As we saw last time in Psalm 146, we have come to the conclusion of the Book of Psalms in these final five psalms. All five of these concluding psalms begin and end with the same word, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. There's no title, no attribution to any author. not they don't appear to be Psalms of David and like the preceding Psalms they're not linked then to any specific historic event as such and one commentator Bob Godfrey has suggested then that they form a conclusion to the book of Psalms and he indicates that these last five Psalms effectively are summing up each of the five books of the Psalter each returns to and fulfills the key themes in the section of the Book of Psalms that they're summing up. And so using this approach is how we're approaching then how we're tackling these concluding Psalms. We're seeing them as summing up these, the five books of the Psalter. And so last time we considered Psalm 146 and we saw then that summed up the first book concerning the King's confidence in God's care. And we saw then that we praise God because he cares for you. He cares for his people. Our confidence then is in God who keeps faith forever. And in Psalm 147 then we see Psalm 147 is summing up the second book in the Psalms, which is Psalms 42 to 72. And Bob Godfrey notes that this concerns the king's commitment to God's kingdom. Now, if you want more information on how this Psalm is summing up the Psalms in that section, you can read his commentary. I'm not going to get into that detail. We want to see the thrust of this psalm tonight, which is praise for God, praising the Lord for his kingdom. It is concerning the king's commitment to God's kingdom. That's the theme then of the second book of Psalms, king's commitment to God's kingdom. So here we are praising God, praising the Lord for his kingdom. Christ establishes that kingdom and is the king who receives our praise as we'll see. So I want to make three key points this evening. The first is the king's purpose. The king's purpose. The second is the king's power. king's power, and the third is the king's praise, the king's praise. So first of all the king's purpose, the first three verses of this psalm. As we read of the king's work in building up Jerusalem, in gathering the outcasts of Israel, We're told how he does this in verse three. Praise the Lord for it is goodness in praises to our God, for it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting. The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted. He binds up their wounds. Now, does that sound familiar to you? It should do. If you're familiar with Isaiah, Isaiah 61 verse one says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives at the opening of the prison to those who are bound. These words then of Isaiah are the words Jesus uses in the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4. These words then are fulfilled in Christ. It is then, straight away, we need to recognise and see that it is Christ who is building up Jerusalem here. It is Christ who is gathering the outcast. It is Christ who is healing the broken-hearted. It is Christ who is binding up their wounds. We see here in the outset of this psalm the Lord Jesus Christ. And because Christ is in view then, we must understand that these words are not confined to the physical city of Jerusalem or the ethnic nation of Israel. These physical pictures in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament reality of the church. In view then is the reality of God's people through all ages. These are God's people, God's children. It's not ethnic Israel or physical Jerusalem that's in view here. Romans 9, 6-8 tells us not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. So the outcasts then are the children of the promise who are gathered together as one in one in Christ. And that's why we read from Ephesians chapter two, which tells us that God is building his kingdom and how he does it. It is all by grace. It is all through faith in Christ. It is by being joined together with the Lord Jesus. We once were without God, we once were without hope, we once were alienated from God, separated from his covenants of promise. We had no hope in this world, but now in Christ Jesus, we who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ and he himself is our peace. He has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility and so forth. He has reconciled us to God through his death on the cross. We are made alive in Christ. We're no longer strangers. We're no longer aliens. We are fellow citizens. We have been gathered, even though once we're outcast, we have been gathered together. We have been joined together in Christ so that we are members of the household of God and with Christ Jesus himself, our cornerstone. In him, Paul says, we are being built together into a dwelling place. God by the Spirit. This is how Christ then is building up Jerusalem, building his people, gathering outcasts. We once then were outcasts. We once were alienated. We had no part in God's kingdom. But now in Christ, we're built together as living stones in a living temple. That is the church. It is in Christ then that we are saved from our sins. It is in Christ then we are saved from death and from hell by his finished work on the cross at Calvary. And he sets us free then from slavery to sin. As we are gathered in Christ, as we are built up in Christ, as we are healed by Christ, as our wounds are bound up by Christ. So I'll ask the question of you. Do you recognize yourself here? Do you recognize yourself? Do you recognize your own need of this healing? Do you see the wounds of sin in your life? You know, people in the world can go on in life completely unaware that they have a heart condition. some congenital defect that they know nothing about and they live normal, active lives until one moment they have a heart attack. And sometimes they don't survive that heart attack and their life is over. But if they survive, that condition needs treating, doesn't it? You didn't know it was there. You didn't know you had that issue. but there's been a diagnosis, it's presented itself, there's been a diagnosis. You need a heart bypass if you're going to live. And so it is with the heart of every person in this room this evening and every person in this world. We, all of us, have hearts which are defective, not physical hearts that are defective, but the seat of our being, Spirit, our soul, our essence, if you will, is dysfunctional. We have a congenital defect, if you will. It is called sin and it will kill you and it will send you to hell unless you have it treated by our great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Mark 2 verse 17, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. I'll ask you the question again, do you recognize the sin sickness of your heart? Do you recognize that you have this condition? Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? Have you heard this diagnosis? Have you acted upon this diagnosis that Jesus has given you? What would you think of the person who was diagnosed with that physical heart condition, told that they needed a heart bypass to live, and yet who refused it? Well, that's just your opinion doc. What would you think of the person who responded in that way? You'd think them a fool wouldn't you? The doctor is telling you here's the way in which you can be made better and live a healthy life and you refuse it And yet many hear the diagnosis of Jesus as Many think that they are well. Many think that they are righteous and good enough for God. They have no need of His healing. Oh, I'll get to heaven my way. God will let me in. I'll be okay. I'm good enough. No, you're not. There is no one righteous. No, not one. That is the diagnosis of God. on every person who has ever lived, bar one, who is the son of God. Your heart deceives you. You need to come to Christ for that healing, that healing that he brings. And now he doesn't just give you a heart bypass, he gives you a heart transplant. He gives you a new heart of flesh in place of your cold, hard, stony, broken heart. Dysfunctional heart. He gives you a new start, a new life, a new nature, a new name. And this is how he heals, you see. This is how he binds up your wounds. But first, your heart must be broken. You must recognise your condition. You must recognise and realise the state that you are in without Christ. That you remain dead in your sin. That you must call to him for his salvation. That he would save you from your sin. Save you from that sickness of your heart. heal you that he would bind up those wounds and heal that broken heart and so gather you as an outcast and bring you in to his kingdom. Realize then that in your natural condition you are an outcast without God without hope but Jesus will gather you and as a hen her chicks if you will turn to him and trust in him. But God, you see, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, makes us alive with Christ Jesus. Come to Jesus. This is the king's purpose then, first of all. It is that gathering of outcasts, that saving of sinners, that building of his kingdom. Saving his people from their sins. But you might ask the question, well, how do I know that Christ can do this? How do you know that the heart transplant's gonna be successful? Well, a second point. is the king's power. Verses four to six, the king's power. So he who builds up Jerusalem, who gathers the outcasts, who heals the broken hearted, who binds up their wounds. Who is this one? He is the one who determines the number of the stars. He gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. This is the one who builds up Jerusalem. This is the one who gathers the outcast. This is the one who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. It is the one who determines the number of the stars and gives to each of them their names. Well, how many stars is that? Well, next time you're out on a dark, clear, starry night, look up and start to count and see how far you get. You might be able to get to a couple of thousand or so, but that's not the total number. The total number is a wee bit more than a couple of thousand because telescopes reveal more than we can see with our naked eye. The latest estimation is that there are about 100 billion stars in a typical galaxy, in a sort of common old garden galaxy like the Milky Way, our own galaxy. So that's 100 billion stars in the average galaxy. And in terms of how many galaxies are there, estimated about 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. And that means that there's approximately 200 billion trillion stars. 200 billion trillion stars, the number of zeros, I don't know how many that is. Anyway, and there are probably more than this. Because we can't see to the edge of the universe. It's an estimate, it's a guess. But the exact number, the precise number is determined by Christ, the King. Because he is the agent of God's creation. He spoke and each individual star was made. Not only numbered, but named. As one commentator notes, numbering suggests that each one is important as part of the whole. Naming then goes further. applying direct knowledge of each one as a distinct individual. So each one is important and each one is distinct and individual. Each one of the 200 billion trillion stars is directly known as distinct by our God and our savior. This is the one who heals the brokenhearted. who binds up their wounds, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, who saves his people and offers to you salvation from your sin. Great then indeed is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. We get this, don't we? 200 billion trillion stars known and named and numbered. It's beyond our understanding. We can't count to that number. His understanding is beyond measure. And yet this great and this mighty God and King, verse 6 tells us, He lifts up the humble. He saves, in other words, He saves those who cry to Him. He exalts those who humble themselves before Him, who acknowledge their sin, who fall upon Him. crying to Him for mercy in their weakness and helplessness, who say, as the hymn writer so eloquently put it, nothing in my hand I bring, simply, simply to thy cross I cling. But our great God and Savior will cast the wicked to the ground, as the second part of verse six reminds us. Those who lift themselves up, those who puff themselves up, those who refuse to acknowledge God or his king or his kingdom, he will cast down. He will bring low, and that's what Psalm 2 is about. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. Well, he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell her the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. This is the king. You are my son. Today I have forgotten you ask of me and I will make the nations, your heritage and the ends of the earth, your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel. He will cast the wicked down. You see, But the gospel, there's good news, there's an olive branch is held out. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Even with impending judgment and wrath and destruction, there is the offer of life, there is the offer of reconciliation. If you will humble yourself, God will lift you up. That then is the King's power. And what should your response be? Well, here we come to our third point, the King's praise. Praise the King for his provision. The rest of the psalm. Verse seven, sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, make melody to our God on the lyre. He covers the heavens with clouds, he prepares rain for the earth, he makes grass grow on the hills, he gives to the beasts their food, to the young ravens that cry, his delight is not in the strength of the horse nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. king's care of his kingdom is rehearsed in these verses. He sustains the physical creation. Here again is more evidence of our God displaying his power and his unique provision for his people. He possesses extraordinary power and wisdom with which he blesses his people. He's displayed this in the stars And now in these verses, he displays this in the clouds, in the rain, in the grass, in the food for the beast, in what we can see around us. It's all sustained by our God, our King. He provides for his people. He provides for creation. He provides nourishment. He sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. How good is the God we adore! But his delight, then, is not in the mighty or strong things of this world, but rather in those who fear him, whose hope is in his steadfast love. And this steadfast love is displayed in the building up of Jerusalem, the gathering of the outcast, the healing of the broken hearted and the binding up of their wounds. In other words, in the building of his kingdom, in the saving of his people through that love, that steadfast love, which was supremely demonstrated and displayed on the cross at Calvary. This is where our hope must be found and grounded, not in physical strength, not in intellectual strength, not because we've got it all worked out theologically in our heads. No, it's about being found and grounded in Christ and in Christ alone in that steadfast love that he displayed on Calvary. It's being found in him It's not whether you can answer all the questions of the catechism. It's are you found in Christ? Are you trusting in Christ? Has he healed your broken heart? Has he bound up your wounds? Has he gathered you in once an outcast? That is what matters. That is what matters. This is where our hope is found and grounded and so we shall fear him and be the objects of his pleasure as we hope in his steadfast love. And where it says the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, it's not to suggest that he takes pleasure in those who come cowering in abject terror before him. Fear him. Fearing God means revering God. It means bowing down before him in humility and in awe and in reverence and in adoration and with affection and with devotion. That is what it means to fear the Lord. And that is how the Lord takes pleasure then in those who respond in such a way of devotion and commitment and adoration and worship in which we are giving and devoting our lives to Him that all that we do and all that we say and all that we think might bring Him glory and be Godward in our living and devotion and affection. That is how He takes pleasure those who fear him. It's not your strength, it's not your fitness, not in anything of this physical world. Are you trusting in Christ? Then he will take pleasure in you. And so to fear God is to know God. It is to love God in that personal relationship with Him as your Father, through His Son, by His Spirit. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12 says, And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord which I'm commanding you today for your good. And that was reiterated by Jesus, wasn't it? In Mark 12, 30, for example, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. But to do that, you need that new heart. You need that new name. You need that new nature. that Jesus gives to all who come to him, whom he gathers, whom he heals, whose wounds he binds up. And the final stanza of this psalm continuing, the king's praise from verse 12 calls on God's people to praise him for reasons then that are listed from verse 13, for he strengthens the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you, he makes peace in your borders, he fills you with the finest of the wheat, he sends out his command to the earth, his word runs swiftly, he gives snow like wool, he scatters frost like ashes, He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word and melts them. He makes his wind blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt with any other nation. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know his rules. Praise the Lord. So now, in addition to the provision of care rehearsed through creation from verses eight to nine that we've just seen, and in protection, verses 13 and 14, strengthening of the bars of your gates, protecting, giving you peace. providing for you, filling you with the finest of the wheat, providing for your physical needs as well. God provides for his people in a very special way by giving them his word. He sends out his command to the earth. This word then, which guarantees blessing and peace for his people, is the same powerful word that governs the world. So again, how do we know that God is able to do these things? Because this is what he's promising. This is what he's telling us. He has spoken and it is so. He has promised to strengthen. He has promised to bless. He has promised to give you peace. He has promised to fill you with the finest of the wheat. And that's demonstrated the power of God's word that accomplishes this is demonstrated in that he sends his commands to the earth and his word runs swiftly and it accomplishes what he intends. because by the same word. You see, this word controls the seasons. It controls the natural elements. By the same word, he made all things. God spoke and it was so, Genesis 1. Hebrews 1 verse 3 tells us that it's by God's son who is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. And so this word is a powerful word. It's a mighty word. It's an effective word. It's a living word. It's an active word. And it's a word of unique blessing of God to his people. And it's a word that brings order to creation. It's a word that brings order to the life of God's people. The order that God's word brings to creation is the same order then that God brings to his people. And as we see the order in creation, so we know that God provides for his people too. So God is not a God of disorder or of confusion, but of peace. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 33. He brings that peace which surpasses all understanding, which guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And God's word, you see, is transformative. It impacts, it changes, it transforms. And here in verse 18, God is sending out his word and it's melting frozen landscapes. That's the picture there. It makes the wind blow. It makes the waters flow. There is, in other words, activity in response to the word of God. His Word is powerful. That's what this is telling us. It's telling us God's Word is powerful. God's Word is transformative. God's Word is not static. God's Word is not inactive. God's Word is not impotent. God's Word is sharper than a double-edged sword. You see, and it cuts people to the heart. It convicts of sin, it challenges, it changes as the spirit of God works upon it. It is after all the sword of the spirit, we're told in Ephesians 6. And so this again links back to the healing of the broken hearted as Christ the King builds his kingdom. God's word comes in convicting power by the spirit of God. It comes to you in your place of You're fretting and you're restlessness and grief and hopelessness and alienation without God and without hope in this world in which you're ruled by the disorder of sin amidst the wreckage of a life without Christ and everything's falling apart. And then you realize the reality of your true condition and you come to your senses as it were as the word of God is brought to bear upon your heart and your mind. and you submit to Christ, you see Christ presented to you as your only savior, and you turn to him, you trust in him, and you live for him, having submitted to him, and he brings you that order then in that disordered life, and he brings peace where there's been restlessness, and he brings blessing and abundance of life to the full. So this stanza is about the activity of God's word. And he has not dealt thus with any other nation. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. This word is to his people. Today, God has declared his word to you. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know his rules. But friends, you know his rules. You know his statutes. You know his word. Because this is what you have heard today. You have heard today that Christ the King is building his kingdom. You have heard that he is calling you to come to him. You have heard that he's calling you to come, that your broken hearts would be healed, that the wounds of your sin would be bound up. You have heard today this invitation then to come to the King whose extraordinary role and power and majesty extends to the ends of the universe and yet makes the grass grow and sends the rain and he sends out his word and he sent out his word to you even to you that you may put your hope and your trust in his steadfast love and so become a subject in his kingdom and an object of his pleasure. Oh, what matchless condescension the eternal God displays. So we see these verses in Psalm 147. They are fulfilled here. They are fulfilled now in the church of Christ as the word of God goes out through the earth and souls are being saved and God is building his kingdom and Christ is king. And so we join with the hallelujah at the beginning and at the end of this Psalm, don't we? We say, praise the Lord for his kingdom. But the reference to Jerusalem in verse 2 at the beginning of this psalm also brings the end of time into view. Because the church, all of God's people, in all of time, is pictured in Revelation 21. where John says, I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." Here, my friends, is the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 147. Here is the ultimate healing of the brokenhearted. Here is the ultimate binding up of our wounds. Here is the ultimate in gathering of the outcasts and the ultimate building of Jerusalem, that heavenly city, the dwelling place of God. And this is then when God's kingdom literally and completely and perfectly fills the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. This is when the domain of darkness and all sin sickness will be banished forever. God is building his kingdom friends, souls are being saved, God's Greatness and His power and His wisdom are all displayed in this. And God's kingdom is coming, it has come, it is here and it is now, but the best, all my friends, is yet to come. And oh how then we will praise the Lord for His kingdom. Let's pray. All gracious God, we thank you that you are building your kingdom. We thank you that it is advancing in this world. We thank you that you are gathering the outcasts. We thank you that you are healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds. We thank you that you are building the church from around this earth and we thank you that we have before us Lord an expectation of the fulfillment then in the new heaven and new earth in which we shall be caught up with you. O how we long, Lord, for that day, but prepare us for that day, that we might live for your kingdom here and now, putting our trust in you, Lord Jesus. Be at work, Lord, in each heart. Give us a clearer vision, a clearer view of Jesus and a longing, Lord, for your coming, for your honour and for your glory and all your praise. Amen.