Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / Bless the Lord (Psalm 103) Mr. Dalton Vetter

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Bless the Lord (Psalm 103) Mr. Dalton Vetter · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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Good morning to those who do not know me. My
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name is Dalton Vedder and I am the ministerial
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intern here at Fairview. My job normally is to
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follow Kenny around and follow his example, but
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today I have the honor and the pleasure of actually
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getting to bring to you the word of God. And
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it's a very special day to get to do that. Today
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is one of those days that my grandma would call
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it a cup of plenty. It's a cup full of blessings.
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We had the teaching of the word this morning
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in Sunday school. We get to come and sing and
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glorify the Lord now after service. We get to
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attend a beautiful wedding. And then we get to
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celebrate later today, 240 years of Fairview
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as we plan for the full celebration. And then
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we get to come back tonight for an evening service
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where we get to praise the Lord again and hear
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from his word. It is a cup of plenty. It's more
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than we deserve. But but sometimes we feel like
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we lack that cup of plenty and we desire it We
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have times in our lives and we even see it amongst
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our couple plenty today of grieving and suffering
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and of struggles But whether it's a day full
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of blessing or season of your life full of blessing
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or a season of your life filled with trials What
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will ultimately learn this morning from Psalm
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103? that we always have a cup of plenty and
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So if you'll turn with your Bibles to me to Psalm
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103 We're going to talk about praising the Lord
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and blessing the Lord for all the good that he
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does for us But before we read through the chapter,
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let me go ahead and pray and ask for the spirits
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help in doing this our Lord and our God We praise
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you for you who you are You are the God who forgives
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iniquities, who heals our diseases, who redeems
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us from the pit. You lift us up so that we soar
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on wings like eagles and you renew our strength
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when we are weak. Lord, we ask your help this
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morning to understand everything that you have
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hidden in your word for us today. Lord, help
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us to praise you through the reading and preaching
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of your word this morning. Pray all of this in
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Jesus' name. Amen. So Psalm 103 of David bless
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the Lord. Oh my soul and all that is within me
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Bless his holy name bless the Lord. Oh my soul
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and forget not his benefits Who forgives all
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your iniquity who heals all your diseases who
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redeems your life from the pit? who crowns you
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with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies
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you with good so that your youth is renewed like
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the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and
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justice for all who are oppressed. He made known
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his ways to Moses, his acts of the people of
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Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow
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to anger and abounding and steadfast love. He
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will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger
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forever. He does not deal with us according to
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our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities.
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For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
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so great is his steadfast love to those who fear
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him. As far as the east is from the west, so
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far does he remove our transgressions from us.
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As a father shows compassion to his children,
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so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear
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him. For he knows our frame. He remembers that
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we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass.
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He flourishes like a flower of the field, for
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the wind passes over it and it is gone, and in
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its place knows it no more. But the steadfast
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love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
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on those who fear him and his righteousness to
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children's children, to those who keep his covenant
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and remember to do his commandments. The Lord
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has established his throne in the heavens and
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his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O
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you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word,
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obeying the voice of his word. Bless the Lord,
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all his hosts, his ministers who do his will.
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Bless the Lord, all his works and the places
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of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. So
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as the beginning of the Psalm states, this is
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a Psalm of David. Now, normally Psalms are tied
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to a specific event or time in Israel's life
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and we know why they're written and why the psalmist
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is talking about what they're talking about.
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But this is one of those Psalms that seems to
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have no event tied to it. It's a Psalm just of
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pure praise, of pure worship, of encouragement
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to our souls. And maybe this is towards the end
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of David's life as he sits and reflects on all
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that the Lord has done for him and for the nation
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of Israel, looking forward to all that the Lord
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will do. I think that's maybe the safest place
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to assume that the psalm has taken place, David
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reflecting on his life, because this is a psalm
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of praise, but it's a psalm of praise that comes
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out of reflection. And that scene in the beginning
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of chapter one, because David begins the psalm
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with a personal reflection and praise in verses
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one to five. David says, bless the Lord, oh my
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soul. The word bless here is actually the word
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for praise, but it's not just the generic act
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of worship of praising, but it's a act of praise
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that comes out of thankfulness for all that the
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Lord has done. It's an honoring the Lord. It's
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very similar to actually the beginning of our
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Lord's prayer telling the Lord that his name
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should be hallowed and David tells his soul to
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praise the Lord, but it's not just his soul.
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It's all that is within him. David is pulling
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on the Shema here the national chant of Israel
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that says the Lord your God is one and you shall
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love him with all your heart with all your mind
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with all your soul and with all your strength.
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David is telling his whole person to worship.
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He's encouraging it to worship. And this is what
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we have to do as believers in times where we're
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struggling. We have to follow David's example
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here and encourage our soul in worshiping. And
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David continues on, telling his soul again to
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bless the Lord and not to forget the Lord's benefits,
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to not forget the good of the Lord. Now, forgetting
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here does not just mean a casual, oh, I forgot
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what the Lord did. But it actually means no,
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I know of the cross. I know what the Lord has
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sacrificed I know how the Lord has has sustained
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us as a church and how he sustained the nation
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of Israel But I will choose to ignore that it's
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a willful forgetting But the psalmist here is
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telling his soul do not do that Remember the
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good of the Lord And then David tells us why.
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He tells us five attributes that the Lord has
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that we must remember. Or five who's that David
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will say here. The Lord is the Lord who forgives
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all of our iniquity. This benefit is the greatest
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benefit. It's the chief benefit. Without this
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benefit from God, none of the others matter.
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Calvin says that reconciliation with Him, with
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God, is the fountain from which all other blessings
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flow. And what we'll see here, too, is that the
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forgiveness that God gives is through His Son.
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This is actually a Messianic Psalm that points
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us to the future and to the Messiah. It's talking
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about the God who plans and the Son who accomplishes
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and the Spirit who applies. And so David begins
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with forgiveness for sins because it's the most
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important thing of all. It allows us to come
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into covenant, to come into relationship with
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God because otherwise we are sinners separate
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from God who cannot enter his presence. While
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close to forgiveness is healing, God is the God
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who heals from our diseases. Jesus actually makes
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this comparison in Mark chapter two, handling
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the paralytic man. Man's friends had taken time
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to lower him through the roof to get him to Jesus,
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and this man is laying in front of Jesus, and
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Jesus does not say, I'm healing you, get up and
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walk. Jesus actually says, your sins are forgiven,
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now go. And Jesus gets questioned about it, and
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Jesus just says, well, what is easier, for me
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to say your sins are forgiven, that he knows
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you will have no guilt, or to tell him to get
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up and walk? There is a close tie to forgiveness
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and healing from all our diseases and We don't
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always have immediate relief in this life but
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we do look forward to a day when Christ will
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come again and there will be no more weeping
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and there will be no more death because we are
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forgiven and Then we're healed and we're healed
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internally as well from the disease of death.
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So our lives are redeemed from the pit We no
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longer look forward to a day of punishment, but
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a day of celebration and joy before the throne
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of God, because we are forgiven and we have been
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healed. And on that day, we will be crowned with
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steadfast love and mercy. As children of God,
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we're told in Galatians that we are sons, and
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if we are sons, we are then heirs, we are royalty
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to the throne of God. And we're given God's steadfast
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love and mercy. Steadfast love is a key aspect
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of the psalm. It's a Hebrew word, hesed. And
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if you listen to Reformed and Presbyterian pastors
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for very long, you'll hear this word come up
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often. Especially as they go through the Old
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Testament, they will always stop and pause. Because
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steadfast love contains so much. Steadfast love
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points to the covenant, the bond and blood, the
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contract that we have between us and God. That
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as long as we follow him and obey his commandments,
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that we will receive his blessing. And it's actually
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a covenant of grace because it's not us who are
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doing the commandments. We do follow Christ,
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but it's Christ who accomplishes the commandments
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of God, the works of God, and allows us to walk
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in them. So the steadfast love is an active and
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an ongoing love. It's one that there's a close
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bond, a contract tied to it. And with it comes
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the mercy of God. And out of that steadfast love
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and mercy being crowned, we are satisfied with
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the good things of the Lord. The Lord satisfies
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us in ways that we will never understand. There
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are times when everything should be hectic, but
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it's not. And there are times where even amongst
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the chaos we can find some good. Because it's
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the Lord who gives us grace and gives us mercy
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beyond anything we can find. And finally, it's
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out of all of these things that the Lord renews
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us like eagles. He strengthens us. We're at the
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250th anniversary of America. And of course,
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closely tied to America is the bald eagle. Because
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it's a symbol of strength. And maybe some of
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you have taken time to go to Dollywood and they
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actually have an eagle sanctuary, an eagle habitat.
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And I remember going and seeing those eagles
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for the first time, and I understood why America
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had picked this bird as a symbol of strength,
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or why the psalmist would pick this bird as a
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symbol of strength. An eagle is bigger than most
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dogs, and they can live for years. They live
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30 or 40 years. And they soar through the sky,
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and there's no other bird that can touch them.
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And that is what the Lord does for us. We have
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a heart of wickedness, of sinfulness, but he
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takes it and he gives us a heart of life and
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he gives us his strength, so that we can praise
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him. But then the psalmist moves on here, talking
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about the attributes of God, to now he's actually
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going to talk about the works of God. He doesn't
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just praise God for who he is, but what God has
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done. And so we'll see that in verses six through
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10. There's a national reflection. and praise
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that David gives. David, after thinking on the
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Lord, begins to think of Israel and what God
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had done to the nation. He begins by saying the
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word, the Lord works righteousness and justice
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for all who are oppressed. If we were to simplify
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this and make the translation a little bit more
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literal, it would actually say God does works
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of righteousness and works of justice for the
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oppressed. This is an action phrase. And David
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is thinking of Israel at this point, of Egypt,
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thinking of this nation in captivity who are
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being oppressed. They were in slavery, but then
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the Lord freed Israel from Egypt and brought
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them out of that place to be with them, to dwell
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with them, to teach them his commandments. And
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so the Lord found justice, but the Lord didn't
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just find justice for Israel. He finds justice
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for all the oppressed, all those who have suffered.
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all those who need help. The Lord is their strength
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and their shield. And David continues the thinking
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of Israel. He says that the Lord made his way
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known to Moses and his acts to the people of
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Israel. This quotation here is actually almost
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verbatim, word for word, from Exodus 34, which
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follows the incident of the golden calf. Israel
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had been brought up. brought up out of Egypt
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through the Red Sea and taken to the mount. And
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Moses goes up to the mountain to receive the
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Ten Commandments and while Moses is away, the
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children of Israel fall in the sin. They craft
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a golden calf and they begin to worship and praise
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it instead of the one true God. Moses comes back
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down and he sees what is happening and he breaks
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the tablets of stone over his legs. But then
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Moses after that there's some rebuking of the
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people but Moses ultimately intercedes for the
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people and asked the Lord to continue to dwell
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with them and for the Lord to show him his ways
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for the Lord to show Moses his ways and Moses
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has taken back up on the mountain to receive
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the new copy of the Ten Commandments and God
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tells Moses in Exodus 34 6 And the Lord passed
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by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord,
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a God full of compassion and graciousness, slow
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to anger and plentish in mercy and in truth,
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keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity
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and transgression and sin, but will by no means
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clear the guilty. And David here is going to
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reflect on this phrase of Moses for the rest
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of. the section here until the end of verse 10
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and even a little bit into 11 and 12. Moses heard
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that the Lord is merciful and gracious, that
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the Lord is willing to forgive. The first commandment
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is to have no other gods before you and the Israelites
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did just that. They broke the number one commandment
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and the Lord would have been perfectly just to
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destroy the Israelites then and there. But no,
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the Lord gave them mercy. He did not strike out
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in anger and He gave them His grace, unmerited
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favor. And He was slow to anger and He chose
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to keep His covenant with them. Now we do know
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that later in Israel's life that the first generation
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would be kept from the promised land, part of
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the covenant, but the Lord still was faithful
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to their children and He brought their children
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in. Because the Lord was slow to anger and he
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gave them many many chances and he was always
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faithful to his covenant But thinking of the
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children of Israel the second generation David
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said that the Lord will not always chide. This
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actually means prosecute Say it's a legal term
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to bring charges against The Lord does not always
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bring charges against us even in our sin And
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he does not keep his anger at us forever. And
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that brings David to the conclusion that the
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Lord does not deal with us according to our sins,
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nor does he repay us for our iniquities. The
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Lord knows that we will sin. We have sin in this
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life that causes us to go against his law. But
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he does not repay us accordingly. He will discipline
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us, but so it's that we can love him more and
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love him better. And most of all, he saves us
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from death. We know from Romans 6 .23 that the
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wages of sin is death. But the Lord and his son,
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Jesus, does not give us that punishment, does
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not deal with us accordingly. Now, sometimes
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we act like the Lord does. We remember a sin,
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maybe a lie, or maybe we forget to tithe or something
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like that, and then the next month comes around.
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and our car breaks down or a tree falls on our
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house or something happens and we start acting
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like the Lord is dealing with us according to
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the sin. Even though we might have confessed
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for getting to tithe. We hold onto it and we
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cling to it and we think that there's consequences
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coming out of this one situation of sin that
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the Lord is just continuing to chastise us over.
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But David tells us not to do that, to remember.
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the goodness of the Lord that we are forgiven,
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that when we confess our sins that we are forgiven
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those sins and that the Lord does not hold them
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against us. And then David moves on now to a
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covenant reflection and a covenant remembrance.
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He goes from just the nation of Israel to all
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those who will come into relationship with him.
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This forgiveness of sins and iniquities goes
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out from Israel. For as high as the heavens are
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above the earth, so great is the said fast love
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to those who fear them. As far as the east is
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from the west, so far does he remove our transgression
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from us. It's not just those in Israel who receive
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the forgiveness of the Lord. It's those who will
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come to fear him, or who do fear him. and He
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separates those who love Him, who follow Him
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and believe in Him from their sins as far as
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the east is from the west. And if you follow
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that, if you're going from east to west to west
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to east, it will just be one never -ending circle.
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You will never reach the end of it. We will never
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be able to find our sins again because the Lord
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has separated them from us. And He does so because
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He is a compassionate Father to His children,
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verses 13 and 14. And the word compassionate
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is actually God pities those who fear him. You
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know, a good father or a good mother, parents
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with kids, you'll understand this. That you watch
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your little children, maybe as a baby, as they
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try to pull themselves up on a chair for the
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first time and stand up, but then they fall right
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back down on their bottom. Or maybe they get
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a little older and you see them start to reach
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for food or reach for an object on a shelf, maybe
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a toy. and they're not quite strong enough to
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reach it and pull it down. Or maybe your children
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aren't little anymore and they're adult children
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and you're watching the decisions they make and
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you're going, well, I wouldn't make that decision,
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but I will walk alongside you. You have a level
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of pity for them as they learn about life and
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how things work. And this is how God treats us.
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He understands that we do not know everything,
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that we are always growing and learning and changing,
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learning how to follow Him better. So he has
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pity on us and he shows anyone who fears him
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compassion He knows our frame he knows that we
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are but dust from the very beginning and Adam
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God created us out of the dust out of the dirt
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Nothing special not gold or silver We were not
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some angelic beings. We were made out of dirt
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and given the breath of God God remembers this
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and he shows us compassion. Man is temporal.
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We're temporary. We have a birth date and we
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have an end date. We have a day that we die.
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Our days are like grass. We don't know what will
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happen. We go through seasons and things change
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just like the grass outside. Right now we're
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in summer and the grass is green and it's beautiful.
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But at times weeds come up and then we have to
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put fertilizer on it to make it green again.
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And so there's days of blessing, but then there's
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even days where, you know, as the weather gets
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colder, the grass turns brown and it looks different.
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And that's how our lives are. Some days there's
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days of blessing and days of mercy and it's beautiful
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and things are going well. And then there's days
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where maybe we're stuck in a particular sin.
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We're temporal. We're even called a flower of
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the field. Flowers of the field can be beautiful.
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But they can also be food for animals. Or if
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you think back to Hurricane Helene, those flowers
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can be ripped out of the ground and misplaced.
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They can be tossed to and fro by the wind and
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forget where they belong. But the Lord is in
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contrast to this. When we're temporal and we
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have a birthday and a death day, the Lord is
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eternal. He is from everlasting to everlasting.
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And his covenant is from everlasting to everlasting.
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He tells Abraham this in Genesis 17 seven, I
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will establish my covenant between me and you
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and your descendants after you throughout your
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generations for an everlasting covenant to be
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God to you and to your descendants after you.
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and then thinking of Christ to accomplish the
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forgiveness of sins, in Hebrews 1320, the writer
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says, now may the God of peace, who brought again
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from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd
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of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
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equip you with everything good, that you may
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do his will, working in us that which is pleasing
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in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
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the glory forever and ever. Amen. What the writer
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of Hebrews tells us there is actually essential
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to what the psalmist is saying here because the
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psalmist will go on and say that all those who
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keep the covenant the Lord will give his righteousness
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to. But it's Christ who actually helps us keep
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the covenant. It's by his spirit. It is the spirit
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working in us that causes us to be pleasing in
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the sight. And that's true whether it's Old Testament
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or New Testament. The Lord has always given his
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spirit to help believers keep his covenant so
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that the Lord can be faithful to it. And the
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Lord is not just faithful to us, but he's faithful
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to our children. The righteousness of the Lord
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goes to our children's children, all those who
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remember his commandments. And we can have confidence
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in this and we can praise the Lord for this because
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the Lord has established his throne in the heavens.
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It is above all, it sees all, it knows all, and
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his kingdom rules over all. There's nothing that
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God does not have his hand on. And so David returns
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to praising the Lord after this reflection to
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a final praise. And it's almost identical to
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the beginning, but instead of just his soul,
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he begins to include others in it. He begins
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with the angels, the mighty ones who do his word,
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the faithful angels that sit before the throne
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of God. The psalmist is commanding them to bless,
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to praise the Lord, to be thankful for all that
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he has done. They're the highest beings that
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we can think of outside of God. And then David
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moves to blessing the Lord, all his hosts. This
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is all of creation. God created all things just
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like he created man. And now David is commanding
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this creation to praise the Lord, to praise their
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creator because he is good, he forgives and he
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heals and he works righteousness. And David includes,
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the psalmist includes the ministers in this,
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the believers before the throne of God who have
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done his will and been faithful and are standing
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face to face with their creator. But the word
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ministers here also includes us. who are faithful,
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we're commanded by the psalmist to come in and
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praise and to bless the Lord and to remember
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all that he has done. Bless the works, bless
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the Lord all his works in all the places of the
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of dominion. We are to praise the Lord everywhere
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we go. Everything in the Lord's dominion is to
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praise him. And then David concludes with telling
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his soul once again to bless the Lord, oh my
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soul. By doing this David is almost starting
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the cycle again He can go back to verse 1 and
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recount the works that God has done in Israel
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and the forgiveness that he gives by his covenant
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it's a never -ending cycle of praise and We should
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model this in our own lives today, but even as
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we go out from here We should constantly reflect
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on the works of the Lord and be driven to praise
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him I want to say that one more time, because
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if you get nothing else from the sermon, this
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is what I want you to remember. You should constantly
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reflect on the works of the Lord and be driven
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to praise Him. In doing the psalm, I was reminded
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of an old hymn. Count your blessings. And I think
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it's fitting for this psalm, but also for the
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events today. The very last stanza says, are
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you ever burdened with a load of care does the
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cross seem heavy you are called the bear count
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your many blessings every doubt will fly and
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you will be singing by the days go by so some
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days like today it's very easy to see our cup
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of plenty and other days it's much harder but
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what we're told is to reflect on the lord and
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to praise him and the lord will strengthen us
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and the Lord will forgive us and give us his
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grace so that we can praise him and be in fellowship
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with him. Let me pray.