Psalms 66:13

Psalms 66:13-15 says, “I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.”

The word house here is a reference to the temple in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament times the temple was central place of the worship of God, the place where the presence of God was manifest, and the place where the priest would do the sacrifice.

One of the most important details that was associated with the worship of the one true God in the Old Testament times was the sacrifice of animals. The sacrifice of animals symbolized the sacrifice of Jesus that would come. The book of Hebrews in the New Testament goes into great detail about explaining the symbols of the sacrifices of the Old Testament.

So, what is being said here? What is being said is that when you worship God one of the most important things to do is to remember, to be thankful for, and to appreciate the forgiveness of sins that is found in Jesus.

Another way of making this point is looking at the purpose of communion in the New Testament. We have the first communion recorded for us. It was Jesus and the 12 disciples. Luke 22:15-20 says, “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

The first communion was actually a Passover supper. The first passover was an event in the Old Testament when the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt.

Exodus 12:1-13, “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

Jesus died during Passover because Jesus was actually the real Passover Lamb. In a way the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the Passover, and the communion of the New Testament are all really the same thing. They all serve to teach us and remind us of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the Lamb without blemish, the firstborn Son of God who was sacrificed and shed His blood for the remission of sins. The wrath of God for our sins was passed on to Jesus when He hung and died on the cross of Calvary.

Psalms 66:13-15 says, “I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.”

The point of these verses in Psalms is to say that we should remember what Jesus has done for us and be thankful for our salvation. We live in the age of grace not in the age of the law and therefore God makes His presence manifest in the temple of our hearts rather than in a building.

The common mistake that organized Christianity makes is to take these events such as communion and make them into a religious ceremony which becomes legalistic and unspiritual. For example the act of communion itself does nothing for you. It is just a way of trying to mediate on and appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus. Eating a piece of unleavened bread or drinking a small cup of grape juice is going to do nothing for you spiritually. Unspiritual people who do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and who are not saved will often make too much of an emphasis upon ceremonial things like water baptism or communion because they are unspiritual. They are not really focused on the spiritual meaning behind the activities. They are focus on the physical.

It is not even a commandment in the Bible to be baptized or to have communion. The important thing is when you worship God to be grateful in your heart for the cleansing of sin that you have in Jesus Christ. People that are unspiritual will be focused on physical things and so unspiritual people that are involved in religion will put a great emphasis on physical ceremonial activities rather than the true worship of Jesus Christ which done in the heart.

Psalms 66:16, “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.”

There is going to be a natural result of a person who is worshiping God in their heart and is thankful for their salvation. That person is going to have a desire to share the gospel with other people and a desire to tell other people about the great things that God has done for them.

This makes sense. For example think of it this way. If someone came to you, say some one very special and powerful like the president of the United States and gave you million dollars or a presidential pardon you probably would tell other people about it. Well in the same God has given you many, many, blessings too many to name. The most obvious and important being the blessing of having your sins forgiven through faith in Christ.

Romans 10:13-15 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

It is very important for Christians to witness to other people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is God’s method of spreading the truth and of reaching out to the lost people of the world. It is not just a question of whether or not people have heard the gospel but sometimes they need to hear the gospel again. As the book of Jeremiah says, the Word of God is like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces. Sometimes we have to pick up the hammer and chisel and chip away at the rock of people’s hearts.

Of course it is also important to have a testimony, to do works of compassion and patience and forgiveness and kindness and love and generosity. But do not forget that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

The rest of Psalms 66 goes on to talk about prayer. Psalms 66:18-20, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.”

It makes sense that Psalms 66 would mention prayer after mentioning the sharing of the Gospel. People that are lost in their sins probably need more prayer than a saved person does. They are in danger of the judgment of God. It certainly does a great deal for a lost person to witness to them of the gospel. But it does even more if you witness and pray for them. We should pray that God will have mercy upon them.

Psalms 67:1-7 says, To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.”

Psalms 67 Is a short Psalms about receiving the blessings of God and praising God. God does bless His children and they should praise God for it. One of the important results of God blessing us and us praising Him is that it becomes a way of witnessing to the lost people of the world. The lost people in the world around you will notice when God bless you especially if you are thankful to God and praise Him for His blessings. It is important for lost people to see how God loves His children. It can be a very powerful tool in bringing those lost people into the fold.

It’s a shame that many people in America have forgotten and lost sight of why God has blessed this country so much. America is a nation that was started by Christians and founded on Christian principles. This is the reason traditional America is so hated in the world. Despite the fact that much of the American government has become, communist corrupt, and anti Christian, for the most part the world still thinks of America as a Christian Nation. And in many ways America is more Christian than most the nations of the world.

The truth is in many ways America is like two nations in one. There is a great division in America between traditional America and liberals. This division has become more and more evident in recent years. Of course a nation divided against itself cannot stand. And the divisions in America will only increase as more and more people turn farther away from righteousness.

But anyway what a horrible testimony it is to the other nations of the world when America forgets its Christians roots and does not praise God for the way that God has and is still blessing America. Because despite what Americans may think about their country and despite what the government of America may think much of the world still views American as a Christian nation.

The more truth that people turn away from the more evil that they become. This principle leaves one to wonder what kind of country America will be in the future.

Now we turn to Psalms 68. As we get into Psalms 68 we will notice that it is a Psalms which tells us about some of the mighty works which God has done and does doe.

Psalms 68:1-3 says, “To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.”

In these first 3 verses of Psalms 68 it is important to notice the terminology used. The word let is used several times. We can find a similar terminology in the New Testament in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 which says, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

In the Old Testament God’s primary way of dealing with the other nations of the world and of witnessing to them concerning His truth was through the nation of Israel. In New Testament instead of primarily using a nation God uses the church which is made up of individual believers. These verses in Psalms give a picture of how God restrains, destroys and defeats evil in the world.

This is why the world is headed for such trouble. The day is coming when the church will be taken off the earth. When that happens they will be nothing on the earth to restrain evil and the antichrist will rise to power. God loves free will and God seems to always give people want they want in life. We can see more and more in the world that people do not want the truth and do not want righteousness but want to go their own way. They are wanting more and more to unite against God. And the world is becoming more and more against Christianity. They don’t want to hear the gospel. They don’t want Christians around. And one day God is going to give them exactly what they want.

Of course it is not always good to get what you want out of life. Sometime what you want can destroy you. God will let you have what you want but that very well be His way of judging you. If you fight tooth and nail against God eventually He is going to just let you go your own way.

The key phrase in these first three verses of Psalms 68 is, “as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.” The will of man can be very determined, and stubborn, and hardened especially when it comes to opposing God. It is very unpleasant for Christians, and very much a suffering and frustrating at times to have to deal with people who are in such opposition to God. Some people spend their entire lives opposing God and His truth. But no matter how strong willed a person is and no matter how zealous they are in their opposition to God the day will come when they will stand before God to be judged for their sins and in that moment all that opposition and all that rebellious free will melt like wax melted before the fire and they will bow the knee to Jesus Christ and confess how true and righteous are His judgments.”

God always wins. Jesus defeated death when He rose from the grave. He certainly can defeat the rebellious will of man. It is better to God’s way than your own way in life. It is better to be on the winning side. If you have never turned from your sins to Jesus Christ I hope that you will do so today. He loves. He died for you and wants to cleanse you of your sins.

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