The Greatest Work of God

Good morning church, we are in Psalm 1:45 today.

If you're using the Bible under your seat, it is page 491.

Bear with me because these pages are thin so I feel like I'm

reading 2 pages at once. I will extol you, my God and

King, and bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and

ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to

be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall

declare your mighty acts on the glorious splendor of your

majesty. And on your wondrous works I

will meditate. They shall speak of the might of

your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and

shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and

abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and His

mercy is over all that He has made.

All your work shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and all your

Saints shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of

Your Kingdom and tell of Your power to make known to the

children of man Your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor

of Your Kingdom. Your Kingdom is an everlasting

Kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all

generations. The Lord is faithful in all His

words and kind in all His works. The Lord upholds all who are

falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to You, and you give them their food.

In due season you open your hand.

You satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him.

In truth, he fulfills the desire of those who fear Him.

He also hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will

destroy. My mouth will speak the praise

of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and

ever. This is the word of the Word.

Good morning. Hey, what's funny is I guess it

was on and then I turned it off thinking I was turning it on.

Y'all need me to repeat any of that stuff though, OK, I figured

y'all were good. I figured y'all were good.

So Speaking of of a team and of a a wife who who helps me out in

in moments like this, y'all have a picture of my family back

there? Nope.

All right. Well, most of my family's up

here. Y'all raise your hands.

Leland's. Hey Leland's new favorite song

lately is Praise the Lord. So he was he was back there just

building it out. Leland is 6 loves dinosaurs.

Josie is 5 loves unicorns. Cohen I assume is back Yonder.

He's three. He now loves to use the potty.

So we give thanks for that. So first, first time in like 6

years. We don't have a kid in diapers

in our house. Been married to my wife Molly

for 11 years. Proverbs 1822 says he who finds

a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord and

that's my story. She's the glue of our family.

She's my aspiration to use my Planet Fitness membership.

I think you'll have a burn boot camp here in Norfolk.

Molly is she's in to burn down in down in high point.

Thankful thankful for for my family and for the the church

family that God is is starting to put together we're we're

going to be called declaration from this Psalm from Psalm 145

verse verse 4 and I hope you're already turned there to it.

A few weeks ago 9 pieces of crown jewelry were stolen from

the Louvre Art Museum over there in Paris in broad daylight. 9

pieces. One of them was recovered later

that day, but it was damaged pretty badly and in the news

coverage about it, the very first robbery at the Louvre was

all the way back in 1911. Anyone know what was stolen from

that inaugural robbery? The Mona Lisa?

The Mona Lisa was stolen all the way back in 1911.

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in the early 1500s,

and in 1911 an Italian handyman stole it from the Louvre by

hiding inside the museum overnight and then walked out

the next morning in broad daylight with the painting under

his clothes. He pulled a pretty much a

Nicolas Cage from National Treasure.

In real life, he he claimed that he wanted to return the

masterpiece to Italy, where it had return it yet to Italy.

He thought it had been wrongfully taken by France.

The painting was recovered a couple years later.

It rocked the world because it was already regarded as a

masterpiece at that time and it's theft made it an icon to

the extent that it's it's been regarded as by by most, if not

all, as the greatest work of art.

So much so in 1962 it was making its rounds around the world and

when it came to the United States, the French government

insured it for 100 million U.S. dollars, which is over a billion

dollars today. Now I'm not at all advocating

for it to be stolen again, but if it were to be, I'm also not

saying that I wouldn't accept a tie from it to Declaration

Church as we as we get started in a little under a year from

now. If if the Mona Lisa is the

greatest work of art, then I want us to consider for a few

moments together this morning what the greatest work of our

God is. We're going to do that from

Psalm 145. It's already been read in its

entirety. Let's read the first few verses

together again or look at them together again, verse one.

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name

forever and ever every day. I will bless you and praise your

name forever and ever. Great is the Lord.

How many of you know in your life that the Lord is great?

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is

unsearchable. One generation shall commend

your works to another. And shall what Leland, declare

your mighty acts? One generation to another shall

declare your mighty acts. Here's the big idea that I want

to hand you from Psalm 145. The gospel is simply the

greatest work of God. The gospel is the greatest work

of God. This is the last Psalm that's

attributed to King David, and it's also the last of the eight.

What are called acrostic psalms, the beginning of each line or

lyric. The psalms were the original

hymn book. The beginning of each line of an

acrostic Psalm begins with the next letter in the Hebrew

alphabet. One commentator called Psalm 145

the alphabet of praise because of how it calls us to praise God

both for who He is and for what He does, To praise God for His

greatness and for His goodness, To praise Him for His worth and

His works. Halloween being being over for

our family means we are we we we listen to Christmas music on our

drive up this weekend. Judge us if you want, but that

means Christmas season in the Suits house.

And to be honest with you, Christmas in the Suits house

will also mean at some point sooner than later, Christmas

vacation, at least when the kids go to bed.

And we will do the edited version, all of that stuff.

The the thing about Chevy Chase is he's known for not living up

to the the family man Clark Griswold persona that he he

plays in in those movies. In fact, by many that he's done

movies with, to be honest with you, he's kind of regarded as as

a jerk. That's what many of his many of

his other actors and actresses say.

On the other hand, the most famous man in High Point, where

I'm from, where we've lived the past few years, the most famous

guy in High Point is a man named Nito Qubane.

He is the president of High Point University and Doctor

Cobain may or may not give out king size candy bars on

Halloween. And we may or may not know that

that's the case because his house is the first one we hit up

every year. So his what he does kind of

lives up to his reputation. And what this Psalm shows us is

that our God lives up to the praise that he's worthy of

receiving. Verse 3 says that he is great,

that he's greatly to be praised. Why?

Look at verse 4 again. One generation shall commend

your what your works to another and shall declare your mighty

acts. Growing up as as a Jew and being

immersed in what was their law, what's the first five books of

our Old Testament? King David would have been

familiar with things like creation, the flood, God

providing a ram in place of Isaac, O Mount Moriah, the

plagues of Egypt, the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, the

battle of Jericho, and even in his own life, he would have been

familiar with the works of God. He had killed a lion some time

before. He killed Goliath with just one,

one stone. God had spared his life from

King Saul. David knew what it was like for

his sin, his sin with Bathsheba to be redeemed.

In other words, David both knew historically and culturally and

personally about the mighty acts of God.

But as incredible as those displays of God's power were,

they were not the be all, end all of what God was actually

doing. It's here's what I mean.

It's easy to think that the Red Sea is all about God making a

way through a difficult situation.

And it's easy to think of Goliath as being about God, us

having faith in God to overcome giants in our lives.

Don't hear me say that there's not application in in those

areas of our lives, but they're not the point.

The point, the point wasn't so much about what God could do as

much as it was about what God would do.

Another way of saying that is this.

The point was who they pointed to.

God created us to be in relationship with Him.

But sin has ruined that. Sin has wrecked that.

The sin that we inherited from Adam and Eve separates us from

God. That that's not because God is

some divine version of Clint Eastwood and Gran Torino telling

us to get off his lawn. It's because our God is holy,

say holy. It's because our God is holy,

and anything less than who God is cannot be in relationship

with Him. It's also why the world is so

incredibly broken. It's why we have things like

hurricanes that that devastate places not too far from from the

United States. That's why we have government

shutdowns. And it's why we have politicians

who frankly, are less mature than Leland, Josie, and Cohen.

As as God was pronouncing the curse, he told Adam that the

ground would produce thorns and thistles, which is a good

picture of a sin cursed broken world.

But right before God told, God told the serpent or God told

that he told the serpent who attempted Eve to eat from the

forbidden tree. He told them.

He told the serpent this in Genesis 315.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your

offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and

you shall only bruise his heel. That's Genesis 315.

That's what theologians call the proto evangelion, the first

gospel, the first promise of Jesus and the rest of the Old

Testament is, is God basically creating a people to bring about

the one person of Jesus, to bring about Jesus.

And 1000 years later after David wrote this Psalm, Jesus, who was

his great grandson about 28 times over, was born in his

hometown that night in the little town of Bethlehem.

Luke chapter 2 says that an Angel appeared to a ragtag group

Luke 2 · chapter mention

of shepherds who are hanging out in a field keeping watch over

their flock by night. The Angel told them this, this

fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great what, of

great joy, which will be for all people.

And then the Angel looks them in the eye.

And this is a singular you, he says, For unto you is born this

day in the city of David, a Savior.

Who is what? Who is Christ the Lord.

The end of chapter 2 says that Jesus grew in wisdom and in

stature and in favor with God and man to the extent that he

lived the sinless holy life that you and I could not live because

of our sin, that He died the death on the cross, that you and

I deserve to die. In fact, you remember what what

God told Adam would be a sin, a symbol of a sin.

Cursed world, Thorns and thistles.

What did the soldiers place on Jesus's head?

A crown of thorns. They did that to mock him.

What they didn't know is that they were putting on his head a

very symbol of the curse that he had come to reverse.

He lived the sinless life that we couldn't live.

He died the death. He took sin on himself.

He took God's punishment for our for our sin that we deserve to

die. And three days later, his body

wasn't stolen like a piece of art.

He rose from the dead to give us life that we otherwise couldn't

have, because only a living Savior can give us life.

That's the gospel. Anybody know what the word

gospel means? It means good news, good news.

It's the good news that Jesus has done everything necessary

for our salvation and everything.

Everything in the Old Testament pointed to that.

It's why Jesus told a group of religious leaders in John

John 5:39

chapter 5 verse 39. He said you search the

scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal

life, that it is they that bear witness or testify about me.

In other words, every work of God in the Old Testament that

spanned thousands of years, they were a shadow of what he would

do in a span of three days. The gospel is the greatest work

of God. Want to hand you three things

about the gospel into your life from Psalm 145?

The first thing is this, in the gospel you and I are saved.

In the gospel we are saved. Look at verse 8 again, Says the

Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in

steadfast love. Some translations say

compassionate instead of merciful in the first part of

the verse. Some say mercy instead of

steadfast love in the second part of the verse.

Whatever your translation says, it's clear that in this verse

God is both gracious and merciful.

Grace is getting something good. You don't deserve mercy is not

getting something bad. You what you do deserve.

We always read at at bedtime with with our kids and a couple

weeks ago, I know it's going to be hard to imagine, but these

two up here, we're cutting a rug at toward bedtime.

And I told them you don't deserve to read tonight, but

you're going to get to anyways. And that's called grace?

Leland asked. Daddy, what's grace?

So, dude, it's getting something good that you don't deserve.

In our sin, we don't deserve to be in relationship with God.

In our sin, we don't deserve eternal life in a real place

called heaven. We don't deserve abundant life

now. Until then, we don't deserve

joy. We don't deserve purpose.

We don't deserve hope. What we deserve is eternal

separation from God. We deserve to be abandoned to

our sin. Again, that's not because God

doesn't like you. It's because God would cease to

be God if he accommodated sin. Anybody dislike mayonnaise?

I can't stand mayonnaise. I cannot accommodate mayonnaise.

God cannot accommodate sin. He would cease to be God if he

accommodated sin. The thing about sin, Romans 623

says that the wages of sin is what is death.

About a year at that. Well, going on two years ago, I

had a Fender Bender that was 100% my fault.

Fortunately, like a good neighbor, State Farm was there

for me, but somebody had to pay for the damage.

If if State Farm didn't cover it, maybe Larry Walker Body Shop

on Sarat Drive and and you know, South high point, maybe they

would have said don't worry about it.

But had they said not to worry about it, the the price would

have still been absorbed by The Body Shop.

Sin has a cost. Sin has a price.

It has to be paid. And God would cease to be God if

if he just accommodated sin and you all.

That's what makes the gospel such good news.

That's what makes the gospel the mightiest act, the greatest work

of God. Because not only did Jesus enter

our sin, but on the cross he took the punishment that we

deserve. And in his resurrection we get

eternal life that we don't deserve.

He's gracious and he's merciful. In the moment that we lean our

God-given faith on the resurrected crucified Lord

Jesus, the Bible says that we are saved, say saved.

Paul said in Romans, Romans 10/9 that if you confess with your

mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God

raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That that is saved from and eternity of being abandoned to

our sin and saved to the abundant life that only comes by

faith in Jesus. The abundant life that starts

the moment we get saved and culminates in seeing Jesus face

to face. It's why earlier in Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is

the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes The word

in Greek is dunamis dunamis. Alfred Nobel originally called

his invention Nobel's blasting powder, but he thought the Greek

word had more of a bang to it, if you will.

So he simply called it dynamite. The gospel dunamis, the power of

God that saves us. Milton Vincent says outside of

heaven, the gospel, excuse me, The power of God in its highest

density is found inside the gospel.

Nothing else in all of Scripture is ever described in this way

except for the person of Jesus Christ.

The Red Sea wasn't about God making a way, wasn't about God

making a way through difficult situations as much as it pointed

to how the Son of God would make the only way through the waters

of our sin. The the point of David and

Goliath wasn't about having faith to overcome giants, but it

pointed to how David's great grandson would defeat our

greatest giant of sin and death on the cross and in the empty

tomb. In the gospel we are saved.

Secondly, in the gospel we are sustained.

We are sustained. Verse 14 in Psalm 145, it says

the Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who

are bowed down. Yesterday we spent about an hour

on the beach and it reminded me last year at the beach, our

family vacation. Josie and I were standing at the

the water's edge. She was holding my hand.

She was jumping over over the waves as they came, came rolling

in, did it for a solid 10 minutes and each each time a

wave came in, she giggled no less than the time before that

just had the the absolute time of her life jumping over those

waves. About 10 minutes into that,

after jumping over a wave, she looked up at me and said, Daddy,

I'm doing it all by myself, holding your hand.

In the Gospel, you and I are held by the hands of our Father.

We're held by the hands of the living God.

And that means in Christ Jesus you can endure whatever God and

His sovereignty allows to crash into the boat of your life.

It means you can endure the waves of trouble and difficulty.

You can endure pain because you know that your pain is not the

end of the story. You can endure uncertainty

because your future is secure in Christ.

You can endure betrayal because betrayal is what got Jesus on

the cross. It makes me think of if y'all

sing leaning on the everlasting arms.

Maybe some of you are familiar with with Dottie Rambo.

Makes me think of an old Dottie Rambo lyric that says so let the

storms rage high, the dark clouds rise.

They don't worry me, for I am sheltered, safe within the arms

of God. In the gospel we are sustained.

We are held and we can jump over the waves of whatever God allows

to come into our life. We are saved #3 we are

satisfied. In the gospel, we are satisfied.

Look at verse 15 again. The eyes of all who look to you

and you give them their food in their due season.

You open your hand and you satisfy the desire of every

living thing. Every living thing.

See, desire is universal. You don't have to learn to want.

Everyone naturally does it. From the the newest born baby to

someone born before the Great Depression.

Desire is both universal and natural.

King size candy bar bars from Doctor Cobain may satisfy sweet

tooth. Netflix may satisfy some

boredom. Sleep may satisfy weariness.

But only the living God can satisfy our soul and he does

that in and through the gospel. Not long after Jesus said what

he did to those religious leaders about you search the

scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal

life. But it's they that testify about

me. Chapter later John chapter 6

John 6:35

verse 35 Jesus said I am the bread of what of life.

No one comes to me, no one who comes to me will ever be hungry.

No one who believes in me will ever be thirsty Again y'all

praise God he didn't say I'm the salad of life or I'm the rice

cakes of life. The word of God under the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit says I'm the what I'm the bread

of life. See the the world, the world

promises a good time. It promises peace and purpose.

It promises hope and happiness. But it's only in the gospel that

we can actually have any of those things in their truest

form. You can say it like this.

Jesus over delivers on what the world under promises.

David said you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every

living thing. Y'all you can draw a straight

line from that verse to a public execution on a Friday afternoon

outside the city walls of Jerusalem where the bread of

life opened his hands on the cross and when he pushed up on

his nail pierced feet, he said it is finished.

That meant that every desire that you and I could ever have

would be fulfilled in Him. So by way of application, kind

of A2 sided coin this morning, the gospel number one or letter

A. However you want to chalk it up,

the gospel is worth declaring to others.

The gospel is worth declaring to others.

Look at verse 41 more time. One generation shall commend

your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.

January 8th, 1815, General Andrew Jackson, before he was

President, LED American forces to victory over the British in

the Battle of New Orleans. And what's ironic is that the

War of 1812 had already been officially over for a couple of

weeks at that point. The the treaty that ended it had

been signed in what is today Belgium on Christmas Eve 1814,

but news hadn't hadn't reached the United States yet.

So they were fighting the battle even though the war had already

been won. Every generation, every person

in every generation in some way, fights for something they feel

they lack. Generally speaking, the Silent

Generation fights for stability. Baby boomers fight for success.

Gen. X fights for independence.

Millennials like me, we fight for purpose.

Gen. Z fights for significance.

The alpha generation is growing up fighting for security.

None of those things are bad in and of themselves.

But see, here's the thing. The Gospel reframes those

things. Because at the cross and at the

empty tomb, Jesus one. Listen, Jesus won the war for

each one of them, and that means the gospel changes everything

for every generation. It's why the gospel must be

declared. That's why it must be declared.

Because people all around us, people in your lives, people in

your classes, people in your neighborhoods, people at work

with you, people in your families, people all around us

are fighting battles that they don't need to fight.

They're fighting for belonging by looking for love in all the

wrong places. They're fighting for approval by

trying to get as many likes and follows as possible.

They're fighting for identity by mutilating their bodies.

They need to hear that the war has already been won, y'all.

They need to hear the gospel. And the thing about news, like a

war being won, it's never communicated in whispers or a

secret code. It's always communicated

urgently and clearly and boldly. In fact, the word declare at the

beginning of verse four, one generation or the word commend

shall commend your works to another.

That word, some translations say declare there it means to praise

or to triumph. So the good news of what Jesus

has done for us isn't something we tell discreetly because we're

ashamed of it. It's something we declare

because we treasure it. Tony Marita says we commend what

we cherish. We should cherish the gospel.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel, Paul said.

It's why we send missionaries to places all around the world

where our sending pastor, Pastor Andrew says, where the sun rises

and sets but no one knows who to give the credit to.

People around the world and in unreached places can walk for

miles and miles and days, days after days, and never come in

contact with someone who follows Jesus.

It's why we send missionaries to declare the gospel in those

places. It's why we raise our kids as

arrows to be sent out, not accolades to be shown off.

It's why we plant these things called churches.

Sometimes we say the church is God's Plan A to reach the World.

But what does having a Plan A imply?

That there's a plan. What?

There's a Plan B in the economy of God's Kingdom.

There's no Plan B in the Kingdom of God.

There's just God's plan to reach the World.

And so if the church is God's plan to reach the World, then

big cities like Norfolk or small towns like Bowie's Creek, North

Carolina, big cities are small towns.

If the church is God's plan, then the world simply needs more

churches. I admit, before COVID I was a

lead pastor at a church in Boone.

I was one of those curmudgeons who thought that the American

South had enough churches and the the struggling churches just

needed to be revitalized, replanted.

There's some truth to that. There's some truth about that to

to churches who are struggling. And I can't pinpoint a certain

conversation or conference talk or interaction with someone.

But God in his grace just started to to change my heart

about church planting and then a few months later is when the

Lord brought Mercy Hill into our life.

He called our family there almost four years ago, four

years ago to get healthy. I was dealing with some burnout,

came to get some more tools in my tool belt, came to see to to

see what what God might be calling our family to do in

terms of planting a church. And in all of that before Mercy

Hill came into our life and certainly after coming on staff,

the bottom line in my soul has has has become that there is no

place. No place has enough gospel

centered churches including including Harnett County.

Those who study missions and church planting say that to to

really begin to change the culture of a community, you need

one church for every 1000 people from 2020 to 2040.

Harnett County, which is in between Raleigh and Fayetteville

bedroom community of both of those places, 2020 to 2040, the

county's projected to grow by 50,000 people.

I know it's Sunday morning, but let's let's see how we do with,

with our math 50,000 people need one church for every 1000 people

to to really put to start to put a dent in the culture.

So how many new Gospel Center churches is Harnett County going

to need? We're going to need 50 new

churches just to just to put a dent in the culture of that

community. Statistically, most of those

50,000 people that are moving there for lower cost of living,

their work, they're moving there to work in Raleigh and and

Fayetteville, but they're living there.

Statistically, most of those people are not followers of

Jesus. And on top of that, just a few

miles from a lot of that growth is Campbell University.

Pastor Tanner said not only yes, he's right in the camels, he's

half right in calling them the camels.

But somebody know what the mascot technically is the not

just the camels, but the fighting camels.

No other Division One school in the United States, their mascot

is the fighting camels. Statistically, I think there's a

Division Three school that they're, they're the camels, but

they're not even a real school because they're Division Three.

OK, just kidding, just kidding. If you went to AD 3 school, I'm

just kidding, just kidding. They're the they're the Fighting

Campbells. If you're familiar with Campbell

University, historically they're a Baptist college.

But I don't know. I say this back home and it

clicks. I know a lot, a lot of you

planted out of North Carolina, so this might click with you.

Campbell is about as Baptist as High Point University is

Methodist. OK, do it another way.

Campbell is about as Baptist as Duke University is Methodist.

All right. So yes, there are, there are

some students who who follow Jesus, who go there.

A lot of them who follow Jesus, they drive 30 to 45 minutes to

go to church because they haven't connected with with the

church closer to campus. And I don't say that like we're

going to be the Messiah to go in and turn Bowie's Creek upside

down per SE, but we do want to turn the world upside down like

they did in the Church of Acts. OK, so we're not going to limit

God in what he can do in and through us either.

But even though historically Campbell is a Baptist college,

plenty, plenty of students who go there do not follow Jesus.

And y'all we, we got to pray do we got to prayer walk Old

Dominion yesterday? And, and I was reminded even

doing that maybe you've sensed this.

I hope you have. The Holy Spirit is doing

something unique on college campuses in this day.

So we feel like it's a strategic time in a strategic place to

plant a new gospel centered church as close to Campbell

University. Yes, we want to reach those

thousands of new families and be 1 of dozens of new churches to

reach those families and the young church families who are

already there. And we want to reach Campbell

University. And so Pastor Tanner's already,

he's already said it. I'm coming here with a fishing

license if if God's leading you to join our team to plant

Declaration Church. We love to have a conversation

with you and Pastor Tanner and your pastors would probably like

to have that conversation with you as as well.

But if that's not in God's cards for your life.

I hope you'll be praying for us. Our kids are probably going to

make sure that no person leaves here without a magnet of our

family. So if you have 3 by 5 inches of

of space on your fridge, I hope you'll slap us on there and and

pray for us when you see when you see that magnet, whatever

that looks like for you though, whatever you and declaration

looks like, I'm confident that there are people in your life

right now who are close to you but far from God.

So live with your heads up. Don't keep the the goodness of

the chicken biscuit to yourself. The psalmist says taste and see

that the Lord is good. And then in in Matthew chapter

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

5, we're the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

As we taste and see the goodness of God.

Let's live as salt and light. You live a salt in life in the

place where God is called you. Who are the people that you

know, who are close to you but far from God?

Is God stirring you? Stirring in you to leverage your

life to live among an unreached people group where they have

little to no access to the gospel?

What does that look like in between?

In between, kind of fill in the blank?

What does it look like for you to declare the gospel to others?

Live lives with your heads up. The gospel is worth declaring to

others. The other side of that coin is

the gospel is worth declaring to ourselves.

Look at verse 5 and then I'm done.

Not only are we to declare your mighty acts one generation to

another, verse 5 says on the glorious splendor of your

majesty and on your wondrous works, I will what?

I'll meditate. If verse 4 is outward, verse 5

is inward. On the glorious, on the glorious

works, your deeds, I will. Your wondrous works, I will

meditate. I will think about.

I'll ponder. If you're standing in front of

the Mona Lisa, you're probably not going to rush by it.

You're going to stop and stare a while.

You would linger. You would let the the weight of

the greatest work of art just kind of hit you.

You'd sit there in that moment, just look at it.

That's what you and I should do with what Jesus has done for us.

We should stop and stare. We should let it capture our

souls again and again, over and over.

Paul David Tripp says no one is more influential in your life

than you are because no one talks to you more than you do.

He says declaring the gospel to ourselves is self consciously

and intentionally reminding ourselves.

Of the person and the presence and provisions of Jesus.

Some of you need to be captured by the gospel for the very first

time today. And I pray if that's your case,

I know if it is your case, then God doesn't have you here by

accident. He has you here to hear the

gospel and I pray that this day would be your day to lean your

God-given faith on what Jesus has done for you.

It's as simple as ABC. Admit to God that you need him.

Admit that you're a Sinner. Believe that Jesus has done

everything necessary for your salvation.

Confess that He is the Lord of your life, that he's going to

call the shots from now on. I pray that this day would be

your day to believe the gospel if your faith is in Jesus.

It's not a a super action oriented sermon more than as

much as it's a belief oriented sermon.

If your faith is in Jesus, I pray that you would stop and

stare at the gospel even in the next few moments.

I believe we're celebrating the Lord's Supper as we do that, as

we sing together. Stop and stare at the greatest

work of God. Linger.

Let your soul linger at the foot of the cross.

Let the gospel capture your heart anew and afresh this day.

So, Father, take your word. It's your word.

God, I pray, Lord, I pray as we, as we've received it, that your

spirit would give, God would give joy as we take a next step.

Lord, for those whose faith is in Jesus, I pray it would be a

time for for us to to linger at the gospel.

And if there's someone here today who's yet to place faith

in Jesus, I pray that today would be his or her day, that it

would be their day of salvation. Father, your spirit will

continue to draw them to yourself as the seed of your

word has been planted. I pray that your spirit alone

would give the increase be glorified as we respond to your

word. And this time I pray in Jesus

name, Amen.