The Lord’s Reign Brings Glory and Gladness | Psalm 97 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 03/16/2025

the Lord's Reign brings glory and

gladness the Lord's Reign brings glory

and gladness now it's very interesting

how we come to this Psalm uh this

morning uh this is part of an ongoing

series that our church does every now

and then we Circle back to the Psalms we

Circle back to the Psalms um very often

and notice the subtitle here comfort in

times of trouble um so the Psalms are

not only there are some Psalms that are

beautifully celebratory praise but there

are also there's a there's a running

theme throughout the Poetry the songs of

the Old Testament the Psalms there's a

running theme of Hope because we live in

a fallen world we live in a world where

there is kidney failure we live in a

world where there are car accidents we

live in a world where we can fall and

break both of our feet at once poor

candy Halbert this

morning we live in a fallen world where

there is difficulty and hardship and so

times of trouble to some degree that's

the span of a man's a woman's life Psalm

97 is an

interesting position for us this morning

because it helps helps us with where we

have been in the book of

Zechariah many of you remember that in

the book of Zechariah the people were

discouraged the people had come back to

Jerusalem they had been there for 20

years and there was desolation all

around

them it was difficulty and

hardship and it was because of the

Brokenness of their world and in fact

because in part there own

sin and so um we see that the book of

Zachariah starts with that dark place

and keep saying God is saying to the

people yes this is the way it is but I

will save you I will help you as you

return to me I'm going to return to you

and listen to this even when you don't

even realize it I'm going to come and

there's more references in Zachariah to

the crucifixion of Christ than any of

the other prophets uh the the books of

the Major Prophets and the Minor

Prophets we see the 30 pieces of silver

there we see that he is hung on a tree

we see over and over again references to

Jesus's sacrifice for our sins and so

what God is saying through Zachariah is

I will save you and then I will come

what we just heard last week when

Enrique was preaching in z 14 the last

chapter it's all about the great and

climactic return of Christ to rule and

Reign for

eternity so this King this good King is

going to return and he's going to rule

and he's going to Reign and it's going

to bring

unspeakable

joy it's going to put away with all of

the sadness and the sickness and the

sorrow and the death will finally as

Revelation says that those things will

pass away because the old has come the

old is gone and the new has come finally

it will be non

picare not able not possible to sin I

look forward to that don't

you well we live in a world though where

that's not the case and because of that

there is

Desolation I have a few pictures for you

of desolation

we know what dystopian ideas are whether

they be ancient or

modern we see destruction in fact even

in our own country we see whole areas

that run into ruin or the storytelling

of our Modern Age or whether we look

back to Medieval

history we see destruction we see

kingdoms fallen and we see very often in

stories where as you see on one side of

this

there is Desolation and curse of

drought and then on the other side of

this there is prosperity and even in the

our storytelling throughout time we see

some of the greatest stories are about a

curse but

eventually about a

restoration the hope of a restoration I

mean from Disney's Beauty in the Beast

do you remember the young man or excuse

me the the old woman shows up at the

prince's door and she asks for help and

he says no and what what happens to the

kingdom it is

cursed and a great Darkness falls upon

the land and there's the great hope that

one day the curse would be lifted

friends all of these come

from this plan of God of dealing with a

fallen and a broken World well we see

throughout history um figures in history

or hoped for figures in history that at

one time Kings um and notice this uh

what about King Arthur that would be

from the fifth or the sixth century and

what was his great Kingdom of Camelot

and the Knights of the Round Table the

hope of this King this righteous King

this good King bringing about a good

result or how about this one one an

artist rendering of possibly what

Charlemagne Charlemagne the king of

Frank the king of Lombards the

carolingian emper emperor eventually

that he would come back and he would

bring peace to a divided in suffering

Europe in the early early um Middle Ages

the the time actually before the Middle

Ages how about this middle-aged King as

well Frederick II while very flawed when

he died after being king of Sicily king

of Germany Holy Roman Emperor and king

of Jerusalem as part of the crage when

he died there was there was a great hope

that he wasn't really dead and that he

would return to

restore all of the Troubles of Europe

and bring hope well those are some

rather real um or

figurative um

figures from from history what about our

literature once again who's

this okay there's a few of you who know

Aragorn Aragorn king of Gondor king of

aror and King High King of the reunited

Kingdom and you remember in that story

if you're a Lord of the Rings fan you

remember the great hope of the returning

King that would bring peace

peace and restore

Justice and Vanquish the

evil that is

there

well tolan's

friend came up with another

king and this is

who this is alen Chronicles of

Narnia that a traitor

would sell out one who is loved and then

there would be one who would lay down

his life for the

traitor and the curse would be

broken well we see this theme throughout

history and The Human Experience and it

goes back to the Lord reigning and

ruling over the Earth and I want us to

see this morning

um Psalm 97 do you have your notes there

the title of the message is the Lord's

Reign brings glory and gladness the

Lord's Reign brings glory and gladness

and this is the message that we need

today this is the message that we need

for our life this is the message that we

need for these months

ahead for even this week some of you are

struggling in your marriage some of you

are struggling with your health some of

you are struggling with your children or

your parents some of you are struggling

with your business some of you are

struggling with your own your own walk

with God you're not sure where you are

with

God and you're you're Desperately

Seeking I my brother sent a message to

our family this morning and he said pray

for a man named

demitry I bought something from him this

week in fact he bought a walker for mom

and Dimitri had had somehow come into

town or come into our country over the

last um few months and um he was from

bellarus and my brother invited him to

church and um he texted my brother

yesterday saying hey my family is going

to see you tomorrow we're coming to

church so our family is praying for a

man named Dimitri and my brother was

just saying he's been through a great

deal he's been through turmoil he's had

to flee from where he lived and now he

is here and perhaps this is the time for

him to see the good in righteous King

and so this morning as we come I want us

to see the context of this do you have

your Bible open to Psalm

97 um because I'm going to ask you to

turn back a couple of pages in just a

minute but look with me here on your

outline Psalm 997 in context okay first

of all there are 150 Psalms and they are

divided into five books they're invited

into five books so when you look at the

Psalms there's 150 of them they're

divided into five books and I want you

to see this little graph that's here

here's book one vers Psalm 1 through 41

so 41 Psalms there and then book two is

42- 72 book three

73-89 book 4 which is where we are this

morning we're going to be looking at

Psalm 97 which is right here now each

one of these books kind of has a

different

emphasis and so the beginning of the

Psalms confront The Human Condition they

confront the fact that there is the

righteous and the unrighteous and that

God is confronting a fallen world but as

we go on in this book three is where we

see the Cry of the heart in the midst of

suffering many of these Psalms are from

David and from others who are being

chased and hounded who are dealing with

all of the the fallenness of our world

and all of the pain the the the sadness

in part of that in fact would you go

with me to Psalm 88 I want you to see

Psalm 88 that's not the one we're

studying but I want you to see this and

not notice on your outline and fill it

in number two book

three deals with the difficulties of

life and the temptation to feel what

despair in God's justice that's book

three and Psalm 88 the one I'm asking

you to turn to fill it in is the low

point it's the low point of the Psalms

it expresses the felt Agony of living in

a sinful Fallen World look at Psalm 88

oh Lord verse one oh Lord God of my

salvation I cry out day and night before

you let my prayer come before you

incline your ear to my what to My

Cry for my soul is full of what TR

troubles and my life draws near to

Shield to death I am counted among those

who go down to the pent I'm a man who

has no strength let like one set loose

among the dead like the slain that lie

in the grave it doesn't get any lower

than

this like those whom you remember no

more for they are cut off from your hand

you have put me in the depths of the pit

in the regions dark and deep your wrath

lies heavy upon me and you overwhelm me

with all your waves does this sound like

someone reeling in the struggles of life

his companions have cut him off look at

How It Ends he says you have caused my

beloved and my friend has shunn me my

companions Verse 18 my companions have

become

Darkness now this is when everybody else

is gone this is the low point this is

the reality that sometimes we find

ourselves in in the midst of the pains

and the Sorrows of life now next point

on your outline is book

four which is where we find Psalm 97 is

radically different it's the response to

book three so book three is of Sadness

and Sorrow book four is this it's it's

really what we could say ten post tenous

luks after

Darkness

light this is the cry and this is the

motto of the Reformation after a time of

Darkness that then comes light and this

is what we see we see that God is at

work fill it in God is at work in the

hardships and the pressures he's at work

in the midst of all of the

discouragements and the struggles

because he reigns Victorious that's what

we've just been singing He reigns

Victorious over all things on

behalf of the righteous

on behalf of his

righteous and so as we come to Psalm 97

specifically Psalm 97 celebrates that

God is King over all creation and this

brings

gladness God is King over all creation

and this brings gladness and notice

these look what they are they're at the

bottom those bullet points he is

Victorious over evil and

idolatry idolatry is the root of sin

it's when you worship something besides

God you said yeah that's for the Old

Testament people Thou shalt have no

other gods before me by the way you

remember what commandment is

that the first one no other gods before

me and so what we see in this is that

when we put other gods in front of God

that's an

idol and here we see that God is

Victorious even over our

idolatry look at the next one he is

victorious in delivering his people from

the wicked and from their sin he is

victorious in securing his holy place

what is his holy Place

Zion now in Earthly terms this is

Jerusalem but we see the Kingdom of

Heaven as the picture of God's Dwelling

Place in Zion he is victorious in

securing joy for all who TR trust in him

despite their

circumstances I I want us to recognize

this phrase inspite their circumstances

because if you're just trusting in Him

and the times are easy is that really

faith I mean we sang that at the

beginning of the service that was the

first thing we song that we sang this

morning it's a it's a great song and the

question is shall I Praise You In times

of blessing and turn from you and curse

you in time

times of darkness and doubt times of

pain no God is good in the good and in

the bad and we see that this

is glorifying to God that when we trust

him and that's what the Bible is helping

us do that's what his word is helping us

do to trust him in a fallen world where

there's pain and sorrow and sadness and

death notice the last statement here

Faith amidst trials brings the joy of

knowing his coming

triumph over evil now he's already

triumphed over evil in the cross there

is no question of that Jesus Christ as

we've just sung is risen from the

dead but we also know that Zachariah is

pointing to a time when all of this will

finally be fulfilled and this reigning

King will return and he will reign in

eternity and this is what we see in

Psalm 97 I'm going to read Psalm 97 and

then we're going to fly through it very

quickly this morning notice with me here

in verse

one the Lord Reigns let the Earth what

Rejoice let's read that first line

together the Lord Reigns let the Earth

Rejoice let the coast that that many

Coastal lands be glad clouds and thick

Darkness are all around him

righteousness and Justice are the

foundation of his throne fire goes

before him and burns up his adversaries

all around his Lightnings light up the

world and the Earth sees and

trembles the mountains melt like Wax

before the Lord before the Lord of all

the Earth the heavens Proclaim his

righteousness and all the people see his

glory all worshippers of

images are put to shame who make their

boast in

what worthless

Idols worship him all you Gods verse

eight Zion hears and is glad and the

daughters of Judah rejoice because of

your judgments oh lord for you oh Lord

are most high over all the Earth you are

exalt exalted far above all

gods verse

10 oh you who love the Lord what are you

called to do hate evil hate evil he

preserves the lives of his Saints he

delivers them from the hand of the

wicked light is sown for the righteous

and joy is sown for the upright in

heart rejoice in the Lord oh you

righteous give thanks to His holy name

similarly to Psalm 1 where there is the

juxtaposition there is the setting at at

angle the righteous for the versus the

unrighteous we see that language here

too and let us be very clear that there

are none righteous no not one in

ourselves all we like sheep have gone

astray everyone has turned to his own

way so the fact is that there is there's

none that are righteous we have all

sinned and fallen short of the glory of

God none of us in fact all of us would

be able to say in this room if this

morning if we were really honest we

would say I have to look no further than

my own heart to know that I am a sinner

and God is a

savior and he saves through his Messiah

and those who come to Faith in his hand

of Salvation are the ones who are washed

clean by the sacrifice of his son his

own son pays for our sin his own son

washes us clean this is Faith in Jesus

this is Faith In Jesus that we call

everyone in this room to come to we call

you to turn away from your sin we call

you to turn away from loving the things

of this world and turn to God look to

him the one who can save you from your

sins the one who can give your life real

meaning the one who gives you a reason

to live and then much more he gives you

a reason to

die because because

that's the righteous not any

righteousness of our own but it's called

listen to this the Bible calls it

imputed righteousness that means it is

God's righteousness in Jesus pressed

upon you earlier Pastor William talked

about a righteous or excuse me Brandon

talked about in his prayer that we would

be clothed in righteousness it's not

clothed in a righteousness from

ourselves it's clothed cled in the in

the great Garment of

Christ the righteousness that he comes

and he covers our sin Adam and Eve

sinned in the garden at the very very

beginning and God made a covering for

them not of fig leaves but of animal

skins it was the first death mentioned

in the Bible and it was a pointing it

was a

precursor to the coming

Messiah the first death is pointing to

Jesus the Ultimate Death when the King

of Kings and the Lord of lords this good

King this reigning King lays down his

life for you we we call you to receive

that we call you to turn to that put

your hope in that to repent of your sin

and to believe in what Jesus did on the

cross for you so that when the Psalms

speak of the

righteous that it's speaking of You by

faith in the in the Messiah and so

notice this with me as we as we go on

this this picture verse 10 oh you who

love the Lord hate

evil he preserves the lives of his what

saint his Saints put out there to the

side holy ones that's what it's saying

is it's a Holy One those are not statues

in Rome those are not people

declared um a saint by a certain

denomination or religious group a saint

is anyone who is a child of God who has

been washed in the blood of the Lamb

because they have been declared

righteous not to any any credit of

themselves but to the credit of

God so he preserves the lives of his

Saints he delivers them from the hand of

the wicked

light is sown for the

righteous and joy for the upright in

heart the only way you can be the

righteous the only way that you can have

an upright heart is for him to give you

a new heart you can't fix your heart you

can't clean it up you can't get it

together what you need to do is simply

confess to him that you have a broken

heart that you have a a heart that is

wicked and as you do that as you come to

him he gives you a new heart look what

it says there in verse 12 let's read it

out loud together verse 12 rejoice in

the Lord oh you righteous and give

thanks to His holy name now look up

there at verse one and look down there

at verse 12 are they not similar they're

talking about

what rejoicing we're talking about there

is a joy that is here there's a gladness

that is here and that's where it comes

from and and so that's what we see in

this well the first thing I want you to

notice over there on the right hand side

um let's look at the outline of the

whole Psalm Roman numeral number one is

the Lord as the reigning one he reigns

over all

things look down the page Roman numeral

number two which is the second big part

of the psalm is the Lord as the

righteous one so he's the reigning one

but he's also the righteous one and I

want you to see how this works a little

bit the first part that we see

here uh subo a is the ruler of all

nature and that's what we see in verses

1-5 look at verses 1-5 the Lord Reigns

let the Earth Rejoice let the many

Coastal lands be glad clouds and thick

Darkness all around him righteousness

and Justice are the foundation of his

throne fire goes before him and burns up

his adversaries all around his

Lightnings light up what the world the

Earth sees and trembles the M the

mountains now we're talking about more

Earth stuff the mountains melt like Wax

before the Lord before the Lord of all

the

Earth you see he's the ruler of all

nature and this all begins verse one in

this the righteous rule brings gladness

you see see it says the Lord Reigns and

he's righteous and because he reigns the

Earth can

Rejoice now here's here's the thought

and I want you to see this Proverbs 29:2

Proverbs 29:2

says this when the righteous increase

the people do what they rejoice when the

wicked rule what do the people do they

groan so all the storytelling that we've

just talked about all of the history

whenever there's a wicked and evil King

the people grown but when there's even a

monoch of righteousness when there's any

justice the people can flourish and so

here we see that this is the case

throughout human history and this is

what we see in this Psalm looking to

God that when because of his righteous

rule we can be

glad

um notice verse two clouds and thick

Darkness are around him righteousness

and Justice of the foundations of his

throne fire goes up before him and burns

up his adversaries all around verse two

what is this clouds and thick Darkness

all around him well what we see this is

mystery and Majesty hide him this is a

god whose thoughts are higher than our

thoughts his ways are higher than our

ways we cannot always see what he is

doing in fact if we were to sudden

suddenly be subjected to him without

some type of uh protection from him we

would be

consumed God is a mystery in many ways

because he is far beyond us and that's

part of what we see here is that there

is a there's a cloud in a thick Darkness

we see this in the Old Testament that

God would lead his people as a cloud the

shikina glory of God would come down to

the temple come down to the Tabernacle

it was the the cloud that was sh

shrouding him in

Majesty this is a God who is

wondrous in his work but notice this as

well in verse two look what it says is

the second line in verse two can you

read it out loud with me what's the

second line in verse two righteousness

and Justice are

the of his throne now this is an

important statement that you should see

his goodness is key to his

greatness you see his greatness would

only be all the more

terrifying if he was not

good but because he is good he is truly

great what you need to see and

understand this is that our God is

through and through

good now Satan wants you to doubt that

at every turn he wants you to doubt that

what God is and what he does is good or

that he cannot Prevail in goodness so D

Satan wants you either to doubt the

morality of God or the power of

God we see this throughout all of the

lies that he presents to us as the angel

of

Light he is always seeking to impute

he's done that from the beginning he's

lied from the beginning he lied to

Eve he he said did God really say this

well here's what there's the deceiver

who is seeking to turn you

away from God but God is

good Moses would say it this way in

Deuteronomy 3 he'd say ascribe greatness

to our god The Rock whose work is

perfect and all his ways are just a god

of faithfulness and without Injustice

good and upright is he our God is good

over and over and over again in the

scripture you see that God declares his

goodness he wants us to see his goodness

he proves his

goodness and so we see that his goodness

is the key to his greatness and then we

see in verses three Through Fire through

through five fire goes before him

Lightnings come the mountains melt the

mountains melt um like Wax before him in

Hebrews 12 and Deuteronomy 4 um Ecclesia

or Exodus 24 all of these passages show

this

picture that God is an allc consuming

fire he is a fire that will consume

every anything that is not righteous and

not holy in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 I've

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

listed that one there as the last one

that's where we're challenged to live

our

life with the stuff building into our

life the precious things that will

survive the Refiner's

Fire don't live your life building

Haywood and stubble that's just going to

burn up when the evaluation is made

instead

live your life preserving the gold and

the jewels and the precious the precious

values of

God um we don't live our life for the

things that are passing

away so not only is he ruler of all

nature he rules over the Earth but he's

ruler of all Nations he's ruler of all

Nations and it's really good for God's

people to recognize this and number one

is he rules over Heathen peoples he

rules over Heathen peoples the people

who do not know him but number two he

rules over his own people so the people

who are his look what it says in verse 6

the heavens Proclaim his righteousness

and all the peoples there it is all the

people see his glory and look at this

it's talking about all peoples on the

earth and look at verse 7 all all

worshippers of images you see these are

the Heathen these are the people who

don't know God they're worshiping other

gods all the wor worshippers of images

are put to shame who make their boast in

worthless Idols worship him all you Gods

so he's calling even all the gods that

they are putting forward what he's

saying is they're all going to worship

Him the demons behind material

ISM the demons behind sexual

perversity the demons behind selfishness

the demons behind greed those gods that

you may be worshiping as you look at the

temporal things in your life the demons

behind your own agenda your own plan

your plan for your

life all of that that's deceived you is

going to wind up worshiping him so you

might as well be done with them and

start worshiping him

because they're going to worship

Him notice this Philippians 2 every knee

shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus

is Lord to the glory of the father

everyone 1 John chapter 32 says this we

will see him finally as he is and what

is that he is the high King Of Heaven he

is the high King that we so long for and

he rules over his own people look at

verses 8 and N Zion hears and be glad so

this is the city of God the people of

God Zion hears of his coming of his

righteousness and is glad and the

daughters of Judah so this is the the

picture of God's people what do they do

they

Rejoice because of your judgments oh

Lord you say they rejoice in his

judgments I thought his judgments are

harsh I thought his judgments are rough

I thought that we should be afraid of

his judgment the Judgment of God oh

listen friends listen if you're trusting

in Jesus all of the Judgment that is due

to you is poured out on

Jesus and he takes that sting into

himself he takes the sting of your death

into himself and he gives to you eternal

life so that you can say the judgments

of God are amazing the judgments of God

are tempered in his grace toward those

who

believe oh friends that's why they can

rejoice in his judgments he is just and

he's true unlike everything and everyone

around them all of the other kings that

are around Judah all of the other kings

that are around Zion all of the other

kings that are around Hollywood in South

Florida we see that there is one king

that we can truly rejoice

in cuz he is the king of our

hope we have no hope apart from him we

are condemned within

ourselves but with him we are

saved look at verse n for you oh Lord

are most high over all of the earth you

are exalted far above what all

gods this is the god of

Zachariah this is the god of the Old

Testament this is the god of the New

Testament this is the god over

hell and this is the god over Heaven he

is exalted over all things he has no

Rivals and why is this we've already

touched on it we've already touched on

it that this is the case because he is

righteous look at this Roman numeral

number two the Lord Lord as you've

already filled it in as the righteous

one look at verse 10 and 11 oh you who

love the Lord hate evil he preserves the

lives of what sa his Saints you see

they're

his he bought them with a price he owns

them he redeemed them from Satan he

redeemed them from themselves

that's why we're called for those who

are in Christ the

redeemed so they're his your life is not

your own it's his he bought you he

bought you from the slave of sin and

death so your life is now hidden with

Christ in

god notice

this he delivers them from the hand of

the wicked now that could be wicked men

and women

that could be Wicked Nations listen that

could be demons and

Satan he delivers them from the hand of

the wicked and what we know is this is

that there are certainly I mean there

are Christians right now that are being

persecuted and put to death in North

Africa and in central Africa and in Asia

they are the Righteous and it appears

that they have fallen prey to the

wicked but friends

that's actually not

true because Jesus said this do not fear

the one that after he's killed you he's

done all that he can do instead fear the

one that after he's killed you he can

cast you into hell these are the ones

who don't fear men but they fear God and

God says I will deliver

you it is an ultimate

deliverance and if Jesus was not spared

as God's own

son from the sufferings in the fall of

this life what makes us think that we

would Jesus himself said what makes us

think that we would be delivered on this

Earthly life on an Earthly plane um

sometimes it's God's will to allow us to

be delivered and to go on to other work

to other things and sometimes for his

glory and for our good we perish at the

hands of the

wicked but not

ultimately there is a grand and glorious

Deliverance that is eternal that this is

speaking of look at verse 11 light is

sown for the righteous and joy for the

upright in heart rejoice in the Lord oh

you righteous and give thanks to His

holy name you see first Peter um gives

us a hint of how we ought to be looking

at these verses 10 11 and 12 since it is

1 Peter 1: 16 says since it is written

and this is from Leviticus you shall be

holy why should you be

holy because God is

Holy you see if you're the Lord's if

you're his he calls you to live in a way

that reflects that that's why you and I

are called not to be holy in a

self-righteous sense like we're going to

be holy and look down our nose at

everybody else that's not holy no in our

heart beginning in our heart of humility

like Jesus

that we would be down before God and

down before others and that we would

seek to have the

Holiness of Christ the Purity that only

Christ can bring into our

lives that we choose his way and not our

way because he says you shall be holy

for I am Holy Brandon also prayed about

that in his prayer he prayed about that

issue of our

sanctification we are Justified when we

come to Faith in Jes Jesus Christ repent

of our sins and he changes our position

before God through the blood of the

Cross but then we have to go on living

this other 30 40 50 60 70 years in a

fallen world where God calls us to be on

the upward path of sanctification he

calls us to be growing more and more

like him now if you're not on the up

upward path of sanctification it's

likely that you are not his child it's

likely that you have not been justified

by the blood of the lamb but if things

are changing in your life if you're

growing if you're growing more in love

with him and more in love with his word

and more in love with his people and

more in love with his eternal Kingdom

then you are likely

his and so but if if that's not

happening in you if sin is ruling and

reigning over your life then it's a

really good thing that you would stop

and ask yourself

do I know

God do I really know God Satan will tell

you oh that's not important it's no big

deal you know that's you know don't

really worry about it for now there

there's fun to be

had but no what we see is that there's

blessing upon blessing upon blessing for

those who come to God in Repentance and

faith and there is great

judgment for those who reject

him who Harden their heart and say

no notice here fill these in the Lord's

people experience his rescue that's what

it says he preserves the lives of his

Saints verse 10 he preserves the lives

of his

Saints he delivers them from the hand of

the wicked not only that but notice the

next one the Lord's people experience

his Direction light is sown for the

righteous so he SWS light before you in

in we see in Psalm 119 Thy word is a

lamp unto my feet and a light unto my

path God in his word and in his grace

gives light to us notice this the third

one the Lord's people experience his

Joy look over at verse 11 light is shown

for the righteous and here it is and joy

for the upright in heart he brings Joy

amidst a fallen

world he brings joy in the midst of

hardship it's not contingent upon your

circumstances but it's contingent upon

his faithfulness and his

promise the Lord's people last when

there the Lord's people have reason to

do what give thanks we see that at the

end of that and look at verse 12 rejoice

in the Lord ow you righteous and do what

give thanks to His holy name

giving thanks is befitting of those who

claim Christ because they

see the cross and all that he has done

for us now um I have here um meditation

and application for this week and I hope

and pray that over the next few

minutes and I hope and pray that over

the next few

days that you will allow Psalm 97

in Hebrews 12 in the New

Testament to guide your hearts and your

thoughts toward the gospel I want you to

see this Hebrews 12 is an amazing

Hebrews 11 is the chapter of Faith how

faith is so essential to us it is it is

essential to our walk our pleasing God

and then it's all of these figures of

Biblical history that had faith and

that's how they they made

it and then chapter 12 is talking about

we have so great a cloud of witnesses

around us those who've gone before us

that we should walk with God we should

lay aside every sin that so easily

entangles us because we're living for a

kingdom listen to this we're living for

a kingdom that's not going to pass

away all the kingdoms of the Earth all

of your retirement all of your house all

your stuff all your reputation all of

these

things that so often we're living for

those things are going to pass away

anything that's not founded in Christ is

going to pass

away but your life can be filled with

things that are never going to pass away

your life can be filled with things that

are

Eternal and so this is what Hebrews is

talking about look with me God's

unshakable Kingdom in verse 25 Hebrews

Hebrews 12:25

12:25 it says see to it that you do not

refuse him who

speaks if they did not Escape when they

refused him who warned them on Earth how

much less will we if we turn away from

him who warns us from heaven now what

he's saying is he's writing to Jewish

people and he's saying to them you

ignored the prophets who came and warned

you and you did not Escape

that you experienced the condemnation of

God you experiened the Judgment of God

because the prophets came they warned

you and you ignored them now if you

didn't escape from the Earthly prophets

who came and preach to you in his name

how are you going to escape from the one

who's in heaven do you see where this

passage is going notice it again there

see to it that you do not refuse him who

speaks if they did not Escape when they

refused used him who warned them on

Earth how much less will we if we turn

away from him who warns us from Heaven

verse 26 at that time his voice shook

the Earth but now he has promised once

more I will shake not only the Earth but

also the

heavens and the words once more indicate

the removing of what can can be shaken

that is what created things God is going

to shake all of

creation a day is coming of his judgment

when everything is going to be

shaken and the allc consuming fire is

going to test everything about our lives

and only the things that are in the

grace of God for the purpose of God are

going to survive and everything else is

going to be shaken and destroyed

D the scripture clearly teaches this in

multiple

places so look at that with

me verse 27 once more indicate the the

words once more indicate the removing of

what can be shaken that is created

things so that what cannot be shaken

will What

Remain Haywood and stubble is going to

be burned up but the precious things the

things that re that survive the

Refiner's Fire will remain verse 28

therefore since we are receiving a

kingdom that what cannot be shaken we're

receiving that Kingdom for those who

walk with Christ let us be what thankful

and so worship God

acceptably with reverence and

awe for our God read it out loud

together for our God is a con consuming

fire now let me remind you of what this

says the daughters of Judah

Rejoice at his consuming

fire Zion rejoices at his

words if you

rejoice in the words and the plan and

the design and the call of God

you can come before him and say he is

good my hope is based upon Jesus not me

and not anything else I am living for

him but friend if you as this says you

refuse to hear him why would you do that

Psalm 95 says this if you hear his voice

today do not reject

him hear him and

respond here are some questions for you

this

week maybe right now but this week what

is Psalm 97 in Hebrews 12 saying about

this present world you ought to discuss

that with your husband or you ought to

discuss that with your wife or a friend

this

afternoon maybe maybe with your children

what is Psalm 97 Hebrews 12 saying about

this present world number two what will

matter most When the Music Stops in this

present era

ends number three how can a person

survive God's all

consuming

fire number

four why is rejoicing

mentioned why is giving thanks

mentioned it's mentioned throughout

this

why then number five ask

yourself where is my heart in all of

this your

own where is my heart in all this do I

hear

him how am I

responding because

God wants

you to be one who can Rejoice I do

believe that I believe that God is

calling you to be one who trusts in his

salvation and that when you read Psalm

97 you can say I rejoice in the

righteous

King

amen I'm going to ask you to

stand and I want you to look at the

screen in front of

you let me tell you we have some real

servants in the life of our Church

Pastor William and Pastor Ben because

last night when I finally finished

everything that I was going to do this

morning I I just was so

impressed that one of the great old

hymns hundreds of years old so goes with

what we're what we've just

studied we're talking about

rejoicing in the righteous King God's

righteous Reign is what brings glory and

gladness look at these words

Fairest Lord

Jesus ruler of

what didn't we just see that he rules

over

nature ruler of all nature oh thou of

God and man the son you see Jesus has

this he's God and he's man he's of both

don't try to fly figure it out you'll

blow a

fuse he's God and he's man and this is

part of his glory and his

goodness thee will I

cherish thee will I honor thou my soul's

Glory joy and

Crown I want you to think about that is

Jesus your Soul's back up is Jesus your

Soul's Glory joy and

Crown or are you high schoolers

young

people older

people all of us who's your

glory is it what you're going to do with

your

life or is it

him thou my soul's Glory joy and Crown

look at the next part this is about

nature Fair are The Meadows and by the

way fair means beautiful fair means

desirable okay it's it's the old you

know mirror mirror on the wall who's the

fairest of them all so so this is old

language um of beauty and desirability

so fair this is saying beautiful are The

Meadows Fair are still the woodlands

robed in the blooming Garb of spring

Jesus is

fairer Jesus is

purer who makes the woeful that's a

Fallen World Heart who makes the woeful

heart to what

sing you see he can take our Brokenness

and give us joy in the midst of our

sorrows and our pain look at the next

part also nature fair is the sunshine

fairer still the Moonlight and all of

the twinkling Starry hosts Jesus shines

brighter Jesus shines purer than all the

angels heaven can

boast look at the last one beautiful F

savior Lord of All Nations you see there

it is we talked about He reigns over the

nature and he reigns over the Nations

it's what we just saw both the Heathen

and the righteous beautiful savior lord

of the Nations Son of God and Son of Man

Glory and Honor praise adoration now and

forever more be what his th let's pray