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[ Music ] ♪ Not like Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no king like you ♪ ♪ Not like Jesus ♪

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♪ There is no king like you ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ Can't you hear him? ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪

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♪ Can't you hear him? ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪ ♪ Can't you hear him? ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪

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♪ Oh, sinner, why don't you answer ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪ ♪ Answer, Jesus ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪

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♪ Answer, Jesus ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪ ♪ Oh, Savior, why don't you answer ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪

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♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪ ♪ Somebody's knocking at your door ♪ ♪ Oh, sinner, I long to answer ♪ ♪ To answer somebody's knocking at your door ♪

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- Amen. We're continuing our sermon series based on the Psalter, Book of Psalms, and we come today Psalm 138.

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Should read verses 1, 2, and 8. "I will praise thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and

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for thy truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. last verse, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands." The subject of the message proclaim the promise or proclaiming the promise. In Thornton Wilder's play, The Skin of

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our teeth. The main character, Mrs. Antrobus, says to her husband calmly and dramatically, "I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I married you because you gave me a promise." She takes off her ring and looks at it, continues, "That promise made up for all your faults and the promise I gave you made up for mine."

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Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage. During this Advent season when we celebrate the divine promise we do well to consider what it means to proclaim the promise in worship and witness. Psalm Psalm 138 is a marvelous hymn that focuses on proclaiming the promises.

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And I've lifted three verses as the key to what I have to say in interpreting this particular hymn. The first two words of the first two verses of Psalm 138 contained the words, "I will." This is the expression of a promise.

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I will praise thee with my whole heart before the gods. I will worship toward thy holy temple. of these proclamations of promise are expressed in the form of vows of a faithful pilgrim of the way. The last verse is a confession of faith pointing

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to what God has promised. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. For thy mercy, O Lord, endure it forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. Israel has a unique role in world history and paving the way for the universal worship of the Lord on planet Earth. Situated in the temple courts, the

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psalmist promises to sing praises to Yahweh in the midst of those who engage in pagan worship. There are those who promise to praise the Lord but they choose to confine their praise to certain places, to the house of worship, to the place dedicated to the worship of the Lord.

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They choose to come to church once a week, join in singing praises to God while they are there, and that's it. They hide behind the fact that the Christian faith is private and personal, and they do not wish to put their faith on parade.

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That is their interpretation of proclaiming the promise, limiting their praise to God's house of praise, the hymn book. the psalmist has an altogether different interpretation of proclaiming the promise. He is committed to praising the Lord in the secular sphere, he's committed to praising

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Yahweh in the midst of pagan worship, surrounded by those who worship the false gods of the popular power culture, surrounded by those who worship youth, beauty, prestige, power, and popularity, he dares to lift his voice in praise to the Lord. It's marvelous to witness in the secular sphere, in places where the only time God's name is

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heard is what it is taken in vain. This devout champion of the faith does not hide his faith under a bushel. He lets his light shine in the darkness. He praises the Lord amid the darkness of doubt in the presence of unbelievers. He praises the Lord in the presence of cynics. He praises the Lord in the

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presence of agnostics. He praises the Lord in the midst of pagan deities. He's not half-hearted. He is not a token commitment. He's not putting on an outside show. What he does is not merely farm and fashion. It's real with him. Listen to what he says, "I will praise thee with my whole heart." He's committed to

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proclaiming the promise among people who seek to live as if God does not exist. He will proclaim God living in the midst of the ungodly. The psalmist focuses on proclaiming the promise in the world. Then after focusing on that he moves to proclaiming the promise in worship, that worship which is related to the

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hallowed walls, the sanctuary, the temple, which is the center of his worship, but no matter where he is, what may be the conditions or circumstances, he will proclaim the promise through worship wherever I am in the land whether it's near or far I will worship toward thy holy temple. See the Jewish people could

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look back upon the exile experience the time when they were far from home captives in Babylon and when they worship God in Babylon they worship with their faces turn toward Jerusalem proclaiming the promise involves an awareness of the nearness of God, His imminent presence, His involvement in

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human affairs, giving new life and new courage. The psalmist says I proclaim the promise wherever I may be, in sanctuary or on stormy sea. God has magnified his word. God has made his promise great. Never minimize his promise. His promise is not to be considered lightly. Magnify his promise and his promise is above his

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name, beyond those who have heard his name, his promises beyond our ability to comprehend his mighty acts, his promises beyond all the names by which God is known. Abraham called him El Shaddai, the mountain God because he has the power to enable us to overcome all of the mountains of difficulty that we may

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encounter and he's highest, he's the highest that we know and he's above all that we know. He is the God that may be known as the mountain God. Isaiah calls him wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. You see God reveals himself through his promises is more than we can say or think. God has promised us that all the abundance of what his name implies will be known. God has promised that his will

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will become a reality. God has promised that his name will be honored among the nations. God has promised that all humankind will grow and mature toward the great future he has arranged. God has promised that this great future will outshine the present by far, he has promised that. And when God called Moses, Moses asked him, what is your name? God answered, I am that I am. I will be, I'll always be God. If you ask who I am, tell them I am the God of promise.

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Tell them I am the God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. I am the great I am. My name is forever and this is my memorial to all generations. I am the God of promise. I'll be around when all is said and done. I'll always be God. I speak and it comes to pass. I say let it be and it is. I'm the God of promise. I bring the haughty to their senses.

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I'm the God of promise. The psalmist declares how God's promise has been proclaimed in his life and this is his testimony. "He gives me new life," he says in that psalm, "in the midst of distress."

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With his left hand God puts an end to the deeds of my enemies. And with his right hand the Lord gave me renewed and invigorated life. I know the Lord will do what he says. I know that what he promises, he performs. He's the God promise.

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And as we celebrate this Advent season, as we focus on the fulfillment of the promises of God, we must consider anew what it means to proclaim the promises. promises, to proclaim the promise. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to consider God's promises, but how do we proclaim his promises? Dr. P.S. Rickerson told a story of a lady in the church way past it who became critically ill, and as he visited with her and prayed with her,

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she said, "I promise to the Lord, I make this promise to the Lord that if I ever get up from this bed, that I'm going to be a much better Christian. I'm going to be more faithful." And he says that after she got up, God blessed her to get up. She demonstrated her faithfulness in an unusual way. He said one night it was cold.

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And you know how it is when it gets cold. People give up on going to church. And they have much comfort by staying at home west, warm, and everything is convenient. He said it was so cold most things were shut

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down but he decided that he would go on to church anyway through the ice and through the snow and when he got there to church he found this lady. He said, "What, you were were here?" She said, "Yes, I had to be here because I promised the Lord. I promised the Lord." And so how do we proclaim the promise? In other words, our whole personal testimony. You know, that's very important. Some people like to shy away from that, you know.

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When we had the practice in the church during my early ministry, we had the practice of having testimony where people would get up on the first Sunday and talk about the promises that they had made to the Lord and how the Lord had brought them through. They'd give their own personal testimony. I remember one sister she

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never really gave her personal testimony she always took that occasion to lecture to the people as to what they ought to do rather than talk about what God had done for her in their life. Some people find it difficult to talk about what What God has done for them, they can always say what somebody else ought to do for the Lord,

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but God has done something wonderful for every one of us. And he has fulfilled promises in our lives, and he has lifted us, and he has caressed us, and he has blessed us in a marvelous way. And we ought to be willing to proclaim his promise.

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And the psalmist says, "I know the Lord, I know he'll do what he says." And so he has nothing to fear because he trusts in the promises of God. Like that grandmother who was asked by her grandchild, "Why is it you have certain potency in the scripture, Ma, T and P?"

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He said, "Well, these are scriptures that I have tried and proved." These are the promises of God. I've tried and God has proved that it's true. I know it's true in my own life.

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So we can look to the future with confidence and courage. The Lord will perfect, the psalmist says, that which concerneth me. That's how he closes it. After considering the promises of God, he says,

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"Now the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." You know that's good news? - Yes, it's good news. - You know, every one of us,

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when you really look at yourself, you know yourself better than anybody else. When you look at yourself, you realize how far short of all that the gospel talks about is you.

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- Yeah. - You realize that even when you present a good front to others that God knows all of the thoughts that we entertain, that we all might obtain.

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And that's something nobody else knows, but you and God. And somehow when we look at ourselves, we realize that all of us fall short of the glory of God. But the Psalmist, when he looks at himself,

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he says, "Now I know, I know I'm not all of these." But he says, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me that even though this lump of clay is marred, even though there's marring in this clay,

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that God somehow is still at work in my life and he's gonna perfect that which concerned me. That's good news. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.

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And I'm reminded of that story of the boy who went to school and he was making a notebook, and he had ink, dirty spots here and there in his notebook.

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And the teacher said, now Johnny, you ought to make a better notebook, because your parents will not be proud of you, the kind of notebook you're making.

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The time came when the school had open house, and the notebooks were on display. That night, Johnny's father held him on his knee and said, "Johnny, Daddy's awful proud of you

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"because you had such a good notebook." He said, "Daddy's gonna take you to town "and buy you a new suit." The next day Johnny went to school and he said,

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"Teacher, you said my parents wouldn't be proud of my notebook but my daddy held me on his knee last night told me I'm proud of your notebook Johnny and I'm gonna take you to town the teacher smiled and said yes Johnny I know because you see I tore out all of

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the dirty pages. And that's what God does. God tears out all the dirty pages and the Lord perfects that which concerns us. That the Lord somehow is at work in our lives through Jesus Christ making perfect that which concerns us. So that when we fall short when we sin when we err Jesus says charge that to my account But the Lord is at work

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perfecting that with concern so proclaim the promise proclaim the goodness of God Be able to say the Lord. Yes, the Lord has promised good to me His word my hope secures He will my shield and comfort be as long as life endures.

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The Lord has promised. And I'm gonna be saying from time to time, I've seen the lightning flashing. I've heard the thunder roar.

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I've felt sin breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I've heard, I've heard, I've heard the voice of my Savior telling me still to fight on. to fight on. He promised. He promised. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. He promised and we ought to make promises to him and sometimes we express that

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promise that we make to him. We say I'm on the battlefield for my Lord. I'm on the battlefield for my Lord and I promised him that I would serve him till I die. I'm on the battlefield for my Lord. So well to trust the Lord, proclaim his promise,

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be like the psalmist, tell it wherever you are. There's a song that was popular when I was a boy, it says, I'll tell it wherever I go. ♪ If I were dying and had just one word to say ♪

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♪ I'd speak it for Jesus and ease this life away ♪ promise. Trust in the Lord, proclaim his promise. The psalmist says, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." God has promised. What he has promised is symbolized in that promised land that he has prepared for every one of us to

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and happy. The Jewish people, it was the land of Canaan. We have a Canaan which is above all that is in this world. A Canaan that is our eternity.

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We ask you now to respond to the promise of God, to commit your way to the Lord, and we extend an open door that God has set before every one of us, to accept Him as Lord of your life.

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Come now, as we sing together on Jordan's stony banks I stand. On Jordan's stony banks I stand, The grass of which the Lord [MUSIC]

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♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪ ♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪ ♪ Oh, who will come and go with me ♪ ♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪

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♪ The promised land ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪

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♪ And the home of the brave ♪ ♪ And scatters my darling ♪ ♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪ ♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪

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♪ For you will come and go with me ♪ ♪ Where hope for the cold is heard ♪ ♪ The cheering whispers of hoisters ♪ ♪ Earth can reach the heavens show ♪

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♪ Stillness not sorrow ♪ ♪ Great and fair are felt ♪ ♪ I'm feeling low ♪ ♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪

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♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪ ♪ For you will come and go with me ♪ ♪ I am bound for the promised land ♪ (audience laughing)

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