God the Son, or Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit is mentioned. So God is known in Israel, for He made covenant with Abraham and David and all their descendants. God is known in His church, for He has made that same covenant of grace and has fulfilled the terms of it through His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, We had to think about non-believers. The non-believers today, as they have always said, and often in a very mocking fashion, where is God? Where is your God? Where is that God that you speak of in the world as we see all the chaos and evil that is done in the world? Where is the presence of Christ? Where is the manifestation of his power? Where is his care? Where is his love? Where is his mercy? Where is his kindness? Where can it be found? And then they might even take a step further and say, does God truly exist? And indeed, Christians at times may be so weak in faith that they might have such doubtful thoughts themselves. Where is God in the midst of my trouble, my trials that have been ongoing? My enemies, who seem so fierce and so strong, who are about to ruin me. Indeed, that is common experience of the believers themselves, to have such thoughts. But assurance is given here in the holy word of God, which is eternal. How God is faithful to his word, and hence to his people. He is present. And it also mentioned that in Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion. Now are these words significant for you? I hope they are. Remember Salem is a place of peace. It's a city of peace. That is the reference to the church. We are in a place of refuge. We're not immune from anything physical here. Indeed, we're not immune from Attacks, but this is a place of peace where it's God's house and we have the ruler of peace the prince of peace who is our Savior and Indeed. He is the one who is the one who rules over our hearts the brothers and sisters understand and the Lord Jesus Christ equally rules over the hardened hearts, the rebellious hearts. He controls the steps of the wicked. And so we have in this fallen world, we have a Christ, a king who does rule, not just over the righteous, but over all. And this song emphasizes that and his conquest. And so Christ is known in Jerusalem. He is known in the temple. He is the head of the church and over every single nation, as Scripture clearly teaches us. And so he does protect the interests of his church. He faithfully fights for his church. He fights against his enemies, which are your enemies, if they are truly spiritual enemies. And the godly, the members of the church, do know their God. They have trust in Him. And they know that He will destroy all who are opposed to His righteousness. But brothers and sisters, we have to admit, we need that reminder again and again and again, constantly. And so the enemies who fight against the Lord, Find this out often. We don't acknowledge it publicly But they know it just the same the Lord is known for the fullness of his goodness in protecting loving nurturing caring and sanctifying his church Praise be to God. We have this wonderful reminder of that covenant love in the New Testament Ephesians 5 and Verses 25 to 30. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. And so that is a wonderful covenant promise we use in our actual physical marriages to remind husbands that care, protect, and nourish their wives. Because we look to the greater, the groom in Jesus Christ who perfectly cares for his church, the bride of Christ. The most fierce and the most cunning and the most destructive enemies against the church are not physical armies, although they are very destructive, government agencies or politicians, although they can harass us greatly and hinder much good work, but it's those who don't love the Lord who are in the church already. Those who would propagate the promotion of immorality of one nature or another in the body of Christ. Those who assault the integrity of the gospel and deny the fullness of the revelation of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We know that there's been many denominations over the last century and a half that have left the list of orthodoxy. And this should be a heavy burden for us all. We know there is hatred against the church. There's onslaughts that go on day after day, week after week, year after year. Now this song was probably written after some military victory of some kind. And as a reminder to Israel that the Lord is with them. The Lord cares for them. The Lord is the one who will be victorious on behalf of his people. But it's recorded for us to reflect upon, just as you reflect upon many passages of the Old Testament as well as the New, but there's more examples in the Old Testament of God's fighting, God's intervening, God's blessing, even when all the circumstances point to utter destruction. the church But God prevails and his church prevails So remember faithful saints it is never you against the world It is the world against Christ and all his followers In other words, you're never it's never just about you It's never you alone But the Lord is with you in your spiritual battles and your fights and your trials and tribulations and persecutions. So remember that your spiritual fights and trials are not singular, but your advocate, Jesus Christ, the author of your faith and the finisher of your faith, will act in his time in the best way. King Jesus is united to his church. He is jealous for his church, and he will wage war. He is waging war now. Look at verse three through five of our text. There he wrote the arrow of the bow, the shield and sword of battle. You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stout hearted have plundered They have sunk into their sleep, and none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands." Very remarkable. Now, you and I are always afraid of some enemy, some threat. Considering their weapon, if they have a knife, or if they have a gun, or maybe a certain type of gun, we would be even more scared. But whether Is physical weapons or whether it is spiritual weapons that come against us. We know that the Lord Blesses his people There are other weapons there are weapons indeed of perhaps you will lose your job if you will Express your view of your faith, or if you don't confirm some aspect of unbelief or some false doctrines Perhaps you will be embarrassed in a crowd or maybe the threat will be that you will lose your friends or your family Your reputation might be ruined and maybe that's only a perceived threat But the wicked when in power do take opportunities to flex what they think is their might their strength against the church and We see in the first century that Christians were persecuted by a Saul of Tarsus, and he did as much evil and destruction against the church as he could, but the Lord restrained him, even as he was a terror to the church. Indeed, the Lord eventually saved him and used him as a vessel and a builder of his church. This is our sovereign God. This is our most wise God and our God who is never troubled. And so here it talks about bows being, arrows being broken, shield and sword of the enemy having really no effective use at all. And this is hard for us to imagine because we know of the evil out there. We know the bloodshed. We know of the shutting down of businesses or people losing their position in society because of their stand for Christ or their voicing opposition to abortion or voicing opposition to gay marriage or any other aspect of immorality or falsehood. but the Lord does reverse the tables against the wicked, is the theme of this psalm. Now they may think they see us as prey, that they think they can hunt us down, and yet the Lord is the one who has the mighty mountain. He is the greatest of all. And the Lord keeps violent enemies at bay against the church, even when they are violent. He still keeps them at bay. They can only go so far. And so we must recognize the Lord is faithful at all times. And indeed, he calls us to faithfulness as members of a congregation, as elders of a congregation to remain steadfast and keep the course In teaching the whole counsel of God to abide in the fullness of the commandments To not let the threats discourage us from faithfulness to him And so We want to propagate the full counsel of God for that is the truth that saves you want the pulpits to be faithful to proclaim the gospel again and again and using the power and the authority of God's word. We want to demonstrate the redemptive power of Christ by living in accord with all his teachings. So just as Israel experienced taking the physical strength that they saw their enemies, their physical strength being taken away suddenly, or perhaps their enemies fall into a deep sleep, And losing the use of their hands to battle, the Lord protects in many different ways, in many different degrees, his church. And so this psalm reminds the covenant people that the Lord will bless his people, for he is faithful to his promise. Now, the Lord does allow disobedient elders and ungodly pastors to diminish the witness of a church. There's warning scripture, there's warning among faithful members or other believers that he will use and perhaps he'll bring them back to repentance. Or if they are stubborn, he might allow them to go into apostasy. But even when a church or a denomination does go into apostasy, the Lord is always raising up faithful churches And so as the devil is plucking out from the garden, it seems, of God, the Lord is continuing to plant. And in the end, he will have a great, great harvest. For the Lord preserves his bride, and he will make his bride, the church, to prosper greatly throughout all the earth. There's a beautiful picture of the great victory of the Lord in Revelation 19. If you want to turn there, verses 11 through 16, Because often we might, in our weakness of faith, look back at a deliverance like the Exodus and the deliverance from the House of Bonds of Egypt and think, well, that was so long ago. What about now? But we should take encouragement from the victories of long ago. But we are now looking to the future at the end. Now I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. Brothers and sisters, this is a picture of the Lord and senior Jesus Christ. Verse 12, his eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written with no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses, that out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Just these words themselves give us great, great comfort. And we know victory is his. All glory is to him. All praise and thanksgiving is to be offered to the Lord and King Jesus, for he is the one who defeats evil, conquers sin, and vanquishes his enemies. Brothers and sisters, he hears your prayers most sincerely, faithful people. He delights to hear your testimony of him, that you trust in him when you have no physical means of yourself to prevail. He wants you to have an unshakable confidence in his goodness, of his covenant promises and know that he will uphold his commands and he will always administer justice in the end. Later on in Revelation 19 verses 19 through 21, we have these wonderful words. And I saw the beasts, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone, and the rest were killed with a sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Victory. Completed. No more opposition to Christ. No more threats against God's people. No more harm. No more bloodshed. No more persecution. No more trials. No more threatenings of any kind. It is coming. And so we have strength and hope. For we are people who believe in the very word of God. So faithful saints, all of you are called to sacrifice for spiritual warfare, to stand with your God, Jesus Christ, your advocate. And we are to fight with him. We are to trust him. We have full confidence in teachings in the Bible because we have faith. And so seeking God is intentional or it is not sincere. And so this psalm encourages us to trust the Lord for his victories. his people So our second point at his rebuke the enemy Fails and by his arm the meat are saved verses 6 through 10 At your at your rebuke Oh God of Jacob both the chariot and the horse were cast into a dead sleep you yourself are to be feared and who may stand in your presence, but once you are angry and You caused judgment to be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment to deliver all the oppressed of the earth, Selah. Surely the wrath of man shall praise you. With the remainder of wrath, you shall gird yourself. So God's people always carry a glorious and excellent value in the Lord's estimation. People of faith, you wanna hear that estimation from the world, that you're valuable, that you're excellent, you're beloved, you are righteous, that you are lovely, that you are the apple of God's eye even. But know that it does come from the Lord. And so we must listen to the Lord and his word faithfully. We must give much time to reading and meditating upon the Word of God, because the voices of the world will get your attention. Sometimes we unwisely give our ear to the world. We seek out, what is the world saying now? And we know it is just to beat down God's people, dismiss God's authority, and to mock and ridicule the ordinances of God. And so you might ask, how does the Lord's review work? Well, think of the army of Pharaoh that pursued the Hebrews after he said he'll let them go. They pursued the whole army, Pharaoh and his chariots, and yet the Lord drowned them all. The horses had no strength. Soldiers had no strength. They could not keep their lives, but perish. in the waves of the Red Sea. Jericho was defeated, and that campaign started by a simple marching around the city in silence. Every day for seven days, then a shout caused the walls to fall, and then Israel was able to go in and kill all the inhabitants except for Rahab and her family. And then we have, by our reference, even in this psalm to King Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, who boasted before Hezekiah and those on the walls of Jerusalem, he marched his army right up to the walls of Jerusalem, and mentioned that no other nation could stop him. And no other gods ever stopped him. And who is the God of Israel? Who is the God of Israel that could stop him? And then King Hezekiah, a righteous king, showed great leadership. He told all those on the wall to remain silent. Do not respond. And he took this letter, this blasphemous letter from Shnickerib, and he took it to the house of the Lord and laid it before the Lord and he prayed on his knees to the Lord. Listen to what they say about you, Lord. Listen to the gross boasting, the attack against your truth, your integrity, your glory, attack against your people even. And the Lord determined he will have victory over Assyria. For they were Israel's and Judah, here, Judah's enemies. And the Lord sent an angel. And 185,000 soldiers died that night in their sleep. And the king had to go back in shame to his country, and later was assassinated by his own men. And this was the hand of the Lord. He made the might of the Assyrians as if there was no might at all. He defeated them even without the use of an army. There's a warning in Psalm 2 and Psalm 75 as well as we dealt with a few weeks back about those who would be in defiance against the Lord, those who would fight against the Lord and indeed against a warning to the nations. And there's a warning also in the book of Revelation to churches who do not reform, who do not repent, those who do tolerate sin. Think of some of the exhortations in the mix of those warnings. In Revelation 2, to the church at Ephesus, it says, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and you have found them liars. And I believe that's true here and in many other congregations. that we understand what is the essential truth, and we want to examine things in light of God's word. And we do not want to tolerate heresies. To the church of Pergamos, there's this in Revelation 2, verse 13, 15. I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr. who is killed among you, where Satan dwells. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. And so to the church at Pergamos, there's many good things. They took a stand and even there was a martyr in the church. And yet there is a doctrine in the church that God hates. They must deal with it. So God will protect his name. He will vindicate his martyrs, but he calls his church to faithfulness and put away that which I hate. Put away that which is false, that which is contrary to my truth. And so we have a responsibility indeed to believe in the Lord, to trust in him, to bless us, but at the same time to be responsible and to keep our house well. Not just our individual home in which we need to do follow the Lord like Joshua, but also the house of God. To remain faithful to him, not only in doctrine, but in practice. And that we would bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that we would be a kind and compassionate and loving people, but that we would hate sin and that we would call it out with one another, not in a judgmental, divisive way, but in a loving and caring and shepherding way. You know by the revelation of Scripture that the day of the Lord gets closer and closer every week. And for the people of God, we are eager for it to be in our sight, in our own lifetime. That for the wicked, for those who dismiss God, those who are in opposition and hate God, and all that he stands for. It's a dreadful day, a day that they should avoid, but they cannot. Because in that day, the king of righteousness will come and reveal himself with all his might and glory and power. Indeed, he'll bring justice in the earth and heaven. Verse 10 might seem to be the most curious verse of the psalm. It's a kind of a strange reading. Truly, the wrath of man shall praise you. With the remainder of wrath, you shall gird yourself. So the wrath of man is in opposition to the wrath of God. The wrath of man is emphasizing wicked men and their wrath and their anger. Just like I mentioned about Saul in the stoning of Stephen, you know, talks about, you know, they were gnashing upon Stephen with their teeth as he was preaching to them and rebuking them for killing the Christ. And they were all of one accord to stone him and to kill him. That is the wrath. wrath of man, but that shall praise God? Well, think about it. Consider the furious Pharaoh in the time of Moses. He refused to let Israel go after plague, after plague, after plague, 10 plagues, his nation being destroyed further and further, and even all the firstborn of Egypt dying, even the son of Pharaoh. That man was forced by the might of God to let Israel go. And yet he relented. He changed his mind quickly after he said yes, and he pursued them. But the Lord was so wise, so sovereign, so powerful that he had his people plundered the Egyptians the mirror by Knocking on their door first They are borrowed some things from you And he were glad to give the silver and the gold away Just go get out of the country and the power of God was shown and that he destroyed Pharaoh he also delivered the Jews in the days of Esther and Mordecai and where Esther pleaded with her husband, the king, to give the Jews an opportunity to defend themselves. And so the decree that the king originally signed for the destruction of the Jews was turned and that they had their day to defend themselves. And the decree was signed with the signet of the king. And so the Jews prevailed by God's providence. and power and intervention. And we could go on and on about different other stories, how indeed that the Lord is victorious. And as I mentioned, even Saul, who was a great persecutor. At persecution, he prevailed. He was skilled in finding Christians, capturing them, and even having some executed. And the Lord turned that around to make him the greatest missionary, the greatest theologian outside of Jesus Christ. And so the blasphemies, the threats of unregenerate do not hinder the Lord. You think they hinder you, but in reality, the Lord will bless his people and their witness. And so, brothers and sisters, the Lord has called you to have peace. to trust in Him in the times of uncertainty and turmoil. Think of Psalm 46. Can you see and declare the Lord's judgments in this day? He is bankrupting all the social experiments that seek to overturn every creation ordinance. They do not prevail. They're weak, they're crumbling. Many will not acknowledge it and try build it up, but all the teachings, all the propaganda, all the policies and practices that go contrary to basic biblical teaching will fall like a sandcastle. He's making vain all designs that seek to reverse the Lord's order in the world. He is reestablishing the order of men as heads of families and of the church. The Great Commission is prevailing. Missionaries are going forth. Bibles are being translated into the languages of the languages of all the world. The Great Rebellion will turn into a great revival. The threats of destruction of the church will turn into the triumph of the church. We do know the Lord. We do know the Lord's Word, we don't know the means that he will use to bring all this to be. But we know that we may have we have to remain faithful to the Lord and to do our work in the church. And so Jesus died for his people, for his people, not to live in a meager way, not to just barely survive. And sometimes in this life, this is what we do experience. But in the end, We're triumphant, we will inherit the nations. And so the question is, are you right with the Lord? Are you on the right side? Are you on the side of the world? Are you on the side of Christ? Is your confidence in the king of kings? Is your obedience to him? If so, rejoice. If not, call out for mercy. Now the enemies of Christianity are too many to count. And sadly, many Christians do not always recognize the enemy or the sin that easily ensnares them. But the Lord will prevail in his cause. The Lord is encouraging us to look to him. Matthew Henry has this observation, the psalm, especially verse 10, that what will not turn to his praise shall not be suffered to break out. The remainder of wrath shall not restrain. Men must never permit sin because they cannot check it when they will. But God can. He can set bounds to the wrath of man as he does to the raging sea. Hitherto it shall come and no further. Here shall its proud waves be stayed. God restrained the remainder of Sennacherib's rage, for he put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his jaws. And though he permitted him to talk big, he restrained him from doing what he designed. So, very well put by Matthew Henry. And lastly, in conclusion, nations fear the Lord and submit to him now. ends with wonderful two verses, verses 11, 12. Make vows to the Lord your God and pay them. Let all who are around him bring presents to him who sought to be feared. I'm sorry, who ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes. He is awesome to the kings of the earth. I take you to Psalm 72, verses 10 through nine, a psalm we love to sing, speaking of the great victory of Christ over the earth. says the kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him, for he will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from the oppression and violence, and precious shall be their blood in his sight. And he shall live, and the gold of Sheba will be given to him. Prayer also will be made for him continually, and daily he shall be praised. There will be an abundance of rain in the earth on the top of the mountains. Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon, and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever. His name shall continue as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things and blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. Wonderful words, if you believe it. Great encouragement, if you believe it. Great strength for your faith, if you believe it. We have it clearly here in print. We are to honor the Lord our God. The nations led by kings and heads of state are to make vows to enter into covenant with the covenant God. and the fulfiller of your covenant of grace, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, King Jesus. And to pay a vow is to remain faithful in the terms of the vow. It's very easy to make a vow. You just say words. But like whether it be a commitment to a job or maybe vows of church membership or marriage vows, but it takes divine grace that we seek Sincerely to keep any vow that God is faithful to his vows May all Christians seek that grace Say bow before the Lord So what presence does the Lord desire? Well, that's something we buy at the store Or order it is the fullness and faithfulness of our heart and soul The Lord says in Romans 12 1 I beseech you therefore brethren. I By the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. So live in a sacrificial way to the Lord. And though the meek of the earth are by their meekness exposed to injury. Yet God will sooner or later appear for your deliverance. He will plead your cause. He will vindicate your name, for his name is tied to you. So when God comes to save all the meat of the earth, he will cause judgment to be heard from heaven. He will make his judgments known, scripture says. He will deal with those who oppress. those who do violence, those who slander, those who mock, the righteous will be recognized by the Lord. The Lord will stand with his people always. So brothers and sisters, you will always have from time to time threats levied against you, attacks against your faith, and challenges to your allegiance and obedience to Christ. But we are not to offend the Lord. We are to fear the Lord in a reverent and godly way. And we know that those who do not fear the Lord will have the stain of his justice. And so we are not to be fearful of the enemy. And saints, remember that you have already made your vows to the Lord in your church membership. You have committed to live for the Lord, to be subject to his word, to be subject to the authority of his church. And God has already made covenant with his church. And so we are going to show ourselves as allies of the holy army of God. But for any who are not members of the church, we need to make that allegiance known. We need to be aligned with Christ and know him. and surrender to Him, be obedient, and seek His mercy and forgiveness, your sins, that you will not be counted as among the enemies of God. So unto the Lord your God. The conquering armies always publicize what nation they are from. They boast of their nation. We boast nothing but of Christ. nothing of ourselves, but only of Christ and his greatness and his mercy and his righteousness and his glory, his divine nature. And so we are to sing this victory song for victory is ours. It has already been Christ and more and more will be manifest throughout the world. So let's continue to pray for our nation and all nations to be in league with Christ and not in opposition. And may indeed the nations collectively, honor the Christ and glorify him and exalt him as he is called to be. May we do that every day as his holy and saved people. Let us pray. May Father, we do pray that we would be strong in you, that our faith would be focused on you, that it would not be a wavering faith, a weak faith, A faith that is deaf to the proclamation of your word. But Lord, may we not dwell on the wicked. May we not listen or imagine their boasting or their strength that they think they have. But may we dwell upon your power, your glory, your faithfulness, your mercy, your love towards us. And so Lord, may we be messengers of the good news. that Jesus does reign now. Indeed, he is at the right hand of the Father and rules the nations with that rod of iron. But today is still that day of salvation. So may we share that good news with others that they, too, would worship and glorify you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.