A Study in Psalms - Psalm 65

OK, I want to ask tonight, Anybody here grow up on a farm?

Anybody raise your hand? Anybody 1-2, Not too many

people. OK?

You know the excitement at harvest time.

You probably don't know the excitement at harvest time

though. But anybody here grow vegetables

in their backyard? Anybody.

Anybody. OK, a lot of you grow vegetables

in your backyard. Isn't there something special

about it? When you plant it, you water it,

you fertilize it, you weed it and you keep watering and after

many months, Lord willing, you have a bounty of vegetables,

right? Well, that didn't happen with

me. Couple years ago I decided I

would get into the farming business.

So I bought these giant tins in the backyard, put them in the

backyard. I don't have a big backyard.

So I got the raised planters and I bought the fertilizer, the

manure and, and planted I think 4 crops and watered it, weeded

it and kept watering and watering.

And it's, it's exciting when you see the carrot sprout, right?

When you see the cucumber sprout, it's exciting.

But I kept watering and watering and all of a sudden on the back

of the cucumbers and the the green Peppers, they, they got

black. So I guess it was a calcium

deficiency. So I figure I spent $300.00 and

got about this much of carrots. So I'm not a good farmer.

Farmer's not for me. So I hope you're better than I

am. But tonight we have a, a very

interesting Psalm. It's, it's a harvest Psalm, at

least the last few verses are. And it's about being thankful at

harvest time. So I wasn't too thankful with my

handful of carrots. But hopefully you, when you get

bushels of tomatoes and things are hopefully you did better.

This is a Psalm that's to be sung when the crops are gathered

in. This Psalm focuses on praising

the Lord for his manifold blessings and for his gracious

dealings with his people. So let's read Psalm 65 tonight.

To the choir master of the Psalm of David, a song, Praise is due

to you, O God in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.

O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.

When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our

transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose

and bring near to dwell in your courts.

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the

holiness of your temple. By awesome deeds You answer us

with righteousness, O God of our salvation.

The hope of all the ends of the earth and of all the farthest

seas. The one who by His strength

established the mountains, being girded with might, who stills

the roaring of the Seas, the roaring of their waves, the

tumult of the peoples, so that all those who dwell at the ends

of the earth are in awe at your signs.

You make the going out of the morning and evening to shout for

joy. And here's the harvest part.

You visit the earth and water it.

You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of

water. You provide their grain, for so

you have prepared it. You water its furrows

abundantly, setting its ridges, softening it with showers, and

blessing its growth. You crown the year with your

bounty. Your wagon tracks overflow with

abundance. The pastures of the wilderness

overflow, and the hills gird themselves with joy.

The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, and the valleys

deck themselves with grain. They shout and sing together for

joy. Let's pray, Father, thank you

for the hardest Psalm. For a thank you Psalm, may we

leave here tonight realizing just how blessed we are and how

dependent we are on you in Jesus name, Amen.

We have a superscription of course, it says to the

choirmaster a Psalm of David and a song.

And if you notice Psalm 656667 and 68 all say that they all and

they're all kind of like you can read them together.

Psalm 65 verse 8 says so that those who dwell at the ends of

Psalms 65:8

the earth are in awe of your signs.

Psalm 66 one says shout to the joy to God all the earth.

Psalm 67 two says that your way may be known on earth.

And Psalm 6832 says, O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God or

Psalm tonight is a song of worldwide praise to God.

All the nations of the world will praise God for three

reasons. And whether you're a farmer,

whether you're a vegetable grower in your backyard, or

whether you don't farm at all, we need to give thanks to God

and praise to God. So the type of Psalm tonight,

it's quite different. I think we've had a lot of

lament Psalms this year, and that wasn't by design.

But lament Psalms, you know, are David's in trouble, David's got

a crisis, or the sons of Korra are in crisis and they're crying

out for deliverance from some battle, some war, or Saul is

chasing David. There's, you know, about 65 of

the 150 psalms are lament psalms.

Some of them are individual lament, others are the whole

congregation is lamenting. Those can get old after a while,

can't they? They're kind of like the same

lament psalms. But tonight we really got a

blessed one, I think, because tonight's Psalm is about joy.

It's about excitement because something had gone well,

circumstances were good. The people had reason to render

thanks to God for His faithfulness, for His

protections, and for His benefits.

Thanksgiving Psalms help a person or a group express

thoughts and feelings of gratitude.

There are 6 what they call Group Community Songs of Thanksgiving

and that would be tonight's Psalm 6567, Seventy, 510-7124,

and 1:36. And then there are 10 individual

Psalms of Thanksgiving 1830, 3234, forty, 6692116118, and

138. So those are the Thanksgiving

psalms. And tonight we're looking at one

of them. Call it a Thanksgiving Psalm,

but also call it a harvest Psalm.

Your outline tonight is 3 simple points.

Got our Savior verses one to four.

Got our Creator verses 5 to 8 and got our Sustainer verses 9

to 13. Let's begin with .1 God our

Savior. And there's 4 sub points there.

He answers prayer, He atones for sin, He accepts worshippers and

he assigns blessings. Let's look at sub .1.

He answers prayer. It says in my Bible, praise is

due to you, O God in Zion. Now I know a lot of you out

there have NASB Bibles, right? So your, your first sentence is

a lot different. It says there will be silence

before you and praise in Xylan and the LSV.

The new translation says to you there will be silence and praise

in Xylan. So what's what's the difference?

Why? Why the different translations?

Why doesn't the SV say silence? Well, the Hebrew word for

silence is very similar to the words for fitting for proper.

So most translations say praise is fitting for you or praise is

due for you and they omit that silence, but praise is due for

you. Probably the greatest praise

Psalm there is, is Psalm 150. Psalm 150.

If you want to turn there real quick, it's it's has the word

praise I think 13 times in six verses.

Psalms 150 says Praise the Lord. Then you ask the question, where

do we praise Him? Well, we praise God in His

sanctuary. We praise Him in His mighty

heavens. Why do we praise Him?

That's verse 2. We praise Him for His mighty

deeds. We praise Him according to His

excellent greatness. How do we praise Him?

We praise Him with the trumpet sound.

We praise Him with the lute and heart.

We praise Him with tambourine and dance.

We praise Him with strings and bite.

We praise Him with sounding symbols.

We praise Him with loud clashing symbols.

And verse 6 is the climax says let everything in his breath,

praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Praise is due to our great God and Savior because he's the

creator God. He's a standard God and he's our

savior God. It's my Bible says praise is due

to you, you. If you were to count all the U's

in the ESV, it would be 14 times.

Speaking of God, the LSV actually will read a piece later

19 times. It says you you EU is God.

Verse one continues and says that praise awaits in Zion or

Jerusalem. Later this year we will look at

Psalm 87, which is all about Zion.

But that's where the great Jewish feast of the Tabernacles

or Boost was held. And most commentators believe

that Psalm 65, the harvest is talking about the festival of

Boost or called the festival of Tabernacles.

Today there's no temple, but someday that temple will be

rebuilt and they will praise will be given to God there.

So praise is due to our Lord #2 there's is vows are due.

This is this is still under. He answers our prayers, He says,

and to you shall vows be performed.

You know the Old Testament believers made vows.

These were pledges to offer sacrifices of Thanksgiving when

prayers were answered. You have some good example,

Hannah and First Samuel. Remember she couldn't have the

baby and she's crying out in the temple.

And Eli thought she was drunk, but she said to God that if

you'll give me a son, I will give him to you, the Lord.

And that was a good example. Then you got a bad example of

rash and stupid vows. Jephta and Judges vowed to if

God gave him the military victory, whatever came out of

his tent he was going to sacrifice.

And you remember his daughter came out of his tent.

That was a bad rash example of vows.

I don't think we take vows very seriously today, even wedding

vows. Isn't the divorce rate somewhere

around 50%? But what's what's the difference

between a vow and a covenant? In modern English they mean the

same intention. A covenant is a written sign

agreement, whereas a vow is a solemn spoken promise made to

either another human being or as in marriage, to God.

I think we New Testament Christians don't think about

vows and I don't think we sometimes think about covenants.

But Jesus said in Luke 923, if anyone would come after me, let

him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

When you come to Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.

You're a new creation in Christ. Are you not making a vow to

follow Jesus Christ? Last week we had two baptisms

and those two men are made a public profession in front of

our church that they're going to follow Jesus and for their life,

even to the end, Luke 923 says even to death.

So I think when we when we make a vow to follow Jesus Christ,

that includes our prayers. Jude 20 says, But you beloved,

build yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the

Holy Spirit. You have a relationship with the

God of the universe and we need to pray to Him next.

Second, we need to give Him our lips.

Hebrews 1315 says let us OfferUp a sacrifice of praise to God

That is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge His name.

We sing songs on Sunday, but I hope that's not the only time

you praise Him our bodies. First Corinthians 316 says don't

you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit

dwells in you? We are to keep our body holy

because the Holy Spirit lives in you and we're to serve.

First Corinthians 12/7 says to each is given the manifestation

of the Spirit for the common good.

God gave every believer a spiritual gift and you have to

unwrap that gift and use that gift in the body of Christ.

And lastly, tithing. Proverbs 39 says honor the Lord

with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your produce.

It was an agricultural economy, so their money was in the grain

and the wheat and the barley and the olives and and the wine.

We have a covenant card here at Christ Community Church and I'm

afraid that when you join Christ many church, maybe you haven't

joined Christ many church, so you haven't seen that covenant

card. But when you make a covenant

card, you're coveting to do these things.

If you love the Lord, you'll love His bride, which is the

church, and you will attend, you will serve, you'll sing, and

you'll love one another. So I hope that you will perform

your vows and start thinking about that.

Psalm 66, which is the next Psalm after 60, verses 13 to 15

says I will come into your house with burnt offerings.

I will perform my vows to you that which my lips uttered and

my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals

with the smoke and sacrifice of Rams.

I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

So prayers are due, vows are due.

I'm sorry, praise is due, vows are due, and thirdly, prayers

are due. Verse 2 says, O you who hear

prayer, to you shall all flesh come.

In verse one the praise was due for Israel, but here in verse 2

the praise is due from all the world.

We have a wonderful description of God here.

O you who hear your prayers, you know we read our Bibles, we

study theology and try to get a better understanding of of who

God is. But one thing I know is that God

hears our prayers. We just the first Psalm we

looked at this summer was Psalm 5.

So I don't have to talk a lot about it.

But I said then God hears our prayers.

He doesn't sleep, He doesn't take a holiday.

There's no answering machine in heaven that says I'm currently

awake. Now leave a message.

One verse from that Psalm 5 which we looked at Psalm 5 verse

one says answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness, you

have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

And I probably quoted this quote from AW Tozer 20 times in the

last five years, but it's my favorite prayer quote.

And AW Tozer said man is at his highest and greatest when he is

on his knees where he comes face to face with God.

That's what happens when you're praying.

So prayers are due, praises due, and vows are due.

Some point #2HE atones for sin. It says in verse 3, When

iniquities prevail against me, I'll stop right there.

Some translations say our record of sin overwhelms me.

Iniquities or sin is described in his verse as overwhelming or

burning him a heavy burden of guilt and misery.

And it immediately reminds me of David in Psalm 32.

Remember, David would not confess his sins with Bathsheba

and the murdering Uriah for almost nine months.

And it says that in Psalm 32, verses 3 and 4.

Psalms 32:3

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning

all day long. For day and night your hand was

heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by

the heat of summer. So God's heavy hand was upon

David when he would not confess his sins.

Psalm 130 verse 3 says, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

Psalms 130:3

or count iniquities, or keep a record of iniquities, O Lord,

who could stand? But with you there is

forgiveness, that you may be feared.

It then says, You atone for our transgressions. 5 beautiful

words literally means You. You cover our transgressions.

Atone means to make amends, to provide or serve as reparation

or compensation for something bad.

Our sins are bad, and our Psalm tonight says that God atones for

our transgressions. If the personal pronoun you is

emphatic, it says God alone can forgive transgressions.

Psalm 51 for another one by David says against you only have

I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

Yes, he sinned with Bathsheba. Yes, he sinned against Uriah,

but ultimately he's sinned to God alone.

This verse here Psalm 65 verse 2 is the Romans 5 verse eight of

Psalms 65:2

the Old Testament. You all know Romans 5/8.

I hope, right? But God shows His love toward us

in this. While we were sinners, Christ

died for us. It's the Romans, 5/8 of the Old

Testament. You know, we talked a lot in our

Psalm studies about the penitential psalms.

We've looked at Psalm 32. We've looked at Psalm 51.

We're going to look at Psalm 1O2.

We've already looked at Psalm 1:30.

There are 6 what they call penitential psalms that talk

about forgiveness of sins. It strikes me odd that with this

verse, Psalm 65 verse 3, it's not one of the penitential

Psalms 65:3

Psalms. I don't know why they left it

out, but that's just a category people put.

But atonement is mentioned three times in Psalms.

It means to cover or wipe away. Next time you read that

wonderful book of Leviticus, you'll see the word atonement 48

times out of the 90 times in the Bible.

So Psalm 65 three says you atone for our transgressions.

Psalm 78 verse 38 says, yet he being compassionate atone for

Psalms 78:38

their iniquity and did not destroy them.

Psalm 79, nine says, Help us, O God of our salvation, for the

glory of your name, deliver us and atone for our sins for your

name's sake. Probably the best description of

atonement in the Bible is that beautiful chapter.

Lance read it recently. I even read it recently, a few

weeks ago, Isaiah chapter 6. And if you don't want to turn

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

there, you remember the story Isaiah 6 in the year that King

Uzziah died, it says, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne

high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the

temple. Above him stood the seraphim.

Each had six wings, and two he covered with his face, and with

two he covered with his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called the another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the

Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with

his glory. And the foundations of the

threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house

was filled with smoke. And verse 5 Isaiah says, And I

said, Woe to me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips,

and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my

eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.

I would wager to say that Isaiah was probably the most righteous

man in all of Jerusalem. Yet when he saw God on the

throne, he says I am a man of unclean lips.

But verse 6 says of chapters. Verse 6 of chapter 6 Then one of

the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that

he had taken with tongues from the altar, and he touched my

mouth. And he said, behold, this has

touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is

atone, for God took his sins away.

The last time the word atonement is used in the Old Testament is

in Daniel 924, that great chapter of Daniel 9 which says

70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to

finish the transgressions, to put an end to sin, and to atone

for iniquity. We know that was when Jesus

Christ hung on the cross and He would provide atonement for

everyone who would believe. That alone is reason to praise

God. That alone is to give to to make

vows. That alone is the reason to pray

everyday thanking Him for his atonement.

You know the word atonement does not appear in the New Testament

but there is a like minded word called propitiation and that

means what? What God is now for us, His

anger against sinners has been taken away.

Our relationship has been restored.

Jesus died in her place and bore the wrath of God's punishment.

So have you believed in Christ's atonement?

Don't leave here tonight without seeing me, Tom, Mason or Lance.

If you're not sure if you have Christ's atonement, it ought to

'cause you as verse one and two, say to give praise that's due to

make vows or covenants and pray. People all over the world need

to know that God has provided atonement for sin through Jesus

Christ. Either God provides atonement

for your sins or you will pay the penalty for your sin in

hell. Let's look at some point #3 He

accepts worshippers, says blessed is the one you choose

and bring near to dwell in your courts.

You all know the beatitudes in the New Testament, right?

Matthew 5 says blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is

the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for

they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they

shall inherit the earth. You all know those beatitudes,

right? Well, do you know there's 25

beatitudes in Psalms and this is one of them.

Blessed is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your

courts. We are blessed because God chose

us to bring us near to Him. You know, visiting the sanctuary

or the temple in the Old Testament, Israel was a badge of

membership. That was something that they

would be proud of. True believers found

satisfaction in that holy place. You know, the Lord hears our

prayers. We talked about that in .1 and

he's chosen people to bring near to him.

If you have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight, He's drawn us

near for you to, to be near. You know, we don't go to the

temple. We come to the the physical

building of the church. Now some of you might ask, who

are these people here? Could they be priests?

Well #16 five, Jeremiah 3021 make a claim.

It could be priests, but equally they might be the entire

covenant people of Israel because Exodus 19, six says to

the children of Israel, you shall become a Kingdom of

priests. And you know that we are a

Kingdom of priests in the New Testament.

When God Forgives our sins, we begin a new relationship with

Him by worshipping Him in His presence.

What the Jewish worshippers had in their sanctuary, we believers

today have in Jesus Christ. We come to church to worship.

You know, there are no Lone Ranger Christians.

There's no what we call bedside Baptist.

There's no saying I don't need to go to church.

I can have church in my home. You all know Hebrews 10/25 says

that we are not to collect meeting together as the habit of

some. We ought to encourage one

another all the more as you see the day approaching.

Do we realize how blessed we are that God has chosen us to bring

us near to Him and some point #4 He assigns blessings.

That's the last part of verse 4. We shall be satisfied with the

goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.

The Lord promised to reward those who are devoted to Him,

and whoever is is loyal to the Lord is blessed with good

things. You know, I could give a lot of

verses here tonight, but I get to keep going.

But Psalm 23, six, the last verse in Psalm 23 says surely

goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and

I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

God's gifts include spiritual benefits, of course, the

forgiveness of sins that we just talked about when Christ atones

for our sins. And we'll see later in verses 9

to 13 the blessings that God gives us by sustaining our

earth. You have Christ in your heart.

You will enjoy God's blessings in this life and especially the

life to come. Let's look at point #2 God is

our Creator, and He causes great things.

He created the world, He calms the nations, and He calls for

praise. And I'm going through these real

quickly because I want to get to those choice verses in nine to

13. Number one, He causes great

things. Verse 5 he says by awesome deeds

you answer us with righteousness.

Oh God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the

earth and the farthest seas. Not sure what the psalmist is

talking about. Could it be the Exodus?

Maybe Could it be the the greatest miracle in the Old

Testament when they part of the Red Sea?

Could it be the conquest of Canaan?

Maybe God answered all Israel's prayers and He established

Israel in the Promised Land, and they were to be the hope of all

the ends of the earth. But we know they fail in that.

So God #1 'cause our Creator causes great things #2 He

created the world. Verse 6 says by one who by His

strength established the mountains, being girded with

might. In the poetry books of the

Bible, especially Psalms, when it speaks of mountains, it's

Speaking of strength or the omnipotence, the unshakable

power and ability of God's created order.

Yahweh's power is demonstrated and that He created and sustains

the mountains which are the strongest and most solid parts

of the earth. God wants you to know that He is

the Creator. Psalms 1/15/15 says May you be

blessed of Yahweh who made the heaven and earth.

Psalm 121 two says, My help comes from the Lord who made the

heaven and the earth. Psalm 124 eight says our help is

in the name of Yahweh who made the heaven and the earth.

Psalm 134 three says, May Yahweh bless you from Zion who made the

heaven and the earth. And Psalm 146 six says, Who made

the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that's in them, who

keeps truth forever? So He caused great things, He

created the world, and then next He calms the nation.

Verse 7, it says Who steals the roaring of the Seas, the roaring

of the waves, the tumult of the people.

Again, in the poetry books of the Bible, when it speaks of

seas, it's commonly used to describe figuratively the

nations of the world, especially those nations that oppose God,

Israel and God's program. He controls the turban elements

of nature and the tumultuous host of the nations which they

symbolize. Psalms 2, Psalm, we looked at a

long time ago. We don't have time tonight, but

you know, Psalms 2, God mocks God, laughs at the nations that

will not obey him or follow him. Let's look at #4 He calls for

praise. Verse 8, He says that So all

those who dwell in the ends of the earth are in awe of your

signs. You make the going out in the

morning and the evening shout for joy.

So maybe your Bible began verse one.

There will be silence before you.

Well, verse 8 ends with shouts of joy.

Begins with silence, and verse 8 ends with joy.

The whole world is to be an awe of God signs, not just Israel.

And that should cause there to be shoutful joys, shouts of joy.

You know, when I look at creation, sometimes it's the

rivers, sometimes it's the waterfalls.

You know, it might be the Grand Canyon or some National Park

like Death Valley. It might even be going down via

Verde when you can see Mount Baldy after the snow.

It's just spectacular. It's beautiful.

And when I see that I I usually recite 2 Psalms and, and Tim

already wrote the first one, Psalm 19.

The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies above proclaim

his handiwork. And the other one is Psalms 8.

And I'll just read you the 1st 4 verses.

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

You have set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of

babes and infants. You have established strength

because of your foes to steal the enemy and the avenger.

And verse 3 says, when I look at your heavens, the work of your

fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, it

calls for praise, doesn't it? All right, let's get to the best

part of our message tonight. Verse #3 God is our Savior, God

is the Creator, and finally God is our sustainer.

And this is where we get our title, the Harvest Psalm, verses

9 to 13. One commentator, HC Leopold,

says of these verses, we venture the claim that this is the most

eloquent and beautiful description of the blessings

that God bestows on field and Meadow to be found anywhere in

such a brief compass. Just saying, these are the most

beautiful verses in the Bible about the harvest and I think

the legacy standard Bible. I'm not trying to sell you that

Bible up here, but verses 9 to 11 in the legacy standard Bible,

listen carefully what it says. By the way, you can, you can get

an online free on your iPhone, Samsung or iPad.

You can download that Bible free and look at it and compare it to

your translation. But the legacy standard Bible

says here in verse 9 to 11, you visit the earth and cause it to

overflow. You greatly enrich it.

The stream of God is full of water.

You establish their grain, for thus you establish the earth.

You water its furrows abundantly.

You smooth its ridges, you soften it with showers, you

bless its growth, you crown the year with your goodness, and

your paths drip with richness. You, you, you, You know praise

is all about God, who he is and what he's done.

True worship is theocentric, God centered.

And let's look tonight at how God sustains us.

And #1 he brings the water and he, he, he, he, he brings the

crops, He beautifies the hills, and he celebrates in our

rejoicing. So #1 he brings the water, says

you visit the water and you greatly enrich it.

The river of God is full of water.

And then you got to go to verse 10.

You water its furrows abundantly, setting its ridges

softening with their showers. Water is the greatest blessing I

think God can give us. There's a beautiful verse in

Isaiah 55. The whole chapter of Isaiah 55

is, is some of the best poetry in the Bible.

But Isaiah 5510 and 11 says, For as the rain and the snow come

down from heaven and do not return there, but water the

earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower

and bread to the eater. So here people prepare the land

before the early rains. There's two rains, there's early

rains, and there's latter rains, but the people will make its

furrows and ridges, so they prepare it, and then they

rejoice when the early rains come that soften the ground.

And those rains usually would arrive in Israel somewhere

around October, November, and that would cause the vegetation,

the main crops of barley and wheat to grow.

They rejoice even more when they get the latter rains or the

heavy rains which would be from December through February, which

would make the crops really grow.

Zechariah 10 verse one says ask rain from the Lord in the season

of the spring, rain from the Lord who makes the storm clouds.

He will give them showers of rain to everyone, the vegetation

in the field. So those rains permit the crops

to mature and produce an abundant harvest.

Jesus said in Matthew 545, for he makes his sunrise on evil and

on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

The whole world is under common grace because God gives them

rain. You know, there's another

harvest Psalm in the in the Psalms and that harvest Psalm in

addition to Psalm 65 would be Psalm one O 7.

It's a very long Psalm, but I just want to read a few verses

in it. This other harvest Psalm, Psalm

one O 7 verse one begins with the words the Lord for he is

good for his steadfast love endures forever.

What are we thankful for? Well, one thing is go to verse

33 to 38 and it says he turns the rivers into a desert,

springs of water into a thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a

salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants.

He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into

springs of water, and there he lets the hungry dwell and they

establish a city to live in. They sow fields and plant

vineyards and get a fruitful yield.

By his blessing. They multiply greatly and He

does not let their livestock diminish.

So Psalms one O 7, God brings the rain, just like in Psalm one

O 5. So he brings the rain, and then

sub .2 he blesses the crops. You know, we take it for

granted. I read the e-mail from Pastor

Kizza. His tomatoes are gone, His

cabbages are gone. He's struggling financially.

But do you know the Bible? I was researching this Psalm.

You know that the Bible mentions 14 famines.

And there's a guy named Steve Shirley.

He did a study on these 14 Psalms.

And I was looking at it and it's fascinating.

Now, some of them aren't outright called famines, but

they have the characteristics of the salmon.

I'm just going to run down to them because we don't realize

how many famines there are in the Bible or how many there are

going to be in the future. Genesis 1210, You know that

story? Famine was in the land, so

Abraham went down to Egypt without God's approval.

Genesis 26, verse one, there was famine in the land, so Isaac

went to Gear, our Amalek, king of the Philistines.

Genesis 41 to 47, You know the story of Joseph, there were

seven years of famine and that's when Isaac came with his family

to live in, in Egypt. Ruth, chapter one, verse one, in

the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.

So Emmelec took Naomi and his two sons to Moab.

Second Samuel 21, One I mentioned this last week, I

think there was famine in the land because Saul had killed the

Gibbonites. First Kings 17 to 18.

There was famine in the land for 3 1/2 years.

The heavens were shut up because Elijah prayed that it would not

rain punishment for Israel's sins.

Then in Second Kings 438, Elijah came to Gilgal where there was

famine in the land. And then in Second Kings 624 to

33 there was a great famine in the land.

Second Kings 25, verse 2 and 3, the famine was so severe when

2 Kings 25:2

Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and then Nehemiah

verse 5, verse one to three people were merging their

fields, their vineyards, their houses to get grain because of

the famine. Jeremiah 14, one to six, the

words of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

Joel 11 to 20 Locusts that's the locusts chapter 4 kinds of

locusts had devoured the land and there was no food to eat.

Haggai 110 to 11 God called for a drought because the people

cared only for their houses and not for the House of the Lord.

And of course Acts 1128 Agabus prophesied that there would be a

great famine all over the world. So the the brothers sent aid to

Judah, the Christians did. But the Bible prophecy also says

that there will be famines in the in the future.

Matthew 24/7, Mark 13/8, Luke 2111 are all the same story and

they say that there will be famines and earthquakes in very

places in the last days. And Revelation 6-8 in the

tribulation says, and I looked and behold A pale horse, and

it's rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him, and they

were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with

the sword and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild

beasts of the earth. And Revelation 18-8 says for

this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and

mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire.

For mighty is the Lord God who judged her.

So I just tell you that because there are a lot of famines in

the Bible, many of them because God judged Israel or God judged

the nation's. Other times we don't know why

there was famine, but famines happen quite often.

But in our Psalm, God provided the reins.

God provided the grain and the crops.

Verse 9 says you provide their grain for so you have prepared

it. I read 1 commentator today that

said 50% of the diet of the Israelites would be wheat and

barley. They would be in the main

staple. So if anything happened to those

crops they'd be in big trouble. Verse 10 says, and you and

blessed its growth. Verse 11 says you crown the year

with your bounty. So the opposite of famine was an

abundance. So in our Psalm it says your

wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

What's that mean? You all know the Oregon Trail

when the the wagoners would gum through all the way up to Utah.

There's actual places you can go where you can see the wagon

tracks in the limestone of rocks where the wagon tracks have

burrowed. And I want to go visit one of

those national parks and see that for myself.

But so many wagon tracks went through the limestone that

there's a rut now. And you can see that today in

our national parks here in America.

But it's here, it's talking about the wagon tracks of Israel

were so overflowed with abundance, with the bounty of

the crops, that they too were making ruts in the grounds.

Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

It was just a time of joy, a time of excitement.

Deuteronomy 8 versus 7-8 promised Israel that when they

got to the promised land, it's said for the Lord your God is

bringing to a good land, a land with brooks of water, of

fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills, a

land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and

pomegranates and a land of olives and honey.

You know, we too, aren't we, dependent upon God's manna.

Just a few months ago we had an egg shortage, right?

So I was at Trader Joe's at 8:00 AM because I had to get dark

yolk eggs, which my daughter Tessa likes.

But then sometimes they didn't have them.

Now that's a crisis, right? We didn't have eggs.

But, you know, we, we, we get our food at Albertson's.

I mentioned we get our food at all.

These are Trader Joe's. So I'm not sure we're as

thankful as these Jews were in Psalm 65.

You know, I was thinking, I do thank God for my food when I

pray for my food and I pray thank God for my wife who made

it or whoever made it. But I don't know if I've ever

thanked the farmers who grew the food, and Psalm 65 tells me that

maybe I need to. But because we have such an

abundance of food, we have so much food available, that I

sometimes think we just take it for granted and we're not

thankful. And the phrase in that in verse

11 says you crown the year. That suggests that this Psalm

was written at the harvest festival in October, which would

be the Feast of Tabernacles, which is described in Leviticus

17 and Leviticus 23. Let's move on.

He beautifies the hills, the pastures of the wilderness.

Verse 12, Overflow and hills gird themselves with joy.

You know when I drive up to Tulare to see my in laws Hwy. 99

on both sides going through that valley, there's just crops.

And I'm always wondering what is that crop?

What is it? Sometimes it's easy to know.

But then when I when I lived in Thailand and Myanmar, the most

beautiful sight is the rice paddies on the mountains and

hills. Maybe you've seen a picture.

You know, they will, they will cut ridges and they'll build

furrows and, and build a wall and they will build the rice

paddies right on the hills. And you see it, it's just, it's

just majestic and beautiful. So you can hit see here that the

pasture and the wilderness overflow.

Maybe you can think about the Super bloom.

You know what that is? When we have a huge rain,

usually I think in February, we get what's called a super bloom.

And you can run. Used to be able to rundown the

Lake Elsinore, Lancaster has it, Death Valley has it.

But you, you drive and they're just hill after hill after hill

of beautiful flowers. And it's just spectacular.

So God beautifies the hills, even if it's flowers and not

just food that we eat. And then lastly #4 there he

celebrates with our rejoicing. It says the meadows clothe

themselves with flocks. The valleys deck themselves with

grain. They shout and sing together for

joy. So our Psalm begins verse one

with with with praise, and it ends here in verse 13 with a

crescendo of praise, with shouting and singing for joy.

It's a happy time. Now we know that meadows,

valleys, flocks, and grains don't really shout for sing for

joy, but in the harvest splendor, the abundance of

splendor, and the excitement of the Israelites gathering the

bounty of their crop, It seems like they do.

It's like they could literally cry out.

The point here is, is since that inanimate objects cannot

literally praise God, we who are made in God's image should and

can praise God. What can I give you application

tonight? I just want to give you 2 things

tonight #1 let's talk about thanks and Thanksgiving.

You know, it's usually a Thanksgiving.

We talk about Thanksgiving, we step back, maybe we we count our

blessings one by one, name them. We we realize just how good we

have it and we give thanks to God for his abundant goodness.

God is good because it's all powerful.

He's sovereign the universe. He's able to do good things and

shower us with blessings. So we thank him.

But I didn't write this. I got this from 1 commentator.

But he says we need to be reminded to focus on giving God

thanks because our society presents 2 very real threats to

Thanksgiving. Number one, we live in a

negative age. We live in a very critical age.

There's scandals that grab our attention, the newspapers that

every day there's a new scandal, whether it's this week or 60

Minutes or even the latest church scandal.

You just heard about G3 in the ministry that just got destroyed

a few weeks ago. Maybe it's the latest church

split or the greatest tragedy. There's just negative, negative.

There's always abundance of negative.

So we're so full of negative. We talk about negative a lot.

Secondly, we live in a very prosperous society, don't we?

You would think that we would be an encouragement to give thanks

to God, but it actually presents a special trap to sit around

with all that fat and happy thinking that we deserve all

this abundance and actually complain that we don't have as

much as someone else. We tend to forget the goodness

of God, don't we? I was thinking about it that

when I was a kid, McDonald's was a blessing, but we only got it

maybe once every six months and it was a $0.25 hamburger fries,

and I didn't remember if we got the Coke.

We weren't rich, but today your kids want wings and pizza and

sushi, all those things, and I wonder, are they really thankful

we have it so good? Thanks is mentioned 128 times in

the Bible, and there's no book of the Bible that even mentions

thanks more than Psalms. Psalms has 51 verses about

giving thanks. Psalms 136, every verse of 26

verses alone says give thanks. Let me just give you some things

we need to be thankful for. Psalm 17, I'm sorry.

Psalm 717 says I will give to the Lord that thanks do His

righteousness. I will sing praise to the name

of the Lord, the Most High. So we need to thank God for His

righteousness. He is holy, holy, holy.

Psalm 9 verse one, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole

heart I will recount all your wonderful deeds.

When was the last time you thank God for His wonderful deeds?

We need to give thanks for His wonderful deeds.

Psalm 33 verse 2 says give thanks to the Lord with the

Psalms 33:2

lyre, make melody to him with the harp of 10 strings.

We need to give thanks when we sing songs, and we do that quite

often, right? But not just on Sunday, but

throughout the week. Psalm 3518 says, I will thank

you in the great congregation, in the mighty throng, I will

praise you. So we as a congregation must

give him thanks together in corporate worship, and we do

that on Sunday and Wednesday night.

Psalm 54 verse 6 says with a free will offering, I will

Psalms 54:6

sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name,

O Lord, for it is good. Another way of giving thanks is

to giving back to God with our ties and our offerings.

He has actually all His money. We give back to Him because He's

blessed us. Psalm 100 verse 4 says, enter

Psalms 100:4

his gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

We thank Him for His holy, holy name.

Psalms one O 7 verse 8. Let them thank the Lord for his

steadfast love for his wondrous works to the children of man.

We thank him for his love. And the greatest demonstration

of that love was when he hung on the cross and died for your sins

and my sins if you have Jesus Christ in your heart.

And Psalms 138 two says, I bow down towards your holy temple

and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your

faithfulness. For you have exalted above all

things your name and your word. This is the first verse on the

Christ Community Church statement of faith.

We thank God for his word. And then lastly, it says Psalm

142 seven says, bring me out of prison and I'm going to give

thanks to your name. The righteous surround me for

you deal bountifully with me. I love that word you deal

bountifully, meaning as God dealt bountifully with you, we

need to thank Him because he's dealt bountifully with us.

In verses one to four, I said God, God is due praise, vows,

and prayers, but we also need to thank Him for the harvest, for

the many blessings. Whether you're a farmer, whether

you're a vegetable grower in the backyard, or whether you're just

a person who shops at Aldi's or Trader Joe's, we need to thank

Him for the harvest #2 then we need to let people know that God

has made atonement for our sin through Jesus Christ.

I said Psalm 65, verse 3 was the Romans 5/8 of the Old Testament.

Psalms 65:3

When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our

transgressions. Romans 623 says for the wages of

sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus

Christ our Lord. We need to tell people that they

are under the penalty of sin. We need to tell him Romans 5/8

which says that God showed his love toward us, that in this

while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ died for us on the cross.

And then we need to tell him Romans 10/9 and 10 which says if

you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is Lord, and

believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you

will be saved. For it is with the heart 1

believes and is justified, and with the mouth 1 confesses and

is saved. People need to know that God has

made atonement for their sin through Jesus Christ.

Either they will pay the penalty for their sin in hell or Jesus

Christ paid it already on the cross.

But we have to tell people for that let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you tonight that we can have AI

think a beautiful Psalm. It's a Psalm of praise, a Psalm

of Thanksgiving. Father of all the people in the

world, we have it so good when we look at the wars that are

going on in Israel and, and Myanmar and Ukraine, Russia,

when we look at the, the food shortages that maybe are

happening in Gaza, if it's true, when we see around the world the

earthquakes and famines and pestilence.

And we are so blessed, Father, because we have a great nation

and you founded that nation. And you, you like the children

of Israel in Psalm 65, you blessed the United States of

America with so many blessings. And then we, Father, are so

blessed that we want to give back to men like Pastor Jonathan

Kizza. So Father, may we raise our

children, our grandchildren to be thankful, to understand just

how blessed we are because you will sustain us, your God, our

Savior. You are our Creator and you are

a sustainer. And Father, give us

opportunities as we live here tonight to tell people that

Jesus Christ has a tone for their sins if they will repent

and believe in Him in Jesus name, Amen.