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SCRIPTURE REFERENCES FOR THIS SERMON:
Psalm 85:1-89:52
85:1 For the music director, written by the Korahites, a psalm.
O Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the well-being of Jacob.
2 You pardoned the wrongdoing of your people;
you forgave all their sin. (Selah)
3 You withdrew all your fury;
you turned back from your raging anger.
4 Restore us, O God our deliverer.
Do not be displeased with us.
5 Will you stay mad at us forever?
Will you remain angry throughout future generations?
6 Will you not revive us once more?
Then your people will rejoice in you.
7 O Lord, show us your loyal love.
Bestow on us your deliverance.
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says.
For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers.
Yet they must not return to their foolish ways.
9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance;
then his splendor will again appear in our land.
10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet;
deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss.
11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,
and deliverance looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings,
and our land will yield its crops.
13 Deliverance goes before him,
and prepares a pathway for him.
86:1 A prayer of David.
Listen, O Lord. Answer me.
For I am oppressed and needy.
2 Protect me, for I am loyal.
You are my God; deliver your servant who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I cry out to you all day long.
4 Make your servant glad,
for to you, O Lord, I pray.
5 Certainly, O Lord, you are kind and forgiving,
and show great faithfulness to all who cry out to you.
6 O Lord, hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my plea for mercy.
7 In my time of trouble I cry out to you,
for you will answer me.
8 None can compare to you among the gods, O Lord.
Your exploits are incomparable.
9 All the nations, whom you created,
will come and worship you, O Lord.
They will honor your name.
10 For you are great and do amazing things.
You alone are God.
11 O Lord, teach me how you want me to live.
Then I will obey your commands.
Make me wholeheartedly committed to you.
12 O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks with my whole heart.
I will honor your name continually.
13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me
and will deliver my life from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, arrogant men attack me;
a gang of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life.
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.
You are patient and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness.
16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me.
Give your servant your strength.
Deliver this son of your female servant.
17 Show me evidence of your favor.
Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed,
for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me.
87:1 Written by the Korahites; a psalm, a song.
The Lord’s city is in the holy hills.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
3 People say wonderful things about you,
O city of God. (Selah)
4 I mention Rahab and Babylon to my followers.
Here are Philistia and Tyre, along with Ethiopia.
It is said of them, “This one was born there.”
5 But it is said of Zion’s residents,
“Each one of these was born in her,
and the Most High makes her secure.”
6 The Lord writes in the census book of the nations,
“This one was born there.” (Selah)
7 As for the singers, as well as the pipers—
all of them sing within your walls.
88:1 A song, a psalm written by the Korahites, for the music director, according to the machalath-leannoth style; a well-written song by Heman the Ezrahite.
O Lord God who delivers me,
by day I cry out
and at night I pray before you.
2 Listen to my prayer.
Pay attention to my cry for help.
3 For my life is filled with troubles,
and I am ready to enter Sheol.
4 They treat me like those who descend into the grave.
I am like a helpless man,
5 adrift among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave
whom you remember no more
and who are cut off from your power.
6 You place me in the lowest regions of the Pit,
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free.
9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you.
10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?
12 Are your amazing deeds experienced in the dark region,
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?
13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer confronts you.
14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me?
15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth.
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.
16 Your anger overwhelms me;
your terrors destroy me.
17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me.
18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance;
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness.
89:1 A well-written song by Ethan the Ezrahite.
I will sing continually about the Lord’s faithful deeds;
to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established;
in the skies you set up your faithfulness.”
3 The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:
4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty
and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” (Selah)
5 O Lord, the heavens praise your amazing deeds,
as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly.
6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings,
7 a God who is honored in the great angelic assembly,
and more awesome than all who surround him?
8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies!
Who is strong like you, O Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the proud sea.
When its waves surge, you calm them.
10 You crushed the Proud One and killed it;
with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens belong to you, as does the earth.
You made the world and all it contains.
12 You created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13 Your arm is powerful,
your hand strong,
your right hand victorious.
14 Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule.
15 How blessed are the people who worship you!
O Lord, they experience your favor.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long,
and are vindicated by your justice.
17 For you give them splendor and strength.
By your favor we are victorious.
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then you spoke through a vision to your faithful followers and said:
“I have placed a young hero over a warrior;
I have raised up a young man from the people.
20 I have discovered David, my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him as king.
21 My hand will support him,
and my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will be able to exact tribute from him;
a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him.
23 I will crush his enemies before him;
I will strike down those who hate him.
24 He will experience my faithfulness and loyal love,
and by my name he will win victories.
25 I will place his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me,
‘You are my father, my God, and the protector who delivers me.’
27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son,
the most exalted of the earth’s kings.
28 I will always extend my loyal love to him,
and my covenant with him is secure.
29 I will give him an eternal dynasty
and make his throne as enduring as the skies above.
30 If his sons reject my law
and disobey my regulations,
31 if they break my rules
and do not keep my commandments,
32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club,
their sin by inflicting them with bruises.
33 But I will not remove my loyal love from him
nor be unfaithful to my promise.
34 I will not break my covenant
or go back on what I promised.
35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive David.
36 His dynasty will last forever.
His throne will endure before me, like the sun;
37 it will remain stable, like the moon.
His throne will endure like the skies.” (Selah)
38 But you have spurned and rejected him;
you are angry with your chosen king.
39 You have repudiated your covenant with your servant;
you have thrown his crown to the ground.
40 You have broken down all his walls;
you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins.
41 All who pass by have robbed him;
he has become an object of disdain to his neighbors.
42 You have allowed his adversaries to be victorious
and all his enemies to rejoice.
43 You turn back his sword from the adversary
and have not sustained him in battle.
44 You have brought to an end his splendor
and have knocked his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short his youth
and have covered him with shame. (Selah)
46 How long, O Lord, will this last?
Will you remain hidden forever?
Will your anger continue to burn like fire?
47 Take note of my brief lifespan.
Why do you make all people so mortal?
48 No man can live on without experiencing death
or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. (Selah)
49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, O Lord,
the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David?
50 Take note, O Lord, of the way your servants are taunted
and of how I must bear so many insults from people.
51 Your enemies, O Lord, hurl insults;
they insult your chosen king as they dog his footsteps.
52 The Lord deserves praise forevermore!
We agree! We agree!