Please turn with me in the written word of God to Psalm 99 for our public scripture reading. As you're turning there, an encouraging thought hit me this past Friday. I was in the sanctuary alone rearranging the chairs a little bit and thinking about something. I was singing some hymns to the Lord as I was working. And it struck me that for 50 years, Jesus Christ and Him crucified has been preached in this place. but also his praises have been sung with hymns and spiritual songs. But most church traditions in our modern time are unaware of the beauty of psalm singing. And that's not meant as a criticism, it's just most of us are unaware of it. It's something new for most of us when we come to our church, but it's something that goes back with God's people for thousands of years, literally. And it's something that the New Testament actually commands. Well, do you realize that in just a moment after I read Psalm 99, we're going to stand and sing Psalm 99? And it may very well be, I don't know for sure, but it may very well be the first time that the Psalms have ever been sung in this place in 50 years. So we have the privilege of seeing that happen. And let's not underestimate how important that is. One of my heroes in the Old Testament is King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah brought biblical reform to purify worship to say, let's return to the biblical pattern of worship and restore it to God's people which have been lost. And he did so, and one of the things it says in 1 and 2 Chronicles is this, that when they restored biblical worship, God's people once again sang the Psalms of David and of Asaph. In other words, they started singing the Psalms again. It was a sign, a fruit, as it were, of revival, of God being worshipped according to the pattern of Scripture. So we get the joy today of perhaps being the first to sing God's praises through Psalm this morning. In a call to worship, I focused upon the elements of worship. The fact that we have those fixed in the way that we worship God is set for us in the Scriptures. God's Word is sufficient to tell us how to worship Him. But we need to be careful because we don't need to get so fixed upon the form of worship that we miss the point. Because the means of worship, the means of grace, are not ends unto themselves. They are means to an end. They're intended to fix our gaze and fix our hearts upon the object of our worship. And if we miss the object of our worship, we've missed the point. Because the point is to get our hearts fixed upon God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And if you're struggling with that, Psalm 99 is a great place to go. because it is so thoroughly God-centered, and it strikes me. It's almost like a sponge that's saturated with water. That's how this is with the presence of God. It's nine short verses. When I read it in just a moment, it's literally going to take me like two minutes to read it to you. And yet, it is so overflowing with God and His glory. As a matter of fact, let me give you some sense of that. A central thing that stands out to me, in nine short verses, God's covenant name Yahweh, which is translated with capital L-O-R-D in our English versions, Yahweh is employed seven times. The name God, Elohim, is used five times. The second personal pronoun, You, is referring to God six times. And then we find the third person pronoun, He or His, refers to God 12 times. all in the space of nine verses. You know, so often we say so much and really say so little, and yet the Lord has the ability to use an economy of words to say so much. And as I look through this psalm, I see at least 12 of God's attributes set forth in nine verses. And I want to set them forth before you. The principal thing, the framing device, as it were, of this psalm, is the fact that God is holy. Three different times we are told God is holy. I wonder where the psalmist got that. Can't help but wonder, is he thinking through, in the future, as it were, you have Isaiah 6, where God is said to be holy, holy, holy. He's the thrice holy God. That thrice emphasis is here. So if I were going to give you an outline, I would say, first of all, in verses 1 to 3, the holy God is sovereign. Verses 4-5, the Holy God is just. Verses 6-9, the Holy God is merciful. Verse 3 ends with, He is holy. Verse 5 again, He is holy. The whole psalm, verse 9, ends with, for the Lord our God is holy. Clearly, the psalmist wants us to understand God is holy. What is God's holiness? It's a description of his absolute infinite perfection, that he is morally perfect, completely just, completely right, not so much as a shadow in him. Absolute perfection and goodness exists in God and God alone in a way that it does not exist anywhere else. God is holy. But secondly, God is faithful. God is faithful. Not only does the psalm declare His holy, but it declares His faithfulness. The very fact that the name Yahweh is used seven times is a reminder that God is a covenant-keeping God. When He makes a promise, when He makes a covenant, He keeps His covenant. He's faithful to His promises. As a matter of fact, it's going to tell us in the psalm that three of our forefathers from ancient times, using those three men as examples, called out to God. It says it twice, they called out to God, but three times it says God answered them. Why does God answer the prayers of His people? Because He's promised to, and God cannot lie, so God is faithful. There's a third thing, that God is sovereign. The very psalm opens with this, Yahweh reigns, He is high above all the peoples, and it describes God as the great king, the great king who is just. Fourth, God is the glory of His people, Israel, and that is in the psalm. Again, the fact that Yahweh is mentioned there. Who was God in covenant with? The 12 tribes of Israel is who he was in covenant with. Verse 1 says, he dwells between the cherubim. That's a reference to the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat that God's presence in a unique way existed there. Verse 2 says, the Lord is great in Zion. Zion was a hill on the southeastern corner of Jerusalem. It became symbolic for the whole city and ultimately for the whole nation and all the people of God. Fifth, not only is God the God of the Jews, He is also the light of the Gentiles. Again, missiology is huge in this psalm, especially in verses 1 through 3. God reigns over whom? Does He reign just over Israel or does He reign over all nations? And, of course, the answer is all nations. Verses 2 to 3 say, He is high above all the peoples." And then says, let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy. In other words, not just the Jews, but all peoples from all places are to worship Him. Sixth thing, God is just. It's emphasized in verse 4. The sovereign king loves justice. You've established equity. You've executed justice and righteousness in God. God is an equitable king. He does not take bribes to pervert justice. He does not show favoritism or partiality in judgment. That's what it means to be equitable. But if all we knew was that God was just, but we didn't know He was merciful, that would not be good news for us. But the Bible here, even in this psalm, says God is merciful. It's verse 8, and perhaps my favorite part of the whole psalm. It says that you were to them, that is to God's people, you were to them God who forgives. You're a God who forgives rebels. You're a God who shows mercy to the undeserving. You're a God who shows favor to people who have sinned against you. And if He's that in the past, that should be a comfort to you here this February morning in 2024. Because the God who was the God who forgives is still the God who forgives. He's a God who still shows mercy. But notice something in verse 8, "...you were to them God who forgives, though you took vengeance on their deeds." In other words, God showed mercy to them, but He didn't stop being just. God doesn't suspend one attribute so He can exercise another. God is simple. That is, all His attributes are in Him one. So that He doesn't stop being just in order to show mercy to sinners, nor, when He's executing His wrath, does He forget to be merciful. God is all that God is all the time. And I'm bleeding somewhere here. Spurgeon nails it, as Spurgeon usually does, but this is what he says, quote, To forgive sin while at the same time expressing abhorrence of it is the peculiar glory of God and is best seen, where do you think he's going to go, in the atonement of our Lord Jesus. When you meditate upon the cross, what do you think about? You think about God's love. You think about His mercy. You think about His goodness, and you should. because there is no greater proof of God's love than Him sending His Son to die for sinners like us. But when you look at the cross, don't just think about His goodness and His mercy. Think about His severity and His wrath. God can't just arbitrarily show mercy to you. His justice must have satisfaction. And so He punished His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the place of sinners like you and me, so that justice could be satisfied while He still shows mercy to you and me. And the good news for every last one of you here this morning is this, that mercy is available for you. If you're outside of Jesus Christ, God is the God who forgives for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. And that is available to you because His justice has been satisfied, His wrath has been quenched. And so, if you will place your faith in Jesus, turning from your sins and putting your faith in Him, He will receive you, He will forgive you, He will have mercy upon you. Well, with these things in view, stand, please, if you are able, and honor the reading of God's Word. Yahweh reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He dwells between the cherubim. Let the earth be moved. Yahweh is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy. The King's strength also loves justice. You've established equity. You've executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt Yahweh our God and worship at His footstool. He is holy. Moses and Aaron were among his priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon his name. They called upon Yahweh, and he answered them. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies and the ordinance he gave them. You answered them, O Yahweh our God. You were to them God who forgives, though you took vengeance on their deeds. Exalt Yahweh our God and worship at His holy hill, for Yahweh our God is holy. May the Lord add His richest blessing to the reading and the hearing of His word. You may be seated.