← Back to sermon library
Turn in your Bibles to Psalm
67. Psalm 67, I want us to consider gospel missions this evening,
or the missionary enterprise, the fact that the nations of
the earth stand in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Psalm 67 is a missionary psalm. It describes for us how we ought
to pray, and it sets forth promises that God will, in fact, do great
and glorious things in the earth. Psalm 67, I'll read verse one,
beginning in verse one, and then we'll look at the petitions and
the promises held forth in this psalm. To the chief musician
on stringed instruments, a psalm, a song. God be merciful to us
and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Say law that
your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O
God. Let all the peoples praise you,
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge
the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise you, O
God. Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield
her increase. God, our own God, shall bless
us. God shall bless us and all the
ends of the earth shall fear him. Let us pray. Father, thank you for this psalm.
We pray that you would give us understanding into it now. We
pray that you would bless us as a church, cause us to realize
we're just one small part of a much larger whole, that the
kingdom of Jesus Christ is advancing on the earth through the preaching
of his word. We thank you that our blessed
Redeemer rides on a white horse with a sword that proceeds from
his mouth, conquering and to conquer. and that he is enthroned
at the right hand of God Most High, where he exercises absolute
authority, absolute sovereignty over heaven and earth. And we
just pray, Most High God, that these things would be a means
of encouragement to us to live and to pray. Help us to be a
prayerful people concerning the cause of God and truth throughout
the world. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. The Bible is a book of promise. The Bible sets forth to us specifically
God's promise to save sinners by Jesus Christ unto himself. That promise is established in
the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3 verse 15. After Adam
and Eve God comes and deals with that, and institutes the covenant
of grace, or at least begins to show how he will, in fact,
put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the
serpent, that the woman's seed would crush the head of the seed
of the serpent, demonstrating by and whom redemption would
come, even our Lord Jesus Christ. That promise is expanded when
we get to Abraham in Genesis 12. God says to Abraham that
in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. It won't
just be one tribe, it won't just be one people group, but rather
in Adam all the nations, all the families of the earth will
in fact be blessed. That promise is expounded or
explained in the prophets. You read through the prophets
and they give us more information. Specifically, the prophet Isaiah
shows us this servant who would come and would suffer, and by
his knowledge he would justify many. That promise is exalted
in the Psalter. That means it is rejoiced in,
or it is delighted in, and we're going to see that here in just
a moment. And then, of course, this promise
of salvation is experienced through the life, death, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. So that promise runs from Genesis
to Revelation. that God has promised to save
his people through the Redeemer, even the Lord of glory. And here's
Psalm 67 takes that idea or takes that that that that promise of
that statement concerning the peoples, the nations, the Gentiles
and the psalmist praise for them to enjoy the blessing in the
favor of God. We're going to break up this
psalm into two primary sections. The first are the petitions,
the things that the psalmist asks for. When you pray, there
is that time when you adore God, when you confess your sins. But
as well, you need to petition the Lord. You need to ask God.
You set before Him your requests. And that's what we find in verses
1 to 5. And then verses 6 and 7 set forth
promises. God will indeed do great things.
God will indeed bless his people. God will do this. And this ought
to inspire more prayer, more petition, more earnest and treaty
on behalf of the peoples. So as we come to the petitions,
we see them broken down further into two primary categories.
First, for the church and secondly, for the world. He prays first
for the church notice or the people of God. He says, God,
be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon
us. So there's three things that
the psalmist prays for here with reference to the people of God.
If you're thinking biblically, you'll hear the Aaronic blessing
from Numbers chapter 6, verses 24 to 26 in the background. That says, the Lord bless you
and keep you. The Lord make his face shine
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace. So, the psalmist prays first
for the people of God, for the Church of Jesus Christ, for mercy. God, be merciful to us. There is never a time in our
history as a Church There is never a time in our being as
Christians that we do not need the mercy of God. We are a sinful
people. Even as redeemed Christians,
we sin against the Lord. We need his mercy. This ought
to be a petition that we pray constantly. God be merciful to
us. Mercy, as C.H. Spurgeon says,
is a foundation attribute in our salvation. The best saints
and the worst sinners may unite in this petition. God be merciful
to us. There is a progression here before
the church goes out and publishes the good news concerning Jesus
Christ. She must herself be a quick.
She must walk in the mercy of God. She must know his grace. She must know the forgiveness
of sins. She must know his goodness and
his kindness toward his people. If we don't know those things,
if we don't understand those things, it's like trying to preach
something we have never felt the power of. When we understand
that power, when we've been brought out of darkness in the marvelous
light, the progression is natural. We will want to go publish abroad.
We will want to tell others of his mercy. David indicates this
in Psalm 51. You can turn there for just a
moment again to see this sort of progression that the best
witnesses, the best missionaries, the best evangelists. are those
who have tasted firsthand the very mercy of God that they are
setting forth before sinners. Notice in Psalm 51, the occasion
was when David repented from his sin. David is crying out
to the Lord for forgiveness. David is rehearsing his native
depravity. David then calls upon God to
cleanse him, to wash him, to purify him. Notice the progression
here. Verse seven. Purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness
that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from
my sins and blot out all my iniquities. created me a clean heart of God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away
from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your
generous spirit. What is this but a cry God be
merciful to me, is what he says. Now, notice verse 13. Then I
will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted
to you. You see the progression there.
The same thing is true in Psalm 67. This is why the church must
rehearse those great redemptive events all the time. Because
it's as we see God's mercy. It's as we see God's grace. It's
as we receive fresh forgiveness for fresh sins. We then go and
tell others. We publish abroad. The good news
that God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Mercy
is a foundation attribute in our salvation. The best saints
and the worst sinners may unite in this petition. Going back
to Psalm 67, the second petition for the church, he says in verse
one, God be merciful to us and bless us. Bless us. That's not a bad thing to say
that it's a very good thing. We just need to align ourselves
with what a blessing is. See, oftentimes when we say bless
us, we want promotions at work. It's not necessarily a bad thing
in and of itself. When we say bless us, we want
freedom from any sort of ill or trial or difficulty. We want
to just sort of run through life without any problems whatsoever.
No, bless us is as God sees fit. When we bless God, it means we
speak well of Him. When He blesses us, it means
He gives us benefits. He pours upon us those things
we stand in need of. Paul highlights this in Ephesians
1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That means speak well of Him.
Praise pronounce good things concerning his name and then
he says why blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ was blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ and then he highlights the fact that the
father chose us. He highlights the fact that the Father predestinated
us unto adoption as sons. He highlights the mission of
the Lord Jesus. In his blood, we have redemption.
And then he highlights the person of the Holy Spirit, who is the
seal and guarantee of our redemption. Those are the blessings that
we ought to be seeking after, those spiritual things. Notice
over in Psalm 68, beginning in verse 19, it says, Blessed be
the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits. The God of our
salvation, Selah. Our God is the God of salvation,
and to God the Lord belong escapes from death. So, here in Psalm
67, the psalmist says, God be merciful to us and bless us. Again, I think the progression
is simply this. As we receive mercy, as we receive
blessing, we will then in turn be a vehicle to communicate those
great truths to others. This was supposed to be the case
with Israel. If you look at Deuteronomy chapter
4, God raised this nation up. They were to shine as a light
to the nations around them. They were to conduct themselves
in such a manner that the other nations would say, what kind
of a nation is this that has such a great God with such a
great law? But, of course, Israel failed
in that particular mission. So God sent forth His Son, born
of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.
Now we in Him, we united to Him, we as the Church are to mediate
those blessings to the nations around us. through missionary
enterprise, through evangelism, through being faithful stewards
of the gospel mystery that has been entrusted to the Church
of Jesus Christ. It is not wrong to seek God's
blessing. It is wrong not to seek it. However,
make sure that you align yourself with Scripture and define blessing
the way God does. So the Church, he asks for mercy,
for blessing, and then thirdly, the petition is for communion. He says, God be merciful to us
and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. What does that
mean? But the favorable presence of God in our midst communion
with him. Isn't this the best thing about
redemption? I will be your God and you shall
be my people. They will know the Lord from
the least of them to the greatest of them. Isn't this what God
held forth to Israel and what is realized in the new covenant
through Jesus Christ, our Lord? God is our God. And it is a legit
and a consistent expression of the church to pray. Yes, for
mercy. Yes, for blessing. But yes, for
God, we want you in our midst. The prophet in Isaiah 64, he
cries out to God. Oh, rend the heavens and come
down. He says, tear open the sky itself
and come down. We get to the book of Revelation. One of the most encouraging things
in chapter one is that Jesus is in the midst of the lampstands. This is the prized possession
of God's people. We come to church to meet with
the Lord. We come to church to enjoy his
special presence. He causes his face to shine upon
us. This is being held forth. This
is, as we might say, the blessing of all blessings, the presence
of God with His Church. This is what the psalmist longed
for. We saw this this morning in Psalms
42 and Psalm 63. I long for you. As the deer pants
for the water, so my heart pants after you, God. This is what
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness desperately desire. They want God. You see, this
ought to be the way we pray. This ought to be the way that
we speak to the Lord. Yes, pray for those physical
needs. Yes, pray for those troubles
that people face. Yes, pray for the calamities
and tragedies that go on in this lower world. But we mustn't neglect
the place of mercy, blessing, communion. These things are what
we fetch when we go heavenward. This is what we're seeking from
the Lord God. We want his presence in our midst
so that we would be encouraged and strengthened for the task
at hand. And now he moves from the church
to the world. Notice three things he asks for
first for salvation. Notice in verse two. that your
way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations."
Notice that the church does not stop with petitions for themselves. Right? Everybody follow along. I know it's hot. I know you're
tired. But listen. Notice the church doesn't say,
okay, prayer meeting's over now. We fetch mercy, blessing, and
God's countenance upon us. Let's go home. Right? We've done our duty. We've laid
it out before the Lord. They don't stop there. They fetch
these blessings so that they will be a means of encouragement
and blessing to the world. That's the significance of the
way. Verse two begins that God give us mercy. God bless us. And God, cause your face to shine
upon us that your way may be known through or on Earth, your
salvation among all nations. Who's going to tell the world
If it isn't God's people, who's going to tell those people in
various continents or various countries or various cities or
various neighborhoods about the Lord Jesus, except for Jesus
people? Isn't this the thrust of first
Peter chapter two? God calls us out of darkness
into marvelous light. Why? So that we can just chill
in the light. Bask in the light. Relax in the
light, just enjoy the light. We have the light. Praise God
for the light. No, he calls us out of darkness
into marvelous light that we may proclaim his excellencies,
that we may proclaim His praises that we may tell others about
the glory of God most high. He saves us to speak for him. He saves us to communicate. He
saves us to say things at times as simple as that man born blind
in John nine. I was blind, but now I see. And it's because of that man,
Jesus. You don't need to be able to
preach like Spurgeon. You don't need to be able to
preach like Whitfield. You don't need to be able to
preach like any great preacher in the history of the church
to say this much. I was dead in my trespasses and
sins, and he made me alive together with Christ. By grace, I have
been saved. Do you see the flow? Do you see
the pattern? Do you see fetching mercy first
for the church, blessing, countenance, and then going forth to tell
others about the salvation of our God Most High? Spurgeon,
again, says it is the duty and privilege of a revived church
to make that way to be everywhere known. People that have responded
or people that have been graced by God to respond to this message
cannot but speak the things they've seen and heard. You can't silence
somebody that knows the mercy of God. As Spurgeon says in another
place, I think it's on Psalm 132, he says there's no dumb
saints in Zion. He doesn't mean dumb like we're
not tracking all the way. He means dumb. We don't speak.
There's no such thing as a dumb saint in Zion. You will speak
for God. You will praise God. You will
proclaim the excellencies of God. That's the progression. The way of God is his method
of dealing out mercy and his glorious government. The salvation
of God is what he prays for here. Notice that your way may be known
on Earth, your salvation among all nations. Isn't it amazing
when we get to the New Testament what that salvation looks like? Who's thinking Luke 2? Anybody
thinking Luke 2? Why would you think Luke two,
because Simeon grabs the babe Christ and he starts to praise
God. He starts to rejoice in God.
He was a man who was just. He was devout. He had been waiting
for the consolation of Israel. And when Joseph and Mary brought
the Lord Jesus to the temple to be circumcised in accordance
with the law, this man, this old man, Simeon, walks over to
Mary, grabs the baby out of her arms, and begins to praise God
Most High. And he says, Master, now you
can let your servant depart, for my eyes have seen your salvation. So when the psalmist prays your
salvation among all nations, he wants us to publish the gospel. He wants us to speak the truth,
those great redemptive events. He doesn't want to hear first
and foremost about your experience, about your upbringing, about
your... No, preach Christ. Talk about the good news. Talk
about the doing and dying and rising again of the Savior. Talk
about his power, his glory, and his majesty. Talk about the fact
that death could have no dominion over him, that he went into that
grave to be victorious over death and sin, to render a judgment
upon the devil and upon all those things the scripture sets forth.
That's the salvation that the psalmist prays that the world
would know. So that's the first petition.
We want the world to be saved. We want the peoples to know God. We want them to understand the
gospel. We'll just be honest, Brethren,
in your own heart. Does this find its place in your
prayer life? Do you pray for the nations?
Do you pray with lots? Pity the nations, O our God,
and constrain the earth to come. Is that something that makes
your heart beat? Is there a longing? Is there
a desire to see even turn on to the Lord? Jesus doesn't even
have to be over there. We got enough even right here.
We got enough people that have no knowledge whatsoever of the
living God and of this price or be merciful to us. Bless us. Cause your face to
shine upon us so that we may make known your way. so that
we may make known your salvation, so that we may open our mouths
and testify concerning the great things that God has done in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus. He prays for salvation. Notice,
secondly, he prays for worship. He wants the peoples to be saved,
so they'll worship. Let the peoples praise you, O
God. Let all the peoples praise you. Oh, let the nations be glad and
sing for joy. Look at verse five. Let the peoples
praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Notice the thrust. Notice the
movement. Notice the focus of the song.
God's mercy, God's blessing, God's countenance. We go out
and publish the truth of the gospel. We let sinners know God's
way. We let sinners know God's salvation. God in his grace and mercy saves
them. And what happens? He makes worshippers. Right? That's the goal of the
psalm. Is that people wouldn't blaspheme
God. That people wouldn't use Jesus as a curse word. That people
would speak ill of the Lord God Most High. That people would
take a few moments each and every day to bow their heads and thank
the Lord for the good things that he gives them. That's the
focus, is that through the preaching of the gospel, worshipers would
be made. John Piper hits this nail right
on the head. He says that missions is not
the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Listen to this, this
is perceptive. Missions is not the ultimate
goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because
worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions. Because God is ultimate, not
man. When this age is over and the
countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the
throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary
necessity, but worship abides forever. You see, in heaven,
in the eternal state, there won't be evangelism and missions. It's
a temporary necessity, a temporary necessity geared toward making
worshipers. You see, that ought to focus
or ought to be a goal in our hearts as well. Lord, turn those
people to you so that you would be worshiped. So that you would
be glorified. Yes, we love men and we don't
want to go off to hell. That's legit. That's a decent
motivation in our hearts to pray for them to be sure. But God
turned these centers on to you, that they may praise you, that
you may receive the glory, the honor and the praise that is
due to your great name. You see, to the degree that we
value, prize, and adore God, that's the degree we'll pray
for the advancement of God's gospel. It's the gospel that
brings God glory. It's the good news of Christ
and Him crucified that redounds to the praise of God. Missions
is a temporary necessity. Worship abides forever. That's perceptive. He prays for
salvation, he prays for worship, and he prays for God's rule in
the world. Verse 4b, For you shall judge
the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. Now, before you start saying,
well, this will never be realized on this side of heaven, this
could never be the case, wasn't it our Lord who taught us to
pray this way? Pray that God's will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Right now, currently and presently,
we ought to be praying that God's will be done on earth as it is
in heaven. In other words, God's rule, God's
power, God's reign, God's authority be moving in the hearts of men
on a large scale. We ought to pray that God would
close down abortion clinics. We ought to pray that God would
stop the senseless killings that are going on in the world. We
ought to pray for the intervention of this divine government. We're
not told, pray only if you think it'll ever be realized. We are
simply called to pray it. pray that God's will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. Those are the petitions for the
church for the world. Let's look at the promises. Verses
six and seven, two categories here, temporal and spiritual.
Temporal is in verse six. Then the earth shall yield or
increase. God, our own God shall bless
us. You know that this missionary song was probably written at
the time of harvest. Probably a time of praise and
thanksgiving for God to give an abundant harvest to Israel.
That's pretty cool, or pretty good, isn't it? They're not just
saying, God, load up our barns. God, just give us, give us, give
us, give us. No, first God, first God, his blessing upon the church,
missionary endeavors, pray that the world, or that the nations
would, in fact, be glad. And then he says, then the earth
shall yield her increase. God, our own God, shall bless
us. Spurgeon said this, and I think
this is perceptive. He said, sin first laid a curse
on the soil, and grace alone can remove it. Under tyrannical
governments, lands become unproductive. Even the land which flowed with
milk and honey is almost a wilderness under Turkish rule. You've got
to track with this, because there's a sense where we don't believe
this. There's a book by David Chilton,
it's called Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators.
He's talking about the problem of the third world. He says the
problem with the third world isn't that they didn't get sewage
systems built in. They didn't get freeways built
in. They didn't get semitrots. They
didn't get industrial plants. It's not as if certain parts
of the world already had these things and these other parts
of the world just got gypped and didn't get them. So that
makes them third world. He says the problem there is
a problem of faith. When men reject God, when men
refuse God, when men despise God, God does not bless. Now, we need to be careful because
we don't want to fall into a health, wealth, prosperity sort of thing
that if we just do the right things, God will always bless
us. No, we don't want to fall prey to that. But we don't want
to fall prey to this idea that God is not involved with this
world. Spurgeon recognized it. Under
tyrannical governments, lands become unproductive. Even the
land which flowed with milk and honey is almost a wilderness
under Turkish rule. But when the principles of true
religion have elevated mankind and the dominion of Jesus shall
be universally acknowledged, the science of tillage shall
be perfected. Men shall be encouraged to labor. Industry shall banish poverty
and the soil shall be restored to more than its highest condition
of fertility. He sees this cause and effect
issue. When you reject God, when you
despise God, you reject the biblical worldview. I remember hearing
several years ago about Haiti. Men were going over there from
the Dominican and preaching things like, you see those fields? Go
plant crops, water the crops, and God will cause it to produce. Pastors were doing that, coming
to the conferences and saying, these guys really know what they're
talking about. So we take a lot of that for
granted. But in other parts of the world, they don't know these
things. They have rejected it. So they
cannot say effectively, then the earth shall yield her increase.
God, our own God, shall bless us. Now, again, I don't want
to go into the health, wealth, prosperity cake. I don't want
to go that way. But at the same time, there's
another there's another problem to avoid the other side that
God isn't involved in his creation. That God doesn't bless his people. That God isn't active in the
affairs of men. The psalmist recognized this,
and I think Spurgeon highlights it as well. But he doesn't stop
there. Notice verse 7, the spiritual
blessing. God shall bless us, and all the
ends of the earth shall fear him. all the ends of the earth
shall fear him. That doesn't mean universalism
doesn't mean that each and every person will be saved, but it
does mean that that promise made or that promise expanded to Abraham
does include all the nations of the earth. It does include
all the families of the earth. It does include Gentiles along
with Jews. The Psalter is filled with this.
Calvin says the psalm contains a prediction of Christ's kingdom,
under which the whole world was to be adopted into a privileged
relationship with God. Psalm 2, God installs his holy
hill on Zion. And then what does he say to
the son? Ask of me and I will give you
the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth
for your possession. Why do you think Jesus could
say, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples. Jesus wasn't playing games there.
The father already gave him that the father already deposited
it to him. Jesus is simply calling the church
to act based on what Jesus already received. Spurgeon says, with
reference to Psalm 67, verse seven, he says, despite the gloomy
notions of some, we cling to the belief That the kingdom of
Christ will embrace the whole habitable globe and that all
flesh shall see the salvation of God for this glorious consummation. We agonize in prayer. Is this what we agonize in prayer
for? So I think the song like this
is very important to get us to lift up our eyes very easy to
just get focused on ourselves. You know what Psalm 67 is calling
upon the Free Grace Baptist Church to do? Lift up your eyes. Behold,
the fields are white unto harvest. Despite the gloomy notions of
some, we cling to the belief that the kingdom of Christ will
embrace the whole habitable globe. Turn back to Psalm 46 for just
a moment. Another Spurgeon quote. I'm not
trying to hide behind Spurgeon and Calvin, by the way, but I
certainly think they make the point very effectively as they
expounded the scripture. Psalm 46, verse 10, Be still
and know that I am God. We love that verse, don't we?
It's such a comforting and encouraging verse. Though there's trouble,
though there's trial, though there's difficulty, though there's
hardship, we can always rest in this reality and truth. Be
still and know that I am God. Notice what he goes on to say.
I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Spurgeon says, I will be exalted
among the heathen. They forget God. They worship
idols, but Jehovah will yet be honored by them. Reader, the
prospects of missions are bright, bright as the promises of God.
Let no man's faith fail him. The solemn declarations of this
verse must be fulfilled. I will be exalted in the earth
among all people. Whatever may Whatever may have
been their wickedness or their degradation, either by terror
or love, God will subdue all hearts to himself. The whole
round earth shall yet reflect the light of his majesty. All
the more because of the sin and obstinacy and pride of man shall
God be glorified when grace reigns unto eternal life. I believe we need to pray that
God will increase our faith. that God will cause us to appreciate
these grand promises of Scripture. One more quotation. This is from
James Henley Thornwell, not Henry, but James Henley Thornwell, Southern
Presbyterian in the in the eighteen hundreds. This is what he said.
If the church could be aroused to a deeper sense of the glory
that awaits her. She would enter with a warmer
spirit into the struggles that are before her. Hope would inspire
devotion. She would even now arise from
the dust and like the eagle, plume her pinions for loftier
flights than she has yet taken. What she wants and what every
individual Christian wants, he means here lacks, is faith. Faith in her sublime vocation. Faith in her divine resources,
faith in the presence and efficacy of the spirit that dwells in
her, faith in the truth, faith in Jesus and faith in God. With such faith, there would
be no need to speculate about the future that would speedily
reveal itself. It is our unfaithfulness, our
negligence and unbelief. Our low and carnal aims that
retard the chariot of the Redeemer. We need to get songs like these
in our minds and in our hearts and pray them to God. We need
to get the Great Commission in our minds and in our hearts and
pray it back to God. Jesus doesn't say some authority.
He says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Go, therefore, and disciple the nation. Baptize them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach
them to observe all things that I have commanded you and, lo,
I am with you even to the end of the age. He not only grounds
it in his absolute authority, but he promises his presence
when the church goes about the missionary enterprise to call
the nations to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, brethren, we need
to pray for us. We need to pray for the world.
The missionary enterprise must be a part of that. We must long
for it and we must pray to God to raise up laborers to send
them forth so that they can, in fact, publish the way and
the salvation of our God throughout the nations. If you have not
come to Christ tonight, the first thing you need is his mercy.
You need that mercy of God. I hope and I pray that your prayer
is, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God, be merciful to me,
the one who has offended in all points. God, be merciful to me,
the one who has broken your law. If the nations are to be glad,
God, let me be glad even tonight. Cause your face to shine upon
sinners here and let us go into this week with fresh resolve
to pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this
song. We pray that you would indeed continue to be merciful
to us, that you would bless us and that your face would indeed
shine upon us. We pray, Father, for the nations
of the earth, that they would know the salvation of God. They
would know the way of the Lord. They would know your sovereignty
and your majesty and your excellency. They would know your graciousness
and kindness. They would know the cross. Father,
we pray for missionaries all over the earth. that they would
tirelessly proclaim Christ and Him crucified and Him resurrected. And we pray, Father, that You
would do a great work for Your glory's sake, that You would
create a whole multitude of worshipers to bless, to praise, and to honor
You. We ask now that You would go
with us in this coming week. Again, we just pray, Father,
that You would cause us to walk in obedience to Your will and
Your Word. We pray for our brother John, that You would just watch
over him, and Quenell, We pray that everything would go well
for him in this new week of work. We pray that you would bless
him and cause him to draw nigh unto you through this time. And
we ask through Christ the Lord. Amen.
