Psalm 67 “Let the Nations Be Glad in God!”

1:12Thanks for the invitation to be here with you all. It's really a great honor to share God's holy and perfect word. Also, we've been serving as missionaries in the Middle East. One part I forgot to say is if you ever put stuff or tweet stuff or whatever social media you. You do. We encourage you, please, not to do that, just for our safety and future work. So, as we start, let's pray, Heavenly Father, we thank you for being a gracious and giving us what we do not deserve. Glenning the forgiveness of our sins through your Son, Jesus Christ. We approach you today with joy and gladness, for you are a just judge and our shepherd.

2:02Though we deserve death and hell, you took our sins and guilt and crucified them with Christ, so that we would be forgiven and imputed with his righteousness. You became our Lord, our King, our shepherd, and you lead us in your way of righteousness. We also praise you, for you are our God. You are a personal God, not a distant creator. We can call you Father, our Heavenly Father, for you have adopted us into your family. So, we ask you, Heavenly Father, that by the work of the Spirit, you would use your word to teach, to reprove, to correct, to train us in righteousness, that we may be presented mature in Christ.

2:51In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, what is worse? Changing your life, your dreams, or even your future. What is worth living for? A letter said, December 7th, 1934. Dear brothers, my wife and baby, and myself are today in the hands of the communists in the city of Xingte, China. Their demand is $20,000 for our release. All our possessions are in their hands. We praise God for peace in our hearts and a meal tonight. May God grant you wisdom in what you do, and us fortitude, courage, and peace of heart. He is able and a wonderful friend in such a time. The Lord bless you and guide you.

3:52And as for us, may God be glorified whether by life or by death. John C. Stem. John and Betty Sam were not the first missionaries to find their way to this isolated community, but they were the first to settle there as a family. The first child, newborn Helen Priscilla, gladdened their hearts of this young couple. A rented shopfront served as their home and preaching chapel as well. John had already demonstrated great facility in speaking Chinese. However, he was married and wholly on his own for the first time in the mission field.

4:36Betty asked him, Do you think we should leave now? He replied, We'll wait and see. The stories were contradictory and confusing, the rumors wild and unconfirmable. No one knew the truth. In the end, the authorities were caught off guard as the hordes of bandits piled into the city. By this time, it was, of course, too late for John and Betty even to think of fleeing. Better stay and weather the storm, they decided. But this storm was different from any this small village had ever seen before. Wildly cheery, the communist bandits at last broke through the stamp's front door, urging them to sit down.

5:20John served the uninvited guests tea, but such courtesy were lost to them. John and Betty were ordered to get ready to leave. Although the stamps had been in this city only a short time, many friends watched silently and helplessly from doorway and roadside as the young foreign couple, stripped of their outer garments, were paraded down the streets. John's hands were tightly tied behind the backs, behind his backs. Betty on horseback held baby Priscilla. Wealthy people, landlords, stragglers, among government officials, and others were also taking captives.

6:01The communist bandits, perhaps fearing a counter-attack urgently, herded them some 20 miles west of the city. In the first hours of captivity, John wrote the letter I just read to you. And probably, sometime during that night, Betty tucked a provision into her little daughter's snuggle bunny and bundled her into a pile of heavy winter bedding to hide there. In the morning of December the 8th, 1934, John and Betty were paraded through the city to their execution when a local Chinese merchant, Chang Xu Sheng, pleaded with the authorities to spare the couple. Soldiers searched his home, finding a Bible and hymn book among his possessions. They arrested Cheng and killed him the next day.

6:58The stems were forced up a hill outside Miaoxia, where they were executed by decapitation at the summit. Their bodies were left behind by the evacuating soldiers, December 8, 1934. Some of you might have heard the story of John and Betty Stem before, missionaries martyred in China. Maybe their story inspires you to a more faithful life and ministry. Some of you, even today, are contemplating mission work overseas, and I pray and I hope that the Lord speaks to you during this service.

7:39Maybe some of you are thinking, Why would someone live his life, home, and family to this? Did you come today in search of answers, friend? Maybe the meaning of life or future or purpose for your life? Not sure, but I hope that you get some of your answers today, and I think you're in the right place. Today, we'll study Psalm 67. So, I want to invite you to open your Bibles in Psalm 67, page 481 from the Bibles in your chairs.

8:16I have three simple points today. If you take any notes, first, pray, second, praise three, or not third, partner. First, pray for your blessings and the blessings of the nations. Second, praise God and see your affections change. Third, partner with our missionary God. Let's look at the psalm. It's so short, we can read it again. It won't take much time. Plus, we have an hour and a half this morning to the choir master with string instruments, a psalm, a song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face.

9:00To shine upon us, Silah. That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, oh God. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Sillah. Let the peoples praise you. Oh God, let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God, shall bless us.

9:40God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. Let's see, verse 1 and 2. Pray. Pray. Pray for your blessing and the blessing of the nations. First, we need to take an intended look at the basis of God's gracious display of his blessing. This psalm, as maybe some of you already, reminded you of another verse, which is in Numbers chapter 6, right? There we go. Some people are nodding. Numbers chapter 6, verse 22 to 24, which is the Aaronic blessing. Avery 24 to 26. Number 6, 24 to 24. 26 says, The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

10:46A scholar calls this psalm that we read, Psalm 67, a prayer in light of God's promise of blessing. He says, This brief Psalm is in the form of a prayer for blessing, echoing the priestly benediction of Numbers 6:22-27. The Psalm begins in the first person requesting God's blessing upon us, so that God's way will be known and subsequently be a reason for praises to be lifted by all the nations and peoples of the earth. That is helpful. It's a good way to see the psalm as we pray for the word of God, as we pray the word of God back to him. And therefore, we can pray according to his purpose. If you want to learn more about this, you can find a little book by Donald Whitney called Praying the Bible. It's highly recommended. It's a great book. But this psalm is also grounded on Genesis chapter 12. Maybe some of you went there already in your minds. Chapter 12, verse 1 through 3 says, Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you and I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

12:34John Piper writes about this. What this text demonstrates is that the blessing of forgiveness and salvation that God had granted to Israel was meant eventually to reach all the people groups of the world. Israel was blessed in order to be a blessing among the nations. This is expressed best in Psalm 67. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and may his face to shine upon us. Why? That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Blessing came to Israel as a means of reaching the nations. This is the hope of the Old Testament. The blessing of salvation are for the nations. So, what is the prayer? What is the basis for this prayer? You're asking yourself. That was the question we're trying to answer. Upon what ground can someone Pray like this.

13:34The basis is God's covenant of grace given to his children. What is the way of God? The way of God is knowing him through his word and urgently through the word that became flesh and dwell among us, Jesus. This way rightly describes the name of Christianity given in the early church. And so ask him for letters to the synagogue in Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem in Acts chapter 9. Jesus said of himself, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. This way, the way of Christ is the way of life and salvation. Just like it was for Abraham, was for Israel. And now, through Christ, we have also received this spiritual blessing of salvation through Jesus Christ. True blessing are always from Christ, for Christ, and to Christ. From Christ as he gives salvation, for Christ, as for our enjoyment and delight in him, and to Christ as for his service, praise, and expansion of his kingdom. Let me talk to the kids in this church. So, if you're not, if you're like younger than 18, just listen for a second. Each one of us individually is called to a place of faith in the completed and perfect word of Christ, work of Christ, to take our hope and trust away from our performance and our obedience, to place our faith and hope in Jesus, to repent of our sins, and ask Him to become our Savior and our Lord of our lives. Kids, if you are not a Christian, all of this is talking about blessing does not apply to you unless you repent of your blessing, of your sin, excuse me, and turn to Christ for salvation.

15:47But the psalm starts as, may God be gracious to us and bless us. That's how this psalm is. So, do we have a place in our lives to pray for blessing? Yes, we have. We, as children of God, can pray for God to bless us like the psalmist does, to help us on the job that we are applying for, to bless our studies, as we study very hard, to bless our children so that we may, so that they may love and worship God, to bless our careers so that we may be promoted and testify about God. But here, as you understand, and You live in this world, there are two tensions, right? One, there is pain, and it feels sometimes more pain than blessing.

16:40This is a fallen world. Relatives get sick, children go stray, good employees are fired, students are not accepted to the college they wanted, wars and natural disasters happen, children suddenly die. We live in a fallen world, and we must remember Romans 8. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. This trial, pain, sorrow, like a seed that falls in the ground and dies, in due time, God will bring from it. A large tree for the refreshment of many. So do not lose heart, friend. Ask the Lord to give you strength during this season of trial. And in due time, you will find and give rest to many.

18:17The second tension that we have here is that blessings don't always come on time, namely on our time. Sometimes you pray for a revival, but what happens on the church across town? Sometimes you witness, but you don't see change, nor that loved one comes to faith. Remember, friend, our God is never late nor ever rushed. He will bring his secret will on time and on his time. What we can do is pray, trust, and obey. For he is a good God and he will bring his will to pass.

19:05Number two, praise. Praise. Praise and see your affections change. This Psalm has that, verse 3 and verse 5. It repeats itself. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Verse 5, let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. And verse 4, right? In the middle of these two, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Piper writes about this: Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It is the goal of missions because, in missions, we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God's glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the people and the greatness of God. The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the many coastlands be glance, be glad. Psalm 97. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Psalm 67. What message would missionaries rather take than that message? Be glad in God. Rejoice in God. Sing for joy in God. For God is more glorified in you when you're most satisfied in Him. God loves to exalt Himself by showing mercy to sinners. So God in His wisdom has ordered that when we do what we were created for, namely, when we praise Him, our affections and our hearts are changed by His presence.

20:54Verse 3 and 5, as we see it, so. Can you see this refrain again with me? It's repeated twice in the Psalm. Can you feel the joy, the gladness, the delight, the anticipation that the psalm has? The gospel here, as well, in verse 4, is personified in two ways: God as a judge and God as a king or a shepherd. God is a righteous judge that forgives the guilty. You may ask, forgiven of all the charges, all charges removed, all the debt paid? How can this be? For I am guilty of all my sins. The debt was mine.

21:441 Corinthians 6 says, And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. Verse 4 is also: God is personified as a ruler, a governor. Some of your Bibles might say, if you're in King James version, it says he will govern the nations or he will guide the nations. But the original, the idea, the connotation it has, is as a guide, as a shepherd. Not only does God atone for our sins, but he becomes our shepherd, our father, our Lord. In Hebrews 13, he really has that title. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will.

22:50But worship is also the field of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You cannot command what you don't cherish. Missionaries will never call out, let the nations be glad. You cannot say from the heart, I rejoice in the Lord. I will be glad and exalt in you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. Missions begins and ends in worship. Rightly say by Piper. So, friend, if you're not a Christian here, you came, friend invited you, you've been visiting this church for a while, I'm not sure.

23:32What I'm talking about here is being born again. Have you heard this phrase before? And one of the symptoms, signs and symptoms, of being born again is that you start hating what you once love and you start loving what you once hated. So you start hating your sin, which you once loved. You would not stop. You couldn't stop. You tried to stop, but you couldn't stop. It was killing you. You start loving maybe the church, maybe the word, maybe singing praises to God like never before, which you once you hated. You didn't care about these things, you hated, you despised those things. That's what the Bible calls being born again. Whenever you repent of your sins and turn to Christ for salvation, and you're given a new heart for God.

24:25So, friend, would you turn to Jesus for your justice and ask him to become your king? I had a friend, his name is Ali, and I was visiting with him, and he came to the church where I was, and we met, and we had just great fellowship. And then, on the visit, we started reading the book of John. He wanted to know more about Jesus. He was not a Christian. We were in the Middle East. And Ali really diligent. He's read the Bible many times. He was reading the Bible with me and memorizing verses. And one day, we're sitting there, and Ali looks at me and says, John, you know that if my brother would walk in here and see me doing this, he would shoot me.

25:21And I said, Ali, I'm not sure what to tell you about that, but I can tell you this is worth it. This is something worth it. Living giving your life for. And we continue reading the book of John. Maybe you're thinking, what is it that you do in the mission field, as I explained? We do exactly that. We share with the lost world that their religion, their personal righteousness, or good behavior will never save them. But only Jesus can. There are many non-biblical movements sadly promoted by missionaries like CPM, church planting movements, DMM, disciple-making movements, insider movements. This kind of movement methodology seeks rapid reproduction, but not careful discipleship. Seeks avoidance of persecution, but not counting the cost. Six churches with no elders, nor regenerated members, nor training in exchange of rapid church planting.

26:37Friend, if you are going to be working as a missionary, please trust your elders. Ask them questions and tell them to shepherd you in doctrine and practice, even the practice of missions. All right. Number three. Partner. Partner. Partner with our missionary God. Verse 67, verse chapter 67, verse 6 and 7. The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the errands of the earth fear him. The righteous use of God's earthly blessings.

27:35You can, and I'll speak about two things here. Number one, commit to support gospel work. Chapter 67, verse 6. Again, the earth has yielded its increase. We're referring to in this psalm, this psalm is a perfect or the idea giving. Think about Thanksgiving, having a big dinner, where you're celebrating, you're celebrating the harvest. The idea was that God has blessed us. Oh, look how he's blessed us in abundance. Verse 6. The earth has yielded its increase. Yes, we work. Yes, we put the seed. Yes. But it is God himself who has done this to us.

28:23It is him who gives us everything. A very helpful verse is every good gift and every perfect give. Comes from above, from the father of life with whom there is no variation, shadow, due to change. The intelligence you have, the opportunities you've had, the family you were given, all the finances that you have, etc., it is all a gift from God. The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God, shall bless us. There is a righteous use of God's earthly blessings, brothers and sisters. That has sort of, in a way, almost taken holy by the prosperity gospel, sadly, and all their false teachings. But here, the Bible gives a green light, Lord, bless me, that I may be a blessing, because there is a righteous use of God's earthly blessings. Why? Or in what way? For the purpose of expansion of his kingdom. Namely, gospel work. The earth that overflows with thankfulness, joy, and praise, desires, that the nations would also praise God. Other religions do not save, nor are of any help to the lost. This psalm is clear that the nations need the God of the Bible, or they will be lost and they will go to hell. Whenever talking with Muslims, sometimes, whenever I'm in the Middle East, or especially here as well, but also in the Middle East, they will say something like, We all worship the same God. Jews, Christians, Muslims, we're all brothers, they might say. The first time I heard that, I was caught by surprise. I thought, you know, they were going to be very stunch on their belief. But there's so many they believe on this. Is that true? No, the answer is no. We do not worship the same God. The God in the Arabic language is Allah, as well as Christians use the same Allah in the Middle East.

30:28If you go to a Christian church, you will hear that as well. And that's completely normal. But if they do not acknowledge Jesus, as they don't, as a God, as the Son of God, and seek to know the Father through Him, they do not know the Father. Same as Jews, and same as liberal Christians that deny the resurrection of Jesus, etc. John 14, verse 8 through 10 says, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? However, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father?

31:14Do you not believe that I am the Father and the Father is in me? One time I was and this friend came and told me, Hey, our friend, you remember the one who was sharing the gospel? He is now a Christian. I'm so excited. I was like, Praise God. So I find this friend, I go talk to him, and said, Hey, our friend said you became a believer. Praise God. Tell me about it. His eyes got big. He's like, I'm not a Christian. I mean, a Christian? I'm not a Christian. And I said, okay, let's just call it Muhammad. Okay, Muhammad, so what happened to you? And he said, well, what I started doing now is that I pray now in Jesus' name. So I may pray, and then I close it off in Jesus' name, like you guys. Ah, I said, okay. So, but a question I asked him. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? That He died on the cross for our sins, that you must repent and believe in Him for your salvation, or you'll be condemned. He'd be like, No, I don't believe in that. I just want to pray in Jesus' name. Oh, I said, Okay, Muhammad. Well, you understand that you're not a Christian. You're just adding Jesus to your plethora of other gods or whatever. He's like, Yeah, I understand that. Okay, okay. We'll keep talking. Thank you.

32:37People need the Lord. They're lost. They need the gospel. God is inexhaustibly, and has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of his name among the nation. Piper writes, mission exists because worship doesn't. For the sake, another point on this, for the sake of our blessing in joining this work. You may say, oh, I just got this job and I studied all this year just to buy me all these toys. Stop it, preacher. I want my toys. I've been in your shoes too, you know, before. But the other point of these is that we do this for the sake of our blessings in this joining with God's work. We partner in the work of world evangelization and church planting because we get to. Because it is an incredible privilege and opportunity. Those who join in this work, churches that join hands in the expansion of the kingdom, may invest their resources outside of themselves. Send people to minister outside and not minister among themselves. Pray for work that is not in their close vicinity. But be blessed abundantly, either by going as missionaries or by sending missionaries to proclaim the gospel among the nations.

34:10Number three, or numbers three point two here. You can go. Let's see, verse seven, our last verse. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. Fear. What a powerful deterrent for missions is fear of crime. Are you safe where you go, John? Very common question, which is not a bad question. Thanks for asking me. I appreciate that. Fear of pain, sometimes fear of death, fear of persecution. On the guy's side, I hear a lot of like fear of lack of future career opportunities. If I'm gone for seven years in the middle of nowhere or in another country coming back here, you know, I'll be out and I won't have any future for my career. Here, the verse is asking us to fear him, to fear the Lord, and tell the nations to fear him, not to fear the nations. Sometimes missions doesn't happen because we fear the nations more than we fear him.

35:37So maybe you're contemplating going overseas as a missionary and think of the many things you will lose. Trouble that you will encounter, pain that you will see, rejection that you will feel. But dear friend, let me encourage you that you will be the one that is. Most blessed, the one that will gain more, the one that will get to experience the grace and blessing of God firsthand. Tom Steller, just closing off this message, wrote something really encouraging for us all. Not every Christian is called to be a missionary, but every follower of Christ is called to be a world Christian. A world Christian is someone who is so gripped by the glory of God and the glory of His global purpose that he chooses to align Himself with God's mission, to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea.

36:47Everything a world Christian does is with a view to the hallowing of God's name and the coming of God's kingdom among all the peoples of the earth. The burning prayer of the world Christian is, Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. So, whether we are those who send or those who go, let us glory in the supremacy of God in missions, and let us link arms together as we join in the refrain of, oh, let the nations be glad.

37:24So, what is worth living for, friends? Jesus, his gospel. And the expansion of his church is worth living for. The story of John and Betty Sam doesn't end in a tragedy. As news of the young missionary's death reached America and college campuses across the states, literally hundreds of young adults dedicated their lives to bring the gospel message to harder-reached places like China. God raised an army of joyful messengers through their witness. And maybe even you today, as you hear this message, do you like to commit to missions work in the future? Please, after this service, talk to Pastor Allen or any other elder here so I can help you with this process. I leave you with the last sentence that John Stem penned in his darkest night. Before ours, he was led to the martyrdom. The Lord bless you and guide you. And as for us, may God be glorified, whether by life or by death. Let's pray.

38:40Heavenly Father, we ask you to please bless your holy word as it goes out, stirring us a passion for your name, a delight in your gospel, and all for your cross and sacrifice. Lord, let us be propelled by this gospel to evangelize our friends, to pray for the lost soon. Support the missionaries of this church and go to the least reached parts of the world. Lord, we ask you to have mercy on us and bless us. Make your face to shine upon us. You will give us peace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

39:25Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.