Exalting Christ Among the Nations

Today is the day that we designate as Harvest Day, the third Sunday in November. We have had a harvest day every year since the beginning of our church in 1973. Though at the beginning it didn't have quite the same purpose that it carries today, in 1973 we just couldn't wait to get to the end of the year to celebrate the passing of time and God's blessing, so we had a half year anniversary for the founding of our church.

And then we had the year annual anniversary in 1974. But it wasn't long until we got started into this Faith Promise Missions program which we have carried on for many years. And we started designating the third Sunday of November as Harvest Day, the day when we begin to receive our Faith Promise Missions cards. These cards are designed to be used by the people of God and to help us grow in the grace of giving. I think about the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 where he told us that that is one of the areas that we ought to be growing in.

We ought to not make much progress. Paul said in verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 8, but as you abound in everything, talking about the Corinthian church and the good things that we're developing among them, as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. Now this grace, as the context will make clear as you read the preceding verses, is the grace of giving. He said you're doing pretty well in a lot of areas. You're doing not quite as well in this particular area, so let's give it some effort, let's give it some attention, let's grow in the grace of giving along with growing in your knowledge of God's word and in your efforts to serve the Lord in various ways. And so this card is primarily to help the people of God to do exactly that.

There's no place on here for your name, but there are some things for you to consider. There are three areas, three boxes to check and they have a priority to them. The first one has to do with your giving to the support of this local church.

And if you are ready to make that commitment or have already done so and want to continue that for the new year, then please check that first box. The second box has to do with our Faith Promise Missions program, which is beyond giving for the cause of missions. In our budget, in our giving to the church, the general fund, every month we take 10% of what comes in to the general fund and transfer that into our missions account. So if you are supporting the church, you are supporting the missions program of the church, but in order to enlarge, in order to expand, in order to do more for the cause of missions, we began a number of years ago challenging people to endeavor to do more and that's the second box. And as you pray about that, if you believe the Lord would lead you to give more, so much a week or so much a month to the cause of missions, then check that box, fill that in, put the amount in, and turn the card in because this is how we make our missions budget.

We really do need the numbers. We don't need your name, but we do need what you are intending to do so we can put our missions budget together for the new year. And then the final box has to do with Building Fund. We actually added that years ago when we were in a building project and you responded to that. When the project was over, we left it there.

We don't emphasize that to the same extent that we do missions, but it's very helpful and some people feel led of the Lord to add that as well. And so we have for the last, I forget how many years now, every time we've done an expansion we have done so without any borrowing, done it with cash on hand, and we'll continue to do that, Lord willing. Most of you are not aware, but the pastors and deacons spent quite a bit of time a few months ago considering whether this was or was not the time to launch into the building of a gymnasium, a family life center, a rather expensive project.

We decided this was not the right time. We'd hold off on that and put that on the back burner. But our intention was, if we move forward with that, to do so on a cash pay-as-you-go basis, and that would be a big project, but we can only do that because of your faithful giving, but you have been giving faithfully. But also a building of this size, facility of this size, and this age has a lot of maintenance projects and more than we can comfortably handle in our regular budget. And so when projects come along that exceed what we have in our budget, we draw out of the building fund.

We've already done that this year. I think you are thankful to the Lord for not only the good facilities that He's given us, but the good care of the facilities that He enables us to do. And that requires good people who are watching after things, but it also requires money.

So we have new gutters because of that, and we have a newly painted gazebo and fence on the playground because of that. We have other things that we've done this year because the money was there, and we want to keep everything in good order. So that's what you'll find, and as you commit that to the Lord and decide what He would have you to do, then please fill out the card and drop it in the box, as I'll be doing after the service today. And I pray that you will join me in that. And we'll let a little time go by to give everybody plenty of time to consider this and to submit your cards, and we'll take the totals and make our budget, our missions budget for 2022. Harvest Day. And also on Harvest Day, it is our custom to preach on the text that we've chosen for our missions month theme. And every year we try to choose a text that will be appropriate.

And this year we chose Psalm 46 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. And our theme is exalting Christ among the nations, and that is the text which we have chosen. And today is the day to expound upon that text. We're going to examine this text in two parts. First, the context, and secondly, the text. Context is always important, but I think in this particular text it is unusually important. I don't think we can really understand what Psalm 46 10 is telling us, accurately understand it, unless we understand the context.

Context is generally the surrounding verses, and in this case that will be the main part of the context, but we're going to step back even a little further beyond that and consider the historical background. Because even though the exact event is not named, and therefore we have to speculate as to what the psalmist has in mind, it's very evident in Psalm 46 that the psalmist has some historical event in mind, something of an amazing nature that God has done for his people, and he's pointing people to look at that. Examine this, look at this, see what God has done, come behold the works of the Lord. And so the question is, what works exactly does the psalmist have in mind? Is this just a general statement about all the things that God has done?

And of course there are many, many things that is possible that it's a general statement, but there does seem to be something particular in the mind of the psalmist when he says that. And so we're trying to figure out what would be the most appropriate time in Israel's history that would fit into the meaning of this psalm. And most commentators think it is probably the time that God destroyed Sennacherib's army.

You remember that? The fullest record of it is found in two chapters in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 36 and 37. This was a difficult time for the nation of Israel, actually the nation of Judah. Hezekiah was king in Judah at this time, it's around 700 B.C.

Hezekiah was a good king, a godly king, who endeavored to please the Lord and to lead the children of Israel, the children of Judah, to be specific in the ways of the Lord. But his nation was weak, much weaker than it had been in days gone by. The glory days of David and Solomon were way in the past, nothing like that.

It had been true of them for a long time. Israel had been divided into two kingdoms, as you know, the northern kingdom, ten tribes, the southern kingdom, two tribes. The northern kingdom was really in trouble at this time, and the southern kingdom was now suffering because the northern kingdom could no longer provide a bulwark against enemies that were around them. In Isaiah 36 we read about the great emperor Sennacherib, who was the emperor of Assyria, capital of Damascus, who came up against Israel and actually captured a number of the cities of Judah and issued a very public challenge to the people of Israel, sent his messengers to tell them, to announce to them, publicly and loudly, that Sennacherib planned to conquer Jerusalem, and they might as well just give up and not fight because there was no use for them to fight because, as these messengers said, it's clear the God of Israel has not defended you, the gods of the other nations have not protected them, all the other nations we have conquered appealed to their gods and we conquered them, and we threw all their gods into the fire and burned them. I don't think they were going to do that to the God of Israel, but at any rate, they were boasting like this.

We have conquered the other nations, we have conquered their gods, and we're going to do the same thing to you. The representatives of Hezekiah said, don't talk in Hebrew, the people can understand that. Talk in Aramaic, we can understand that, the other people don't.

We don't want everybody to hear what you're saying and be frightened by it. They said, not on your life, we're going to say this as loudly as we can in Hebrew so that everybody can understand it. And they made their boast and they insulted the God of Israel and it looked like the end for Judah. And godly King Hezekiah took their letter and went to the temple and spread it out before the Lord.

As if to say, God, you read this. God, of course, knew what it said, but God, here it is, here's what He has said, here's what they have said. Now, Lord God, we need help, we are weak, you are strong. God, they have insulted you, but your name is great and your honor is under attack.

And we are pleading with you to come to our aid, not simply for our own benefit, though we certainly hope you'll do that, but for your own honor and glory so that your name will not be defamed in this world as it has been now. And Isaiah the prophet was sent to Hezekiah to say, don't worry, God's going to take care of this. And the next day when they woke up in Jerusalem, the Bible tells us that they looked out and everybody was dead. Verse 36, then the angel of chapter 37. Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000. And when the people arose in the morning, there were the corpses, all dead.

So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went away and returned home and remained at Nineveh and it wasn't long until he was killed and replaced on his throne. Now that, no doubt, is what is in the background of Psalm 46. In these days of Hezekiah the king, a foe came against Judah that seemed to be an invincible foe, one that could not be defeated. And that foe made a blasphemous boast that they were going to not only destroy Judah, but they were going to dishonor Judah's God. But that boast came to a humiliating defeat as God undertook. God came to the rescue. God did what only God can do and slew in one night an army of 185,000 men.

And Sennacherib went limping back home without the power to carry out his threats. That's the background. Now we look at the Psalm. The Psalm, if you are an outliner, could be easily divided into three parts. And you can see those parts where you find the word selah, a common word to be found in the Psalms. You read the first three verses and then you read selah. You read the next seven verses and you read selah. And you read the next four verses down to verse 11 and then you read the word selah. Everybody knows that selah is in the Psalms. Almost nobody knows what it means. In fact, I would say nobody really knows for sure what it means.

But more likely than anything else, it is a musical notation that indicates an interlude. The Psalms were to be sung. This was Israel's hymn book. This was their worship.

The Psalms were sung when they went to the temple and they were sung in their homes. But particularly when they went to the temple and there were choirs and there were orchestras accompanying the singing of the Psalms. And the selah was no doubt a time when the singers would stop and an interlude would play. And that was a time to reflect on what you have just heard.

So it means something like pause and reflect. And you see three of those selahs and that divides the Psalm into three parts. Part one, confidence in God, verses one, two, and three. Part two, the presence of God in verses four through seven. And part three, submission to God, verses eight through 11.

Confidence in God. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Who made that verse famous?

You know, don't you? Martin Luther. That was a text for a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Martin Luther got so enthralled with the theme of this Psalm that he never really got beyond verse one.

He just camped down there and wrote his hymn on verse one. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. It talks about God's protecting power, a mighty fortress.

It talks about Israel's believing response. Therefore, verse two, we will not fear, writes the psalmist. Now the psalmist in this case is definitely not David.

If it was, we couldn't be talking about this situation with Sennacherib in the days of King Hezekiah. The heading tells us that it is a Psalm of the sons of Korah. And there are a number of the Psalms that are attributed to the sons of Korah.

They were a segment of the tribe of Levi that served in the temple. They were musicians. They were poets. They were psalmists. And one or more of them composed this psalm many years after David. And we also read in the heading that it is a Psalm for Alamoth.

There's another musical notation. And that means a song to be sung by the young women. Like our choirs today, we heard it this morning. As our choirs sang, there was one verse that the ladies sang. Then there was another verse that the men sang. And then there was another verse that the ladies and men sang together.

And they did the same thing in the days of the psalmist. And so this psalm was a psalm to be sung by the ladies' choir. I've looked at that and said, that doesn't sound like a mighty fortress is our God. You would have thought this would have been sung by the men, the basses.

But it was sung by the ladies' choir. A mighty fortress is our God. That's Israel's believing response to God's protective power.

And Israel's unwavering faith in the years to come is indicated here. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. These are poetic ways of saying, think of the very worst calamity that you can possibly imagine and have faith in God that even that will not overcome the people of God because that is not greater than the power of our God.

A mighty fortress is our God. So if things get so bad that the earth is moved, that the mountains are shaken, we've not seen that. We may have felt them tremble a little bit, but we haven't seen mountains moved and shaken.

That hasn't happened to any of us in our lifetime. But even if the day should come that that should happen, what? We will not fear. Now we're going to feel like fearing, aren't we? Wow, that will fill our hearts full of fear unless we are looking to God, remembering His promises, remembering that our God is a mighty fortress, that He is our protector. And as we reflect upon that and live in the light of that, and that's the key, isn't it? If we could just live according to the knowledge we know, if we could just apply to our lives the things that we know from the Word of God, how much more God-honoring we would be, how much more effective we would be. And so the psalmist, I guess, optimistically says, this is our result, this is our response to God's protective power. We will not fear now, we will not fear no matter what happens in the days to come.

We will not fear confidence in God. And then he makes that a little more personal in verses 4 through 7 because he reminds the people of God that God is close to them, God is with them. God's not far away in the heavens, but God, though He is in heaven and He is far away, but God is also very near to His people. There is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, in Jerusalem, where they were. And she, the mountain upon which Jerusalem is built, she shall not be moved.

God shall help her just at break of day. The presence of God, God is with His people. I think there's a contrast in the preceding verses about the calamities that could overtake people. There was reference to the oceans roaring, the ocean waves, oceans floods. We've all seen, if we haven't experienced, we've seen on television visions of ocean waves, a tsunami with a rushing wave 20, 30 feet high that comes roaring over the coast and just decimates everything in its path. Lo, a river.

That doesn't seem very equal to the threat. Mighty ocean waves are the threat. And what do we have? Just a river, a little river. Ah, but what a river. This river is the presence of God. This river is the grace of God. God's ways are not our ways. God's rescue is often seemingly small and quiet, but it's always effective.

Lo, a river. And God is in the midst of this. God is in the midst of Jerusalem. God is in the midst of His mountain. God is there and it shall not be shaken because God is there.

See that little stream as it looks like to us? That little stream, because God is in that stream, that little stream is more mighty than the ocean waves that were roaring and threatening and caused you to fear. Don't you fear because there is a river and that river is God Almighty. And that river is the grace of God that is being poured out in abundance to all of His people. God is with His people. God protects His people. And therefore we come to the third part of the psalm, submission to God in verses 8 through 11.

Come behold the works of the Lord who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow. He cuts the spear in two.

He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. This submission to God begins with a careful examination of the visible evidence. Come behold the works of the Lord.

And don't deny the obvious conclusion. He did this. Now what are we talking about? The people of Jerusalem fearful and trembling about the enemy that was threatening against them got up one morning and they looked out over the bulwarks of the walls of Jerusalem and they saw 185,000 corpses. Who did this? Who could have done this? Who could have done this but God Almighty? Nobody else.

Nothing else. God did it. Come see the works of the Lord. Take a look at the evidence all around you.

That's the challenge, a careful examination of the visible evidence. And don't be so foolish as to deny the obvious conclusion. God did it. God is at work. God is powerful. God is mightier than any enemy, than any force that could come against us. And so after the careful examination we have an honest report as those who examine the evidence come and report in verses 8 and 9 on what they have seen.

And the appropriate response to all of that is our text for this morning. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. And so with that context behind us now let's take a closer look at the text in verse 10.

Which I read again. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. I see three things in this text. Number one, something to abandon. Number two, something to acknowledge.

And number three, something to anticipate. Something to abandon. Be still. Or it could be translated cease striving.

Some people think those words are addressed to the Gentile nations around Israel. You take a look at what God did to Sennacherib's army. Take a good look at this and stop your striving. You be still. You desist. You lay down your weapons of warfare against God and his people. You surrender to your rightful ruler. Opposition is futile.

Look. Examine what God has done. And in the light of that stop your opposition to Almighty God. Something to abandon. But it seems to me that in the context it is more likely addressed to the people of God.

People of God. Stop your agitation. Abandon that. Your worries. Your fretting. Your fears. Your restlessness.

Your carnal endeavors. Calm down. Stop it. Be still. And know that God is God. You need not worry. For God is greater than your problems.

God is greater than your potential problems. It's usually the ones that haven't happened yet that we're the most fearful of. Look what could happen.

Look what might happen. I was listening to somebody on the radio just recently. Secular radio program. They were talking about when they lay in bed and wake up in the morning how their mind is just filled with anxiety and all the worries and fears which they have. And I wanted to say trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. But anyway their solution was get up and start moving around and you'll feel better.

That was the solution. But we we tend to do that don't we. We tend to think about not only the things that we're facing but that are already happening but the things that might happen. And we are fearful in the light of those things.

And God's word comes to us and says stop it. Be still. Stop worrying. Take no thought for tomorrow as Jesus said. Stop worrying.

No reason for you to doubt. God is bigger than your problems. God is bigger than your fears. Stop worrying. You need not worry. You need not scurry. You need not worry about what may happen because God is in control of all things and he's greater than all of the problems. You need not scurry about trying to take things into your own hands and and ward this off and ward that off and ward the other thing off. As we so often do with our carnal endeavors in order to to take care of the needs and problems of life. Relax.

Relax. You're not honoring the Lord that way. Silently trust in God's saving power. Be still and know that I am God. The choir has a song that they sing sometimes based upon this text, don't they?

I love I love that song. Be still and know that I am God. What a wonderful message to to communicate to the people of God by way of music. You need not worry. So there's something to abandon, abandon your opposition to God. It's futile. Abandon your worrying and striving and fretting and fearing. Abandon all that and trust the Lord. Be still and know that he is God. Something to abandon and secondly, something to acknowledge. Be still.

But it's not just enough to be still. But what do you need to do? Focus on God. Be still and know, actively know, consciously know, intentionally know who God is and what he has done. Know that I am God, that Jehovah is the one true God.

In that passage in Isaiah 36 and 37, we come in chapter 37 to verse 16. O Lord of hosts, this is in Hezekiah's prayer. O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God. You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Jehovah, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the one true God. Be still and know that he is God. He's the one true God. He's the almighty God. He can do what no one else can do.

Look around, 185,000 corpses just like that. Who did that? God did that. Be still and know that Jehovah is God. He is able to do what no one else can do. He is God. He is almighty God.

Be still and know that I am God. He is ultimate God. He is the first cause of everything.

He's the one who does what gets done. Who did it? God did it.

You can say that about anything. I hear people say, well, the devil did that. Yes, if God used him as his instrument to do that, but only if God used him for that. The devil is the unwilling servant of Jehovah.

Who did it? Yes, the devil did it because he is angry with God. He's the enemy of God. He tries to do everything he can to trip God up. And God just says, thank you, you accomplished my purpose. The devil is so determined. He's going to destroy everything that God is doing.

Why, he was so determined to do that that he stirred people up and successfully got them to crucify the Son of God. And God said, thank you. That's just on time, right? At the perfect time, right?

Right on schedule. You crucified my son exactly when he needed to be crucified in order to bear the sins of my people. Who did it? Pilate did it. Who did it? The Jews did it. Who did it?

The crowds did it. Who did it? The devil did it.

Who did it? God the Father. God Almighty. God, the triune God, did it. Be still and know that I am God. I am the one who ordains and controls everything in this universe.

Be still and know that I am God. Jehovah is the sovereign ruler. He made it all. The Jehovah is the sovereign ruler. He rules it all.

Jehovah is a sovereign ruler. He can't be defeated. He cannot be defeated.

How futile are the attempts of people to defeat him? So that's something to acknowledge. You need to understand that and know that and live in the light of that. And then there's something to anticipate in our text. God says, I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Something to anticipate.

His universal rule. When we pray the model prayers, I hope you do from time to time. We pray, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We know that in heaven there is no one or nothing there, but does God's will perfectly, perfectly, exactly as God would have it done. It's not that way on earth, is it? I don't need to convince you of that. It's not that way on earth. It's not that way all around us. It's not that way in our nation.

It's not that way in any nation. It's not even that way in our hearts, even those of us who are trusting Christ. But nevertheless, there arise up those remnants of Adamic sinfulness that from time to time still stray away from God. And His will is not done perfectly in our lives at all times, but the day is coming when it will be. And we pray for that. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in my life, in my heart. Always, always, always your perfect will and nothing else, nothing less.

Always, always, always your perfect will in this world. That day is coming. It hasn't come yet, but it's coming. The day of universal rule, the day of universal righteousness, when all sin will be banished and no more be present.

The day of universal peace because all of God's foes are vanquished, because everything that is done in the world of that day will be just, because all sin is gone. We look at the injustices in our world and they cause a lot of problems, don't they? And these people rise up against this injustice overlooking others. And these people rise up against other injustices overlooking these.

And one group is railing against this injustice and another group is railing against that injustice as if we can somehow fix these things if we just would. Wrong, wrong, you can't, you won't, it's sin. As long as there's sin in the human heart, as long as there's sin in your heart, in my heart, and everybody else's heart, we can't have perfect justice, we can't have perfect peace, we can't have perfect righteousness. But that day is coming. Jehovah said so, Jehovah said so, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth. The day is coming when there will be universal worship. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The day is coming when Christ will be exalted to his rightful place among the nations. As we read in Isaiah 11 9, righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Can you find any place where the ocean is, where there's no ocean water? Of course not. In that day will you find any place where the knowledge of the Lord will not be complete and full and permeating and controlling everything?

Of course not. That day is coming. That day is coming, what a wonderful proclamation.

That's what we read. Now let's apply this quickly. If we applied this truth to the people of the psalmist's day, we would say to Israel, when all looks hopeless, trust in him, rest in him. Be still and know that I am God. It's hard to do as they turned and tossed on their beds that night with the mighty army of Sennacherib surrounding the walls of Jerusalem. Be still and know that I am God. And they get up the next day and behold they're all dead corpses. And I lost a whole night's sleep.

I told you. Be still and know that God is God. When all looks hopeless, trust in him and rest in him. We could say to the nations around Israel in that day, when all looks fortuitous, like it looked to Sennacherib, he was king of the hill. He was king basically of the universe of his day. He was conquering nation after nation. He was getting ready to capture Jerusalem. Oh, everything looked favorable to him, but dear Sennacherib, while you have opportunity, cease your hostilities against his God. Submit to Jehovah before it's too late because the day will come and it's coming quicker than you think when it'll be too late. And the next day, his army was dead.

And a few days later, he was dead. And so what do we say about our text to the people of our day? Well, to believers, trust in him, rest in him. Are you facing illness? Be still and know that he is God. He is. Are you worried about COVID? Be still and know that he is God.

Are you struggling with your finances? Be still and know that God is God. He knows. Remember what Jesus said?

Your Heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things. So stop worrying. Be still and know that God is God. You look at the declining culture all around us.

Oh, it has declined, certainly over my lifetime. Be still and know that God is God. Nothing's happened in America, not only that he's not aware of, but that, yes, he appointed for his purposes.

He is sovereign ruler. Be still and know that God is God. We talk, you hear the phrase, have a biblical worldview.

What does that mean? That means you've got to view everything in this world through the lens of the Bible, that God is a sovereign God, that everything that takes place in this world is according to his appointed plan. And even though we don't understand what he's doing, whatever is being done, whatever happens, he's doing it. He's behind it.

He's bringing it to accomplish his purposes finally and ultimately. And so view everything in that lens. That's a quick thumbnail description of a biblical worldview, but just view. It's this text.

It's this text. Be still and know that God is God. That's a biblical worldview, about as succinct as you can state it. To the unbeliever in our day, stop your folly. Surrender your worldview, which is opposite the biblical worldview.

Stop propping up yourself with these things that are so foolish. There is no God. The world just happened. It came into being by chance.

It just it was an explosion out there in space somewhere. And here we are billions of years later. And I hang on to that.

And for that reason, I don't need to believe in God. Oh, how foolish you are. Stop it. Stop it. Desist. Desist your folly. Desist your lies. Desist ignoring the evidence. It's all around you. The evidence of God. Desist your foolish unbelief and surrender to him.

Be still. And know that God is God. And if we apply our text to the Great Commission, it'll be something like this. Universal worship is the goal. God is going to be worshiped everywhere. In the jungles of South America. In the deserts of Northern Africa. In the teeming multitudes of the Far East.

In the bleak regions of the Arctic. Every place in this world where there are people, God is going to be worshiped. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. Universal worship is the goal. And believing participation is the program. What do I mean by that?

That means that we get involved in proclaiming the gospel of Christ, which is going to be used by God to, in his perfect time, bring all the nations of the world under his dominion. And to think that we have the privilege of being involved in that? God doesn't need partners. I got to thinking about that army that got killed all in one night. God didn't use their soldiers that time.

But you know, throughout the history of Israel, more times than not, he did. He said, send your armies out and I'll give you the victory. So it's whatever God tells us to do. We follow his instructions.

Sometimes he says, just watch and see what I will do. You march up to the Red Sea and you strike it and the waters part. There wasn't much you could have done to make that happen. But now if you don't walk across, you're not going to get to the other side. So now here's your part. Obey the Lord and walk through the path that he has made. And believing participation, whatever God tells us to do, he will be exalted among the nations.

How is that going to happen? By his church sending the gospel, by missionaries going with the gospel, by church members giving that missionaries might go, by church members praying that God will bless them and cause the word to run swiftly. And as that goes on, the day is coming when he will be exalted among the nations. He will be honored throughout the whole earth.

Guaranteed victory is the result. God will subdue all hearts to his rightful rule. He will either subdue them as they come with changed hearts to him in saving faith, or he will contain them as they refuse to bow, but they will bow. Every knee shall bow to me. But the day is coming when he will subdue all hearts to his rightful rule. So what's our part? We need to do what we can to make his name renowned in all the earth.

That's the goal. So what will we wish we had done to participate in this when we stand before him someday? King of kings and Lord of lords, and he has redeemed us by his grace. He has included us within his great company of people, and there we are. And we're looking, and here's a David Livingston, and here's a William Carey, and here are people who have given their lives to make this happen. And we were too busy with the pursuits of life to get involved in this.

Will we not hang our heads in shame? Get busy. Do your part. Be still does not mean be disengaged. It means engage in faith, not in worry, not in doubt, not in carnal endeavor.

It means get engaged in the way that God tells us to, his ways, his instructions, his promises. Get involved and be a part of this great proclamation. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

Let's pray. Oh, Father, to you be all the honor and glory and power, for it belongs to you. Lord Jesus Christ, to you be exaltation and honor, for it belongs to you. To us, O Lord, we bow in grateful praise, for you have rescued us out of sin and misery and made us your own. Yes, O Lord, help us to be a part of this great endeavor as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.