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It is good to be back with you this morning. Had a good trip to Texas to see family, to see my mom and hospice. And I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have offered prayer for her and my family, and for all of you that have sent notes and cards and well-wishes to her. I can tell you this right now. She has either read every last one of them or had them read to her. And she's very thankful for the love that you have shown to her. She's ready. She's close. And as a believer, I I just tell you right now, it didn't get any better than that. You know what Paul said when he said, I have run the race. She's run the race. And she's ready to get fitted for her crown. And so I thank you all so much. So much for that. It's good to be home. It's good to be home. This morning we continue in our study of the Psalms and summary of the Psalms. And this is one of those Psalms where you look at what the psalmist says here and you get the overwhelming sense of worship from this psalm. It is considered to be a psalm that encourages us to sing a new psalm. And there's different times in our life, and I really appreciate, Jamie, your thoughts for communion this morning, because there are times in our life when we take that cup and we set it aside. And what came to my mind when you were sharing that was, would you be poured out like wine upon the altar for me? Sometimes we have to take that cup that you spoke of and we got to pour it out. We have to pour it out upon the altar of God and trust Him with it. And that's not easy to do. But I tell you what, when we get to that point, when we can do that, brothers and sisters, the tremendous weight is lifted off of us. And if that's where you find yourself this morning, I hope that you're able to do that. I hope that the psalm that we're going to look at this morning encourages you in a way that you've never been encouraged before. And I'm looking forward to getting into this psalm this morning as we take a look at Psalm 33. But before we do that, if we could please join together in prayer this morning. Father God, we we're so thankful to you in this beautiful Lord's Day that you've called us together and that we have the privilege of worshiping and fellowshipping together to partake of the memorial feast that recognizes the body and the blood of your Son, Jesus, who gave his life, a perfect life for us who are imperfect people. And by your grace and by the blood that covers us, we are made perfect in your sight. We thank you for that. There's no way that we could earn that. There's no way that we can ever thank you enough. And what you've called us to do is to share that good news with those around us. That you don't have to be perfect, that you don't have to get everything right. Just make the best effort that you can and bring the rest to you. Spirit, I pray that you give us the words to do that. I pray that you give us the courage and the love to do that with those around us, with our family, with our friends, to share the love of Jesus with others, to bring people to a point in their life where they too, like us as believers, can sing a new song. Lord, we love you so very much. We praise you as the Almighty God of the universe, and we thank you, Jesus, as our Lord and our Savior. And it's in Jesus' holy and precious name we pray together. Amen. Church, the 33rd Psalm is a song, it's a song of praise. And that unlike most psalms, when you look at them, it doesn't necessarily bear a title, and it doesn't give any indication of authorship as is common with most psalms. And this makes the 33rd Psalm unique. And when you look at it and you break it down, it does appear to be very Davidic in its makeup. But you know what? Regardless of who the author is, the ultimate author of the scriptures is God. But regardless of who the author is, the subject of the 33rd Psalm is without a doubt and without question the praise of God. And we are encouraged in it to praise the Lord because of the excellence of his character and the majesty of his works of creation. Just go outside and take a look around. That did not happen. What we see did not happen by random chance. There is an intelligent designer. And the 33rd Psalm reminds us that we need to be thankful for our Almighty Creator. In this psalm, men are warned to fear God. Why? Because his purposes are accomplished through his great providence. Things don't just happen randomly. Those nations and people who choose to follow the Lord, they're blessed. Doesn't mean that we have a perfect life. Doesn't mean that everything always goes our way. But those who choose to follow him are blessed. In this psalm, family, the all-knowing and the all-powerful traits of God and his care for his people are celebrated. And they're celebrated in opposition to man's weaknesses. The 33rd Psalm concludes with a passionate and faithful expression of confidence in the providence of God and an intense prayer by the author. So let's get into the text. Verse 1 in the New American Standard says, Sing for joy to the Lord. O you righteous ones, praise is becoming to the upright. Sing for joy to the Lord. That's what the author says. He leads off with that. Sing with joy to the Lord. Family, can we truly sing for joy anywhere else? Church true joy is found only in the Lord. The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, that all spiritual blessings are found in the Lord. So let's just use common sense on that one. Let's reason that out. If all spiritual blessings are found in the Lord, then how many spiritual blessings are found outside the Lord? Church, in our truest nature, when you get past all the facades and you peel back the onion that is each and every one of us, in our truest nature, we're all spiritual beings. That's the way God created us. It's the way He made you, it's the way He made me. And even if we're blessed beyond measure in physical and material ways, we can still be spiritually empty. We could be spiritually bankrupt. Church, the most important and powerful preposition in the English language is in Christ. Or in the Lord. And here's the reality. We're either in the Lord or we're not. We're either in Christ, living this life, a life in Christ, or we're not. There is no in between. Now notice also in verse one that the psalmist indicates, quote, that praise is becoming to the upright. The New King James translation translates this in verse one as, for praise from the upright is beautiful. Now look at what he says. What does that mean? Church, it means that it's only natural for those who are righteous and those who live a life of righteousness in the Lord to also engage in the praise of the Lord. And this is a beautiful thing. It's beautiful when we all can walk in here together and we can set the cup down, so to speak, as Jamie mentioned. And we can sing our praises to God, we can worship the Lord with one another and encourage one another. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Verse 2 speaks of instrumental accompaniment, of praise and worship to the Lord, which was authorized under the Old Testament dispensation, but not under the New Testament. Verse 2 specifically mentions a harp of ten strings. In the Bible, numbers are significant. There is a significance found in numbers in the text. And traditionally, the number 10 and multiples of the number ten indicates a perfect and holy number. For example, there were ten commandments. There were ten plagues upon Egypt. There were ten nations to be conquered in the promised land. And Noah was the tenth descendant from Adam, among other significant tens in the Bible. And although this ten-stringed harp is called for in this Old Testament song, and its number of strings symbolizes perfection of the Lord, the human voice family is still the only divinely created instrument of music. It doesn't matter how bad you think you sing, it's beautiful to the Lord. Verse 3 encourages us to sing to him a new song. You see that? Sing to him a new song to play skillfully with a shout of joy. Sing to the Lord a new song. Family, it it stands to reason that in order to sing a new song, there has to have been an old song. Right? Look back at verse one. The psalmist says, sing. Sing for what? Sing for joy. Church, where is true joy found? It's found in the Lord. That's where it's found. And so, as Christians, because of God's incredible mercy, because of his unending love, because of our Lord's forgiveness, he's given you and he's given me the opportunity in his grace to sing a new song. Now notice what the rest of verse 3 says. It says, play skillfully with a shout of joy. Well, what does that mean? In order to play something with skill that has to be done regularly, trust me, you don't want me to walk up here cold turkey and start playing a violin. It'll be worse than Robert Shaw's fingernails across that chalk born and jaws, okay? It'll be bad. In order to play skillfully, we must play regularly. We must engage in it often, with a certain measure of attention to detail. This attention to detail, this skillful worship and praise should also be tempered with enthusiasm. Now, in its original meaning, our English word enthusiastic, it means to be possessed by a God. What God possesses you. Does worry possess you? It can be a God. Does financial gain possess you? It most certainly can be a God. Whatever you or I have placed above the Lord God Almighty is our God. And so to be enthusiastic means to be possessed by God. We're called to worship the Lord God Almighty, not only when we walk into this room, but as we live our daily life with enthusiasm. What God possesses you this morning. Church God wants us to praise Him with passion. He wants us to praise Him with enthusiasm. Family, we have to remember that we're not called to be the church of the frozen chosen, but to be the enthusiastic family of the graciously saved. Stand out. Be different. Represent the Lord in all that you say and all that you do and how you live. Sing a new song, the psalmist says. Sing a new song enthusiastically and joyfully. Verses four and five say, For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. The earth is full of the loving kindness of the Lord. Church, verse four gives us another indication from the Bible with regard to its own perfection. Family, God's word is right. God's word is moral. God's word is natural. God's word is spiritual, especially the incarnate word, the living word, which is Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness. Verse 4 also says, and all his work is done in faithfulness. Church God is faithful. God is faithful to his word, and he's going to uphold his end of the bargain with us. The work and the creation of the Lord is an overflow from his word. Verse 5 goes on to say, He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of the Lord. Family, verse 5 tells us that God loves righteousness. He loves justice. Question is, whose righteousness? And whose justice is it that the Lord loves? Ours. Church, righteousness and justice, they balance one another. Our justice directly correlates to our righteousness. So the justice spoken of here is not a vengeful justice. It's not a justice that is driven by anything that's wrong. It's a merciful justice. It's a loving justice. It's a loving pursuit of justice that serves others. God loves that. He loves to see that in us. And not only can we see the fingerprints of God in creation, family, we can also see the loving kindness of the Lord when we see other Christians. Are there certain brothers and sisters that when you see them, you see Christ living in them? That's what God's talking about. That's what God loves. Let me tell you something. This room right here is full of the loving kindness of the Lord. And when anyone walks into this room, the loving kindness of the Lord should greet them. We have visitors here at Central, they should feel like they've come home. And anyone who walks into this room should feel better when they walked out of this room than when they walked in. Church, when we consider all of the mistakes and all of the sins that we've been forgiven of. That I've been forgiven of. And you've been forgiven of. And then consider how we should have been treated in light of those things. We have a better understanding then of what verse five says. What that means, church, is that the righteousness and justice that he sees in us should be a reflection of himself. Verses six through nine speak of God's power expressed in the creation and the fear and respect that it commands from mankind. Look at what it says. In verse 10, the psalmist reminds us of something very important. The psalmist reminds us that we can do nothing apart from the plan of the Lord. We can do nothing apart from the plan of God. And he words it this way in the New American Standard. He says, the Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations, he frustrates the plans of the peoples. Church, when we consider the sovereign power of the Almighty God, how can we enter into any decision of significance without seeking his counsel? We see in verse 11, it says, the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. Family, this is a reminder, a very important and powerful reminder of the importance of sharing the Lord with our family. Especially our children. Church, many of the catastrophes that we read about in the biblical narrative can be explained by a lack of faith and trust in the Lord being passed from one generation to the next. We see this more clearly in verse 12. Look at what he says. The nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. Family, this verse right there, what you see on the screen, really hits home. It hits home when you consider the struggles of our nation over the last several years. This verse also stands out when you consider how far we've deviated from the Lord as a nation. As a nation whose leaders, in large part, no longer consider our nation to be a Christian nation. Here's the question. How much longer should we expect God to favor us and to bless us when we deny the lordship of his son? That's an important question we need to ask as a people, as a nation. How long should we expect God's favor and God's blessing if we continue to deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Verses 13 to 17. Says the Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men from his dwelling place. He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. He who fashions the hearts of them all, he who understands all their works, the king is not saved by mighty army. A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory, nor does it deliver anyone by its strength. Take a good look at that. That follows up what the psalmist wrote about the faith of a nation. That right there is the result of a lack of faith of a nation. And what he's saying is if you put your hope in the horse, you put your hope in your own abilities as a warrior, guess what? That's not going to deliver you. Only the Lord is going to deliver you. It does not deliver anyone by its strength. Many scholars in the past have viewed verse 13 as confirmation of the deist view of God. And if you're not familiar with the deist view of God, it means that God simply created the world, he wound it up, turned it loose, and watches it spin from a distance and never gets involved in anything. Those who have been rumored in our history to hold this view, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and a number of others, who were the architects of our country. We see in verses 16 and 17 that the deist view of God is inaccurate. And although the Bible does not specifically say that God actively intercedes for the king, it's inferred that God saves the king and delivers the warrior. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Verses 18 and 19 speak to those who are without the Lord, or who are uncertain of their relationship with the Lord. It says, Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope for his loving kindness, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Look carefully at what the psalmist writes. Here's what we must understand. And don't miss this. Whether we've made a commitment to Christ or not, we need to understand that God has made a commitment to us, sealed in the blood of his Son, and guaranteed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Verse 18 says, the eye of the Lord is on those who hope for his loving kindness. Church, God never intended for us to hope for his loving kindness. Or to wonder whether or not we're going to heaven. Look carefully at what John wrote. If you're a believer this morning, there's one thing that you and I should know for certain, above anything and everything else, that when this life is over, we're going to heaven. That is one thing that we should never, as believers, be uncertain of. But yet, let me share with you the tragedy. There's so many believers, so many brothers and sisters out there that I've met who don't they don't know. I hope so, they say. I'd like to think I am, they say. No, that's not the right answer. If you're a believer this morning, you know you're going to heaven. At least you should. And if you don't, we need to talk about it. I'd be glad to talk with you about it. And our shepherds would love to sit down and share that with you. But we need to know that we're going to heaven. Do you know that you have everlasting life this morning? Do you know it to the fiber and core of your being? When this life is over, I'm going to heaven. Because as Christians, there should be no doubt. That's not arrogance, that's blessed assurance. God is watching us because he loves us. And verse 19 says that he is watching, quote, to deliver your soul from death and to keep you alive during the famines of this life. Look carefully at what that says and consider your life. Consider the stage of life that you're in right now. Maybe the things that you're going through, the things that you're dealing with. Maybe not you directly, maybe a family member. We're all dealing with something this morning. How many famines do we go through? Financial famines, marital famines, occupational famines, family famines, spiritual famines, where it feels like we're starving for what we need the most in that particular situation. We can feel it. It hurts. How many famines has your relationship with the Lord carried you through? Think about it. And think about what you need God to carry you through right now. Think about what you need, your brothers and sisters, to bear the burden with you right now. The psalmist closes the 33rd Psalm with these words of encouragement to those in the Lord in verses 20 to 22. He says, Our soul waits for the Lord. I want to stop right there. Our soul waits for the Lord. Is that where you are this morning spiritually? What does that mean to us? It means the return of Jesus is the most important thing on my calendar. I got a lot of plans, got a lot of things I want to do, and so do you. But you know what? Jesus wants to come back today, come on back. Because it's going to be a whole lot better in heaven than anything I can imagine here. Do you believe that this morning? Man, I hope you do. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, for our heart rejoices in him because we trust in his holy name. Let thy loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in thee. Don't miss what he says at the end of that. Family, to be quiet in expectation, to be patient in hope, to be single in confidence are some of the greatest accomplishments of maturity as a Christian. Look again at what verse 21 says. Verse 21 tells us that our rejoicing in this life is proportionate with how much we trust the Lord. Think about that. Our rejoicing is directly proportionate with how much we trust the Lord. If you trust the Lord, you're a joyful person. Doesn't mean everything's going to go your way, but you're a joyful person because you trust in him. In verse 22, we see again that God's loving kindness is given to us in proportion to our hope and our faith in him. It says, Let thy loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us. Now notice what he says next, according as we have hoped in thee. Don't miss that. Church, the key to this song, the key to this song and everything of value in this life is found in thee. In the Lord. Church, this beautiful psalm begins in the Lord. That's where the writer starts. In the Lord. Sing for joy in the Lord, verse one. And it ends in the Lord as we have hoped in thee, verse 22. Beautiful book ends of this beautiful psalm. Church, this communicates a very valuable truth. There can be no hope unless we're in the Lord. Don't miss it. Because then and only then can we sing a new song as verse 3 encourages. A song of love, a song of peace, a song of joy and hope. And so let me ask you: are you in the Lord? Are you in the Lord? Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. If anyone is in Christ, they're a new creation. Are you in Christ this morning? Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 6, verses 3 and 4. All who are baptized or immersed into Christ are baptized into his death, his burial, and his resurrection. You're baptized into the Lord. Are you in the Lord this morning? Because there is no hope outside of him. Are you in Christ? Are you ready for his return? Are you ready to sing a new song? Have you found joy in your life? That's what this psalm is all about. And so the invitation is yours to respond however the Spirit leads you. If you need to go from being outside of Christ to being in Christ, everything's ready for you. If you need us to pray with you, to pray for you, our shepherds will be here up front with me to receive you, to hug you, to love you, to listen to you, and to encourage you. If you're looking for a church home, we hope that you found one with us because we would love to have you at Central. Whatever your need, please respond as the Spirit calls you while we stand and sing.