Psalm 66

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Psalm 66
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

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Sermon Title: Singing to the God of the Universe, the Covenant, and the Soul

Scripture: Psalm 66

I. The God of the Nations — Psalm 66:1-4

A. The psalmist summons all the earth to acclaim God as King, using language akin to the proclamation of a sovereign

B. Singing in corporate worship is not merely expected — it is commanded, and it has doctrinal content

1. Songs recount God's wondrous deeds throughout redemptive history
2. The mind is engaged along with the heart and emotions

C. The present tense of verse 4 ("all the earth worships you") reflects a present-tense faith in future promises

1. God's promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed is so certain it is spoken of as already accomplished
2. Parallels the golden chain of salvation in Romans 8:29-30, where glorification is spoken of in the past tense
3. God swore by his own name to confirm the Abrahamic covenant — see Hebrews 6:13-18

D. Psalms 65–68 emphasize that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is also the God of the Gentile nations — a truth the Jewish leaders of Jesus's day had effectively obscured

E. As Gentiles saved by faith in Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, Christians have even greater reason to sing Psalm 66

II. The God of Israel — Psalm 66:5-12

A. The crossing of the Red Sea is the single most recalled event in Israel's history

1. It is Israel's birth story — the climactic redemptive act establishing them as God's covenant people
2. It put the nations on notice that Yahweh is the all-powerful God of the universe
3. Moses's Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:14-16) celebrates the terror that fell on Philistia, Edom, Moab, and Canaan

B. Derek Kidner: "The Exodus is no dead letter in the Old Testament or the New. It is a past event whose repercussions are forever… whose pattern, like that of the cross and resurrection, is recapitulated in all of God's saving acts."

C. The psalmist recalls a more recent national trial through the lens of the Exodus (vv. 10–12)

1. God tested them as silver is tried — but the psalmist never says "we passed the test"
2. God both brought them into the trial and preserved and delivered them out of it — his total sovereignty
3. Compare Jesus's words to Peter: not "you did well," but "I prayed for you" (Luke 22:31-32)

D. The pattern of Job illustrates God's sovereign purpose in trial

1. After three chapters of divine rebuke (Job 38-41), the Lord immediately commends Job in Job 42:7
2. The Lord restores Job's fortunes twofold

E. God's commendation of his people — even of David despite Bathsheba and the census — is an act of sheer grace, not deserved merit

1. Only Christ properly deserved God's commendation
2. Grace is not a license for passivity — it is the fuel for joyful, liberated obedience
3. Martin Luther's insight: shackled by endless introspection, he could not serve; freed by justification by faith, he could run

III. The God of the Individual — Psalm 66:13-20

A. The psalmist comes to the temple — corporate worship — to give thanks and fulfill his vows (vv. 13–14)

1. Vows made in darkness are kept when the sun returns
2. Whether one keeps these vows is a dividing line between a true believer and one who uses God only as an escape plan

B. Verse 18: "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened"

1. God warns Israel in Isaiah 1:13 that worship offered with a heart set on sin is an abomination
2. False worship in Israel arose from syncretism — treating Yahweh like the Baals, as a god who could be appeased by outward offerings
3. The God of Scripture is unique: he owns the cattle on a thousand hills; he does not need our stuff — he wants our hearts

C. The remedy for a misdirected heart is not self-reformation but returning to Christ

1. The Ten Commandments begin with the preface of redemption: "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt" — obedience follows redemption, not the reverse
2. Approaching God in worship or prayer without Christ as mediator is a fundamentally wrong approach
3. The answer to persistent sin is not "do better" but to run to Jesus Christ, rest in his forgiveness secured by God's sworn oath to Abraham, and worship from that secure foundation