Ride or Die
October 31, 2021 • Psalm 51:1–4, John 16:25, Genesis 6:5–6, 2 Corinthians 7:2–16, Zechariah 12:10
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church, my name is Jan, one of the pastors here along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. If you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card that you should have gotten at the back at the welcome table. If you fill it out legibly, and then redeem it at the welcome table, you'll get a gift there. And then if you give us your mailing address, we'll send you another gift in the mail to say thank you for coming out. With that said... Oh, also we have a membership class today. So if you're not a member, you're interested in membership, and if you're not interested you should be, we have a class with lunch provided with I think Burritos. Burritos, heavenly manna. And so we usually order more, so if you didn't sign up, you're still welcome to come, I'll give you mine. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you created a place for us, a space for us, you created this earth, and you gave it to us to rule over under your dominion. And Lord, we rebelled against you, we like the prodigal son ran from you because we thought life would be more enjoyable without you, without your love and it's not. Jesus, we thank you that you the older brother, you did came looking for us, you lived with us and you loved us, and you loved us enough to speak the truth to us, and the truth got you crucified. Our sin got you crucified. We thank you Holy Spirit that you are with us and we repent of the fact that often we have grieved you, we repent. I pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures, I pray that you make us the people who know the truth and love the truth, repent when we transgress against the truth, people who know your love as you define, and people who carry a culture of speaking truth and love anywhere we go. We speak what needs to be said, we have the courage to say it, but it's only because we love. We pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures and show us that you call us to make room for people who disagree with us, to engage with them, to have hard conversations. I pray you remove any spirit of self-censorship from our church, from our homes. Bless our time in the Holy Scriptures, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. My last sermon two weeks ago, I said some things that ruffled feathers, and I will address those comments today at the end of my sermon, so you have to pay attention until we get there. I've learned from my mistake, don't do it in the introduction. The title of the sermon is Ride or Die. I come from a big family, I have four siblings. And my extended family is also large, my dad has five siblings, my mom has 10 siblings. So I have family all over the world. And one of the things that our family, or one of the culture or core values of our family is we're ride or die. If you're part of my family and you text me when you're in a bind, I am there and I roll deep. I'll give you just a story from my own family. I remember when I was 13 years old, my goal in life, my American Dream, other people want picket fences, my American Dream was to get a car. So at age 17 I finally saved up enough for a car, I got my license. I bought a stick shift but I didn't know how to drive a stick shift, but it was cheaper than the not. So I got this car and I loved it. It was an Audi 80, just old, nasty, just problems all the time, but it was fast. And one time I got pulled over by a cop for doing 79 in a 35. It was a speed trap. I was doing 79 in a 55 but it turned to 35 downhill. And so my ticket was $450, I go to my dad and I say, "Paps, help me out." He said, "You bought the car, all the bills with the car are your bills." So I had to get a job, and I got a job. The only job I could get was delivering newspapers. So I'd wake up at 3:30 AM, and go to the place and fold up the newspapers. And then this is back in the day. This is people used to read newspapers. This is back like AOL, like Juno, like http://jan.vezikov@juno.com. You know what I'm saying? AIM, my name was Jantheman. Way back. Way back. So I realized it's hard to drive stick shift and deliver newspapers, so I would just stall all the time and it was terrible, late for school that first day. I come home, I tell my sister, "I can't deliver newspapers in my car." She said, "What time are we waking up?" 3:30 AM she's with me. I'm driving, she's tossing. And we did that for a month, just long enough to get $450. Ride or die. This text doesn't make any sense unless you understand that St. Paul views church like that, many of us don't. Many of us don't understand church like that. Many of us view church as it's like the movies. How often do you go to the movies when something good is playing? St. Paul viewed as family. He was like, "I'm a spiritual father, and I'm going to say things that are going to grieve you because I love you. And I'm doing it for your good, for your benefit because we're ride or die." That's the heart. And if you know me, I preach expositional message, I go verse by verse, and we explain. This one's a little different. I'm going to cover all the verses, but this one is kind of like an onion. You don't really understand the heart of what's going on unless you go layer by layer, by layer, by layer and then you get into the heart, and that's what we'll do today. 2nd Corinthians 7:12-16, would you look at the text with me? "Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you for I said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. I'm acting with great boldness toward you, I have great pride in you. I'm filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within. But God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoice still more. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that the letter grieved you though only for a while. As it is I rejoice, not because you are aggrieved, but because you were aggrieved into repenting, for you felt a Godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this Godly grief has produced anew but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing with zeal or punishment, at every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore, we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame, but just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice because I have perfect confidence in you." This is the reading of God's Holy and infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. St. Paul starts with this phrase, this metaphor, this image of making room. "Make room for us," he says. He started the language. 2nd Corinthians 6:11-13, he said, "We've spoken freely to you Corinthians, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children, widen your hearts also." St. Paul is speaking as a spiritual father. This is Papa Paul. I love you, that's why I've spoken hard words to soften your hearts. It was only because of love. My heart's wide open, is yours toward me? And then in 7:2 he says, "Make room in your hearts for us." In the Greek it just says, "Make room for us in your hearts." In the English translation, they put that in because the parallel is in your hearts, but he's saying, "Make room. Is there a room at the church that I planted? Is there room for me?" St. Paul is saying. "We have wronged no one and we've corrupted no one, and we have taken advantage of no one. In Mark chapter two, Jesus Christ goes back to his hometown of Capernaum, and he starts preaching, he starts preaching in the house. And the house is filled with religious leaders, they want to know what Jesus is teaching. And then the gentleman that gets to the door he gets carried there by his four friends, and his friends want this gentleman to be healed by Jesus, but the religious leaders won't let him in. They won't make room for a person who is different than them. They don't make room for a person who needs Jesus more than they need Jesus. And then finally, the friends were like, "All right." They climbed to the top of the house, they dismantled the roof, so I always feel bad for the owner of that house, but what are you going to do? The guy is more important. Lo and Jesus heals and forgives his sins. Jesus makes room for him. Jesus knows what it feels like to be rejected, and so Jesus really does care about making room for those on the fringes, those who have been ostracized. And that's what St. Paul is saying is that, "I make room in the church. I love you." He said, "You have room in my heart, now let's reciprocate." And this is how we'll frame up our time. You know someone is in your heart when you're willing to be grieved by them. You're willing to grieve them, you're bold around them, you're willing to eagerly repent, you're willing to joyfully forgive, you're comforted by them, and you die or live with them. This applies to every relationship. First, you're willing to be grieved by them, this is what it means to love. What it means to love is you open your heart to someone else. You let them in, you make them family, and you make yourself susceptible, you make yourself vulnerable to being hurt by them. That's what it means to love. It's the same thing God did, he creates us. And he's not aloof. He's not just transcended, he's also imminent, he's with us and he feels when we offend. Genesis 6:5-6, this is right before the flood, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and had grieved him in his heart." He saw what was happening. Where is God when there's evil in the world? He's right there. He feels it. Just like Jesus Christ, he made himself vulnerable, God becoming man. He let those whom he loved crucify him. Isaiah says that Jesus was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised and we esteemed him not. This explains why St. Paul is so worried about this church. He planted the church, he's in Ephesus planting another church, he hears the church isn't doing well. They've allowed unrepentant sin in the church. They're actually celebrating the sin. And he hears about it, writes 1st Corinthians, hard words for hard hearts. And then he's grieved. How are the words accepted? Did they receive them and did they repent? And he says in verse four, he's worried, "I'm acting with great boldness toward you, I have great pride in you, I'm filled with comfort in all our affliction. I'm overflowing with joy for even when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within." He's anxious for the church. He's afflicted with thoughts about the church. How many of you think about church outside of church? How many of you think about church on vacation? I had last Sunday off, I could do anything I want. I could have slept in till 2:00 PM. I came to church. On my day off? Yeah. It's my favorite thing in the world. Which service did you? I went to both. I was the last person out of the room. You know what I do for fun? I study other churches. You know what I do? Honestly, you know what? I listen to sermons. I watch football, but I listen to sermons while watching football. I redeem the time. Tanya and I went to a marriage retreat to Maine, the Cliff Hotel. It's awesome. We had an oceanfront room and I didn't think about church once. We were there Monday through Wednesday. Didn't think about church once for like an hour. Then I got texts and emails and phone calls, and then I realized, "Yeah, it's family." If your mom calls you when you're on vacation, will you pick up? It's family. That's how he feels. St. Paul here picks up from the excursus. In chapter 2:13 what he did was, he was telling us about why he's writing, how he felt. He was writing about the fact that he's in Ephesus and he sends Titus to Corinth, and Titus then is supposed to bring a message back to Paul, but Paul waited. Titus didn't come, he goes to Troas hoping to meet Titus there, and then he goes to Macedonia's church planting, and still thinking about the church the whole time. He's exhausted. He said, "Our bodies had no rest." I once heard a pastor say, "Don't complain about how hard your job is to your people." He said, "Everyone thinks you work one hour a week and you play golf the rest of the time." He said, "What do you want? A violin? What do you want?" Well, St. Paul knows, he's comforted by the fact that God knows. God knows. This is verse six. "But God who comforts the downcast," the word downcast here is depressed. St. Paul experienced a spiritual depression. Not a physical depression, a spiritual depression over his concerns about the church. He said, "But God comforts the downcast. Comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal, so that I rejoice still more." His joy is so wrapped up in the joy of the church and their health and their maturity and their growth, that he doesn't experience joy until they experience joy. Any parent knows when your baby is sick at night, you can't sleep normally. You can't. You're riddled with anxiety because you love this little human being. You're allowing that person's pain to be your own pain. You're allowing them to grieve you. Phillips Brooks was a pastor in Boston, you see his statues Downtown. He said this and he wrote a work called The Influence of Jesus. He said, "To be a true minister to man is always to accept new happiness and new distress. The man who gives himself to other men can never be a holy sad man, but no more can he be a man of unclouded gladness. To him shall come with every deeper consecration of before untasted joy, but in the same cup shall be mixed a sorrow that it was beyond his power to feel before." That's how deeply St. Paul loved. He's willing to be grieved. God knows this, God's experienced that kind of love. Titus finally arrived, brought encouragement to Paul, and Paul experiences immense relief. That the message was received, the people repented, the relationship has been reconciled with God. They showed Titus hospitality, communicated their eagerness to see Paul. But it wasn't until that moment that he could rest. 2nd Corinthians 2:13 before the excursus he said, "My spirit was not at rest, because I did not find my brother Titus there so I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia." Parallel language, 2nd Corinthians 7:5, meaning this is the end of the excursus. "For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within." Do you love your brothers and sisters like this? Do you love brothers and sisters in the church like this, where you're willing to be grieved by them? And I say this specifically to a church in Boston. I mean a lot of people, they just come to Boston, this is just a pit stop. This is just, "I'm here. I'm going to get what I need, and then I'm out. I'm going to Florida." "Can I come with you?" But while you're here, love like this. 2nd Corinthians 7:13, "Therefore we are comforted." This is the whole idea of like he's comforted by them, meaning he was grieving over them, meaning he wraps up his joy with them. "And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all." You can't love without opening yourself up to being grieved. God loves God. Jesus loves Jesus. Holy Spirit loves us. As Christians, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and Ephesians 4:30 says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit with your sin. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit." Second is you're willing to grieve them. If you really love them, you're willing to grieve them. 2nd Corinthians 7:8, "For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while." What's going on here? "I regret writing what I wrote, but I don't regret writing what I wrote. I'm sorry that it made you feel sorry, but I'm not really sorry because you're sorry." That's what he's saying. And sometimes I do this where I say something, and I'm like, "Oh, I'm so sorry." And they're like, "Are you really?" I'm like, "No, because we're finally talking about the thing." That's what he's saying. He loves them enough to have the hard conversation, the uncomfortable conversation. That's what it means to love. You want the best for the person. This is what it means to love a child, to parent a child. You want the best for the child, so every once in a while you get down and you look your child in the eyes and you say, "I love you more than anyone else on earth. I love you more than your mom does. I love you more than anyone else on earth." And listen to me, I need to tell you something. This is not a comfortable conversation. Do you think I want to have this? No, I don't. But I love you more than I love my comfort so I'm going to speak. No one likes a surgeon's knife, but pain is worth it if it cuts out the disease. Unpleasant truth, life-altering truths. This is what it means to preach the gospel and to teach how to live a life in a manner worthy of the gospel. You tell people, "Hey, your life is not in step with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're not living as someone who is saved." To have that conversation, you tell people that they need to change their life. That's not easy. Life-altering, lifestyle implication truths. Sit down with someone and say, "Hey, we got to talk. I know where you were this weekend. I saw from your Instagram story. It wasn't even your story, you got tagged in it, and I know exactly where you were. And that story didn't stay in Vegas." A conversation like that. Lifestyle conversations. St. Paul says, "If you love, you speak directly." Jesus was willing to grieve the people closest to him. His closest friends. Who Was Jesus' best friend? It was Peter. John thinks it was John, but he wrote down in the Gospel of John, a little biased I think. I think Jesus was like, "John, you're my best friend," and then, "Peter, you know you're my best friend." He goes to Peter, he's like Peter, "You're my rock, you're my foundation. I will build my church using you as you proclaim the Gospel." And sometimes Peter was dumb as a rock too. So in the very next breath, he says to Jesus, Jesus just told him, "Hey, I'm going to die to save you." And Jesus says, "No." "Jesus, I will go to war for you." And Jesus says, "Get behind me," and what does he call him? Satan. "Get behind me Satan." That's offensive. And at that moment, Peter could have written Jesus an email and said, "Jesus, you're not a good pastor. I'm leaving this church. I'm going to find another one of our pastors that doesn't call me Satan." He doesn't deal with the state of friends like, "Yeah, all right, my bad. Hug it out." Truth, love. You can speak truth when you know you love each other no matter what." I got a sister who's a vegan. She's done all the analysis and she says she believes that this is the healthiest way to live. I always tell her, "You got a supplement. If you got a supplement and stuff, then you're not getting that stuff." "Oh, yeah..." I make fun of her all the time for it, she makes fun of me for eating meat. We're still family. On her birthday, I got her a vegan sweatshirt. It's pink. It's made with vegan materials. Because that's what families do. You speak about uncomfortable things because you know you're not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. That's love. And three is you're bold around them, because you're not afraid of offending them because they're not going anywhere. You're bold around them. 2nd Corinthians 7:4, "I am acting with great boldness toward you. I have great pride in you. I'm filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I'm overflowing with joy." So look how, "I love you, I am proud of you, I take comfort in you. You know that. And I'm going to speak with great boldness." And all this is in the Greek is freedom to speak. Cut to the chase, speak plainly. Jesus used the same phrase in John 16:25. He said, "I have said these things to you in figures of speech, the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father." I'm going to speak plain. I'm going to speak plain to you. The more you love a person, the more you're willing to just cut to the chase, and I respect that. That's when I know you really love me. When you have to sit down with someone and you have to say, "All right, this meeting is going to be an hour. We'll spend the first 45 minutes talking about how I really appreciate this person and I love this person, and then finally, I'm going to say what needs to be said. And the whole time I'm like, "I know what you're doing. Just get to the point." The longer you know each other, my wife and I, 16 years. October 23rd was 16 years from the day that we met. We're at a point where she was sitting in the first service up top. She sits up top when she thinks it's going to be controversial sermon, and she communicates with me through the air. If you've been married for a while, you know. "I know exactly what you're saying." She didn't like my sermon last week, or two weeks ago. I said, "Why didn't you?" I said, "Did I say anything untrue?" She said, "No." She said, "I'm just afraid people are going to hate you and you're going to end up in prison." I said, "Oh, so you get it. We're on the same page." She's like, "Yeah." She said, "Also, can you stop freaking people out with General Jan?" I was like, "I was talking about holy war. What do you want?" So today I'm, "This is Papa Jan." This is more. I even wore a different shirt. This is my dad bod shirt. Just I didn't even do anything to my hair. I'm like, "This is dad. We're going to have dad jokes and we're going to talk about what matters." You're bold, you can speak. What the Holy Spirit has laid on you, you can speak that with people that you truly love. And I'm afraid, I'm afraid that we're losing that at this church. We're definitely losing in the culture, I'm afraid we're losing it. One of my jobs as lead pastor and founder of this church, one of my jobs is I am a culture creator. Whenever I see something in the church, where I don't like the culture, I speak and we change things. For me, it's really important to have tremendous music. I love... I wish http://so...we have one of the best worship bands in all of the nation. And I know it because I watch other church services for fun. We do. They crush it, they crush it. Even on the livestream like, "Yeah." It's better in person, but even in a live stream, meeting it up. That's culture. Good coffee, its culture. If we have food, we're going to have good food. We're going to have a brisket and there's going to be enough brisket for everyone. I kind of laid an egg last time, I take ownership. Next time we're going to have more brisket. Culture. And I want a culture, I dream about a culture of being able to speak truth however uncomfortable, because we love each other that much. Where there is no self-censorship, where there are no topics off the table, bring whatever topic, free liberal exchange of ideas. Harvard University was started with that at the heart by the Puritans. They said, "This is how we are going to reclaim, recreate culture. We're going to take every single idea, whatever subject, and we're going to analyze it through the lens of Holy Scripture. If the idea is God glorified, we test the spirit, it glorifies God, it's going to further the common good, it's a good true beautiful idea, yes, we take it." "No, we reject it." We'll say it has gone to war against truth, and it does that with postmodern, there is no truth. And then censorship, people aren't speaking about what's true. St. Paul here says no. Like Jesus who is truth, we don't tiptoe around the truth. I get emails and texts and calls every once in a while with good friends of mine listening online, they're like, "I can't believe you said that thing." And I always, I like, "Why? Is it not true?" Like, "No, it's true, you just can't say in Boston." I say, "Why not? Is there some force field around Boston where there's things you can't say?" Apparently there is. And you know this force field, I experienced this force field. I just spent three days with my wife in Maine, we had our room was ocean view. I've never had that in my life. I spent three hours on the balcony just staring at the ocean, talking to God. My wife's like, "You going crazy?" I was like, "No, I'm praying." Because I like praying, I'm going to keep worshiping God, turn on music. And then I'm driving home on Store Road, my wife and I we weren't even talking. We were talking but not talking. As soon as I hit Store Road, I go, "Oh." Just angst, pain, ennui, the Russian word called toska, and you should look it up, T-O-S-K-A, toska. Tolstoy wrote about it, and Solzhenitsyn did. My soul was crushed. My wife is like, "What's happening to you? Can we go back to Maine?" I was like, "Please." Going honestly four hours. I had a brother who stopped by my place and he's like, he didn't say anything but he knew. And then three days later, he's like, "Yeah, you were just weird." It was like depressed, I was depressed. It's spiritual war, and it manifests itself where you can't say things. No, we're going to speak truth in Boston as it is in heaven. And we need to fight for that culture. Four is you're willing to eagerly repent when someone speaks truth to you. And you say, "Yeah, this is true. It's from the Holy Scriptures. I'm not lying. My life isn't in line with the scriptures." Verse two he says, "Make room in your hearts." For us, we've wronged no one, we've corrupted no one, we've taken advantage of no one. So before St. Paul, the great St. Paul starts poking around in other people's eyes to take our specs, he checks his own eyes. He looks at the Holy Scripture as a mirror and he said, "I got a log." Do I? If I got a spec. He says, "Show me where I'm wrong. Show me where I've sinned. Change my mind. I'm willing to repent." The false teachers accused him of lying, of being unreliable, because he didn't come for a visit. He couldn't control those things, he's not a sovereign. He's asking, "Did we sin against you?" He's saying, "I have a clear conscience to you." We don't believe, I don't believe in sinlessness. Only Jesus was sinless. So we don't believe in sinlessness, but we do believe as Christians in sinning less. As you grow in your faith, you are to be more sanctified. You are to grow in holiness. With day by day, a year goes by, you should be more holy then you were a year ago. And when people see you they should say, "What happened? You're different." Too many of you are managing sin, the same sin over and over. You commit the sin and then you go repent, you take communion, you go commit the sin. Just a cycle of wasted life, wasted talents, wasted zeal. My wife told me last week, she's like, "You're talking about holy war? There's people in the church who have not won the war over porn." Holy War. We'll win that war first, win that battle. I'm tired of pastors getting up and talking about, "Oh, we're so broken. Oh, yeah, we're so sinful," and talking about it with a defeatist spirit as if true freedom can't be experienced from a sin. Jesus Christ said, "If you struggle with sexual sin, cut off your arm and pluck out your eye." Savage. I'm going to write a book called Savage Jesus. And I'm saying that out loud just so no one steals the title. Stop. Stop sinning. Stop sinning. True freedom can be found, and it feels so much better than sin management. So we repent when we are called out? Jesus never repented so we can't look to him and say, "What does repentance look like?" But he did repent on our behalf. On the cross he said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Meaning ignorance is not a defense against God. At the judgment, you can't say, "I didn't know." Because you know what Jesus says? It doesn't matter, you're still guilty, and you're still guilty because you didn't know. You didn't know. You did know that was a sin, you did know. And God knows that you know. So we are to repent, and we are to believe, and this is how we grow in the Christian life. We repent and we believe, we repent and we believe and we got blind spots brothers and sisters next to us. They tell us speak truth in love. The first of Martin Luther's 95 theses, he says this, "When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said repent, he will the entire life of believers be one of repentance." Real. That's your whole life. Every day repent, believe, repent, believe. What is repentance? How can we know that it's real repentance? How can we know that it's true, and can it be distinguished from its imitations? Yes. And that's what St. Paul continues. He says, "I'm willing to joyfully forgive," and that's point five, "because I know that this is a real, true repentance." Verse nine, "As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved but because you were grieved into repenting. For you fairly Godly grieved so that you suffered no loss through us, for Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas worldly grief produces death." Now he's differentiating, he's qualifying repentance. There's true repentance and there's false repentance. There's true repentance that starts with a Godly grief, and there's false repentance that starts with a worldly grief and it only ends in death. This one ends in salvation without regret. The reason why he needs to differentiate is because they look the same in the very beginning. In the early stages, it's hard to differentiate which one's real and which one isn't. Because they're sorrow. Both of them are grief. When you sin and you experience the consequences of that sin, you don't have to be a Christian to be miserable about messing up your life. You ask anyone in prison, if they're grieved, they'll tell you they're grieved at being there, at their situation. When the debts run up and the bills come in, and they can't be paid and bankruptcy looms. Played around with a sin, all of a sudden you got addicted to it, and it seems like you can't live without it. You're unmarried and there's a baby on the way. Words are spoken and there's no taking them back. Marital infidelity, the damage is done, you try to rebuild but things will never be as they were completely before. A lie was told, found out, theft, impure. Whatever the sin, troubled pain, heartbreak, grief and sorrow follow in the wake. And tears flow, self-accusation, emotional wounds, but the question is, are you convicted of the sin? Is it grief over the sin or is it grief over being exposed? Worldly grief is what people will experience at the judgment. It's when you're weeping and gnashing of teeth as they're sent to hell. That's grief. It's not Godly grief. You feel bad for yourself. You feel bad that you've sinned against yourself. You don't feel bad that you've sinned against God. You're not grieved that you grieved God. You're grieved that you're grieving. Issa, the Scripture says saw repentance with tears and never found. Judas Iscariot, three years with Jesus Christ, and then finally he realizes what he did. It's not real repentance. Peter and David, they weren't just sorry that they got caught, Peter and David were sorry that they sinned against the Holy God. And St. Paul does this, and I think he does this intentionally because I've seen him do it before. Before he gets to the word that he really wants to use, repentance, he uses a word that's very similar to it but it's very different. Verse eight, "For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it though I did regret it. For I see that letter grieved you, though not only for a while." The line between heaven and hell is the line between remorse and repentance. Regret, remorse, you feel sad on account of how things ended up. If you got on a time machine, you went back, you might change things. But it's my bad, I shouldn't have done that, it's my mistake. That's remorse. And it doesn't matter how deep your remorse, if it doesn't turn into repentance, it's not going to do anything. Matthew 27:3-5, the story of Judas, "Then when Judas his betrayer saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the others saying, "I've sinned by betraying innocent blood. I've sinned. I've sinned." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and he went hanged himself. "I've sinned. I've changed my mind. I shouldn't have done that." And he didn't repent to Jesus Christ for betraying him. He could have and Jesus would have forgiven him. 2nd Corinthians 7:9, "As it is, I rejoice, not because you are grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. You were grieved into repenting for you felt a Godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us." Repent. This is metanoia. Turning around, it's a change of mind that leads to a change of heart. And the change of mind, change of heart leads to a change of life. You change how you live. Your pattern of life changes. The things you do change. Luke 22:54-62, Peter who denied Jesus shows us what true repentance looks like. "Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house and Peter was following at a distance. They had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light, and looking closely at him said, "This man also was with him." But he denied it saying, "Woman, I do not know him." And a little later, someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted saying, "Certainly this man also was with him for he too is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you're talking about." And immediately as he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. He went out and wept bitterly." Judas was grieved over the fact that he sinned. Period. Peter, as he was sitting, looks and sees the eyes of Jesus Christ looking at him, blood, sweat, tears, crown of thorns. He realized that he didn't just sin, he sinned against Christ. That's true repentance. "God, I'm sorry, I've sinned against you. I grieve over the fact that I've sinned against you. I grieve over the fact that I've grieved your heart." Sin isn't just breaking commandment, sin is breaking the heart of God. "Yes, I shouldn't have but I did. I repent." There's no lawyering up, there's no self-justification. We've sinned against God. Our sin doesn't just offend God, it pierces God. Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that when they look on me, on whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly for him as one weeps over a firstborn." So when caught in sin, repent to Jesus, for your sin against Jesus. And even better, repent before getting caught. And better yet, mortify your sin. When repenting, repent with the spirit of King David who when the prophet comes and the prophet Nathan comes to him and convicts him of sin, David repents. Psalm 51:1-4, "Have mercy on me oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly for my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you. You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment." Against you only. He sinned against Bathsheba, he sinned against Uriah, but he said, "Yeah, I've sinned against them, but the most egregious sin, the reason why I sinned against them is because I already sinned against you." That's where true repentance starts. Jesus Christ told us to mourn over our sin, that it's a blessing. Matthew 5:3-4, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." Verse 11, "For see what earnestness this Godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves with indignation, with fear, with longing, with zeal, with punishment. At every point you've proved yourself innocent in the matter. Remorse led to true repentance and true repentance leads to reconciliation, restoration, relationship with God and relationship with people. This is why repentance leads to action. Westminster Shorter Catechism defines repentance like this. What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God and Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God. Full purpose endeavor after new obedience. True repentance, "And God forgive me, and God I'm yours. How do you want me to live? What do you want me to change? It leads to a change of life. And St. Paul, I just love his heart. They've hurt him, they've hurt God, but when he hears about their repentance, the first thing, he doesn't gloat, he's not like, "I told you so. You wicked sinners." They repent and he's like, "Come on. You're back in the family. You're back in the house. We'll make room for you." When people repent, we don't gloat. Just like God doesn't gloat. God is so willing to forgive. God is standing at the door and he's waiting. He's waiting for the prodigals to come home. He's right there. And Scripture says that there's more joy in heaven over the repentance of one sinner than over 99 who are no need of repentance. The fact that God rejoices when we repent should make us eager to repent. Six says, "You know you love someone when you're comforted by them. When just their presence brings you comfort, that's when you know you really love them. 2nd Corinthians 7:12-16, "So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God." I'll deal with that verse. "Therefore, we are comforted, and besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all, for whatever boast I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting for Titus has proved true, and his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all and how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you." He's saying, I didn't write just because of the one who did the wrong, that's the man who committed an incestuous relationship with his dad's wife. I'm not writing just because of the man that was wronged and suffered the wrongness of his dad. He said, "I wrote so that you would change." The culture of the church would change. And when they repented, he rejoices with those who rejoice, he takes comfort in them, delight from them just like God does in us. 2nd Corinthians 7:6, "But God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus." And point seven is you know you love someone when you die or live with them. 2nd Corinthians 7:3, "I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together." What a strange way to talk to Christians. Have you ever talked to a Christian like this? We're ride or die. He spent 18 months with them. I would die with you and I'd live with you. There's some people I would die for, living with? Oh. It's like die and live. And he starts with die to show us how deadly serious he is. He's saying, "I'm not condemning you, we're family, we're brothers and sisters." And this is really the heart of the whole text. Every other verse is just a layer of the onion. Paul never lost confidence of the fact that they were Christians, and they proved Paul right. He says, "You're already in our hearts, and we know that we are in your heart as well. We saw that from your repentance." This is what he does in verse 12. "So although I wrote to you, it wasn't for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God." He's saying, I wrote those hard things not just to deal with a particular situation, I wrote it so that you see just how much you love the family of God already. You've made room for us. Continue to do so. We're already in your hearts, just like you are in our hearts. What he says is, "Live together and die together." He uses that language so flippantly because he's like, "It doesn't matter." We're going to spend eternity together, brothers and sisters so we might as well start getting along now. You will spend eternity with people who got vaccinated and you will spend eternity with people who did not. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, repent of your sins, then you will say at the family table. You will have dinner together for all of eternity. If you don't believe in Jesus, you will spend eternity in hell, which is just like COVID but for eternity. The COVID tension, you know that? That's what hell is. Quarantine here and isolation, that's hell. So trust in Jesus. That's my simplest way of contextualizing the gospel. So since we're on the topic, my wife has three trigger words that turn off her mind. COVID, vaccine and masks. As soon as she hears them, mind off. It's just like something trips and that's it. So I'm going to say a few things right now that will be hard to hear for two reasons that I see. The first reason is the sensitivity of the topic, the second is the simplicity of the analysis. Sensitivity of the topic. People have died. People have lost and people have suffered. I know I've lived through it. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk about a hard topic, so don't let the sensitivity of the topic check you out right now. Keep listening, please. And the simplicity of the analysis, I'm going to tell you words that you've heard before. And perhaps it's just the order of the words just slightly different and I don't want you to miss the profundity of the concept because the words are so simple. "Pastor Jan, why did you mention the politically charged topic that you did two weeks ago? Emotionally charged topic? Why did you mention? You usually don't." That's right. I usually don't. Because the things we deal with here are so much more important. Whenever something out there happens, just love each other, love God. Make sure you're going to heaven. But this thing is different. This thing is different because it's not going away. I waited, and I waited and I waited, and I was like, "A vaccine is going to come and we're stuffed. It's going." It's not. Because we have been so caught up in the details of our disrupted lives in the last 20 months, we perhaps have not understood the historical significance of what we have lived through. We have just lived through one of the greatest turning points in all of world history. Climactic. Things have changed. We're talking about the before times, and the new normal. Like an epoch has changed. We're talking about the New World Order. This one's different, and you say, "What about love, Jesus, simple? Isn't that what we focus on?" This has everything to do with love, Jesus, simple because the battle right now, the battle is being waged over the definition of love itself, of what it means to love, of what it means to be a loving person. That's under question right now. Jesus Christ gave us the great commandment, he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself." I see my neighbor is hurting. You say, "But Pastor Jan, the reason I got the vaccine is because this is how I love God and how I love my neighbor." So should you. See, the first part I don't have issue with. That first part, you did the risk analysis. You got informed, educated, and this is how you choose to love yourself and how you choose to love your neighbor. It's a conscience issue. Okay, great. We're in the family of God together, that's... The very second you say, "So should you," you have entered different territory. You are adding rules to the commandment of God. It's called legalism. It's what the Pharisees did. Jesus Christ didn't tell me to love my neighbor as you love your neighbor, or as you love yourself. Jesus Christ didn't tell me, "Love my neighbor as the government tells me to love my neighbor. CDC, WHO, Fauci, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna." Jesus Christ told me to love my neighbor as I love whom? Love your neighbor as you love whom? Say it together, yourself. Well, that one word changes things. As you love yourself. So I put myself in the shoes of the person in my community group, she has antibodies. But she's being forced to get injected to keep her job, her livelihood. And I said, "Would I want to be put in that situation? No, I would not." And God forbid if the church ever put me in that situation. I'd have two questions, the first to myself, "Jan, why didn't you lead better? Why didn't you have the hard conversation? How did we get here?" And I'd ask, "Lord, is this a sign that I need to go plant a new church in Idaho, on a volcano with an airstrip, or Florida? Make America Florida again. Or Russia, that last bastion of freedom?" I just want to share my heart. And I know I'm an outlier here, I know, but just bear with me for just a little bit. I see out there creation of two classes, and I can't change that out there. I can't. I see it creeping in here. That's what concerns me. Point to one time in world history that this has been done, the creation of two classes and it hasn't led to bloodshed. The Nazis had their Untermensch, the underclass, the inferior people, Jews, gypsies, slobs, Black people, and people with physical disabilities, political prisoners. You're subhuman, you're not even human. And then there's the Übermensch, that's what it means to be a true human. That's what a loving human being is. Now we're living through, "Get the vaccine, enjoy society. Don't get it, but if you don't get it, it's your fault." Phrase, the pandemic of the unvaccinated? You're creating scapegoats and I know how this ends. I've seen this movie before. Two classes clean, unclean, obedient, stubborn, in, out, righteous, unrighteous, good, evil, loving, hateful. I know, I know. I'm one of the only people in the nation whose doing this. I was on a marriage retreat, 70 pastors and their wives. That was Monday. Tuesday we have breakfast, we have breakfast. All the pastors are in one room, all the pastor's wives are in the other room. And it's Q&A. "I got a Q&A, all right, I'll go." So I go. I sit in the back. I always sit in the back. I know I'm weird, and I start talking and people are like, "This guy is weird. What's he talking about?" I just know. There's not many rooms I walk into I'm like, "All right. I belong." I'm just weird. So I walk in and I sit in the back, I'm drinking my coffee, and the head guy comes up to me. He's like, "Hey, Jan, I want you to sit in the front. I got three seats up there and I want the room to look a little more full, so would you please sit there?" I hate when people do that. I never do that to anybody. Whatever. I respect the guy, I go to the front, I sit down, there's question and answer. "How do you lead your wife? How do you love your wife?" I'm like, "You guys are all pastors. Just love her. Talk about Scripture together. pray together, eat good food together. Have fun together. Tell her a joke. Make her laugh. That works." I'm sitting there, I'm like, "All right." Okay, now we're half an hour in, we got another half an hour to go, people stop asking questions. And I'm like, "All right, I got nothing else to do." And I said, "Are all questions allowed?" They're like, "Sure." The guy who was leading is from Brooklyn, the guy who was ahead of church planting here in Greater Boston, and the guy who's a megachurch pastor in Georgia, those were the three guys. First guy says, "Oh, here's my question." I said, "How do you minister to people in your church who are getting fired from their jobs for not getting the vaccine, and the religious exemption isn't accepted?" First guy says, "Religious exemption? I didn't know we have two different religions." I know. What he's saying is, Christians don't even ask this question, because the loving thing to do is to get the vaccine. In his mind, this isn't even a category. It's like these Christians aren't even welcome to the conversation. The second guy said, "I have never even thought about that." The third guy said, "We just decided not to give out religious exemptions." I know. I'm one of the only people that's ringing the bell. Do you realize what is happening here? This is an ungodly worldly sentiment that's creeping. There's churches. I used to deeply respect these pastors. On their website it says, "We have seating arrangements. On the first floor, it's for vaccinated people. For everyone else, you can sit over there." Okay, verses in James that says not to do that. What concerns me is this ungodly sentiment creeping in here where there's people in the church and I hear things, walk around asking, "Are you vaccinated so I know whether I can hug you?" No, no, no, get that out of here. Do what the rest of us do. We don't hug. We awkward fist bomb just like, "Yeah, I'll hug you with my eyes." Do that. Don't bring... I don't check for vaccination status at the door of my house. I don't do that. I'll close with this. I was at another pastors meeting this week in Truman Temple, and they had chicken and rice guys, it was so good. And they had trays of food, really, really good. And so I heaping plate, annihilated it, and then see there's more food. I'm like, "Which tray am I taking home?" But they didn't do that. But they gave us styrofoam little things that you can take food home, so I pile it up. And just I'm pumped, I'm bringing food home for my girls. How do you love your wife? You bring food home. Hunters and gatherers. So I'm walking down the street, walking Park Street into the T, and as I'm on Park Street there's a gentleman sitting there in front of the Park Street, and he says, "Do you have money?" "I don't have cash." I wish he had a sign with those little Venmo. I wanted to give him that tip. Then he looked at, he's like, "Food. Give me your food." I was like, "All right." I gave it to him. He opens it up, and he says, "My man." It looked that good. And then I walk into the T and I have so much joy on my heart and I'm thinking, "Why do I have so much joy?" It's not because I did this thing because it wasn't my food, it was just like, God. And I was like, it hit me, "He treated me like a human being not as a disease carrier." He looked at me and he said, "You're a human being. I'm a human being, you got food, can I have some?" "Yeah, okay." That's love. That's love. That's what it means to love each other. You see the humanity in the person. And this is my fear, it's only lasted 20 months. We stopped seeing the humanity in each other. We stopped loving each other the way Jesus called us. In the church of God, it's a family and there's no partiality. There's no prejudice, there's no discrimination. It doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you dress, it doesn't matter how you smell, it doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter to me your vaccination status, I will love you either way. And also you're not made righteous through your vaccine, you're not made righteous through not getting vax. So this spirit of judgmentalism, of classifying in your mind who are the right Christians and who are the wrong Christians, no, no. We're made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood gives us immunity from Satan, sin and death. Have you repented to Jesus Christ? Well, welcome to the family. "I'd live with the family," St. Paul says, "I'd die with the family." Jesus lived with the family, died for his family. He makes room for us. Have you made room for him and have you made room in your hearts for those whom he has accepted, even if their perspective is different than yours? Make room in your hearts for us just like Jesus made room in his heart for you. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this word. We thank you for the fact that in this church we can have hard conversations because we love each other and we want to make room for more people here. Holy Spirit continue to use us in that. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Holistic Worship
August 1, 2021 • Psalm 95
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. People in the back, if you fill it out legibly, and then just return it to the welcome table, we'll get in touch with you over the course of the week. Also, we have a connection card online, on our website, or in the app that you can get in the App Store, or on Google Play. Just search Mosaic Boston. That said, would you please pray with me over the preacher of God's holy word? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are God who speaks, that you have given us your word. Indeed, all of creation proclaims the glory and the majesty of God. Every time we go into nature, we meditate upon nature. We hear a sermon from you. We thank you for that natural revelation, but we're even more thankful for the supernatural revelation of your son, Jesus Christ, the eternal word. Jesus, we thank you that you were born, that you lived a perfect life, fully God, fully man's son of God, son of man. You lived a life of total sacrifice, a life of selflessness, a life of love toward God and love toward people. Jesus Christ, despite the fact that you had not sinned, not once, you were crucified by a hard-hearted people, people who they thought were doing the right thing, and yet they were committing the most heinous crime in the history of the universe. Lord, we thank you that you did not remain dead, but on the third day you rose to life, and we thank you that you ascended to heaven, you ascended to the Holy Spirit, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for the gift of regeneration, that you are a god who takes our hearts of stone, replaces it with a heart of flesh, a heart that's tender to you, and we thank you, great God, that you, along with giving us your eternal word, Jesus Christ, the son of God, give us the living scripture, your word inspired by the Holy Spirit. Your word is given to us to teach us and guide us and illuminate our path, but also to warn us, to rebuke us, to convict us, to show us the deceitfulness of sin in our blind spots. So, I pray that you bless our time in the holy scriptures today, and for every person that's not a Christian, save them today. For every person that is a Christian, give them a vision of their commitment to the church, that they are members of a body, and they are to commit to a church, because true worship is holistic worship, entails all of life, and we need our brothers and sisters to help us with that. Lord, bless our time in the holy scripture. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. We are finishing a sermon series going through some of the choice Psalms that we've been calling balm Psalms because they're like balm to our souls. Today we are in Psalm 95, and then next week we are beginning a three-week series about the values of Mosaic Boston as a church, and along with the values we'll talk about our vision for the next season in life, and after those three weeks we will begin our fall series. Today's sermon, Psalm 95, the title of the sermon is Holistic Worship, and I think it sets us up perfectly for the series coming up. You ever hear anything to this effect, something similar where someone says, "Oh, you go to church to worship? That's nice. That's great. Good for you. I don't need to go to church to worship because I can worship God anywhere. I can worship God as I'm hiking Mount Washington. I can worship God as I'm at the beach in Newport, and I can worship God in nature. I can worship God playing golf or swimming. You choose to worship God with Christians at church. I choose to worship God anywhere. That's what I do." Of course, this is true, somewhat. It's true that you can worship God anywhere. We're called to worship God anywhere and everywhere because we're called to live a life of worship. You can worship God in nature. You can worship God at work. You can worship God at home, sitting on your couch. But of course, that can't be the entirety of your relationship with God, because God calls us into a body of believers, into the church. Jesus Christ didn't just die for individuals. Yes, he did, but individuals whom he brings together into the body of Christ, the bride of Christ. So, St. Peter talks about the fact that every single Christian is a living stone built up into a spiritual house, interlocking with one another, interdependent upon one another. St. Paul used the metaphor that we are a body. We're the body of Christ. We're members of one body of Christ. So, we need to have more, a deeper ecclesiology, and ecclesiology comes from Ecclesia, Churchology, knowledge of the church, theology of the church. The church is a covenantal relationship, and to understand our covenantal relationship with the church, we can look to another covenantal relationship, which is marriage. God calls marriage a covenantal relationship, that you make a covenant with one another to love one another sacrificially, til death do us part, and you can't have a healthy marriage remotely, not long-term. I can't go to my wife and say, "I'm moving out, but we can be married on FaceTime." That's not going to work, and a lot of people do that with church. I'm going to have church remote. I'm going to worship God remotely. Well, you don't understand what worship is, not completely. Worship isn't just singing. Worship is all of your life, and if worship is all of your life, we need brothers and sisters in our lives to hold us accountable, to call us out when we're sinning, to point out blind spots in our lives, blind spots that deceitfully pull us away from God. The scripture says, "Take care, less there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." He's talking to Christians. "But exhort one another daily, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." So, if you say, "I can worship God on my couch," yes, you can praise God, sing songs to God, but to life a holistic life of worship, oh, no. For those who think that that's what they should do, I actually have been meditating on a great business idea. If anyone has extra capital, you can invest in this business idea, maybe a patent. I want to create a couch that zaps people, like an electric shock whenever it knows that you're sinning. Christians would buy it and be like, "No, one episode of Netflix is enough. You're on season three," zap. It would zap you out of it. It's like, "Oh, you're watching a sermon at home? No, you can't go to a different tab," zap. So, we can talk about that after. So, couches don't convict you of sin. Mountains don't convict you of sin. Trees don't convict you of sin. The Holy Spirit does, and so do brothers and sisters. So, true worship is holistic, all of life obedient worship, and you don't get all of life obedient worship without conviction, without accountability. Hebrews 10, 24 through 25 says, "Let us consider how to stir up one another, to love in good works, not neglecting to meet together, physically to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day, the judgment day drawing near." This is how I want to encapsulate this Psalm, Psalm 95, because this is how Hebrews Chapter Three and Four interprets the Psalm. It quotes it at length, and it brings it in with a pastoral exhortation. I'm not going to quote Hebrews Three and Four today at length, but definitely go home and meditate. Maybe with your community group you can bring that in as we study Psalm 95. Would you please look at Psalm 95 with me? Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise, for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the depth of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness. When your Fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work, for 40 years I loathed that generation and said they are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. This is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our heart. Three points to frame up our time together, worship God with your lips, worship God with your love, and worship God with your life. First, worship God with your lips. The people of God, Israel, were dispersed at the time of the writing of this Psalm, dispersed hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem, from where the Temple of God was built, from where the presence of God was to be understood to be. So, the people of God, where they lived, they had synagogues where they would gather together on the Sabbath day where the word of God was read, and they would hear the word, they would pray, they would sing worship songs to God, but three times a year God says, "I want all of the people of God to gather together in Jerusalem," and many of them as pilgrims had to travel a long distance. So, for days they would travel. They'd walk 15, 20 miles a day with their families on the way to Jerusalem, and this Psalm seems to be written in order to exhort them on the way because every critical juncture of the Psalm, every breakdown is almost like a stop at a station on the way to worship God. It retraces the major stops, and what they're doing here is in verse one, the first verse says they're encouraging one another. Keep going. Oh, come. Let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Sing and make a noise. So, there's voices that are singing to God, and then the noises are the instruments that they're bringing. They're worshiping God with instruments. In several sermons already we've talked about the importance of worshiping God with singing and with praise, and expressing emotion as we're worshiping. I think we as a church are growing and that. I've even heard clapping recently. People are bobbing and weaving just a little bit. I see a hand go up every once in a while. Tremendous, tremendous. So, that's not what I want to focus on, but I just want to say I had a gal in my community group, and she's from Nigeria, and she's like, "Oh, thank you so much for talking about expressing emotions in sermons. I'm from Nigeria. Let me tell you, we have a long way to go." I was like, "I know, I know, but you should've seen where we came from. A few years ago, we are the frozen chosen. We're not going to express any emotion at all." So, continuing growing in that, but that's not what I want to focus on in this Psalm because this Psalm doesn't just focus on the singing or making the noise. It's focusing on God. It focuses on Yahweh. So, the name of God, the covenantal name of God when he reveals himself to Moses, when God meets Moses through the burning bush, and Moses says, "Look, you're calling me to go and lead the people of God out of captivity, out of slavery in Egypt, but if they ask what's your name, what's your name, at least?" and God says, "I am that I am, and this is the covenantal name. I'm the God of relationship. I'm Yahweh." Three times, in verse one, three, and six, Yahweh is used, but together with the synonyms and the pronouns for Yahweh, he's referring to 26 times. The Psalm is about God, and he calls God the rock of our salvation. For salvation, they meant salvation from captivity, from physical, literally slavery in Egypt, and he's the rock of our salvation because he's a refuge. He's solid, stable. He's a place of safety, but also in the context of the Psalm's reference at the end to Meribah and Massah in the wilderness, the rock most likely refers to the rock at Horeb, through which God provides for Israel water from a rock, and the story is that Israel is traveling from Egypt to Rephidim, and they couldn't find water, and without water, everyone would die, and they say this. They begin to get angry with Moses, and they said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" The Lord told Moses, "Hey, take your staff, the same staff with which you did miracles, with the same stuff with which you parted Red Sea, with all of that, take it, strike the rock," and water came out, and the people were satiated with the water. The rock denotes God's stability, safety, security that he provides for us. He's the rock of our salvation. In the New Testament, the rock of our salvation is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ tells a parable where he says, "Hey, there's a wise builder, and there's a foolish builder." The foolish builder decides to build a house for himself on sand. The storms come, and obviously, the house is taken down. The wise man takes the words of Jesus Christ and doesn't just listen to them, but understands them and obeys them. That's the foundation for his life. Do the storms come to the Christian? Yes, they do, just like the non-Christian. Every single one of us goes through storms. The question is, what foundation are you building your life on? Jesus Christ says that the foundation is Jesus Christ. He's the cornerstone, but the foundation isn't just Jesus Christ. It's also Jesus Christ and his words, and our obedience to the words of Christ. That's the foundation. He is our rock, and he is our rock of salvation. He saves us from the penalty of sin, and he saves us from the deep-soul thirst deep inside, that even leads us to sin. In John 4:14, Jesus speaking to the woman at the well says, "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." We have a thirst deep inside of us, every single one of us, a soul thirst, not a physical thirst, and only Jesus Christ can meet that thirst with himself. He is that water. He sends the water of Holy Spirit that wells up to eternal life. So, as the pilgrims, they travel, they enter the Court of the Gentiles, and the temple had three main parts, the Holy of Holies only a high priest could enter into, and then there was the chamber or the Court of the Israelites. This is the people of God who were Jewish, and the people of the covenant, and then there was the Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles, everyone could enter, but only people who were part of the covenant people could enter the Court of Israel. So, now they enter the Court of the Gentiles, and this is where they continue to rejoice. In verse two, let us come to his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with the songs of praise. Literally, come into his presence is let us come before his face, and it underlines the reality of the meaning that we are coming before God, and we're going to look in his eyes. We're going to see his smile. We are prepared to meet God. There's an expectation and anticipation that I'm not just here to sing. I'm not just here to hear a person speak. I'm here to meet God. I'm coming into his presence, this preparation here, and as we come into his presence, we must be thankful, can't but be thankful. Thankful for what? For the fact that God made us. We didn't make ourselves. He is our maker. He made us. He sustains us. He provides for us, and the Lord saves us. We need to deepen our spiritual discipline of thanksgiving. We need to learn to thank God for the smallest things. Do you ever cook a meal for someone, and you worked hard at cooking that meal, and you're watching them enjoy that meal, you're like, "Is that good?" They're like, "Oh, that's so good," and what are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? The person just gets up, finishes the meal, and puts the dish in the sink, just walks away. Not only did you not thank me, but you didn't wash the dish? You thankless, thankless... We expect that as human beings. We expect, hey, I did this thing for you. Just say thank you. That's all I want. I don't want you to Venmo me for the meal. I don't want anything. I'll even wash the thing if you just say thank you. How much more so the God of the universe just gives us gift upon gift, upon gift, a God who provides for all of our needs? This week I was just feeling a little fluffy. I was like, "I got to go on a diet," and I didn't use the word diet because men don't diet. Men lean out, and I was like, "I got to just lean out just a little bit," and then it just hit me, I'm like, "My goodness. How blessed are we?" Because my dad immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1989, and I remember my dad, as a kid, I look at my dad, he was always in shape, and then all of a sudden he grew a little belly, and he comes up, he's like, "Where did this belly come from? I guess I need to go on a... What's that thing called?" He didn't even know the word. He had never used the word diet in his whole life because of rations, and you go to supermarket, and you're like, "Oh, there's nothing there. All right. I'm going to have to go find a chicken somewhere." That's a completely different life, but God is so good to us in many, many... You got to thank him for his goodness. Then in Psalm 95:3, for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods for... Why are we worshiping him? Not just because we're thankful, because of who he is. He is a great God. He's a great king above all gods. In the ancient Pagan world, they had different gods for different people, different gods for different geographical regions, different gods for cosmic regions, in heaven, earth, the netherworld, different gods over different aspects of life, war, fertility, harvest, but Yahweh is a great God. He's a king above all gods. Obviously, there's no other gods. The other nations worshiped other gods, which actually had demons behind them, but God is God over everything. I take solace, I take comfort in the fact that God is a king over anyone in authority. That's what he's saying. We live in a day and age where we look at politicians, we look at people in authority. We live in a nation of checks and balances. How is that working out? Not so well. Who's doing the checking? Who's doing the balancing? I want God to do the checking and the balancing, and he is, and he is, and I take comfort in that. Whatever happens, I know God is king over everything. The Proverbs tells that God takes the hearts of kings, and the hearts of kings or politicians or rulers, it's like water in his hands. He guides it wherever he chooses. God is a great God, a great king. Psalm 95:4 through 5, in his hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands, plural, formed the dry land. So, God created everything, formed it with his hands, and he holds it all with his hand. It's just a flex, like, "I created everything with two hands. I can hold everything with one hand." Colossians says about Jesus Christ that in him all things hold together. Here, this a poetic device of Merism, naming a pair of opposites, which obviously includes the whole, the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountain. Obviously, he holds everything, the sea and the dry land. He holds everything. So, vertically, from low to high, horizontally, from sea to dry land, he holds everything in between. Try and imagine God's almighty hand, that wherever you go, you go to the very top, you go to the lowest low, he is there. Nothing and nowhere is beyond the reach of God, and this is a comfort for the Christian, but whose hands are the most meaningful hands in your life? I was thinking of that, and I think it was a Dove commercial, soap, and it was a Mother's Day commercial where they took a bunch of little kids and they blindfolded them, and then they had a lineup of their moms, the moms of all the little kids, and then each little kid, blindfolded, would go up to each mom and touch their hands, and by touching their hands had to figure out who was his mom. I love that. It's a tearjerker. It's awesome because hands are so meaningful to us. Today's my dad's birthday, and I was meditating on my dad's hands. We grew up painting together. Coming home from work, as his hands are just callused with paint all over, I'll never forget just his hand veins bulging. Hands are meaningful to us, especially as children, and here he says that God holds everything in his hand, and we are part of that everything, so we too are in his hand. Finally, the pilgrims arrive at the gate, as close to the holy place as possible. They enter the Court of Israel, and this is the second part of the sermon, worship God with your love. 95:6 says, "Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker." So, we are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, but loving God is categorically different than loving anything or anyone else. Many of us, when we think that God tells us to love him, that Jesus calls us his friends, that we are somewhat equals. We are not. God is in a category different than us, categorically different than us, and loving God, therefore, by definition, is categorically different. You're loving the God of the universe. Therefore, it's not a whimsical love. It's not just a sentimental love, this is how I feel about God. It's a reverent love, a fearful love, a love with trepidation, a love that includes bowing down physically. Verse six, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. It's a display of submission to the great king, the bodily posture, physically. You bow down. I think we as believers, you got to make that a regular rhythm, a daily rhythm of life where you get on your knees before the king of the universe. Get on your knees. Enter his presence. It reminds you that he is great, and we are not. He is God, and we are not. Jesus did this. This is how he prayed. We too are called to pray like this. Obviously, we can pray without ceasing. You can pray while you're driving. You can pray right before you fall asleep. I think on a daily basis you got to get on your knees before God, say, "God, I humble myself before you." It's a physical act of submission, of humility, of reverence, and ultimately, of love. There's three words in this Psalm in English that are translated. Verse one, oh, come, verse two, let us come, and in verse six here, oh, come, and they're different words in Hebrew meaning different things. Halak means to come as in walking. Let us come into his presence. Qiddem means let us come closer, approach, and then here the word is bo, let us enter. Let us enter. The closer that we get to his presence, the more humility and fear there must be. Verses seven and eight, for he, why are we bowing? Why are we kneeling? He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. So, he brings in everything. He just said God holds everything in his hand, and we are the sheep of his hand, the same hands that made everything that exists, the same hands that holds us. We are in the creator's hand, the same creator, God, elected Israel, who elected Israel, elected us, brought us into his hand, and he guides us and sustains us as a shepherd does sheep, and this is very... It's covenantal language, relationship language. He is our God. He is our shepherd. He is holding us in his hand. We are the sheep of his pasture. At Mount Sinai, God told Israel the following, "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings, and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the nations, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests in the holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." Well, how'd that go? God said to Israel, "I'm going to save you, and if you obey my word, if you obey my commandments, I'm going to keep you as my treasured possession." How did that go? Well, not so well because they didn't keep his word. They sinned against him. They were stiff-necked against him. They were hardhearted toward him, so God cast them out of the Promised Land into exile in Babylon, and that's the same pattern that we see all throughout the scripture. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned against the holy God, and God says, "Go." He banishes them from the Garden of Eden. Then God then recreates a new people, chooses Abraham, creates a covenant of people, makes a covenant with them, and says, "I'm going to give you a Promised Land," and then the people of God are brought out of captivity, free from captivity, and then in the desert they sin against God with hardheartedness, stiff-necked, and then God says, "This generation, you're going to die here in the desert," including Moses, who didn't enter the Promised Land. Then God tells the people a third time, "Hey, you can stay in the Promised Land you if obey me." They did not. So, what hope is there for us? If God says, "Obey my commandments. If you do, I'm going to protect you. Then you will be mine. Be good. Then I will bless you," if that's the pattern for us, what hope is there? Because not one of us is perfect. Not one of us has never sinned. Therefore, we're so thankful that God said the following. He said, "Look. I'm going to make a new covenant." Jeremiah 31:31 through 33, through the prophet Jeremiah, "Behold the days that are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their Fathers. On the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband," declares the Lord, "for this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord. "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." God says, "A day is coming where I'm going to make a covenant such that I'm going to write, inscribe, emblazon the word of God on the hearts of my people." How does that happen? Through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ comes as a human being, lives a perfect life, a life of perfect submission to God, holistic worship to God, the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit, never sinned, was tenderhearted toward God and toward people the whole time, even when people rejected him, even when people were hardhearted to him, and then Jesus Christ, right before going to the cross, he knows exactly what's about to happen. He's about to bear the wrath of God upon himself. At that moment, he has a decision to make. He knows what God's will is. God the Father's will was for him to go to the cross as a substitution or sacrifice for each one of us, and Jesus is wrestling with God as Jacob wrestled with an angle, and Jesus says, "Father, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done," and Jesus remained tenderhearted and says, "Not my will, but yours be done," goes to the cross, bears the wrath of God on behalf of us, experiences God's heart hardening. God turned from his son, banished his son. That's why Jesus Christ cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He lost the presence of God, therefore, the rest of God. Jesus died, and on the third day, by God's grace, he was raised by the power of God and ascended to heaven to send us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gives us access to the presence of God through spiritual regeneration, that when we repent of sin, turn to him, our heart of stone is taken out, a heart that's hard toward God, and replaced with a heart of flesh, a heart that beats toward God, a tender heart, a heart that follows Jesus willingly, a heart that responds. So, in the Garden of Eden God says, "Go. You're out. You're out. Get out," and then through the gospel Jesus Christ says, "I was banished on your behalf, so now you can come." The gospel is what turns the get out to come let us worship, come enter the presence of God. In John 10:27 through 30, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." First two stanzas of the Psalm, they encourage people to worship God with their lips and with their love, and our worship isn't centered on what we get out of church, the edification that we get, the inspiration that we get. No, our worship is centered on who God is, what he deserves, and what we give him. Our worship is turning our lives over to him completely, the service of worship, the service of surrender. So, how do you know that you are truly worshiping God with your lips and with your love? Because Jesus Christ goes to Pharisees in Matthew 19, quoting Isaiah 29, and he says, "These people, they worship me with their lips. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." How does he know that their lips are just giving God lip service, and that their hearts are far from God? How did he know that? Because he just sees their lives. It's your life that proves whether your worship of your lips and of your love is really, really, really true. It's your love. Do you obey God? This is point three. Worship God with your life. The third stanza here assumes the pilgrims are now kneeling in the temple. They're bowing, they're kneeling, and they're listening. They were singing. They were making noise. Now they're bowing and kneeling, and then they suddenly hear the high priest say in verse seven, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. As at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness when your Fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work." The Psalm begins by urging people, "Make noise in worshiping him." Now they're like, "Be quiet. It's time for you to hear the word of God, and by listening to the word of God, if you hear the word of God, it assumes obedience. You listen in order to obey. That's true listening." The historical context here is Israel is on the journey through the wilderness, and they complain to Moses about a lack of water, as we mentioned. The text is Exodus 17:1 through 7. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink," and Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" So, Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me," and the Lord said to Moses, "Pass on before the people taking with you some of the others of Israel, and taking in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of that place Massah and Meribah. Because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" Massah means testing. Meribah means contention. They tested the Lord by saying, "Aren't you the same God who saved us? Can you really do what you did before?" They're testing him for a self-centered demand, and they questioned God, "Is the Lord really among us?" From where does this question, this contention, this questioning of the spirit, where does it come from? It comes from a place of suffering. They're experiencing physical suffering, and they think, "God, if you were great, and if you were good, if you can do all things and if you are loving toward us, then why are you allowing us to go through the pain of this suffering?" They didn't understand that God was preparing them to become a people strong enough to go into battle against the people in the Promised Land. They didn't understand the suffering had a purpose. They were experiencing suffering, and from that suffering they got really self-centered, and they said, "God, you no longer love us, and God, you are no longer great." So, yeah, God gives them that water, but then he also punished them. Yeah, you want water? But you're going to miss out on the Promise Land, and this generation who lived in the desert died in the desert. Psalms 78, commenting on this text, in spite of all this, they still sinned. Despite his wonders... They saw all the wonders, all the 10 plagues that God sent against Egypt, everything that God did to save them, miracle upon miracle, despite its wonders, they did not believe. So, he made their days vanish like a breath in the years in terror. When he killed them, they saw him. They repented and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the most high God, the redeemer, but they flattered him with their mouths. They lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him. They were not faithful to his covenant. They saw God's miracles, didn't believe, questioned God. God sends consequences and they're like, "God, sorry. We're never going to do this again," and then they do the same thing. They flatter him with their mouths, and that's really a question. Softness of heart toward God is obedience toward God. If you love God, you obey God. My youngest daughter Milana, she's four, and I noticed this recently. She's a master emotional manipulator. She is. She knows the buttons to press to get whatever she wants, so she throws around the L word all the time. "Daddy, I love you. I love you so much. You're my favorite. I love you." I'm like, "Great. Go clean your room." "Oh, Daddy, I love you." "Go clean your room." "I just want to bask in your love." "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. That's love. Go clean your room." They were saying the same, and this is what a lot of Christians do. It's like, "I'm going to sing worship songs to God," and God's like, "Well, that's nice. I also gave you a lot of commandments, and you're breaking a lot of them. If you truly love me, then you love me with this reverential love that's all life-encompassing," and that's what hardness of sin is. What's hardness of heart? What's hardness of heart? I'm not going to obey. I'm going to obey. I'm going to pick and choose, but it's a decision of the will. Volitionally, I am not going to obey. Either it's too hard to not sin, or I love the sin too much. The hardness of heart is picking and choosing what God said, cutting out parts of scripture, "Nope, that's not for me. Nope, that's not for me," standing over scripture. Jesus Christ gives us a parable of the sower in Matthew 13, and the sower is sowing the seed that is the word of God, so the sower is like an evangelist or a preacher, someone who's proclaiming the word of God, and there's four different levels of soil, so to speak, and he's sowing the seed, and the first one falls on a path, and the path, this is where people walk. It was hard, hard soil, and the seed falls on top. It can't penetrate, and then a bird comes and snatches it, and Jesus said that that's Satan stealing the word of God from a heart. The second one is soil, but it's not deep. There's rocks in it. There's stones in it, and the seed falls and plants, spreads some roots, and then we see that the sun comes up and scorches the plant. The third one falls among thorns, and it begins to grow, and it's doing great, and Jesus said they accepted the word of God with joy, but when difficulty comes, when persecution comes, when battling sin becomes more difficult, the thorn grows, and after a while it chokes out the life of this plant, and Jesus said that those thorns are cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, but then there's good soil that's produced, that allows the seed to go deep. The root system goes deep, and it produces fruit and grain a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold, and Jesus said that this soil, that this heart is the heart that hears God's word, has ears to hear, understands God's word, and obeys God's word, and that final step, that's really true listening. I wonder, how do you prepare yourself to hear God's word? How do you prepare yourself to hear God's word? There's practical things you can do. Saturday, get a great night's sleep. Sunday, have a great cup of coffee. In a couple weeks, we are moving the time of our services up 15 minutes. I know. I'm sorry, but coinciding with that, we're offering coffee, Starbucks Coffee. It's coming back. Praise God. Hallelujah. No carb, no bagels from Bruegger's because we care about you and your health. But you got to prepare yourself, that you walk in, and I'm not just talking about physically. I'm talking about your heart. I'm coming into the presence of God. I'm coming to hear the word of God. There's different ways of listening to God's word and the proclamation of God's word, or even when you read. The prideful of, "I've already heard this," and the longer you're in the faith, the easier it is to give into the temptation of, "I've already heard this," and then there's the humble listening of, "God, what do I need to be reminded of?" There is a thing where the Holy Spirit, when the word of God is proclaimed, and sometimes I'm listening to a sermon and it's not even what the pastor is talking about, the Holy Spirit just brings something to mind and speaks a word into my mind, into my heart, and I know it's from God, and because of the preparation, that God, I'm here to accept your word. So, how do we prepare our hearts? We say, "God, whatever you say, I want to hear it. I want to understand it. I want to think through, meditate upon it, and I want to obey it, whatever it is, no matter how hard it is. I know if you command it, that your will is good, and I know if you command it, you will give me strength to do it no matter how hard or seemingly impossible it is." This is what the great Augustine said. "Lord, command what you will, and grant what you command. God, command whatever you want, as long as you give me the strength to do the thing that you call me to," and by writing this thing, Augustine of Hippo, he provoked one of the greatest controversies in church history in the fifth century. This prayer provoked or stimulated the British monk Pelagius to write his false or heretical theology. Pelagius heard this teaching, and then he goes to Rome, and he sees the Christians in Rome, and he sees the priests and the pastors in Rome who are living in moral laxity, who weren't living in the commandments of God, and he attributed the spiritual malaise to Augustine, to the fact that Augustine said that people can't be righteous unless God gives them strength to be righteous. What Pelagius should've understood is that these people did not understand Augustine, that they used Augustine's quote as justification to live a life of licentiousness. Well, I'm going to any way I want because God is a God of grace. He's going to forgive me, no matter what. That's licentiousness. So, here Pelagius comes in with legalism, and with legalism he says, "No, no, no, no. If God commands that we do something, it implies the fact that we can do it in and of ourselves, that we shouldn't have to ask for grace in order to be obedient if God tells us to do something," and in order to make this theology work, he had to reject the idea or theology of original sin, that we're born as sinners. So, what he said was, "Adam and Eve, because of their fall into sin, they themselves were the only ones who had the sin nature, but everyone who was born afterwards has a clean, righteous, pure, holy nature, and every single one of us, we can be perfect because Jesus said, 'Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.'" Two problems with this theology. Problem number one is Romans 5, which clearly says... St. Paul says, "No. Every single one of us inherited the sin nature of Adam and Eve. We're all born sinners." That's the first problem with Pelagian theology. The second one is babies. The second one is children. If you know children, and I think Pelagius was probably a single guy who wasn't married, had no kids, because if he had kids, he would not write this false theology. Babies are born as wicked, degenerate, corrupt, evil little beings. They're all Pagan. They're growing up Pagan. They're not born worshiping God. They're not born serving Mom and Dad. No. They're self-centered. They think they're the center of the universe, and the only reason why God makes them as cute as possible is so that we don't leave them at the edge of the forest. That's why. We're all sinners by nature and by choice. So, now we're left with the conviction of if God calls us to do something, can we do it in and of ourselves? This is where Augustine is helpful, and he says, "Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve enjoyed a perfect free will and perfect moral liberty." After the fall, we still have a will. You can do whatever you want after church. You can go have lunch. You can go to the park. You can go take a nap. You got a will, but the moral liberty isn't there, that in and of ourselves we cannot choose the things of God. We cannot choose God himself and the way that God calls us to be obedient. To him, only God's grace can restore our moral liberty, and thanks be to God through the gospel by the Holy Spirit, he does through the regeneration of our hearts. Christianity declares that you can change, that when God calls you to do something, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, God's right there with you. He's the one working in us. He's working the salvation in us to work into will for his good pleasure. So, we can change, no matter how hardhearted, how callous, how insensitive, how desensitized you are. You can be tenderhearted, loving toward God and people through the gospel. Ephesians 4:31 through 31, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let old bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander but put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." He says, "Be tenderhearted, not because your parents were tenderhearted to you, not because if no one has ever hurt you, then be tenderhearted." No. We've all been hurt, but his commandments come with power if you believe in the word of God, that he says, "Be tenderhearted." With that word comes the power of God to do what he said to do, so we need to believe, and then we need to do. What is the power? Where do we get the power to be tenderhearted? Where do we get the power to obey God? He says, "Because God in Christ forgave you." Have you been wronged? Yes. Have we wronged God? Yes. Did God remain hardhearted toward us? No. God remained tenderhearted. He loved us even when we were still sinners, and if God can forgive us, then he gives us the power to forgive others. The command is love. Love God, love your neighbor as yourself. Love God, love people. That's the command. Where's the power? Where do we get the power of love? The power comes from you are loved. The power comes from being loved. When you understand that you are loved by God, so much so that he gave his son to die on the cross for us, that's how much you are loved, and that's the power to then do the commandment of loving. Worship isn't just singing songs to God. Worship is doing what God told us to do, even make the greatest sacrifice. So, what did God expect from the people at Meribah and Massah? What did he expect at Mount Horeb when they're seemingly dying of thirst? What's he expecting from them? He's expecting them to say, "God, you brought us this far, and we don't know how you're going to come through, but we trust that you're going to come through, and even if we die, we're going to be in your presence, and we choose that rather than disobeying you, rather than being hardhearted, rather than questioning or contending with you." That's true worship. God, I'm willing to sacrifice whatever you're calling me to sacrifice. That's true worship. We did the study of Abraham in the Jesus and Genesis series. Abraham, God finally sends him the promised son, Isaac. He waited decades for Isaac, and then Isaac is grown up, God tells Abraham, "Hey, I want you to take your son, your beloved son, your only son, and I want you to sacrifice him," and Abraham obeys. They get to the mountain after a three-day trek. They get to the mountain, and what does Abraham say to his servants? What does he say? He said, "Isaac and I are going up to the mountain," to do what? What's he say? Going up to worship. Going up to worship? He's going up to sacrifice his son. Well, that's worship. God, I'm willing to sacrifice whatever you're calling me to sacrifice. That's worship. That's how much I love you, and it's not just lip service. I'm willing to do it, and I am doing it. The contrast of that is Jonah. God calls Jonah to go preach the gospel in Nineveh. He runs the opposite way to Tarshish, and then God sends a storm, and then all the sailors know it's because of Jonah. It's his fault. They go down, and he's at the bottom of the ship, and they said, "Hey, man, it's because of you. We know it's because of you. What'd you do?" and he says, "Oh, yeah. It's because of me. It's because I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, and I fear God." No, you don't. You're not fearing God because you're not obeying God. You're not worshiping God. The true worship is holistic worship, to sacrifice everything. Psalm 95:10 through 11, "For 40 years, I loathed that generation and said they are a people who will go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore, I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter my rest." Strong words. "I loath that generation." So great was Israel's unbelief that rebellion aroused the feeling of revulsion in the heart and mind of God. It's not that they didn't know his ways. They didn't want to follow his ways, and they went astray in their heart. What kept them from trusting in God, it was fear, fear for loss of life or fear for loss of things that they had. In Matthew 11:28 through 29, Jesus says the following. "Come to me, all who labor in our heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." True rest is found in the presence of God. In the presence of God, Jesus offers us, in the mission of God. He's not just calling us to get our sins forgiven. He's not just calling us to come and have everything we've done in our background wiped out. He's calling us to a mission. He's calling us to take a yoke upon ourselves with him, a yoke that actually is work for him that leads to spiritual rest, and this is true holistic worship. Romans 12:1 through 2, "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Hebrews Chapter Three quotes the third stanza of Psalm 95. That's seven through 11 of Hebrews 3. I'm not going to quote that, but I will close with this before we transition to Holy Communion. Hebrews 3:12 through 13, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you," Christians, he's talking to Christians, "Take care brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." We need to be aware. We need to have brothers and sisters in our lives who also are aware of the sin in our lives because of the deceitfulness of sin. We are to examine ourselves, where we are in terms of worshiping God with our lips, worshiping God with our love, and worshiping God with our lives. This is why God gave us Communion. Jesus Christ gave us Communion as a time for self-examination and a time for renewing our commitment to the Lord. For whom is Holy Communion? Holy Communion is giving for repentant Christians. So, if you're a non-Christian, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service. It'll do nothing for you. If you do choose to repent of your sin and trust in Jesus Christ today, you're welcome to partake. Also, if you are a Christian who is living in unrepentant sin, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service, or repent of that sin today, turn from it, and partake. First Corinthians 11:23 through 32, "For I received from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me in the same way also.'" He took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance for me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread of drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself." That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. If you would like to partake in Communion and have not received a cup and bread, please raise your hand, and one of our ushers will give you one. In the meantime, I'm going to pray as we prepare to partake in Holy Communion. Heavenly Father, we thank you for lavish grace, your love that's not just a sentimental love, but is true, volitional, sacrificial love that you gave your beloved son, and Jesus, we thank you that you love us and it's not just a sentimental or sappy love. It is a sacrificial love, that you gave yourself for us. We pray, Lord Jesus, as we remember your suffering on the cross on our behalf. Indeed, the physical pain was excruciating. The spiritual pain was exponentially so, as you felt, you experienced, you bore the wrath of God that we deserve. God the Father turned from you, banished you. You went through that to give us access, so that you now tell us, "Come. All who are burdened and heavy-laden, come. Find rest for your souls." Lord, we repent of sin and we pray that you remove any hardheartedness. I pray you make us a people willing to obey, willing to hear your word, understand your word, because people are willing to obey, and give us the power to do it. Bless our time in Holy Communion now. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. If this is your first time with us, take the top off to take the little piece of bread. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread, and after breaking it he said, "This is my body, broken for you. Take, eat, and do this in remembrance of me." Then proceeded to take the cup, and he said, "This cup is the cup of a new covenant in my blood, which poured out for the sins of many. Take drink, and do this is in remembrance of me." Heavenly Father, we thank you for speaking to us today through your word. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for impressing God's word upon our hearts. Make us a people who are ready to hear your word and obey your word, and Lord, when we fall short, I pray that you give us a grace, a grace that empowers us to get up and to keep going. Make us a people who love you, and people who love you not just with words and not just with sentiment, but people who love you with our whole lives, with our wills, with our time, with our treasure, with our talents. Continue to bless each one of us, continue to build your church here, and continue to bless us so that we can continue to do your work. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
We’re here. We’re gone. We’re there.
July 25, 2021 • Psalm 90
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic. My name is Jan, one of the pastors at Mosaic along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. If you're new or visiting, we're so glad you're here, we'd love to connect with you. If you'd like to connect with us, we do that through the connection card, either the physical one. You can get in the back at the welcome center and then when you fill it out, just return it at the same place. And then you can also get the virtual connection card in the app, in the app store, in Google Play. Just search Mosaic Boston or on our website, http://mosaicboston.com. Would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word? Lord, we thank you for the reminder from the holy scriptures today as we study Psalm 90 written by your servant Moses. We thank you for the reminder that you are eternal from everlasting to everlasting, and that we are ephemeral, temporary. We're here, but for a short time, and then we're gone. And we thank you for the reminder that we do not disappear, that in a sense, we too are eternal. Every single one of us has an eternal soul and we will spend eternity somewhere. Lord, you have written eternity upon our hearts, but for many of us, we can barely see the word eternity, it's as if it's been written in pencil. And I pray today, Lord, and blazing it on our hearts with fire from heaven that we are eternal, we will spend eternity somewhere. And every single person alive, every single person with whom we converse, with whom we relate, they too are eternal. And show us, Lord, that we have been deluded by the evil one to forget eternity, focus on here and now, focus on the material, focus on this world, focus on our money, focus on our families, focus on politics, focus on the economy, focus on stuff which will all pass away. And the enemy does this so that we do not remember what's most important. But there are only three things that are eternal, which is the Holy Trinity, God's word and eternal souls. So with every single ounce of our being, with every single minute of our lives, we are to do everything we can in order to focus on the eternal, further the eternal, to wake people up to the truth of life, the truth of eternity. Holy Spirit, we welcome you now in order to revive us, awaken us, send down that fire from heaven and make us a people who united around this vision, that there is no division in body, that there are not multiple visions. For what we are to do as a body, as a church, there's one vision, and that's to live, to glorify God, to proclaim his word to eternal souls. So I pray that you bless our time in the holy scriptures, and we pray this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. We're in a sermon series going through some of the choices Psalms. Next week will be the last season there and then we're going to do a three week series on the identity of Mosaic, love Jesus, simple. And then after that, we'll start our new series. Today, we are in Psalm 90. The title of the sermon is we're here, we're gone, we're there. We're here, we're gone, we're there. So we're talking about death today. So just prepare yourself, brace yourself for that. And just to lighten things up just for a bit, before we get really dark really quick, I've got a meme for you. Here it is. Oh, no, didn't show up. Oh no, it's a good one too. Oh no, technical difficulties. Satan doesn't want you to see that meme. Oh man. Could I find it? How fast can I find it? All right. Twitter, Elon Musk real quick because that's where I got it this morning. I was like, "This is from the Lord." Oh man. Okay. So it's a picture, a bulletin board in the elementary school. And it said Halloween on the side and then it's got little quotes from little kids about what they're scared of most. There's a little kid with a backwards hat and it says, "What scares you most?" And he says, "Werewolves, werewolves," by Paul. And then there's Nina. What scares you most Nina? And she says, "Sharks." And I can relate. And then Dylan, to answer the question, what scares you most? He says the unstoppable marching of time that is slowly guiding us all towards an inevitable death. And then there's Katherine at the bottom. It says, "What scares you most?" And she says, "Dylan." It's so true. And the reason why it's funny, it's because it's a little kid who's meditating on death. And another little kid seeing the little kid meditating on death is scared of that little kid, because we are conditioned in our culture to not think about death. We live in a world of distractions, of diversions and because distractions and diversions, therefore delusions. And in a sense, we're amusing ourselves to death with social media, with entertainment, with movies, with just content, content, content and we're too busy to find the truth, what's most important to us, what's most important if we made a list. It's our education, our jobs, our housing, our family, our leisure, our entertainment. We work for the weekend. We enjoy the weekend, the Sunday scaries, we're back to work. We do what everyone does, what everyone has done, what everyone will do. How often do we pause? How often do we sit still and meditate? In our lives there's lots of movement and very little progress. So many of us live lives with so little time thinking about what is to come because we live as if life is all there is. And that's the lie that we've bought, life is there is therefore get the most out of life, grab life by the horns. You only live once, therefore get your bucket list and just go down that list. That's what life is all about. And this is one of Satan's most compelling lies. And it's so compelling because it's so chock full of truth. It's so compelling because it's wrapped in so much truth. The more truth in a lie, the more compelling it is. Therefore, the most compelling lies are actually 99.99% truth. And we got to discern where's the 0.1%? Life is short, truth. We die, fact. James says we're mist, we're vapor, we're a transient whisper fog. But what about the 0.1%? Life is all there is. That's a lie. Life is not all there is. There's more after this life. And if you're honest with yourself, you know that. When's the last time you've been at a funeral? At any funeral, they say the same stuff. Any funeral, Christian, pagan, any religion, they say the same stuff. Oh, Joe here, he lived a good life. He's a good man. He loved his friends, he loved his family, et cetera. Joe is in a better place. I've never been to a funeral where people are just honest. Pagans are honest, atheists are honest, agnostics are honest. Joe is dead, he is not. His corpse is underground and he's pushing up daisies because he's warm food. No one says that. Everyone says there is a better place. Oh, there is. Of course, there is. We know this. It's written on our hearts. It comes from outside of us this lie that this life is all there is. If you pause, if you meditate, if you look deep inside your heart and you see what's written there, you'll see the word eternity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has written eternity upon our hearts. It's an indelible yearning in our hearts for more than this life. And it's true, you will live forever. You will live forever either with God on his terms in heaven or without God on your terms in hell. So the Latin phrase that they meditated upon in the Roman empire is quō vādis, where are you going? And Satan wants you to fix your eyes on the material. And I'm not just talking to unbelievers, I'm talking about believers. He wants everybody. He wants the church of Christ, he wants to immobilize us by getting us fixed on the problems of this world. And he wants us veering off course, either slightly right or slightly left. And God tells us to set your minds on things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Are your eyes set on the things that are above, on true north? Well, if your eyes are set on true north where Christ is, on Christ, then you know where you are and you know where you to go. And only then will you be able to number your days that you may get a heart of wisdom as Psalm 90 verse 12 says. Today we're in Psalm 90. Would you please look at the text with me? Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, "Return O children of man." For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it has passed or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood, they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning, it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening, it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger, by your wrath, we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath, we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength, 80. Yet their span is but toil and trouble, they are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, oh, Lord. How long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many as you have afflicted us... make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children but the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. This is the reading of God's holy inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Before we get into our points, I'm going to set the literary context to understand what's really going on here. This Psalm is written by Moses and you can see the little transcription on top of the Psalms. It's written by Moses. So it's the oldest poem, the oldest Psalm in the Psalter and therefore one of the oldest poems in all of history. And what's important is that Psalm 89 and Psalm 90 are linked. We set this up when we started season one of the Psalter I just gave, the outlines of the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms is a book of five books that was comprised together and it's put in... Psalms are put in the books thematically. But Psalm 89 and Psalm 90 are linked. Psalm 89 ends book three, Psalm 90 begins book four, which runs from Psalm 90 to 106. So in order to understand what's going on in Psalm 90, you're going to need the backdrop of Psalm 89. Well Psalm 89 verse 46 goes like this. How long oh Lord, will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? And we see the same language in verse 13 of Psalm 90, return O Lord. How long? Have pity on your servants? Well, what's fascinating is that Psalm 89, it starts so happy, on a happy note. Some 89 verse 1, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. As you start reading, you realize that Psalm 89 is actually a dirge. It's a funeral song. It's mourning, it's a lament, it's solemn commemoration. Psalm 89:38 through 40, but now you, God, have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls. You have laid strongholds in ruins. Psalm 89 begins by remembering God's promises to David. Hey David, you're going to have an ancestor on the throne of Israel forever. And it continues to remember that God made a covenant with Israel that you will be in the land, the promised land forever. And it seems, this is what they say, you've renounced your covenant. This is the deepest and the hardest theological question of the old testament that they're wrestling with here. Have the promises of God failed? Has the word of God failed? If the promises of God and the word of God have failed, then God has failed. And that should be the end. Psalm 89 should be the end of the old testament. That's it, game over. So Psalm 90 is given to us to say, "No, no, no. Hold on. We got to go back." And that's why Psalm of Moses is put into book four as the people are wrestling with these questions about David and about the kings, because it's written and it's comprised here, put in this place at a time when people are wrestling with these truths. So the Psalm 90 of Moses is put in here and it says, "Hold on, hold on. We've got to go back, we got to go back." The problem isn't that God's problems have failed, the problem is that the people of God have rejected God. Second Samuel 7, second Samuel 7, the people of God come to God and say, "Hey, hey God. Hey Samuel, we want a king like everyone else. We want a king to protect us just like all the nations have a king to protect us." And then Samuel goes to God and Samuel says, "I feel like I've been rejected." The word of God, isn't enough and God says, "Samuel, you haven't been rejected, I've been rejected." They wanted a human king and they've rejected God. And Moses here writes this sermon and he's like, "Hey, I want you to understand this. That when you reject God, when you turn from God, there are always consequences to sin. There's always punishment." And the historical context of the Psalm is Deuteronomy 32 and 33 when Moses was punished for his sin. So Moses after finding out that he will not go into the promised land because he has sinned, he sits down and pens the Psalm that we are all ephemeral, that we will all die, that we all experience the wrath of God every single one. It doesn't matter how great you are. Therefore, we need the pity of God, we need the mercy of God. So the people of God here are turning to the oldest truths to help them in their present plight. So that leads me to the four points that we're using to frame up our time. Number one is God is home so come home. Second, God is eternal, we are not and we are. Third is God is just, we deserve justice. And forth, God is gracious, we need grace. God is home, so come home. Psalm 90 verse 1 says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. God, you are our home. You are our dwelling place. And Moses understood this like nobody else. God was his home. He spent the first 40 years of his life in the comforts of Pharaoh's palace. And then he feels called by God in order to free up the people but tries to do it in the flesh so then he's banished to be a shepherd in the wilderness for another 40 years just wandering. And his only home, his only comfort, his only protection is the spirit of God. And then after he's called back into Egypt to free up God's people and then he frees God's people by the power of God, he's in the wilderness, God punished them for their lack of faith pursuing idols. And then for 40 years, we see that Moses and the people wander the wilderness, living intense, camping in the desert for 40 years. So when Moses says that God is my dwelling, he knows. So if you ever feel like you are in captivity, like you are an exile, like you are a sojourner, or a pilgrim, this Psalm is for you. If you've ever said, "Lord, why is this happening to us? Where's the blessing that you promised us?" As the people of Israel saying, "Where's the land you promised us? Why haven't you given our king protection as you promised? Where's our protection?" And God here saying, "Look, you look to a human being for ultimate protection. And how's that going?" God is your dwelling place. God is your home. God is your refuge. God is your city. God is a place you belong. The last king of Israel was taken to captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. But before he was taken to captivity, his children's sons were killed before his eyes and then his eyes were gouged out. So that's the last thing he ever saw was emblazoned on his heart. And God is saying, "You saw protection in a human being. It's never enough." No matter how strong your king, no matter how strong your political leaders, it's never enough. You got to look to God. God doesn't just provide our home, he is home. God doesn't provide protection, he is protection. He doesn't just provide a shield, he is our shield. He is our refuge, he is our life. That right there grounds us like no one else, centers us like no one else. We're in God, the new testament says, and he is in us. Christians have the... they are the temple of the Holy Spirit so God is in us but we're also in him. God is our dwelling place. And this Psalm was written almost a thousand years before it was placed the start book four to show people. You can't look to circumstances as your refuge, you got to look to God. And Moses here is saying, "You have lost your present home, but you haven't lost God so you haven't lost your true home." And this is exactly how Jesus Christ talks about a relationship with God. And he gives us the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal son runs away. He goes to his father and he says, "Father, you to me are good as dead. Therefore, give me my inheritance now before you're dead because my inheritance is more important than a relationship with you." He runs and he sins, he wastes all the money and then he realizes. He comes to his senses, scripture says, and then he runs home. And his father is waiting there, runs toward him, arms wide open and accepts him into a relationship. That same sentiment going on here. When you realize that life isn't going the way you wanted, are you at home? If not, turn, come back to the Lord. That's what repentance is. The second point here is that God is eternal and we are not, and we are. Verse 2, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, "Return, oh, children of man." For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday, when it has passed or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream, like grass as renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed, in the evening it fades and withers. Have you ever meditated on the fact God is everlasting? There was never a time when God was not. There will never be a time when God will not be. God is from everlasting to everlasting. If you look back from he is the vanishing point in the back and just keeps going. If you look forward into time, he is the vanishing point that's in front of us and it never disappears. And here Moses uses that to contrast the ephemeral brevity of life of every single one of us, that for God a thousand years is as one day, as yesterday, as a watch in the night. We're dust. Scripture says we came from dust. God formed us out of dust, he breathes his spirit into us and we will return to dust. I was at the arboretum yesterday with my family and beautiful out and just lay on the grass. I was looking up before my wife yelled at me and said, "I'm going to get ticks and Lyme disease." I had some time to meditate. And I thought, "Look, you're on the ground just lying on the ground. And at one point, you're just going to be six feet deeper." Every single one of us. And what happens with our soul? And scripture says that we are created by an everlasting God. And God breathes his spirit into us, therefore yeah, our body will turn into a corpse and we will turn to dust. But we are breath and God gives us that breath. So yeah, on the one hand, we're not eternal, on the other hand, we're as eternal as God himself because that's how God has created us. Moses doesn't tell us this. Whenever you think about death you're like, "Urgh, this is so discouraging." Moses isn't doing this to discourage them, he's doing this to comfort them. If your hope is in something that dies with you, then you don't have a living hope. The good news is we hope in a God who outlives us. We have a hope that will outlive us. God is eternal. His word is eternal and souls are eternal. And because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because of the work of Christ on our behalf, that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and then he went to the cross and he bore the wrath of God on our behalf, he died, he was buried, he was resurrected. Because of that, because of the gospel, all you have to do is repenting your sin and trusting him. And then Jesus says, "You have eternal life. If you believe in me, you have eternal life." So your soul, when you die as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, as a child of God, your soul is transferred into the presence of God. You go from this life to the next life. That's true for every single eternal soul. But if you reject Jesus Christ, if you reject God, if you reject the holy scriptures, if you reject the gospel, you will die and you'll stand before God and you will be judged and then you will be banished for eternity to a place of eternal, conscious suffering in a place called hell. That's a reality, that's a reality. And Satan wants to do everything possible to keep us from that reality, that every single person around us who doesn't know the Lord yet is going to this place of eternal, conscious suffering called hell, every single person. There are three things that are eternal, and that's what we focus all of our time on at Mosaic, all of our time. There are three things that are eternal: the word of God, the God who spoke the word of God and eternal souls who were created by the word of God. Those are the things that are eternal. First, Peter 1:22 through 25, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living abiding word of God. And for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this is the word, this word is the good news that was preached to you. The God who spoke the word, the word is an extension of himself. When people hear that word, the Holy Spirit takes that word and converts... you're born again, now you have eternal life. And that's how it works. So that's what we're focused on. I got an email recently. Now, I've been waiting, I've saved this email. I didn't respond to this email because I've been meditating on this email. There's one sentence said this. There was an event that happened and then mainstream media told us, "Here's what it means for the trajectory of our nation." And that's what mainstream media does, that's what the media does. They take what happened, facts, and they turn your attention from the facts as soon as possible to their interpretation of the facts and the interpretation of the facts was just false. So this is what the sentence, "I am saddened to see." This is in response to my newsletter that I send out every Saturday morning, which if you haven't subscribed, you should. I take a lot of time to craft it. And there's always one typo. Every time whoever responds, it's a game I play. If you respond and you find that typo, chicken wings on me. I'm saddened to see, as I have quite a few times in these newsletters, a lack of awareness in the present world we're living in. A lack of awareness, you say. A lack of awareness. I didn't respond because of disrespect today, and the tone of disrespect. Whoever wrote that, perhaps we haven't met. Perhaps we... I have been trained to exegete information, and I've been doing this for over a decade. And not just in the material realm, but in the spiritual realm. I am aware of a lot of things. And if I don't include information, it's intentional, it's intentional. So that's the first thing. And then on top of awareness, like yeah, material awareness, you have to add the realm of spiritual awareness. And spiritual awareness, let me just give you a few texts. Ephesians 2:1 through 2, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following in the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. So Satan is the prince of the power of the air, that's what he's talking about. And people are walking him. This spirit of Satan is in the sons of disobedience and he's the prince of the power of the air. So if you have anyone who is in any position of power in the world, then Satan is influencing that person. That person doesn't have the word of God. In particular, Satan is the prince of the power of the air waves. He's the one that cultivates the information that is sent out to people. This has always been the case. Second Corinthians 4:4, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them. The God of this world, the God of this world. I thought God, the Trinity was the God of this world. Yes, yes. But in a fallen world, he allows Satan like a dog on a leash out to rule. We need to understand that this is a reality. And Satan does everything to keep them, people from seeing the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, we as the image of God. And the way Satan acts in the church, and I'll tell you this, the way Satan acts in the church, and he's done this, he's studied church history, he's done this all throughout church history, Satan's job is to divide and conquer. Everything we hear in the narrative around us is crafted by Satan to divide. The media gives us facts, politicians give us facts that are questionable, but then the interpretation of the facts is what's even more questionable. And why does he do this? Because Satan knows if we are divided, we are powerless to stand up against him. Satan subtracts, Satan divides, Jesus Christ adds and Jesus Christ multiplies. So at Mosaic, I'm not here to talk about the latest thing that happened in the news. That's not my job. I'm not here to be outraged and get you outraged by the things that the media says, "Care about this, care about this. This is the most important thing." And then two days pass, no one remembers what that most important thing was because it's another most important thing that they're outraged about. It's all diversion and it's all designed delude and to divide. Are current events important? Of course, of course. Yes, of all importance? Of course not. What's of all importance is God, his word and eternal souls. That's what does the most for earth, that's what does the most to change people, change culture, change society, change the world. And we are to meditate upon heaven, that we will spend eternity there. And it's not escapist to think about eternity. Those who have loved having the most do most for earth. And once you know that God is true north and you don't veer off course because you're focused on what's most important. Proverbs 4:25 and 27, let your eyes look directly forward. Let your gaze be straight before you, ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. Jesus Christ didn't call us to be Republicans or Democrats. He didn't call us to walk left or right. He called us to walk the straight and narrow after him. And if you see yourself veering the political issues or cultural issues, societal issues are more important to you than reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is more important than anything, then I would submit to you that you have veered off course. Do not swerve to the right, to the left, turn your foot away from evil. We look strenuous by looking forth because that's when we see everything. And I love the connection here in Joshua 1:7 through 9. These are the words of Joshua to the people of God after Moses had died and Joshua now is in charge. And Joshua says, "We have a war to fight. We have a war to fight. We are here to fight the enemy of God." And Joshua says this, "Only be strong and be courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant command you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may have good success wherever you go. The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you will be careful to do according to all that's written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous? Do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The Lord is with you wherever you go." Now, I say all this, I say all this because I'm praying and I've been fasting. And this past season has been one of the most encouraging seasons in the life of Mosaic, one of the most encouraging. And I've seen a pattern that God sends encouragement. He sends a renewal of strength, he sends just a renewal of spiritual resources right before the fiercest battle. I've just seen this over and over and over in my life. So I don't know what's coming, I don't know what's coming, but the tactic is always the same. The tactic of the enemy is always the same. You study your strategies and you see the tactic is always to create two sides. These are the people who care most about COVID and these are the people who care most about communism. And you know what? I hear both sides and I say, "That's not the most important thing. It's not COVID. COVID's not the greatest problem and your greatest savior isn't the vaccine. And communism isn't your greatest problem. And the solution and your savior isn't a politician. It's not COVID, not communism, it's the kingdom of God." So in this next season, if you want to see the church go a certain direction and you come to us with your ideas, first of all, pray about them, pray about them. Pray, fast, bring them to us. And also understand that when there's unity, if there's true love, there's got to be a sacrifice. So wherever we go, unity is created, true unity when everybody is sacrificing something, that no one really gets what they truly want. Everyone's sacrificing their own personal preferences for the ultimate mission, which is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people who don't know him. It's unspeakably comforting that God is eternal. You will die, your loved ones will die. Your children will die, your friends will die, your parents will die, your favorite people will die. Your dreams will die. Your health will die. Your strength will die. Your money will... Everything, everything will die. So can there be a living hope? Yeah, only if it's in the God, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do we die? And this is point three. God is just, we deserve justice. Moses ties together misery, the death of sin of everything in the world to God's wrath and his judgment. This verse 7, for we are brought to an end by your anger, by your wrath, we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength, 80. Yet their span is but toil and trouble, they are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? We fly away. We use the term time flies all the time. When you're young, it feels like time's going so slow. Well, because the time that you're experiencing now is just such a small proportion of the time you have experienced. So if you're four, if you're four years old, one year of your life is 25 years of your existence thus far. If you take the existence as an hour, if you're four, one year's actually 15 minutes of the hour. So that's long. But if you're 30 years old, one year of the hour time span is two minutes. And if you're 60 years old, it's one minute. So it just speeds. Oh, but it's like we're flying and Moses says, "Why, why, why?" Because of our sin, death is the visitation of God's wrath and judgment upon us. And a lot of people look at the suffering of the world and they say, "There is no God, because I see so much evil because I see so much suffering. It's all injustice so there is no God. If God is good and God is great and God's stop all of it, why hasn't he?" And I would push back first of all and say no, no, no, suffering in the world, evil in the world is actually proof of God's existence. Because when you say this ought not to be, or things should be a different way, how do you know that? If there is no God, the Holocaust just happened. If there is no God, it's not wrong. Because if there is no God, there's no objective morality, nothing is truly right or wrong. And when anyone says, "Why didn't God just kill Hitler? Why didn't God just kill Hitler as a baby?" Well, God is against babies first of all, so you shouldn't have framed up that question that way. When you think lustfully about another person in your heart before committing adultery, Jesus says that same to adultery. Why does God kill you? When you hate another person Jesus says anger in your heart against another person's tantamount to murder. Why doesn't God hate you? It's always about someone out there, it's never about what's in here. But you know that there is a moral standard and you want to be kind of the judge of it and like, "God, why aren't you judging the way I think you should judge?" And God's like, "Hold on. True judgment is coming but it already is here. There is sin and it leads to death." And sin is the culprit. And whenever we experience misery or death, we need to think back to sin and say it was sin that caused all of this, therefore we are to hate sin as much as God hates sin. God is holy, we're sinful, we're deserving judgment. And God is righteous and he righteously appointed death as the penalty for our sin. So as Moses contemplates the current situation that people have got in exile, he meditates on the person and the work of God, that God is just, that people have broken his covenant and sinned against him. God's covenant hasn't failed, it's we have forsaken him and we are bearing the consequences for our sin. And then point four is that God is gracious. And we're so thankful for point four that we do need grace. And after meditating upon God, Moses prays to God with six petitions, the first one is so teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Lord teach us to number our days. Help us to realize the brevity of life and when we do realize that, help us live accordingly. I was born in April 10th, 1983, that's 13,986 days ago. There's a calendar on Google, you can put in your birthday and they'll tell you how many days you've been alive, almost at 14,000. Not a bad run. Numbering my days. Is that what he's talking about, to number our days? No, no, no, no. He's talking about... he's saying, "Weigh your days, weigh your days." It's not about days in your life, it's about the life in your days. Weigh your days. Lord, teach us to weigh our days. For some people live a lot of days, but their days are like styrofoam, they're like feathers. They mean nothing. They've done nothing significant. They've wasted their days. God teach me to weigh my days so that every single day of my life, there's a gold. Now, first Corinthians 3 talks about this, that God's fire in the second judgment will burn everything we've ever done. There's different levels of materials, hay, straw, wood, some people have gold, silver, diamonds, and it's all talking about how much have you done for God and for people, how much have you lived for God and for people? And we can never learn this lesson on our own. We need the work of the spirit. So Moses says, "Lord teach us to number our days, to weigh our days." And we have to be more concerned about living well than living long. William Swan Plumer says some die old at 30 and some die young at 90. The second petition is in verse 13, return oh Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants. Lord, we are where we are because of our sin. We acknowledge it. And this is repentance here. We acknowledge that we've received the punishment for our sin, but Lord have pity on us. Lord, please have mercy on us. God said in Genesis 3, from dust you came, to dust you will return. And that's the same phrase that's used in verse 3. You return man to dust and say return oh children of God. So Moses says we deserve it. But Lord, we're taking your words and we're turning them around and we ask in the same way that you call us to return to the dirt, we ask that you return to us, restore us. Lord, reverse the curse of the beginning, have pity and mercy on us. And on what basis can God have mercy on us? This is verse 14, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all the days. Steadfast love another translation might say loving kindness or mercy. This is God's covenantal love. God with your covenantal love, because of your covenantal love that's eternal, please forgive us. Give us mercy because of your steadfast love. King David when he sinned, committed adultery with Bathsheba and then killed her husband Uriah. After Nathan comes and convicted of sin, David repents. And in Psalms 51:1 through 2 he says, "Have mercy on me oh God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." So it's not God have pity on me because I'm repenting so hard or because I'm so sad about my sin. God forgive me, not because of me, but because of you, because you are loving, because you have steadfast love. Forgive me oh God and fill my heart with joy. Steadfast love. He says, "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love." Every morning, every morning you got to wake up and pray this. Pray this, I challenge you. Every morning wake up and say, "Lord, I've woken up dissatisfied. I'm dissatisfied. I want things more than I want you. Lord, satisfy my heart with your steadfast..." And the same way that every single morning you need a cup of coffee well, like Dunkin' and Starbucks satisfy me with your caffeine, the same way you say, "Lord, I need a cup of steadfast love, satisfy me with it." The fourth petition in verse 15, make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us and for as many years as we have seen evil. So what he's doing, this is really important because he's saying the logic that he's using is, "Hey God, some days are sorrowful, they're evil, we're being afflicted, but can you just give us as many days are bad, can you give us as many good days just so it's even?" That's what he's asking for. Lord, balance out the sorrow of our lives with God-given joy. But the new testament tells us the Lord answers this prayer better than Moses prays it. And thanks be to God that God often does that, he answers our prayers better than we pray it because often we don't know what to say. Moses asks for balance for sorrows on one side, joy on the other. But the new testament says in second Corinthians 4:17, 18, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. What he's saying is there's purpose in your pain. That's what he's saying. So because there's purpose in your pain, the same way there was purpose in the pain of the son of God on the cross dying for our sin, there's purpose there. And the purpose we'll see later, we see after he was resurrected, in the same way our suffering means something. God will turn it all around so we can take joy in that. First Peter 1:6 through 7, in this you rejoice though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory to honor and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. God is shaping us with that therefore, we can rejoice. James 1:2 through 4 says, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing. And then St. Paul in Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in everything. My brothers, rejoice, always, but for in supplication, present your request before God and the God of peace which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus." So yeah, when difficulty comes, we need to understand that if you are a Christian, and all things work together for good, that means everything that happens to us is a blessing. Sometimes it's a painful blessing, sometimes it's a pleasant blessing. December 22nd, 1849 Fyodor Dostoevsky was led before a firing squad to be executed. He was convicted and sentenced to death on November 16th of that year for anti-government subversive thought. Huh? It's interesting. Subversive thought. So he's led there with a group of his fellow writers and he's put to the block wall and the soldiers pick up their rifles. And at the very last second, Dostoevsky receives a last minute reprieve and he's sent to a Siberian labor camp for four years. I wonder how Dostoevsky lived the rest of his life knowing that he deserved execution or the government thought he deserved execution. He was about to die and he was given a second chance on life. On The Idiot, he wrote a book called The Idiot years later, Dostoevsky created a character who was facing death at scaffold and he ponders what he would do if he was given more life to live, one more chance. And this is what he says, "I would turn every minute into an age and nothing would be wasted. Every minute would be accounted for." And then Dostoevsky went on after that to write his greatest books, Notes From the Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov. So this is what Moses is saying, we deserve the wrath of God. And when we understand that, and then we see what it took God to save us and that Jesus Christ is willing to take it, then we understand that every single day is a second chance, every single day to live full tilt for the glory of God and to share the gospel with every single person. We can do everything we can for the kingdom God. The fifth petition is let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. He says, "Lord, we want to see your power. We want to see your magic. We want to see your spirit unleashed and souls getting saved and your church being built up. Lord, show us your majesty." And at verse 17, he doesn't end at, "Lord, show us your work." Then he says, "Lord, bless our work." Verse 17, let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. And in the old testament, Israel's great work was the construction of the tabernacle, which is transient, temporary and then later they built a temple which was transient and temporary. And what they're doing here is they're saying, "God, we know we're fog. We know we are just vapor. We're just wispy things and in our hands are just the fog. We're bringing you our fog and we pray for your favor to come down." The word for favor is beauty or glory. Lord, everything we do, we do for you, so make our work matter, whatever we do for work. If you do it to the glory of God, God, it matters to you, make it matter. Don't let us do meaningless things. Make our work matter. Prosper the work of our hands. Make our work matter. Basically establish our fog. And that's obviously impossible to do apart from Jesus Christ. Because apart from Jesus Christ, everything dies so nothing matters. But because of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, everyone who believes in him will be resurrected to a new life. So everything that you do in this life, it does matter because this life is not all there is. How did God answer Moses' prayer? Most likely Moses prayed this prayer, wrote this Psalm after finding out that he would not enter the promised land. We're told in Deuteronomy 34 that God takes him up to the mountain and God shows him the promised land of Canaan. Deuteronomy 34:4, the Lord said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to your offspring. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will never go over there." Moses has dedicated the last 40 years of his life to getting the people of God to the promised land. And then when they just get there, God's like, "Nope, you're not going to see it." And I've always wondered, isn't that just a little unfair? Isn't it just a little messed up that this guy devoted his whole life to you, he sins once, from what we know of, probably a lot more, he also killed a guy so... It seems unfair if you think that life is all there is. It seems unfair if you think Moses lived up for 120 years, if you think that that's the end. From our perspective, it seems unfair because we're so conditioned with this lie that this life is all there is, it's not. So from God's perspective, he's like, "You're not going to see it yet." Why can I say that? Did Moses enter the promised land? Oh yeah. We see this in the new testament, the mount of transfiguration. Jesus takes three disciples up with him, Peter, James and John in Luke 9:28 through 31. Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him, Peter, John and James and went up in the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. Behold two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, exodus, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. So yeah, God answered this prayer where both are saying, "God have pity on me. I want to enter the promised land." God answered because of Christ and with Christ and God answered the prayer in a way the Moses could never have imagined, far beyond all they could ask or think. He entered this promise land and into this promised land, land of Canaan, now Israel, Jesus is talking about the next promised land, that's heaven. And the exodus now is from the captivity of sin and Jesus is going to lead us into heaven, into paradise because of his work on the cross. Jesus is the only reason God can answer this prayer of Moses, "God have pity on us." I'm going to close with Hebrews 12:1 through 2 and then we'll pray. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, we thank you for this incredible word and we thank you for the words of Moses, the testimony of Moses. But we know these aren't just his words, they're the words of the Holy Spirit written for us to remind us of what's most important, to refocus our attention. Lord, make us a people who care about your kingdom, about the work of the kingdom, the work of the gospel more than anything else. And even our casual conversations with fellow brothers and sisters, may this word of the gospel and of the mission, of the vision be on our lips more than what's going on in politics, what's going on in the economy, what's going on with the stocks. Make us a people who truly, truly, truly see the reality of eternity and live every single day as those who have been given a second chance, been pardoned and shown pity. And give us a heart of wisdom so that we do weigh every day, to live today holy for you. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
A Prayer for Restoration
July 18, 2021 • Psalm 80
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, one of the pastors here at Mosaic along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. And if you're visiting or you're new, we're so glad to have you join us and we'd love to connect with you. We do that officially through the connection card, either the physical one you can pick up in the back at the welcome table and then just leave it there or you can fill out the virtual one in our app that you can get in the app store of Google Play or on our website, there's a connection card as well. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word. God, you are a great God and you are a holy God. You are Lord over us. You are the giver of life. We are not own. We all to often forget that and that's when we rebel against you seeking heaven apart from you and that's what leads to hell, the flames of hell, a place where you don't exist, where your faith isn't shining. Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God. Jesus, we thank you that you entered this world to restore it and you did that by coming and loving God and loving people with every single fiber of your being, you did it perfectly and you did it with the power of the Holy Spirit. And then you went to a cross to pay the penalty that we deserve, the wrath of God. You absorbed for our law-breaking and this is the way that you break into the world. This is the way that you bring restoration into a world through your son dying on the cross for us. Holy Spirit, we pray today, focus our attention on Jesus Christ, who sits and rules and reigns at the right hand of God, the father. And Jesus, send us the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that regenerates hearts and restores people from within, so restore us individuals, restore us as a church, to be the church that you want us to be and restore us as a nation to be the nation you want us to be. And restore us as a world, all of your creation. Lord, we long for complete restoration and the second coming of Christ that you have as a new earth, we long for that day and in the meantime, we have a foretaste of that restoration in the gospel. As we meditate in the holy scriptures today, Lord, I pray that you minister to us and expand our vision of you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. We're going through a sermon series that we are calling the Balm Psalms. We are going through some of the choices Psalms, the Psalms that over church history have blessed the church in a very special, particular way. Today we are in Psalm 80. We're calling it Balm Psalms because if balms were our souls, it's anointing for our souls and also a word play on balm, that God wants to balm our categories of God because they are too small and that's really the problem with the whole world, with all of us, is that God is too small and our vision of God is too small. Every single one of us, we know that things are not the way they are supposed to be. There is something wrong in the world. Something is wrong, something is wrong out there, something is wrong in here. Things are not the way the should be. They are not the way they ought to be because a vision is embedded in our hearts of utopia, of a perfect world with a perfect people and Satan preys on that desire, on that longing, on that vision. He preys on it and he comes in and he presents his own vision of utopia, a vision where there is no God. It's the same tactic, he does it over and over and over. With the garden of Eden, they are living in utopia, they are living in paradise. Satan comes in and says something is wrong with the world, we can make things better. You can be like gods, let's usurp God, lets dethrone him. You can have paradise, heaven without God and that's what led to the fall. That's why we are where we are and Satan tempts us with the same tactic over and over and over that we can build back better, build a world without God and he presents this prototype, he presents these blueprints of a world, of a kingdom without God. And we hear the whispers left and right where God doesn't talk about rebuilding, that's not the theme in scripture. God talks about redeeming and restoring. Restoring to what it was in the very beginning, using not our own blueprints, using God's. I grew up painting with my dad and my dad, Vlad, my dad, Vladimir. He has a painting company called Vlad's Painting. If your house looks bad, don't get mad, call Vlad. My top three things to paint, I'll start with three. Apartments, we paint a lot of apartments in Providence, Rhode Island. I like apartments because there's no thought. It's just one color everything. You slap on a coat of paint on everything. Walls, trim, ceiling, floor, everything. Everything just one color. Not floors. My second favorite was brand new builds, a brand new house. It's a brand new canvas, and you, the artist, you go and you create. But my favorite above all else in painting was restoring old houses. That's my favorite. You walk in and you see the former beauty, you see it. It's built in a way that current ... I don't know why we don't build like that anymore. It's too expensive. Just built solid, it's beauty. And then you see it, dilapidated, and then with your hands, you restore. And that's the vision that's given to us in the Holy Scriptures that created everything and everything was absolutely perfect. Everything was wonderful. And then sin entered the world because we bought into this lie of the enemy that we can have heaven apart from God. And then God wants to redeem and restore everything from within. It's a vision of restoration. We are in Psalm 80 today. It's a psalm of lament. It's a psalm of an anguished cry to God. Israel is in deep despair. Their enemies are mocking them as their attacking them, as they are pillaging homes, farms, towns are being burned. Relatives and friends are dying. God, why is this happening? God, how long will this last? God, restore us. That's the plea. Would you look at the text with me? Psalm 80. "Give ear, oh shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherub and shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us. Restore us, oh God, let your face shine that we may be saved. Oh Lord, God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? You have fed them with bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us an object of contention for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, Oh God of hosts, let your face shine that we may be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt, you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it and it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with it's shade, the mighty cedars with its branches, it sent out its branches to the sea and it's shoots to the river. Why then have you broken down its walls so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it and all that move in the field feed on it. Turn again, Oh God of hosts, look down from heaven and see, have regard for this vine, the stalk that your right hand planted and for the son whom made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down. May they perish at the rebuke of your face. But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself. Then we shall not turn back from you. Give us life and we will call upon your name. Restore, Oh Lord, God of hosts, let your face shine that we may be saved." This is the reading of the God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths on our hearts. The greatest temple that was ever built was built by not King David, but by King Solomon, the son of David. It was the greatest temple that was ever built in Jerusalem. And after it's destruction, they tried to rebuild the temple and it was a such a show. It paled in comparison to the original one that at the inauguration, the opening of the second temple, people wept. They wept. The people that remembered the grandeur, the glory of that initial temple, they wept when it was reconstructed. This moment when Solomon builds the temple for the first time, this is pinnacle of the glory of Israel. And what does Solomon pray at that moment, at the very height, at the moment of glory, what does he pray? In Second Chronicles, he prays for God to forgive the people. He prays for God to restore the people. Why is he praying for that, because in Solomon's mind, the wisest person to have ever lived up to that moment, in Solomon's mind, he knows that this is just a show of paradise. He says, "God, restore. Yeah, we're doing our best, but restore everything." That's why he prays that. And God responds by giving a four-step process. God's word is eternal and the four-step process has unequivocal applications for all people, including us. Second Chronicles, 7:12-14, "Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my faith, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.'" Four-step process to restoration and these are the four points, our time together. Step one to restoration is humble yourself. Step two, pray boldly. Step three, turn from your wicked way. And step four, seek God's face. Step one to restoration is humble yourself. The literary context of this Psalm is, it's part of collection of Psalms called the Collection of Asaph, from Psalm 76 to 83 and it's particularly close to the theme we see in Psalm 79 which concludes in verse 13. "But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise." We the people are your sheep. Psalm 80, verse one, the very next verse. "Give your ear, Oh shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who are enthroned upon the cherubim shine forth." God, you are the great shepherd and we are your sheep. And then in both Psalms, both Psalms are an appeal to God for help. God, save us from our enemies. They are mocking us, we're calling for vengeance from heaven upon our enemies. How long are you going to make us suffer? And why is this happening? Psalm 79 most likely references the catastrophe that Jerusalem went through, 586 BC. And then Psalm 80, the Joseph, Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh, the reason they are used is because they are northern tribes of Israel and they were attacked by the Assyrian in 732 BC and for a decade, until 722 BC, when the Assyrians finally destroyed the temple in Sumeria, the people were suffering. Towns were being set on fire. Everything was being plundered and pillaged. The historical background is supported by the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. This Psalm has a superscription that says, concerning the Assyrian. The application is for the people of God when they suffer on a great scale. Why are they suffering? Why are the suffering, and the answer from the Psalm is, they are suffering because they've gone astray, as sheep have gone astray. There's two metaphors used in the Psalm for God. God is shepherd, therefore we're sheep and God is vine-dresser, a gardener therefore we are the vine, therefore we are the garden and God expects us to bear fruit. The first one I'll deal with, God is our shepherd and we are his sheep. That sounds so nice. That's so bucolic. Little sheep, when they are born, they are so cute. They are so incredible. You see goat videos, sheep videos are cute too. And then they grow up and they are not that cute anymore. Have you seen grown sheep? You go to small farms where you can go apple picking in the fall. It's tremendous, but there's also a little farm area with animals. The sheep there are so ugly. They are the ugliest sheep I have ever seen. They are nasty. They are rancid. There is so much stuff in their wool, they look brown. Stuff is stuck in there because they can't clean themselves. They can't clean themselves and they don't care to clean for themselves. Part of the reason why is because they are the least intelligent of all the domesticated animals. They are just dumb. So when God calls you a sheep, that's not a compliment. They are dumb. They are the least intelligent of all the animals. They are completely incapable of caring for themselves. They are dumb. They are directionless and they are defenseless. They are dumb, I dealt with that. I'll show you how dumb and directionless they are with one illustration. This really happened in 2005 in eastern Turkey. I'll read from the article. "Hundreds of sheep followed their leader, a lead sheep, off a cliff in eastern Turkey plunging to their deaths while shepherds looked on in dismay." 400 sheep fell 15 meters to their deaths in a ravine in the Van province near Iran. They are dead, the 400. But because there are so many of them, they cushion the fall for another 1100 who fell on these and those 1100 survived. The shepherds from a nearby village neglected the flock while eating breakfast leaving the sheep to roam free. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $74,000. Dumb, they are directionless and they are defenseless. Sheep, the existence of sheep destroys the theory of evolution. How are they here? How are they here? They have zero ways of protecting themselves. They can't fight. They got nothing to fight with. They've got nothing to fight with. What are you going to fight with? Their teeth aren't even that sharp. Fight, flight? Have you seen a sheep run? Tiny, tiny legs. They can't run. No fight, no flight. And then to scare the opponent, they've got no way to scare the opponent. Even cats at least hiss. They look scary in that moment. You're going to attack a sheep, they are like, okay. That's what's going on. They are defenseless. The only way, the only way that sheep can flourish is if they follow their shepherd. That's the only way. When they follow the shepherd, everything is great. When they stop following him, when they think they are smarter than the shepherd, when they think they can find greener pastures apart from the shepherd, when they think they don't need the shepherd's leadership or the shepherd's provision or the shepherd's protection, things start going bad. And when you start following any ideology, any worldly ideology that contradicts the word of God, that's what's happening. The only voice that we Christians can blindly follow is the voice of God. God, what did you say? What did you say? What did you say in your word? That's the one we follow. Every other voice, we need to say, you know what, is this voice leading me astray? Even your own. You've got to question every other voice and compare it with the voice of God, the word of God. What does this do, recognizing that you're a sheep? It humbles us. We're dumb, we're directionless. We're defenseless. We need a shepherd. And then God is also a gardener, he's a farmer. He expects fruit. Psalm 80 verse eight and nine. "You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root and filled the land." It's talking about God bringing his people out of Egypt as if he's a gardener transplanting a vine from Egypt to Canaan, prepares the land for it and then it begins to grow. Verse 10. "The mountains were covered with its shade." The mountains are the Sinai Mountain range in the south. "The mighty cedars with its branches." That's the cedars of Lebanon in the north. "It sent out its branches to the sea." The Mediterranean Sea in the west. "And shoots to the river." The Euphrates in the east. God is our shepherd and he expects us to follow him. And God is our gardener, he plants us and he expects fruit to be produced from us. What's that fruit? It's a life to follow him, a life of godliness. He has purposes for his plants. He has a will. We produce fruit by loving God and our neighbors, by glorifying God and serving people in our lives. Meaning he gets to direct how we live and for what purposes that we live. We do not live for ourselves. And that is to humble us. That's the first step. God, we come to you in humility. We are your sheep and we are your plants. Step two in the restoration is to pray boldly. Psalm 80, verse one. "Give ear, Oh Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim shine forth." We start off with his grand vision. God, you are on your throne and you are encircled with angels, cherubim. When God instructed Moses to make the ark of the covenant, he said to put two cherubim on the top of the mercy seat. The ark was to represent God's throne on earth and there's angels worshiping. God is the king of everything and he has armies at his disposal, a heavenly army of angels. Psalm 99:1. "The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake." You're saying, "God, I know you're great." That's where he's starting off with. "God, I know you're great. God, I know you're sovereign. And I know you're in control." And then he goes to verse two. He says, "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us." What's the significance of these names? He's mentioned Joseph. He mentions Benjamin here. And now he's mentioning Ephraim and Manasseh. What's the story with Joseph? Who were the parents of Joseph? They were Jacob and ... Bible trivia ... Jacob and ... yes, mini Mosaic knows. That's Julie, she knows everything. It's Jacob and Rachel. And then there's a story with Leah. I don't have time to get into that. Leah is also Jacob's wife. She has a lot of children with Jacob and Rachel is barren and she's crying out to God. "God, send me a child. God, send me a child. God, send me a child." And then God finally sends her a child in Joseph. Then how does Jacob love Joseph? He loves him a lot. I hate to say it, he's his favorite. He creates the beautiful clothing for him. He's his favorite. And then what happens with Joseph? His brothers, who are enemies, send him into captivity. They sell him. They sell the beloved son. And Joseph is in captivity for 13 years. Joseph also has a brother. What's Joseph's brother's name? Benjamin. Benjamin. So Jacob and Rachel had a second son, Benjamin. Benjamin means son of my right hand. Does Jacob love him? Yes, he loves him so much. And then Jacob thinks that Joseph, his beloved, dies. He pours out all his love on Benjamin and protection and everything. And then he gets Joseph back. Obviously his heart is bursting with love for these sons. It was all part of God's plan. That's their names, Joseph and Benjamin. And then we got the names of Ephraim and Manasseh. Those are the two sons of Joseph. The oldest was Manasseh. The youngest was Ephraim. That's what's going on there. So what they are saying is, God, you are the God who is enthroned, you got the cherubim around you and you are also a God who loves us like Jacob who was then renamed to Israel, as Israel loved his favorite son. God, I know you're great and I know you're all-loving, so God, where are you, save us. The Psalm starts giving God in imperatives. Usually imperatives are from God to people. Here we see imperatives from people to God as if they are telling God what to do. God, shine forth. Stir up your might. Come and save us, which is repeated four times in verses two, three, seven, and 19. Why are you doing ... Do this stuff because we know you want to and we know you can. Psalm 80, verse three. "Restore us, Oh God. Let your face shine that we may be saved." You're our God, you're our shepherd, you love us. Restore us, let your face shine. I call this bold desperation. It's a humble boldness. It's a bold desperation. God, I know you want to save us and I know you can. You're telling the God of the universe what to do. You're saying, God of the universe, I'm suffering, we're suffering, and you're the only one that can help us so please do it. And by the way, this is why I talk about bold desperation. The word please isn't even used here. It's like, I know you're going to do this, and I'm asking and I already know you're going to do this and I'm asking and I'm kind of telling, but please do this, and also, I thank you in advance for doing this. It's a bold desperation. How can desperation be bold? Desperation seems cowardly. Bold courage, that's how we should be talking, or cowardly desperation. But not in terms of theology, not in terms of God, because some of the most powerful prayers we can pray are from a point of desperation. When you hit rock bottom, you have zero reliance on yourself because you got yourself in this situation and the only thing you can do is, like an infant, cry out to God, save us. You've got nothing to lose, because you've lost it all therefore you've got nothing to save. You've got no ego to protect, therefore from that position, you ask for the craziest thing you can. God, give me a second chance. I know I messed up, but God, give me a second chance. God, save me. While we're at it, adopt me as a son or a daughter, by the way, and also give me eternal life, give me heaven and also I want to be Christ-like. I want to be godly, which seems to be like the greatest, boldest thing you can ask for. God, I want to be like you, so save me. It's from this point of desperation, Lord, we're desperate. We're desperate and we're asking you and we're asking for something that we know you want to give us, therefore we know you're going to give it, because it's in line with your will so we thank you in advance. Mark 11:24. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received and it will be yours." What do you need to be boldly, from a point of desperation, asking for? The greatest things. The greatest things. Ask for it. God, forgive me of all of my sins. Every single sin. Every single one. Please forgive me as if I've never done it and also I want heaven, I want eternal life and also I want to be in your kingdom and also whatever happens in this life, if I die, I'm with you forever. That's what Jesus is saying. Ask for the greatest things. And also in this life, what are we asking for, as a church what are we asking for? God, save more people. We've got so many empty seats. That's a lot of empty seats. Save more people. Save my neighbors. I have neighbors that I look at and I'm like, you're the last person in the world to be saved. You're the last one. Therefore, God, save that guy. Just for fun. Save that guy just so I can be like, God saved you. This is what St. Paul does. St. Paul says I'm the org chart of the world for the kingdom of God. Jesus is the CEO, chief executive officer. I'm the CSO. Chief what? Chief sinning officer. I'm the chief of all sinners. St. Paul looks at himself and says, I can't believe God saved me. I was the last person in the world that I think God would save. This is what we need. We need to ask God to save people. God, build your church because this is how God restores. This is why Israel didn't understand true restoration. Israel thought, and the disciples too, after Jesus was resurrected, they looked at Jesus and they are like, is it time for your kingdom now because they thought it was going to be a political kingdom. Because Israel, the whole time, they said, "You know when we flourished? When King David would make us submit. Jesus, force everyone into submission." And Jesus says, "You don't understand my kingdom. I'm going to get you to submit by changing your heart. I'm going to rule over your heart and I'm going to make you mine from the inside and that's how I want to restore the whole world. I want to restore every single person by sending the Holy Spirit, giving people brand new hearts, brand new desires, brand new affections and they live completely wholeheartedly for the will of God and that's the plan for restoration." We ask for that, Jesus, and we ask you to come back and we ask for the new heavens and the new earth. Point three, step three that restoration is to turn from your wicked way. If you want restoration, you need to know what caused everything to be damaged. What causes it is our sin, it's our wickedness. God, where are you? We feel like you've left us. And God's like, "I'm your shepherd. You're the sheep. You're the one that left me." Turn around. Psalm 80, verse four and five. "Oh Lord, God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayer? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure." God is angry at them and they know that God is angry. Is this a category in your mind, a theology of God? It's okay. I like when kids make noise. It's tremendous. It's tremendous, he's worshiping God. Praise God. God loves so much that he hates anything that might actually hurt what he loves. It's just like any father, mother. You hate, in your kids, even in them something that might hurt them in the future and that's what parenting is. I want you to love God. That's what's going to lead to your flourishing. And you walking away from God in this area, I hate that because it's going to hurt you in the future. So God here is angry. Israel knows that he's angry. They've sinned. They worship idols, their food and drink consist of tears. God, the shepherd of Israel, has not led his flock into green pastures. He has not led them beside still waters. He has not protected his flock as a good shepherd should, instead he has abandoned them, from their perspective. Basically he is sovereign and he has allowed these things to happen. He is in control. Why, God, why do you allow these hardships? Why do you allow the suffering? Why are you angry with us, God? And then God's like, "Good. Good. That's why. Because I wanted you to ask the question, I wanted to finally get you to the point where you asked the question, God, why? Why are you doing this?" And I think God's response is because you walked away first. You're the one that abandoned me. Psalm 42, one through three, "As the deer pants from flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all day long, where is your God?" I want you to pant for me, God says. I want you to long for me. I want you to seek me, I want you to follow me. And scripture promises that when you draw near to God, God draws near to you. Psalm 80, verse six. "You make us an object of contention for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves. Israel's neighbors scorn the defenseless Israel. They fight over the spoils of Israel. They laugh mockingly, scornfully." What's happened to the good shepherd who prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies? The shepherd gave the sheep what they wanted. You wanted greener pastures without me, that's what it looks like. You don't want my wall of protection. You don't want me cultivating the garden. You don't want me here. It says in verse 12, "Why then have you broken down its wall so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it and all that move in the field feed on it." It's an image of God breaking down the walls of protection and then the boar, the unclean boar, this gentile nation of the Assyrians ravaging the vineyard taking everything there. The Jewish commentary, the Midrash, explains once a vineyard has been breached, everyone goes into it and plunders it. Also, everyone who rises up, Babylon, Media, Greece, Edom plunders Israel. Come a ruler, he plunders it. Come a general, he plunders it." What's the image here with the vineyard? The image is that God is the one who built the vineyard and Jesus Christ talks about this. Vineyard imagery, it's used all over the Old Testament, in Isaiah, in the prophets. And then Jesus brings in a parable of the vineyard. In the parable of the vineyard he says that a ruler, a king builds a vineyard, beautiful vineyard with a beautiful wall around it and a watchtower in the inside. It's gorgeous and it's huge and then he leaves. Before he leaves, he leases it out to people to tend it, to work there and then every year he would send someone to come and receive his fruit. Yeah, he would give them wages, but then he would receive fruit because it's all his. He employs these people. He leases it out to them. And then Jesus said, "Yeah, okay." He sent one guy and they looked at that guy and said, "We're not giving you anything." He sent another guy and then they beat him. He sent another guy and they killed him. And he says, "You know what, I'm going to send my son because they definitely won't have the gall to kill my son." They look at his son, "This is the one whose supposed to inherit everything. If we kill him, it's all ours." And they kill the son. And what's the story, what's the parable of? And Jesus is saying, this is the story of Israel. He's talking to religious leaders. "I've sent you prophets. I've sent you prophets and the prophets will just say over and over and over, 'You don't own the vineyard. You don't own the vineyard. You're leasing the vineyard. You're renting the vineyard, therefore pay your rent. You pay your rent by giving due to God, over and over and over.'" The killed the prophet, they killed prophet after prophet after prophet and then God sends Jesus and what did they do with him? Same exact thing. The point for us is, you don't own a thing. You're not an owner and if you live in an apartment, you understand, you're renting. You don't own it. On the one hand, that's awesome because when something breaks, you won't have to do anything about it. You sit down and dishwasher broke, you go, "Dear Landlord, I need a new dishwasher." That's awesome. You don't have to think that you are in control of fixing everything. You're not the restorer because you don't own it, God does. The other lesson is, you've got to pay the rent. You've got to pay the rent. Paying the rent is giving God what he is due and that's glorifying him, living for him, worshiping him, serving him, following him, obeying him. That's the point and we do that by recognizing we haven't in areas of our life where we've gone wayward, where we are in wickedness and we repent. You do a U-turn. There's a guy in Fenway who always stands, he's got an A-frame sign, it says turn or burn. But you turn or burn, and that's what repentance means. It's a U-turn from your wicked ways to following God. Step four to restoration is seek God's face. You see this refrain over and over. Verse three. " Restore us, Oh God, let your face shine that we may be saved." Verse seven. "Restore us, oh God of hosts," he adds, "that you are a God with armies. Let your face shine that we may be saved." And then Psalm 80, verse 19. "Restore us, oh Lord, Yahweh, God of hosts, let your face shine that we may be saved." God, you're all-powerful, you're the God of hosts and he brings in Yahweh, the covenantal name of God. God, you're a god of relationship, that you want a relationship with me. Repentance that doesn't lead to relationship is just religion. It's God, okay, I'm going to fix myself. I'm going to restore myself. You tell me where I did something wrong, I'm going to fix that and then I'm going to keep doing that on my own, works righteousness, justification through my own stuff. I'm going to fix everything. And God's like, that's not true repentance. True repentance is you wanted life apart from God, you wanted heaven apart from God. You wanted that lie, that utopia that Satan promises. No, repentance is, I don't want a life apart from God. I want a life with God. I want a relationship with God. You're the God of hosts and you're also a God that loves. And God, all we need from you is your face to shine. We need a smile from you. We need you to turn to us and we want your smile which saves everything, it fixes everything. It restores everything. We just want to see your face. We want to see your image. We want your delight. My youngest daughter, Milana, she senses my moods through walls. I don't know what it is. I've got a connection with all of them, but Milana literally looks like me and she's the spitting image and character, she's my spirit animal. She knows my mood. Sometimes she walks in the room and is like, "Dad, are you mad?" I'm focused, I'm working. She's like, "Are you mad?" I'm like, "No." And then I smile and she's like, "Oh good. You're happy." And she walks away. And that's all, she just needed a smile. Here's what Christianity says, that apart from Jesus Christ, God is angry with you because you turned your back to God. And what happens, you don't experience his face, you don't experience his relationship. You need to repent of your sins. This is called reconciliation with God and we are ministers of reconciliation pointing everyone to Christ, that Jesus Christ is the image of God, the perfect image of God. He is the face of God, he is the one through whom we can be reconciled with God because of his perfect life, death, burial, and resurrection. And when Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptizer, the God the father speaks. The Holy Spirit anoints God the son. You've got the whole Trinity. God, the father, speaks and what does he say? This is my son in whom I am well pleased. I delight over my son. My son has my perfect delight. He fulfilled my perfect will. He did everything that I asked him to. And when you repent of your sin, this is the beauty of Christianity, you're repenting your sin, you trust in the word of Jesus Christ, now you are in Christ and you're in Christ experiencing the delight of God, the father, and that's what they are asking for here. They are asking for Moses, Aaron prayed the blessing in number six. "May the Lord bless you and keep you." And what's the greatest blessing? May the Lord make his face shine upon you and lift up its countenance upon you so that you may have peace, so that you may have shalom, that's a Hebrew word, shalom, like in the very beginning. When you have a relationship with God, face to face, when God speaks to you, when you respond to his will, his face is shining upon you. God's face is either a face of delight or a face of rebuke. And that Psalm 80, verse 16, they ask, these enemies, they burned us with fire, the vineyard with fire. They've cut it down. May the perish at the rebuke of your face. God has a face of rebuke and a face of delight. In Psalm 14, "Turn again, oh God of hosts, look down from heaven and see and have regard for this vine." God is a gardener and they said, "Come look after us again." And then the culmination of the text is verses 15 through 17. "The stalk that your right hand planted and for the son whom you made strong for yourself, they have burned it with fire. They have cut it down. May they perish at the rebuke of your face, but let your hand be on the men of your right hand and the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself." Three things I'm going to focus on in verse 17. First, the right hand, then the man on the right hand, and then the son of man. The right hand, when God talks about his hand being upon someone, that's talking about complete blessing, that God is the one that leads this person into places of blessing. It's like the person is a pawn and God is playing chess with that person, putting the person in the perfect position of God's complete blessing. And we see this phrase used in Ezra 7:6. This says, "Ezra went out from Babylon, he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, that the Lord, the God of Israel had given and the king granted him all that he asked for the hand of the Lord, his God, was upon him." Ezra went to his king, he was like, "Hey, could you please help me restore all of Jerusalem?" Which is absurd, you're going to the enemy king. And God allows it to happen because God's good hand was upon him. The same chapter, verse nine. "For on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem for the good hand of his God was on him." Ezra goes to the king, he's like, "Hey, I want to rebuild all of Israel." That's crazy. And the king is like, "Okay, do it." And then he gives him the resources to do it because God's good hand was upon him. So in verse 17, you've got let your hand, your good hand be on the man of your right hand. What's the man of your right hand? What's he talking about there? He's talking about the king who is enthroned and you've got someone on your right hand. To understand who that is, you've got to look Psalm 110, verse one. "The Lord says to my lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your foot stool." What's going on there? It seems like King David, who wrote this Psalm, has two lords. What's going on? Jesus gives his commentary on this text in Matthew 22:41. "Now while the Pharisees where gathered together, Jesus asks them a question saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said the son of David. The son of David meaning he's going to be only human. We're looking for a human ruler, a political ruler, like King David. The son of David. He said to them, Jesus, "How is it then that David in the spirit," David, guided by the Holy Spirit, as he writes God's word, "In the spirit, calls him, the Messiah, the Christ, calls him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son and no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day, did anyone dare to ask him anymore questions." He goes, what do you do with that? He goes, what are you saying? They believe that this one god, God is one, God is alone. Yes, God is one. And then all of a sudden, Jesus brings him in and he's like, David, guided by the Holy Spirit, he's bringing the Holy Spirit, and he says David has two lords. What is going on? And what Jesus is getting at is to show, no, the Messiah is not just human. The Messiah is King David's lord, the greatest king in all of Israel has a lord over him. It's the father, God the father speaking to God, the son. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make all your enemies a foot stool for your feet. This verse, Psalm 80, verse 17, they don't even know what they are asking for. God, send us a son of man. Send us a son of man, let your hands be on the man of your right hand. The son of man, whom you have made strong for yourself. What they are asking for and obviously they are guided by the Holy Spirit, he's asking for God, send us restoration and we know the only one who can really restore everything is not just human. It's the God, the son who is also son of man. And that's the title, Son of Man, isn't just to show that Jesus is human and fully God. It's a messianic title. Daniel 7:13 through 14. I saw in the night visions and behold through the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. He came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom. All peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. It's someone who is human, son of man, and God, your absolute eternal. In the Psalm, written centuries before Jesus Christ, may your hand be on the one who is at your right hand, Jesus Christ is also the son of man, fully God, fully human. Where was Jesus born? Where was Jesus born? Bethlehem. The house of bread. Bethlehem, the town of Benjamin. Keep that in mind. Matthew 26:63 through 64. But Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to him, this is Jesus before the high priest, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you, from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus connects those two, the son of the right hand and the son of man. He's going to be seated because you're going to try to kill him right now, but he's going to come back from the dead. Jesus Christ is the son of the right hand. How did Jesus Christ get into this preeminent, exalted position, son of the right hand? Jacob and Rachel, Rachel's giving birth to Benjamin and she's dying. And as she's dying, she names her son, Benoni, son of the suffering. And then Jacob says no, that's not going to be his name. His name is going to be Benjamin, Benjamin, son of my right hand. He didn't even know what was going on. It was as if God's spirit just took over. Genesis 35:18. And as her soul was departing, she was dying, she called his name, Benoni, the son of suffering, but his father called him Benjamin, son of the right hand. If you want to be the son of the right hand, you've got to be a son of suffering. Jesus Christ is the Benoni, he's the son of suffering, he is the suffering servant. He's the one that comes and he's the one that builds his kingdom through the greatest sacrifice that was ever made, the sacrifice of the son of God. When you understand the gospel, this is how everything was planned and how obedient Jesus was. The son of God was willing to do this. When you understand that he died on the cross for your sins, to restore you, when you understand that, the more you understand that, the more he gets your heart. And the more he gets your heart, the more restoration is going to be unleashed in your life. In Psalm 80, verse 18 to 19, "Then we shall not turn back from you. Give us life and we will call upon your name. Restore us, oh Lord, God of hosts, let your face shine that we may be saved. God, give us life because we don't have that life on the inside of us. Give us that life." And Jesus Christ is the life. He's the one that came to give the life and he came to give life by giving his own life as the shepherd for the sheep. In John 10:10 through 11, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Why sheep, dear Christian, should you follow Jesus Christ? Because Jesus Christ is the greatest shepherd. He's the only shepherd that dies for you. Every single other shepherd ultimately pretends to protect you from the wolves, and then ultimately that shepherd is the one that kills you. That's every other shepherd. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to give you what you're really looking for and kills you. That's every other shepherd. Our shepherd is the one that says, I'm going to give you life at cost to myself. I'm the shepherd. I'm also the lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world. And that's what Jesus did. He didn't just come to save us from our situations. That's kind of what the Psalmist is getting at. Restore our situation, restore the kingdom of Israel. No, no, no. Jesus says, it's a lot bigger than that. Matthew 1:20 through 21. The angel says to Joseph, "But as he considered these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins." If we want restoration in our lives, this is what we need. God, save me from my sins. Plural, there's many of them. God, save me from my sins. If we want restoration in the church, we want restoration in our city, if we want restoration in our nation and the world, God, save us from our sins. And the only way we can be saved from our sins is through Jesus Christ and Jesus restores God's people by saving them from their sins. The angel says to the shepherd in Luke 2:10 through 11, "Fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ, the Lord. The king has come, he is Lord and he is savior. In Jesus, God shines his face upon his people." Romans 5:8. "Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men." I'll close with two more things that are really important. John 15 and then Galatians 5. In the Old Testament, Israel is the vine and God is the vine dresser. By the time the New Testament comes, people of God are no longer the vine because we could not produce the fruit from within the fruit that God wanted. So then God sends Jesus Christ. In John 15, Jesus says that he is the vine and the emphasis of, he's the vine and we are to bear fruit through our connection with him, communion with him, relationship with him. John 15:1 through 17. "I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this, my father's glorified that you bear much fruit and so proof to be my disciples. And as the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you, no longer do I call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friend for all that I have heard from my father I've made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you so that you will love one another." Jesus now is the vine, we're the branches. Through our faith we're connected to him. Communion with him. The more time we spend with him, the more we worship and glorify him, walk with him, follow him, the more fruit is produced by him through the Holy Spirit in us. That's why I look at the Old Testament and I'm like, I feel so bad for them. I feel terrible for them because they didn't have the power of Jesus. They didn't have the Holy Spirit within as we do. As we do. That's why we're so blessed. And I'll end with Galatians 5, which gives us the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit in which we can discern. Are we walking in step with the spirit or are we walking according to the flesh? If we're walking according to the flesh, we produce wild fruit, which is sinful instead of producing the fruit that God wants from us. Galatians 5:16 through 25. "But I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Desires of the flesh are against the spirit. Desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you were led by the spirit, you are not under the law. The works of the flesh are evident. Sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enemies, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalry, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these." That's the heaven utopia that Satan promises us apart from God and it only turns into hell. But, he says, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Four steps to restoration. Humble yourself, pray boldly, turn from your wicked way, and seek God's face. I'll close with a benediction from Hebrews as our prayer. Let's pray. May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord, Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
God is King
July 11, 2021 • Psalm 47
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. If you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card in the worship guide, or the connection card in the back. You can grab it, fill it out, and if you leave it at the welcome center, we will give you a little gift in return and also get in touch with you over the course of the week. There's also a digital connection card in our app. If you didn't know, we have an app. And then also, either in Google Play you can download, or the Apple App Store, or there's also the connection card on the website. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word? Heavenly Father, we thank you for grace. We do not deserve it. You, the great God of the universe, you created us, and you rule and reign over us. And every single one of us rebelled against you. We are all insurrectionists, and you can meet out your judgment at any time you choose. And yet, you, the loving, merciful God of the world, you're long suffering and you're patient with us. You create a way for us to be redeemed and forgiven, a way for us to be given amnesty, and you sent your son, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and you, the great king of the world, you stooped down, and you became a slave. You became a servant. You took on human form, and you obeyed every single tiny degree of God's will. You obeyed the law. And then you went to the cross to bear the judgment, the wrath that we deserve for our law breaking. And you died, and you rose on the third day, and you ascended. You're sitting at the right hand of God the Father. And you're offering amnesty to each one of us. We just trust in your work on the cross. If we just ask for forgiveness and you offer us friendship with God, if we reject it, Lord, your word tells us that we will become a footstool for your feet as your enemies. I pray that every single person hearing this word today will accept the amnesty, accept the mercy and enter the kingdom of God. I pray, Holy Spirit, come and regenerate hearts. And for those of us who aren't Christians, I pray today, give us a grand vision of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, as the King of Kings, and the King has given us marching orders to go and share the gospel with everyone. And I pray that you'll continue to bless us as we do that and continue to bless this church. We pray this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We're going through a sermon series that we're calling Bomb Psalms. It's through the psalter. Bomb, because it's anointment. It's anointing for our souls, and we need it. Our parched souls need this ointment. We desperately need the anointing. We're also calling Bomb Psalms a word play because they're like bombs. They drop down onto our false categories of God to give us a bigger picture of who God is. For many of us, God is too small and we are too big, and God wants us, our vision of him to be expanded. Today, we're in Psalm 47. The title of the sermon is God is King. Many of you are in positions of leadership. Many of you have studied leadership and read many books on leadership. What makes for a great leader? Perhaps it's the ability to communicate a vision. Perhaps it's the ability to execute on that vision. Perhaps it's the ability to manage people. One of the greatest quotes I've ever read on leadership is by Steve Jobs who said this. He said, "Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do." It's why at your job, you have a manager, and that's why at your job, you get paid because you wouldn't do that for free. "Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could." And I love that quote. I love that. The greatest leader who has ever lived, and this isn't even debatable, is Jesus Christ. Today, over two billion people all over the world pay homage to Jesus, even nominally. They would say, "I'm a follower of Jesus Christ." Two thousand years after he lived, Jesus Christ is, hands down, the greatest leader to have ever lived. He's the greatest of all time. How did he do it? It took him 36 months to turn the world upside down. How did he do it? He took 12 guys, 12 regular bros working regular jobs, four fisherman, small business owners, a guy in finance, or finance, depending on where you are. What's the difference between finance and finance? About 300k a year. You had a zealot. You just had all kinds of people. He brings these guys together, just goes up to them and says, "Follow me," and they do it. And they don't just follow him for three years. He dies, he's resurrected, he ascends to heaven, they keep following him for the rest of their days proclaiming Jesus Christ, all of them martyred except for the Apostle John. He inspired them to follow him, to live for him, to witness of him, to die for him. Jesus, how did you do it? Did he just force them? "I'm the king of the universe. I force you to follow me." No, that's not how he did it. He served them. He led with service. He led with sacrifice. The King of Kings came to serve. And that's how he inspired them. Matthew 20:25-28, "But Jesus called them, the disciples, to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave, come on, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many.'" Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords came as a servant. He came as a slave. He served them. He saved them, and this is how he inspired them and gave them the greatest vision for their lives. Don't live for yourself. Don't waste your life. Live for the King of Kings. Serve the King of Kings. That's when you life really matters. At the root of the word inspire is the word spirit. And Jesus Christ, through his gospel, he saves us. And then when we believe, he inspires us by sending us the Holy Spirit. And that compels us, the Holy Spirit, He compels us to serve Jesus. He saves us, and now we become slaves, but we're willing slaves. We're also doulas. St. Paul would call himself, "I'm a doulas of Jesus Christ. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. I'm a servant," but he's a benevolent King who loves me. Therefore, I'll do everything that he calls me to do. And also, my king is God the Father. So my King adopts me into his family, and where God reigns, there is Shalom, and we submit to him when we do it willfully. When we choose to obey, that's when blessing comes into our life and blessing comes into the world. That's what we're talking about today. Psalm 47, it's an enthronement psalm. Would you look at this incredible text with me? "Clap your hands all people. Shout to God with loud songs of joy, for the Lord, the Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the world. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God! Sing praises! Sing praises to our king! Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points. First, God is King over everything. Second, therefore, sing to the king. And third, all creatures of our God and King first. God is king over everything. Whenever you study any text, you're going to look at the context. First the literary context, and then the historical context to really understand what's going on. The immediate literary context is that this psalm is wedged between Psalms 46 and 48, and the three together emphasize the mighty works of God on earth as a king. Psalm 46 concludes, "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 fortress." So God is king, and he is our fortress. And Psalm 47:7-8, our psalm, same theme, "For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne." Psalm 48 continues the same theme, verses one and two, "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the Great King." And then Psalm 48:10, "As your name, O God, so your praise reached to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. God is king over everything, everything and everyone." A lot of people hear that you're a Christian. "Oh, you're a Christian. Oh, that's tremendous. What do you do on Sunday? Oh, you're going to church. Oh, that's great. I do yoga on Sundays. You do Jesus, I do yoga. You do Jesus, I do golf. You do Jesus, I go to the beach." God is in the category of preference. That's what you prefer to do. And the psalms say, "No, no, no. It's not about preference. It's about reality. It's about truth. You like it or not, God is king over every single person. Every single person, you either reject him, rebel against him or you submit to him. Say, "Yes, God, you are my king." God is king over everything. That's what the text says, Psalm 47:2, "For the Lord, the most high, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth." Psalm 47:7, "For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm." Psalm 47:8, "God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne." To whom is this addressed? To Jewish people? To Christians? To Americans? No. Look at Psalm 47:1, "Clap your hands all people. Shout to God with loud songs of joy." God is king over every single person. Doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter who raised you. It doesn't matter why you're in the city. It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what your age is. It doesn't matter where you go to school, where you graduated from, how many degrees you have. It doesn't matter where you work. It doesn't matter how much money you make, how much money you have, what kind of house you live on, what kind of condo you live in, what kind of apartment you live in, what kind of closet you live in. It doesn't matter what you drive. Doesn't matter what car it is, what scooter it is, what bicycle it is. None of that matters. God is king over you, and it doesn't matter if you like it. God is your king. Did you get a vote? Nope, just like you didn't get a vote to be alive. God is your king. He's king over you. God is king over your money, over your relationships, over your mind, over your heart, over your hands, over your feet, over your eyeballs, over your ears. God is God over your gender, over your genitals, over your reproductive organs. God is God over your time, your desires, your dreams, your wishes, your hopes. God is king over everything. How does that make you feel? And whatever that feeling is inside, if it irks you, if you bristle against it, that's a good sign that you are not in good standing with your king. So you need to repent, you need to lay down your arms and accept the amnesty that he is offering you. And once you do accept that, you are to revel in that truth that God is your king. You should be pumped about it. All of the enthusiasm that you can muster, that's what should well up in your heart, all the joy, everything. God is my king and he forgave me. He allows me to be in his kingdom as a citizen forever. Praise God. Some of you take for granted that you live in the United States of America. I do not. I do not take my citizenship for granted because my family comes from the former Soviet Union. And we're here for a reason, because it was terrible back there. In the former Soviet Union, everyone thinks socialism is tremendous. We can have a conversation after about what real socialism looks like. Everybody got paid the same amount, 200 Rubles. Everybody got the same terrible education. Everybody wore the same clothes because that's the only clothes you could buy. Everyone had the same food. Everybody lived in a little tiny studio in the Khrushchyovka, the ugliest buildings ever built. They were all nine stories with no elevators. And if you want to take a shower, the whole family had to go down into the basement, into the communal shower. So people didn't shower that often. So that's why once in a while, once a month, the whole family goes into a sauna together, the banya. Oh, don't get me started about that. So I am here for a reason, and every day I thank God that I am in this wonderful country. I do not take my citizenship for granted. Jesus Christ offers us entrance into something even greater, the Kingdom of God. And that right there should pump us up that God is our King. So Psalm 47:5, "God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet." The historical context of this psalm, we talked about literary context. The historical context, this is an enthronement psalm. This is a people that were subjugated to a terrible king. That king is overthrown and now a great king has come, a king who rules with love, a king who rules with perfect justice and a king who loves his people. This king has come, and they are enthroning him with a coronation ceremony. And he comes up with a shout. The historical context of this psalm mostly likely is when David brings the ark of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David, to Jerusalem, to make it God's dwelling the place. The Ark of the Lord was the sign of God's presence, and here's the historical context, 2 Samuel 6:12-15. Verse 12, "And it was told King David, the Lord has blessed the House of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God," because of the Lord's presence. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David, with all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn. The ark of the Lord is finally where it belongs, in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, and where they bring the ark, that's when Solomon builds a temple, and there's the Holy of Holies. Bu for now, we see that God's presence is back. How does David feel about God's presence being back in Jerusalem? David is pumped. He's rejoicing. He's rejoicing so hard that he starts dancing. And how does he dance? He dances with all his might. What does that dancing look like? When you have to try to dance, that means you're terrible at it. He knows zero moves, just the typical white guy. I got joy, but I don't know how to express it, but I'm going to express it anyway. Linen ephod, I don't even know what that is. So he's dancing. He's worshiping God with everything that he's got. How do the people around him react? Well, scripture tells us that his wife wasn't really happy about that, his wife Michal. Look at 2 Samuel 6:16-23. "As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart." Uh-oh. "And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burn offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts and distributed among all the people the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat and a cake of raisins to each. Then all the people departed, each to his house, and David returned to bless his household, but Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, 'How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of the servants, female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself.' "And David said to Michal, 'It was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes, but by the female servants of whom you have spoken, I shall be held in honor." And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death." There's a lot going on in that text, especially in terms of a marriage, marital relationships. We're not going to deal with that now, but what's going on is, David danced to the Lord. And the scriptures say, it's very clear that God approves of David's emotion and disproves of Michal's concern for dignity. That's why it says this, she didn't have a child, that God didn't bless her with a child. That's the commentary in the text. She had a concern for dignity, a concern for decorum. "This isn't how God is worshiped. God isn't worshiped with dancing. God isn't worshiped with emotion." And for the same reason, for the same concern for dignity, that, for many of us, is the same reason why we worship the way we do, why we're so stoic in worship. And I'll just share from my own experience. I grew up in a Russian Baptist church in New England, in Rhode Island. If you know anything about Russians, they don't really show emotion. New Englanders, even less emotion. Russian Baptists in New England. You could never clap. That was a sin. That was a grave sin. You can't clap in church. You can't do it because some people might think you're clapping for them, and they might get proud. So no clapping. No emotion at all. My dad taught me, we are like oaks. You worship like an oak. You just stand like an oak tree. I remember I was at a Russian pastor's conference, and one of the pastors said, "Hey." He was asking a guy on stage in a question and answer. He was like, "Hey, I got people raising their hands in my church. What should I do?" And the guy from on stage, he said, "You should lower the ceiling fans." Just savage. Savage. I'm not saying you got to be dancing like David and worshiping. We're in Boston. I understand. Some of you have Catholic backgrounds or Orthodox backgrounds, Presbyterian, the Frozen Chosen. David worshiped with all his might, and many of us, whatever might we have, our mights vary. Some of us have a lot of might when it comes to worshiping. Some of us have a little less might. I'm saying, whatever might you got, worship with all of it. If you are frozen chosen, and you worship like an oak tree, just give me a little momentum, a little movement, just a little bit. There's got to be emotion. There's got to be emotion when you worship. This is the command, that you sing, that you sing. And this is point two, therefore, you sing to God. "Clap your hands all people. Shout to God with loud songs of joy." Shout, sing. Why do we sing? Why do we sing? We sing when we're happy. We sing when we're in love. We sing in Fenway Park. I remember, when I got married, my wife Tanya and I, 15 years now we've been married. And for our 15th anniversary, we went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic because that's where we went for our honeymoon. And I remember at our honeymoon, my wife looking at me. She said, "I've never heard you sing. Do you sing?" I was like, "Oh, yeah do I sing!" And back then, the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? came out, and they had the Soggy Bottom Boys. And I had that soundtrack. I had the CD of it. I used to listen to them in my car. I love that soundtrack! And I'm not going to sing it now, but I started singing so loud. And I was singing everything I got. Then all of a sudden, I hear knocking on the wall like boom, boom, boom because it was 7AM, and you don't sing at 7AM in a resort when people are asleep. When do we sing? We sing when we're happy. We sing when we're in love. We sing in adoration, and that's what's going on. We are to sing. We are to worship God. The same phrase about clapping your hands and loud shouts, same language is used twice when kings are coronated in Israel. 2 Kings 11:12, Joash is anointed King of Judah. "Then he brought out the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. They proclaimed him king and anointed him. They clapped their hands and said, 'Long live the King.'" When Solomon was anointed king of Israel, 1 Kings 1:39-40, there's "Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, 'Long live Solomon,' and all the people went up after him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy so that the earth was split by their noise." The earth was split by their noise. Fenway Park, I live in Coolidge Corner. Fenway Park, when there's a home run, and the whole stadium erupts, it's like 38,000 people, I can hear the noise. This is what's going on. Split by their noise. It's a party. It's an inauguration. We have inaugurations of the president, but half the people are happy, half the people are despondent. Imagine an election where everybody votes for this king. This is what's going on. Everybody is happy, and they shout, "Long live the king!" They're not just wishing the king a long life. They're saying for as long as the king lives, as long as I live, I am a subject. You are my king. You're not just the king. You are my king. You are my sovereign ruler. Psalm 47:5, "God has gone up with a shout, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." People are rejoicing. They're shouting. They're clapping. When do we clap? We clap in a sign of appreciation or congratulations or gladness. That's not just what's going on. Yeah, they're appreciating the king, but historical context, in ancient times, when a king comes in and he conquers a people, the people who have been conquered, they come to the throne with their swords. They lay down their swords, they open up their hands. My hands are empty, and they start clapping together that you're now our king. I am not at war with you anymore. I'm not bearing my sword against you. My sword now is yours, and I am at war with you, side by side. I'm at war for you. The king of Syria called himself a great king, the most high, the same title because he ruled over many nations. God doesn't just rule over many nations. He rules of all of the nations. And since the psalm was written and many kings have come and gone, the Assyrian kingdom, gone, Babylonian kingdom, gone, the old Persian kingdom, gone, Greek empire, gone, Roman empire. In the year AD 250, they were celebrating the Roman empire was around for 1,000 years and as they were celebrating, it was falling apart. Their military plots, dictatorship, barbarian invasion, disease, plagues, economic stagnation, civil unrest. More modern times, got the British empire, gone. Hitler and the Nazis proclaimed a thousand year Reich, gone. The Soviet Union, they were an empire for seven years, gone. And what's true of political power is also true of economic or financial power. It's here and then it's gone. In 1923, nine of the most powerful tycoons, financial tycoons that were alive back then, they got together for a meeting. If you count all of their money in 1923, they had more money, more resources than the U.S. Treasury, just vast empires. Charles Schwab was the president of the world's largest independent steel company. Samuel Insull, president of the world's largest utility company. Howard Hobson, president of the largest gas firm. Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange. Albert Fall, member of the president's cabinet. Leon Fraser, president of the bank of international settlements. Jesse Livermore, the greatest speculator of the stock market. And Ivan Kruger, head of the company that had a worldwide monopoly on the production of matches. Well, what happened in the 1920s? The great crash happened. And then what happened to these guys? 25 years later, Charles Schwab dies in bankruptcy, lived on borrowed money for the last five years of his life. Samuel Insull died virtually broke after spending time as a fugitive from justice. Howard Hobson went insane. Arthur Cutten went bankrupt and died overseas broke. Richard Whitney spent time in maximum security prison. Albert Fall was released from prison so he could die at home. Leon Fraser, Jesse Livermore and Ivan Kruger all died by suicide. The most powerful people on the face of the earth at that time. And then they're dead. And then you stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. And at that moment, you stand before him as someone who had bent a knee to him during life in humility, repented of sin, or you stand before him as one to be judged in humiliation because you rejected him sovereign reign. And that's going to be the case for every single one of us. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go, but the kingdom of God lasts forever. How do we know that God is the Most High? Verses three and four recount what happened in Israel's history when they entered the Promised Land. This is verses three and four, "He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves." God gave them victory, gave Israel victory, gave them the Promised Land, and he provided for them. He gave them a heritage. And why did he do all that? Because he loves them. This is the emphasis here. The greatest king that exists, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he loves us. He's a king that knows me, and he knows my name. I'm not just a slave. He doesn't just force me into subjugation. He compels my heart to love him by first loving me. You ever think about how wild it is that the God of the universe even allows people to rebel against him? Adam and Eve rebelled against him. God could have whacked them on the spot. If you think about it, right now you can go out and sin. You can choose to sin. God's wrath doesn't pour out on your immediately. It's long suffering. He wants you to choose to obey. He wants you to choose to love him, and that's how he rules us. He rules over our hearts. He loves us. He's a king who loves us, and God provides and he protects as a great king. In the wilderness, he provided for Israel on the way to the Promised Land. He provided them with manna and quail and water. And he brings them to the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. And he said he put the nations under our feet. This is literal. Joshua comes in and fights against the five kings of the Amorites. He gets them, and he lays the kings down. And the leaders of the people of Israel come in, and they literally put their feet on the necks of the enemies of the people of God. He did this. God is a God who gave them victory. Because God is king, therefore sing. That's the point. Psalm 47:5-7, "God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God! Sing praises! Sing praises to our king! Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm." Seven imperatives in this psalm. First one is shout. The second one is clap, and then five times, so that you get the point, we are to sing praises to our king. We're to sing. Christians are a singing people. We're commanded to sing to our God. And we see the same thing in the New Testament. This is why we do worship, by the way, if you're new to Christianity. This is why we sing at Mosaic. It's an important part and it's a value of ours to sing and to sing loud and to sing well, hopefully, but sing loud. And I've been in ministry long enough in the city that I know a lot of us are just head-oriented. We're all about information. This happens all the time. I preach the first sermon, and people didn't do this because I'm watching, and they know I'm watching. All the time, people time their entrance into the sanctuary for the start of the sermon. And then they leave as soon as the sermon is over. This happens all the time. My response, if you do that, as I see, and so does Jesus, and then my other response is it's not just about knowledge. It's not just about information because theology, true theology, if you really understand theology, it has to lead to the doxology where you can't but worship this great God. That's why we ... Ephesians 5:17-21, "Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine for that's debauchery, but be filled with the spirit." I don't know if you've ever noticed this, then he makes a connection with singing. The same way that people get drunk and they sing, the thing is bar songs, or when I played rugby, there was rugby drinking songs. Everyone gets wasted after the game and everyone's singing. You got this group of early 20s young men singing random Irish rugby songs. Don't do that, but there's a connection between be filled with the spirit and do what? "Addressing one another's psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing and making melodies to the Lord with you heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." Colossians 3:15-17, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. Be thankful for let the word of Christ dwell in your richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom and singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." The more the word of Christ dwells in your richly, the more you want to express that by worshiping Jesus Christ. We gather to worship God because he's worthy and because we ought to. Why? Because Jesus won. Winning feels good. It feels so good, even if it's something stupid like softball. By the way, Mosaic has a softball team. So if you're good, let us know. Years, I haven't done it. And then two weeks ago, my brother is like, "Hey, we're going to forfeit the game. You got to go." So I went. Then I went yesterday, too. Let me tell you something. Softball doesn't matter at all. Is Brian here? Where's Brian at? Oh, there he is. Brian gets up to the plate and hits the ball. He hit a dinger. I've never seen the softball fly this far. Flew. And he's round... How do you think he's rounding the bases? Stoically? No! No. He is pumped. Rounds it, and then all of us, everybody on the team, everybody's cheering. Everybody's shouting. Everyone's fits bumping. It's awesome. A lot of elation. A lot. Hey, you know what's even better than winning at softball and hitting a dinger? How about overcoming Satan, sin and death? Yeah, Jesus did that. So that's why we worship Jesus. He's the greatest victor that has ever been. He's a conqueror. He conquered our greatest enemy, and he makes us more then conquerors. So that's why we should sing. That's why we sing. The prospect of victory brings a sense of pure elation. Jesus Christ is the goat. He's the goat. Tom Brady, I love that guy. I love that guy. He betrayed us. He's not the goat. No, he's still the goat. He's still the goat. But Jesus, this is why I raise my hands when I worship, Jesus is just out there scoring touch downs day in and day out. Jesus is the most consistent touch down scorer. And he takes the ball, and he spikes it in the face of Satan on a daily basis. That's why we raise our hands when we worship. Christians should be the most joyful of all people, the most joyful, the most optimistic, the most hopeful, the most full of life, the most energetic, the most positive, the most enthusiastic about being alive. My youngest daughter is four. She turned four two weeks ago. I have never seen a kid more excited about her birthday. She woke up, huge smile on her face. I said, Milana, how do you feel?" If you've never met Milana, we speak Russian in our home. So her first language is Russian. So she speaks English with a Russian accent. I love it. It's how we programmed her. I said, "Milana, how do you feel?" She said, her whole face, she's like, "I so excited!" A little psychotic. That's a little overboard, but she was so excited all day. We went to the Franklin Zoo. That's what she wanted to do. We just had a tremendous day. And I said, "What do you want to eat?" She said, "I want sushi." I'm raising some bougee girls. I got to stop doing that. So we had sushi. She had a tremendous day. She's just excited about being alive. How much more so should we be excited about being alive, being excited about life? And not just life, but new life that Jesus Christ has forgiven us that we're in the kingdom of God. Question; what do I do... Oh, first of all, a warning and then a question. Warning; beware of replacing submission to the king with emotion. And this is why a lot of churches are wary of emotion in worship. Be wary of separating bifurcating between submitting to the king and being emotional about the king. I remember I was part of a Christian fellowship in college, and I was from a Russian background, Christian background. I didn't really express emotion. And I saw this one kid, I was just blown away by how much emotion he expresses when we gather for our meetings. And then I found out, this guy is sleeping with a different girl every single weekend. So his emotion was just fake. It's just hypocrisy. You're just acting. You're just theater. Make sure it's submission that leads to emotion. That's the connection here. Question, objection; what if I don't feel lie singing? What if I don't feel like showing emotion or clapping or shouting? What if my heart is sad or my emotions are dull? Well, obviously, there's different kinds of psalms. There's psalms or lament and sorrow, but still, there has to be an underlying rejoicing in the Lord that he's sovereign even over the situation. Jesus Christ said blessed are those who are happy or those who mourn. So it's even from a position of joy. And then second of all, this wonderful biblical wisdom, we don't worship God just because we feel like it. We worship God because God commands it and God deserves it, and we ought to. We don't sing because you feel like it. We sing because you can and you should. That's like someone who's married, husband who's married and says, "I don't love my wife." Well, you know what scripture says? Too bad. Love her. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Too bad. And you know what? Feelings follow actions. So we are to worship. And as we worship, even if we didn't feel like it, God warms up our hearts. Scripture never tells us to base anything on our feelings as to wait until we feel like it. The commandment rejoice, that's an imperative, we are to do it. We are to obey. And third, who is to sing? Point three, all creatures of our guarded king. Everybody, every single person alive. Psalm 47:8 and 9, God reigns over whom? Over the nations. "God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of God of Abraham for the shields of he earth belong to God. He is highly exalted." Shields here, he's talking about power. He's talking about influence. And what he's saying is everything that anyone has belongs to God, and he says, "All the peoples worship," whom, "the God of Abraham. The prince of the peoples gathers as the people of the God of Abraham." And here, we see the grand vision that God promised Abraham. God promises and made a covenant with Abraham. We just did a sermon series over the life of Abraham. God promised, "In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. This is my covenant with you. You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations." This is the glorious vision that people from every single tribe, race, nation, tongue, people from everywhere are to worship the same God, the one and only God, and to fulfill this mission and this vision, Jesus Christ comes on a mission into the world to be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the King of Kings comes, stoops down, takes on human form, lives a perfect life, a perfect life of love toward God and toward people, and then he goes and is crucified on a cross bearing the wrath of God that we deserve for our insurrection against God. He dies, and he's raised on the third day as proof that the sacrifice was accepted. And now, we can be granted amnesty. We just need to ask for it. When John the Baptizer came, his message was, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." And when Jesus came after John the Baptizer, he started preaching in Mark 1:14-15, "Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying," and these are the very words, first words of Christ written in the Gospel of Mark, "'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.'" He says, "The king is here. The kingdom is here. Therefore," what do we do? You ask for forgiveness. God, forgive me for trying to be king over my own life. God, forgive me. God, I repent. And Jesus Christ forgives. Sometimes you look at all the evil and the injustice and the corruption in the world, and you wonder, Jesus, why aren't you back yet? And we should long. We should long for Jesus to come back. And he will come back, but he's waiting. He's long suffering. He's patient for each one of us to repent for each person alive to repent, but he will come back. And with every day, it's closer and closer to the second coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the Lord himself with descend from Heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air so. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words." Christ is coming back. Revelation 11:15-18, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He shall reign forever and ever.' And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, 'We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations rage, but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the destroyers of the earth." Right now, Jesus is offering you forgiveness. He's offering you his friendship. If you reject it and you die, you will no longer be forgiven or a friend of God. You will become a footstool for his feet. And we get that from Psalm 110, "The Lord says to my Lord," God the Father is speaking to God the Son, "'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.' For those who rebel against God," yeah, Jesus will put his feet on your neck and say, "You're mine." Now, you're not a child of God. Now you are convicted and condemned and damned. Hebrews 10:12-13, "And when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God waiting for that time 'til his enemies shall be made a footstool for his feet." So don't scoff at the idea of mercy. Don't be cynical. That's what the world wants to do. Accept the mercy, lay down your arms and submit to the king. Philippians 2:5-11, "Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. Though, he wasn't a form of God, did not count in quality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, doulas, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore, God is highly exalted, him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father." So either we proclaim Jesus is Lord now in humility bending knee to him, or we will confess that he's Lord as he's judging us, and we're being judged in humiliation. Now, a word to Christians. Once you become a Christian, you're in the kingdom of God. You're a child of God. You're a servant of God. You're a slave of God. What's our primary goal? What are our marching orders? Why are we here? What's the mission? We see the mission in Acts 1:6-11. This is Jesus right before he ascended, the resurrected Christ. "So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'" They thought the kingdom was a political kingdom. "'Jesus, is the kingdom coming now?' He said to them, 'It's not for you to know the times of the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and all Samaria and to the end of the earth.' "So when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud too him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white robes and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you go into heaven.'" The disciples said, "Jesus, is this the time for the kingdom?" He says, "Nope." "When's the time for the kingdom?" "I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, and you go and you be my witnesses everywhere. And my name, my word needs to be proclaimed in all of the nations. And after that, then I will come." After his resurrection, Jesus claims that he has all of the authority. Matthew 28 ends the same way. "Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.'" That's our job, dear Christians. Our job is to be witness, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is king, and he's offering you forgiveness and amnesty. Accept it. Be reconciled with your maker. That's why this church exists. By the way, we are in the most strategic places to be proclaiming the gospel because we got people from all nations coming here. This is why we do what we do. This is why we gather. We worship God, we testify to them, and we welcome people into the kingdom of God, repent and believe. How should it make us feel that we're saved? It should fill our hearts with joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. How should it make us feel when someone becomes a Christian? Same. When you see another person become a Christian, when a soul, an eternal soul is saved forever, that should pump us up a million times more than any kind of victory. When someone gets up here right before a baptism and shares their testimony, all of us should be just absolutely pumped. Why? Because heaven is pumped. The angels are pumped. Look at Luke 15:7, "Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons that need no repentance." So everything we do in our life, wherever you go, whatever you do, wherever you live, we should orient our whole life around this, around the gospel ministry, around kingdom work because that's ultimately what matters more than anything else. I'll conclude with this. 95 AD, according to Irenaeus, who was a friend of Polycarp, was a friend of the Apostle John, the Apostle John is the only Apostle who wasn't martyred for the faith, but he was exiled to the island of Patmos. The island of Patmos was 10 miles long, six miles wide. It was a volcanic island. There's nothing there except for rock. So he had a lot of time on his hands. And as he had a lot of time on his hands, God gave him a vision, a vision of Jesus Christ coming back, reigning and ruling. And he wrote that down as inspired by the Holy Spirit in the book of Revelation. It's a picture of Jesus sitting on his throne, casting down his enemies, casting Satan into a flaming fire of sulfur and gathering people into new Jerusalem in all its beauty and splendor, and the people that God had there and the angels and the archangels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and they're all... What are they doing? What's everyone doing? What's everyone doing? They're singing. They're worshiping. That's what they're doing. So right now, friends, we're going to sing. I want to see, can we have just a little more gusto? I won't judge you if you don't. Just sing with all your might. That's the point. That's all I'm saying. When you see this big picture of who Jesus is, that he is your king, that he is worthy of your service and your sacrifice in your singing, you can't but worship. I'll close with Revelation 7:9-10, "And after this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb!'" Let's pray. God, you're a great king, and we acknowledge that, and we accept willingly your rule and reign in our lives. Lord, if there's any area in our life, any room that we've closed off, put a private sign, a do not enter sign, I pray, Lord, today break down those doors, continue to reign and rule in every single aspect of our lives. We love your reign. We love your rule. We love you, King Jesus, and we worship you, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Where's Your Courage?
July 4, 2021 • Shane Sikkema • Psalm 29
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning, and welcome again to Mosaic, good to see you this morning. If you're new, I just want to introduce myself, my name is Shane. I am one of the pastors here at Mosaic, and we are so glad to have you with us. We mentioned this earlier. But we would love to connect with you, if you would like to connect with us, the best way to start that off is just to fill that little connection card out in your worship guide. You can either drop that in the little white offering box at the back of the room on your way out this morning. Or if you turn that in at the Welcome Center, we have a little gift there that we'd love to give to you, to thank you for being with us today. Last week, we finished up our sermon series, Jesus in Genesis season two, we looked at the life of Abraham and Sarah all the way up to the birth of Isaac, and Lord willing, we're going to come back to that series, probably do a couple more seasons, to finish out the book of Genesis someday. But today we're switching gears, we're starting up season two of another popular sermon series, Balm Psalms, that is one that we went through together last summer. The Psalms are something that we as Christians should be really visiting on a daily basis. That's how important the Psalms are. The Psalms remind us that God created emotion, and language and music and poetry and song, that his word is not just for our heads and our hands, it's for our hearts as well. When we have a true encounter with God, we should feel something. We should feel this kind of pressure building up inside us, begging to be released and to do something, to say something, to express God's worth his glory. One of the most satisfying ways to do that is through song, through singing to him and worship the God you are awesome, and you alone are worthy to be praised. How many of you, you can't wait to come to church on Sunday, because you just love to sing to the Lord? Like one of my hopes for us as a church, and one of the things I hope we grow in during the series is that we would become a church that loves to sing and loves to sing loud, on key, off key, it doesn't matter. Unless you're on the praise team, then it matters a lot. But for the rest of us, just sing because God is worthy of our praise, and it is right for us to praise him. So with all that being said, it should come as no surprise that right in the middle of our Bibles, we have this huge collection of poetry and songs that we call the Psalms. Music is powerful. We know that music, it speaks and it connects with our minds in a way that moves our hearts. It stirs in our hearts, and actually moves our hands to action. Today is Independence Day. I was thinking earlier this week of like, think of the courage that it would have taken for those small American colonies to say they were going to stand up to the strongest, most powerful empire on earth. A three pence tea tax. Like, "Are you kidding us?" "No, you can find your tea in the harbor and we will see you on the battlefield." I've been living here for eight years. That's still the only word I can say with a Boston accent. But the point is, you don't mess with people's caffeinated beverages. That's the first point. But secondly, if that wasn't enough, music actually played a pretty crucial role in the Revolutionary War. The colonies they composed entire song books that were meant to inspire courage and people to stand up to the British crown, and one of the most popular songs of this era, it was a song called Chester, it was actually written not too far from here. William Billings wrote it for the 1770 song book called The New-England Psalm-Singer, that's an interesting title. But listen to these lyrics. This is what he wrote. "The tyrants shake their iron rod and slavery clank her galling chains, we fear them not, we trust in God. New England's God forever reigns. The foe comes on with hearty stride, our troops advanced with martial noise, their veterans flee before our youth and generals yield to beardless boys." That's like some savage right there and you hear that and you're like, "Yep, sign me up. Give me a musket, I'm ready to fight." Billings just ended King George whole career right there. Jump ahead to the American Civil War. Again, one of the most famous songs from the union during that time period is one we're probably a little bit more familiar with the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Most of us know the first verse, Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He's trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He's loose the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword, his truth is marching on." It's a picture of God's judgment coming down on the injustices that were happening. One of my favorite lines, though, actually comes in one of the later verses, and it goes like this. "In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, is truth is marching on." You hear that and your heart is like, "Yeah, that is a cause worth fighting for. That is a cause even worth dying for." And historically, more people died for that cause than in any other war in U.S. history. America's bloodiest, deadliest war, it was fought because young men in the Union they caught a courageous vision that if Jesus had died to make them holy, then they had a duty to fight and to even die to make men free, and hundreds of 1000s of them did just that. To put it in perspective, more men died at the Battle of Gettysburg alone than in the entire Revolutionary War combined. I bring that up because today we are looking at Psalm 29. And Psalm 29 is not a calm, relaxing, meditative, like turn it on and do some yoga type song. Psalm 29 is 150 beats per minute, put your headphones on, the pre workouts kicking in, you're going to the gym, you're going to set some PRS today. That's what we're listening to when we read Psalm 29. It should get us pumped up, it should get us fired up and inspired, it should fill us with courage to do something, to fight the good fight of faith and to fight the spiritual war that is around us. I like to imagine like, perhaps this is one of the songs that the military choirs of Israel sung as they marched into battle, or perhaps this is one of the songs that Paul and Silas sung in their prison cell after they've been beaten and arrested for preaching the gospel, even better, here's how I want to set this up, just entertain me for a moment. I like to imagine King David stepping up to the microphone like an ancient rap battle. And he's facing off against the prophets of Baal. He's about to just melt their faces, dropping truth about his God, Yahweh. That's how I'm picturing it. I'm just going to stand up here and try to be the best hype man that I can, if that makes any sense. So, we're going to look at Psalm 29. As is a Psalm of David, if you have your Bibles you can open up or you can follow along on the screen as well. Psalm 29 beginning in verse one. "Ascribe to the Lord O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord the glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders, the Lord over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare and in his temple all cry, "Glory." The Lord sits enthroned over the flood, the Lord sits enthroned as King forever. May the Lord give strength to his people, and may the Lord bless his people with peace." This is the reading of God's holy word for us this morning, would you please join me in prayer over today's sermon. God you are awesome in power, you are sovereign over your creation. Your wisdom and understanding are pure, your judgment is perfect, and in contrast, we are weak. We're often ignorant and foolish, and worse than that, we are rebels against your authority Lord, and we're deserving of your judgment. God I pray today that your grace would teach our hearts to fear and that by your grace, our fears would be relieved in our Lord Jesus Christ, that you are enthroned above all, and you've made a way to show us mercy, to bless your people with peace and strength, and we thank you for this. We thank you for your word. We pray that you'd write these truths of your word upon our hearts today, we pray this in Jesus Christ name. Amen. Three points in today's sermon, point number one, we're going to talking about idol worship. Point number two, idol worship. See what I did there. Point number three, we're talking about ideal worship. Starting with idol worship. At first glance, Psalm 29 looks like a pretty straightforward Psalm. It's actually one of the more controversial Psalm in all of scripture. Controversial because a while back, some critical biblical scholars actually accused Psalm 29 of being plagiarized. They saw that some of the language used in the Psalm especially verses three and nine, three through nine, was similar. It's kind of reminiscent of some of the same language that the Canaanites would use when they would worship their god Baal. And throughout most of Israel's history, they were surrounded by the land of Canaan, and they were surrounded by the religion and the culture and the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites. And they were constantly faced with this temptation to be conformed to that culture, and to practice their idolatry, and you see them struggling with that over and over in the Old Testament. The Canaanites, they believed in several gods, but two of their more prominent gods were Yam and Baal. Yam was the god of the sea, the sea represented the chaos of the untamed, uncivilized world, and Yam had an adversary named Hadad, who's also called Baal. Baal was the god of storms and rain, and he represented order and fertility and prosperity. So, when the storms would form over the Mediterranean Sea, and they would move inland over the land of Canaan, the Canaanites believed that when these storms came that it was literally Baal riding on the clouds, the thunder was the sound of his voice. So, scholars would look at these beliefs, and then they would look at Psalm 29. They see, like verse three, that the voice of the Lord is over the waters and the God of glory thunders, and they would make a connection, that kind of sound similar to Ball, and so they would conclude, obviously, David just took a Canaanite song, and he swapped the names out with Yahweh. The problem with this is that there's no actual concrete evidence that this was the case, these scholars, they're just purely speculating on this. So what seems more likely, is that David is writing this Psalm, but he's also intentionally alluding to the beliefs of the Canaanites that they had about their god, Baal in order to put them in the context of the Psalm about Yahweh and do two things. On the one hand, he is exposing Baal as a fraud, and he is expressing the superiority of Yahweh, the God of Israel as the one true God. In other words, David says he's writing music, and he's doing apologetics at the same time. So, let's look at how he does this. We'll walk through these verses together. David starts off in verse one. He says, "Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, and worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." He uses this phrase over and over, ascribe to the Lord, recognize, acknowledge and attribute to Yahweh, what is true of his being that he alone possesses power and glory. But look at who David is addressing this to, it's not merely to human beings, he's addressing this to the heavenly beings. Who are these heavenly beings? Angels, but also Satan, demons and the false gods of Canaan, all must ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, because Yahweh is sovereign, not only over the earth, but over the heavenly realms as well. Now you contrast this to Baal, who even in the Canaanite beliefs, was not sovereign, he wasn't holy, he wasn't righteous, his power was limited, and much like us as human beings, he was a god who was locked in this endless struggle warring against the other gods. As we move through these verses, we're going to see David over and over showing the supremacy of the God of Israel. But we're also going to notice that what is being said here of Yahweh in the Old Testament, is also true of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. So when you look at Jesus in the New Testament, the heavenly beings, the angels worship, and even the demons tremble at the sound of his voice, they were subject to his command. Likewise, when Christ returns, Philippians, chapter two tells us that when Christ returns, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and Paul there is quoting from the prophet Isaiah, directly that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Yahweh. He is the God of glory. So, every tongue will confess this. So David sets the stage that the God of Israel is supreme, and then he follows this introduction, and he has a perfect number of seven declarations and they all begin with this phrase, the voice of the Lord. So let's look at these seven declarations together. Number one, it comes from verse three, says, the voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders the Lord over many waters. The gods of Canaan were finite, they were fickle, they were imperfect, oftentimes petty, and they're always fighting and at war against one another. Now in contrast, what we see is that Yahweh is perfect, he has no rival, he has no equal, he is unmatched in power, and in glory. In the ancient world, the sea, it represented chaos, it represented all of those things that fell outside of the control of human beings and of human civilization. It was something that we as people, as human beings struggled against, but was something that even Baal himself had to struggle against. In other words, everything that is outside of our control, and outside of even the heavenly beings control is not in any way outside of the control of Yahweh. That he is sovereign over the many waters, he is providentially commanding the forces of nature, both to bring about his blessing and his judgment. So now when we turn to the New Testament, this is why in the book of revelations, we see a picture of Jesus sitting on a throne in heaven, and all around his throne, we're told he's surrounded by a sea. But unlike a sea of chaos, we're told that it's a sea of glass, that the waves are stilled, they're calmed under his rule and authority. Jesus gave his disciples a glimpse of this authority when he walked on the water, when he calmed the sea and his disciples they marveled that even the wind and the waves obeyed the voice of Jesus. That's the first declaration. Declaration two and three comes from verse four, says the voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty, power and majesty. Majesty has to do with ... The majestic, it's talking about a King in power, it depicts a King who is able to accomplish his will, more specifically the language used in Psalm 29. It's describing a King who is undefeatable, unstoppable in battle. The Canaanites, they believe that Baal was the God who brought rain and fertility to their land. But in order for him to do this, he first had to go to battle against another god named Mot, who is the god of death. And if Baal lost that battle, then the Canaanites would face a season of drought. So what we see here is that unlike Baal, Yahweh is a King who does not lose his battles, that nothing in on heaven or on earth can thwart his purposes, and Jesus proved this to us, that he is the one who went out and faced death himself, he died as our majestic King with a crown of thorns on his head, but then he rose in victory, to show that death could not hold him, that the grave could not defeat him. In his parting words, on the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished, the battle is now won, victory is secure." Nothing can change that. Declaration four, we see in verse five and six. Says, "The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon, he makes Lebanon to skip like a calf and Sirion like a young wild ox." What we're seeing here, there's a geographic progression unfolding in the text, and the picture that it's giving us is that there's this massive, violent storm that has formed over the Mediterranean, and now it is moving inland over Lebanonites, moving inland over the land of Canaan, and it's showing us that God is not only sovereign over the chaos at sea, he's also sovereign over the order of human civilization. He's sovereign over the kingdoms of man, even the kingdom of Canaan. The Canaanites, they took great pride in the fact that they built their homes and they built temples to Baal up in the mountains, and they built them out of these great cedars of Lebanon, and David points to these temples. He points to the cedars. He says the very voice of the Lord shatters them to pieces. It even shakes the mountain, the foundation that their source of pride was built on, and Jesus did the same thing. Jesus humbled everybody he came in contact with. He shattered the pride of the rebellious and the self righteous alike and showed them that if they were building on any foundation other than him they were building on sand. This is what Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell and the floods came and the wind blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand, the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it. The last three declarations come in verses seven, eight and nine. Verse seven says the voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire, the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness, the voice shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare and in his temple, all cry, "Glory." And now we see that the storm has moved even further inland. And as it is, it's consuming like a fire. It's stripping the forest bare, and it's showing us a stern warning of Yahweh's judgment, that he is a righteous judge, and that he will ultimately expose what is unseen, and bring down judgment on what is unholy. Verse nine says, he makes the deer give birth. When I first read that I think that's like a nice comforting picture in the midst of all of this other language and I started looking into this phrase, and I learned that what it's actually describing is describing this phenomenon which would happen occasionally during incredibly violent storms, where pregnant animals would be so frightened that they would actually give birth prematurely. It's showing us God is going to expose everything, and he's going to bring perfect justice to creation. So if I were to summarize all this and put this into my own words, this is how I would say, that the voice of the Lord is sovereign over both heaven and earth. He has the power to perfectly accomplish his will. He will shatter our idols and pride, has authority to judge his creation and the ability to reveal what is hidden so that nothing will escape his justice. That's the big idea. Almost, nothing will escape his justice except for what? Except for who? Except for those that we see in verse nine, who have found refuge in his temple. The climax in verse nine it shows us that outside of God's temple, yeah, the voice of the Lord is causing creation to tremble in fear at his righteous judgment. But inside the temple, there's peace. Inside the temple there's safety, that the people of God have been sheltered by his mercy and they cry out, "Glory." Psalm 29, it shows us that God is just and he will not allow sin off the hook. But he is also merciful. He has provided a way for sinners to be saved. For Israel, this was the temple, the sacrificial system. For us, Jesus is our sacrifice. Jesus is our temple. Jesus is the refuge that shelters us from the storm of God's wrath. We see this again, when David concludes in verses 10 and 11. He tells us this, that the Lord sits in enthroned over the flood. We're going to talk about what that means. The Lord sits enthroned as King forever, may the Lord give strength to his people, may the Lord bless his people with peace. That word for flood there, there's only one other place in all of scripture where that word is used. And it's used to refer to the flood of Noah. That is what David is drawing to mind. Because, again, the flood was a story of God's judgment, but it was also a story of God's salvation. That outside of the ark, God's wrath, it rained down in this cleansing judgment. Inside the ark, there was peace, that Noah and his family were preserved. Now, when we turn to the New Testament, the New Testament tells us that the story of the flood that David is alluding to and bringing to mind here, it is a story of what was, but it's also a story of what is and it's a story of what is to come. This is what I mean, that as it was in the days of Noah, we're told it will be when Christ returns. I get this from Matthew chapter 24. Jesus teaching his disciples about his return, this is what he says. Matthew 24, verse 36, "But concerning that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. And two men will be in the field and one will be taken and one left, two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left, therefore stay awake, for you don't know what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what part of the night that thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect and when he does, what we see is that those who are in Christ, just as those who were in the ark, those who are in Christ will be saved, that those who are not will be swept away, taken away for judgment. The flood is a picture of what is to come. But then, New Testament tells us it's also a picture of what is true right now, and this comes from First Peter chapter three, beginning in verse 18. Peter writes this, he says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey when God's patients waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons were brought safely through water, baptism, which corresponds to this now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into the heavens and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him." Now, first of all, this is one of the most confusing passages in all of scripture, and we're going to have to save a lot of that for like another sermon on another day. But the big idea here is clear that just as Jesus is our refuge, our temple, Jesus is the true ark, and baptism is a picture of this salvation that he's referring to. He says, "It's not that we're saved by the physical act of baptism, it's not the removal of dirt from the body, but an appeal to God for good conscience." And this is why Jesus commands that every Christian should be baptized, the baptism is an outward action, it's a picture that symbolizes and shows forth that proclaims an inward reality that we have appealed to God's mercy, and we have been saved by grace through faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That Jesus is our refuge, Jesus is our salvation. And so what this means is that in Christ, you were saved. The moment that you repented of your sin and put your faith in Christ, you were saved. We call that justification, but also in Christ, you are being saved by the power of the Holy Spirit, you have been saved from the penalty of sin, you are being saved from the power of sin in your life. We call this sanctification. And in Christ, you will be saved. Eventually, from the very presence of sin all together and for all of attorney we call this glorification, that we will be raised, resurrected with Christ, to inherit a new heaven and new earth where sin, sorrow, death and decay will be no more. And what the New Testament tells us to do is in light of this, this is why we must run to Christ for refuse, for salvation, without delay right now. Peter brings this up again in his second letter, Second Peter chapter three, verse nine. And he tells us this, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises, some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all of these things are dust to be dissolved." What sort of people are you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God? Because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolve and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. When we rightly understand God's awesome power and his holiness and when we personally experience God's saving love and mercy, the only rational response is for us to cast down our idols, and to turn to the one true God. We must repent of our idol worship, but that in of itself is not enough. Point two is we must also repent of our idol worship, our vain worship, our, at times, hypocritical worship. Psalm 29, verses one and two say, "Ascribe to the Lord O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord, glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." And this last phrase here in verse two, it's not referring to God's holiness, although God is holy, it's talking about, we need to worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. It's about how we worship God, it's the idea that we need to worship the right God, and we need to worship him in the right way. One of the very first stories in scripture was the story of two brothers, Cain and Abel, who were on their way to worship the Lord. In Genesis 4 says, "Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain, a worker of the ground." In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and the fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door. His desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." Pastor Jan preached a really great sermon on this in our first Jesus in Genesis season one series, I think it was maybe the fourth sermon in that series, you should go check that out. But the big ideas that Cain came to God, and he came to give him what he thought he needed to do, what was required of him in order to appease God, in order to keep God off his back. Abel, we're told, gave his gift in faith, he gave his first and he gave his best because he trusted God, he loved God, he had a genuine desire to worship God. And a lot of people, they come to God and they want to come to God like Cain, they want to come and they want to ask, "Okay, what's the bare minimum that I need to do to stay on your good side? Or how far away can I go and tiptoe out into sin before I get on your bad side?" And really, that's the same mindset the Canaanites brought to their god, Baal. Baal didn't love them. He didn't care for them. There was not a relationship there. He was just this force that they needed to appease for things to go well with them, and when we try to worship God like that, it shows that we really don't know him. We've probably heard this illustration before. When you watch a great movie, when you eat in amazing restaurant, like you can't help but to sing its praises. You want to tell your friends about it, you want to tell everybody what a great experience you had, you want to open up the app and smash the five star review, why would it be any differently with God, when you truly experience God, worship, it comes naturally. You can't but help it giving God the glory that he is due becomes our delight when we know who he truly is. And so the question for us is that how we come to God and worship? Is that how we are approaching God? If not, the lesson ... actually, the warning here is that you might not be worshipping idols, but your worship might be idol. Your Worship might be in vain. It might be hypocritical. Matthew 15, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah to rebuke the Pharisees. And he said, "You hypocrites." Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, "These people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." In vain do they worship me in idleness, teaching his doctrine, the commandments of man. And Jesus takes a very hard stance against the Pharisees, and this kind of worship, you got to wonder like, "Why is he so serious about this?" He's serious, because he knows where this leads, it leads to sin. And ultimately, it leads to death. Like Cain, when our heart is not properly in the right place, giving glory to God in worship, sin is right there, crouching at the door, waiting for that opportunity to pounce. Jesus in the book of Revelation, he rebuked the church of Laodicea, for this kind of idol, hypocritical, half hearted worship. In verse 15, chapter three, he says, "I know your works, you're neither cold nor hot. With that you are either cold or hot, so because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." It's not just a problem for individuals. He's talking to an entire church here, and we see what a slippery and dangerous slope this is. It becomes clear just a few verses later in verse 20, where Jesus continues, and he says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone would hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in and eat with him and he, with me." But what's going on here? That lukewarm worship and affection has now resulted in a church that has effectively excommunicated Jesus. He's locked outside the door. They won't let him in. Do you think that this happens today? Like what would it look like for a church to lock Jesus out? It looks like a church that sneers at his lordship, a church that scoffs at the authority of his word. A church that defiantly rejects his teaching on morality and repentance and sin in laughs makes a mockery of his cross, and this is where idol worship leads. Second Timothy three, he warned his disciple Timothy that these days would come. Said, "Understand this Timothy. Then in the last days, there will come times of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God." Look at verse five, "Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power." I pray that we would never be a church that settles for merely having the appearance of godliness. I pray that we would be a church that is content with nothing less than Jesus Christ. We must not give in to the worship of false idols, we must also not give into the idleness of false worship. Point three is, we must instead pursue ideal worship. David says, "Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." What is ideal worship look like? Jesus answers this in John chapter four. He's having a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, and in their conversation, she brings up the topic of, "How are we to worship God and Samaritans do it this way, and the Jews do it that way?" He gives her an answer, and this is what he says. Verse 23, says, "Listen, the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." Three things that I want to cover here real quick at the end, that what we see like ideal worshipers worship in spirit, ideal worshipers worship in truth, and ideal worshipers worship incarnate, and I'll explain what I mean by that. But first and foremost, he says, "You got to worship in spirit." So what does it mean to worship in spirit? Just one chapter earlier, Jesus was having a conversation about the spirit with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a religious teacher and he told him, "Nicodemus, if you want to see the kingdom of God, you need to be born again." And Nicodemus is baffled by this and says, "Jesus, how can I be born a second time? I don't understand." Jesus replies, and this is what he tells him in John three, verse six through eight, he says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marble that I said to you, you must be born again, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit." I read that I'm like, I don't think that would have been a very satisfying answer for Nicodemus, it kind of sounds like Jesus is just trolling him right here. But what he wants him to understand is listen, just as the wind comes and goes as it pleases, the Spirit gives life to whomever he wills, according to God's good purpose, we can't control that any more than we can control the wind. So worshiping in Spirit, starts by recognizing God's sovereignty over everything, even our salvation. Now, at the same time, Jesus is trying to compel a response in Nicodemus, he's not expecting him to be completely passive. He wants them to do something, and so, there's a mystery, there's a tension here that we need to embrace. That we cannot cause ourselves to be born again any more than we caused our own physical birth. Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit sovereignly regenerates hearts, and he does this through the proclamation of the gospel. But when we hear the gospel, we also have a responsibility to respond. That by our own free choice, we must respond in repentance. I had a professor in seminary that compared it to the sails on a ship. Sails actually can't move the ship, they have no power in and of themselves to do that. They can't cause the wind to blow. But when the wind does blow, they need to be up in proper position in order to be filled, in order for that ship to move, and it's not a perfect illustration. But in order for us to worship in Spirit, God must act on our behalf, and we must respond in repentance and faith, approach him with humility. It's about coming to the Lord, not on the basis of who we are, what we've done, or what we could do for him, but on the basis of what he has done for us through Jesus Christ. David put it like this in Psalm 51. He says, "Oh, Lord, open my lips, I need you to open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise, for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it, you will not be pleased with a burnt offering, the sacrifices of God or a broken Spirit, a broken and contrite heart, Oh, God, you will not despise." When you do come with that dependence, that humility, we need to worship in Spirit, we also need to worship in truth. Isaiah 66, "Thus says the Lord. The Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool, what is the house that you build for me? What is the place of my rest? All these things my hand is made, and so these things came to be." Declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble, and contrite and spirit and trembles at my word, a true worship requires that we would tremble at the word of the Lord. It requires a submission and an obedience to God's word. Jesus put it like this in John 10:27. He says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." My sheep hear my voice, and they don't just go off and do as they will. They hear my voice, I know them, and they follow Me. The Canaanites came up with all kinds of perverse ways to worship their gods, they practice temple prostitution, even child sacrifice at time. And in contrast, God's people need to worship in God's way, and they need to worship in Godly ways, according to his truth in scripture. Just one practical example. There's a lot of songs, modern worship songs out there today, that we're probably never going to sing here at Mosaic. Because there's a lot of songs out there that are rich in production quality, and sadly bankrupt when it comes to biblical truth. The words that we sing about God, the words that we sing to God, those words matter. But this needs to go well beyond just the words that we sing. This has to do with the life that we live, when we hear Jesus voice, we need to submit to it, we need to follow him. What that means more practically, is that when we're reading this book, or reading scripture, and we come across something that offends us, it's not because the scripture is out of line, it's either we haven't understood it, or else we are out of line. And we need to bring our lives into alignment with God's word. And we do that, because we trust that Jesus is our shepherd, that his word is not only always right, but his word is always beautiful and good. First John five, one through three says that this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. Jesus told his disciples in John 14 that if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So, ideal worshipers worship in spirit, ideal worshipers worship in truth and finally, ideal worshipers worship incarnate. Romans 12, one says, "I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God." Paul says, "In light of everything that I've just written to you about God's, his justice and his amazing mercy and grace. Because of that, therefore, you have to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds." True worship is not something that we can compartmentalize to the songs that we sing on a Sunday morning, it needs to be incarnate. What I mean is, it needs to take on flesh, it needs to permeate our daily lives in a transformative way. This is going to take strength, this is going to take courage. I think this is why David prays for this at the end of Psalm 29. He says, "May the Lord give strength to his people, and may the Lord bless his people with peace, to truly live our lives, to give our lives as living sacrifices to God, this is going to take a supernatural courage to not be conformed to the patterns of this world." Just to illustrate this, there's a photograph that's gone viral, you've probably seen it making the rounds online, a photo from Nazi Germany. You see in the photo, a crowd of people, and at first glance, you see everyone hailing, Hitler doing the Nazi salute. But then you look a little bit closer around, if you can see it there, but there's a guy in the middle and he's just standing there like, "No, I'm not on board with this." You can look into this guy, he actually, from what I understand, was arrested because of his resistance, his rebellion to some of the Nazi laws. His rebellion against them costed him dearly. He faced a lot of hardship in his life because he refused to be conformed to the pattern of that age. I bring this up because this is a good picture for us to contemplate. That takes guts, that takes courage. And more often than not, to give God the glory that he deserves, is going to require the strength and the courage to defiantly refuse to give that glory to anyone, or to anything else. Be it Baal, Satan, sin, government, culture, even our own selves, no matter the circumstances, no matter the social pressures, no matter the consequences we face or the convenience that compromise might bring, true worship, courageous worship says no to the idols, it says no to the idleness and it does so in order to say yes to the Lord. This is the kind of worship that got Abel killed. This is the kind of worship that got Daniel thrown to the lions. It got Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown to the fiery furnace, that got the apostles martyred for their faith, and this is the kind of uncompromising worship that got Jesus Christ nailed to a cross. See, Jesus is the true ultimate ideal picture of what it looks like to worship the Lord, to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself. He is our strength, he is our peace, he is the reason that we don't need to fear living our lives, giving our lives as living sacrifices, because we know he was willing to give his life as a dying sacrifice for us, he faced Satan, sin and death, he defeated them through his death and resurrection, the battle has already been won. So when we're tired, when we're weary, when we are discouraged and afraid, Jesus is our Battle Hymn, Jesus is what gives us the courage to say, "Wherever you call me to go, I will go, whatever you tell me to do, I will do, whatever you tell me to say, I will say, because you alone are God, you alone are mighty to save, and you alone are worthy of all praise." We're going to transition right now into time of communion, and communion is a time where we remember Christ and we remember his sacrifice that made this possible. As you came in, hopefully you were able to grab one of these, if not, feel free to just go in the back and grab one or better just raise your hand, one of the ushers will bring one to you. And you can go ahead and open these up. Inside, the bread, it represents Jesus body that was broken. The cup represents his blood that was poured out for our forgiveness, so that we could be saved from the storm of God's righteous judgment toward our sin. If you are here today, and you're not a Christian, we'd ask you to refrain from this part of the service, it's not going to do anything for you, there's nothing magical about this. And if you're a Christian who is living in unrepentant sin, we would ask you to refrain as well. Scripture warns us not to partake of communion in an idol, in an unrepentant manner. But better yet, repent right now, put your faith in Jesus Christ, and if you've done that today, we would welcome you to take communion, and we're going to take communion together right now. So Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. He said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, he took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Amen. Would you please stand, we're going to spend some time in prayer, and we're going to spend some time worshiping and singing to the Lord together. God, you are awesome, you are holy, you are perfect in every way. God, we marvel at your power, we tremble before the cross of your Son, Jesus Christ. In his cross, we see the righteous requirements of your perfect justice unfold display. We also see your tender heart of mercy, your tremendous love for us. We thank you for Jesus, we thank you for the forgiveness that we have in his name, we thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit, we thank you that we have peace through his victory over Satan, sin and death. You alone are good, you alone are God, you alone are worthy of all praise. Jesus, you are the name that is above every name, and we know that the day will come, when every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that you are Lord to the glory of God the Father, and Lord, we thank you that even now we can praise you, even now we can give you the glory due your name, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can stand before your throne together singing your praise and know that you are here, that you hear us, that you delight in our worship. And so God we come as your children, purchased through the bloody of your Son, Jesus Christ, to thank you and to worship you together. It's in his name we pray. Amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 8
October 25, 2020 • Psalm 84
Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. Good morning, welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, one of the pastors here at Mosaic along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy, if you're new or if you're visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that officially through the connection guide and the worship guide or the connection card in the app or online. If you filled that out, we'll be sure to get in touch with you over the course of the week. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's holy word. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross bearing the penalty, the wrath of God for our sin, we now have access into your presence. We don't need a temple and we don't need a high priest, we don't need sacrifices, Lord, because on the cross, as you bore the ultimate sacrifice, you said it is finished and you now give us access into the Holy of Holies which is your presence, we thank you for that Lord. Lord, we thank of that in your presence we have access to the only things that satisfy us. We seek to find satisfaction in knowledge and we know that every truth in this world falls so short of knowing you and being known by you. Lord, we long for unconditional love, we long for a love that lasts, love that is endless and we can't find it anywhere but in you. You loved us so much that you gave us your only begotten son. Lord, we seek justice. We long for justice in this world. We long for this world to be what it ought to be, how it should be and yet it falls short and still that desires deep inside and we know that only you can satisfy that desire under the reign of Christ. Lord, we long for beauty. We long to see that which ravishes the soul and everything in this world falls so short, but it is found in you. And Lord, every single one of us, we long for a home and eternal home, a place of peace and comfort and security and you alone can offer us that in your presence. And we thank you that all of that is accessible to us when we come to you by grace, through faith and repentance and humility and we do that now and we ask Lord, satisfy our souls. And we pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Today we're concluding our sermon series through the first part of the book of Psalms that we've been calling Balm Psalms in terms of this is ointment from God, this is an anointing from God for our souls. When we come to the Lord, open up the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Scriptures are an extension of God himself and this is how God reveals his presence to us, his person to us as, his power to us. The title of the sermon today, as we look at Psalm 84, the title is, what do you want? What do you long for? What do you seek? There's this curious passage in the gospel of John in chapter one where John, the baptizer who has apostles, he has his own disciples. He sees Jesus Christ, his cousin, he sees Jesus Christ. And he said, "This is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." The next day, his disciples, one of them being Andrew, another disciple of John, they see Jesus Christ and they follow him. They leave John the Baptizer, they start following Jesus, Jesus turns around and he asks a question. He says, "What are you seeking?" They're caught off guard by the question, they don't really know how to respond. They don't even know what they're really seeking, but they are seeking it. So they respond by saying, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" And in response to them says, "Come and you will see." One of them, Andrew, then the next day goes to his brother, Peter, and says, "We have found the Messiah." What he's saying is, we did not know what we're seeking but we're seeking something that only Jesus Christ could offer. They found the anointed one and they found the anointing for their souls. So question before us is, what are you seeking? What do you want now? What do you want in the future? What do you want in life? What do you need to say? What do you need to achieve? What do you need to get to say when you get it that, "I'm home, I've arrived." It's the question buried under every single one of the questions in our hearts, we are what we want, our desires, they drive us, our wants, our longings, everything deep inside of a heart. All of these things together are at the core of our identity. Our heart is the wellspring. The desires of the heart is the wellspring that leads to our actions that leads to the behavior. That's why Proverbs 4:23 says, above all us, guard your heart because from it flow all the wellsprings of life, everything you do flows from your heart. So we're taught in scripture, pay attention to what you love, not just what you know. Knowing God isn't just a matter of knowing theological treatise, is knowing theological facts and truths. You got to pay attention to what you love, curate your heart, be intentional about it. And growing in the faith is so much more than just knowing facts, it's yes, knowing something and yes, we are to be renewed by the transformation of our mind. The truth need to penetrate our minds, but then we then need to fall in love with the truth. We need to align our longings, align our cravings, our desires with God's. And that's not an excuse, contentment can't be an excuse for complacency. A lot of people here talk about being satisfied in the Lord and a lot of people think, "Okay, now I don't have to do anything in my life. I'm satisfied in the Lord with where I am." No, once you're satisfied in the Lord, he equips, he strengthens you in order to fulfill the purpose that he has for you. Jesus Christ was the most ambitious person who has ever lived. He literally showed up and said, "I am going to save the world." And he did what he did because he found satisfaction in God. It was fuel for him to accomplish his work. As Holy scripture says that the word of God is something that divides our spirit and our soul. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of our heart. A lot of people and this is what our culture teaches is, you are what you think, but we're so much more than that. We're not just what we think, we are what we desire. And you can just look at your life, how many times did you do things that you know you shouldn't have done, didn't need to do and thinking it was just physical appetites? You know you should not eat whatever this is in front of you but you're going to, this isn't good for me, but I'm going to eat it. This thing I don't need to buy but I'm going to buy, why? Because I want it. Our desires are more than anything, control our actions. And this is what we're talking about today is, is taking our faith from our mind and let it penetrate and saturate our hearts so that it then begins to transform our lives. That's what Psalm 84 is about, it's an expression, it's a poem of someone longing for that which ultimately satisfies more than anything else, which is the presence of God. Would you look at Psalm 84 with me? Psalm 84:1, how lovely is your dwelling place Oh, Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God, even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young at your altars Oh, Lord of hosts. My King and my God blessed are those who dwell in your house ever singing your praise. Blessed are those whose strength is in you and whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength, each one appears before God in Zion. Oh Lord, God of hosts hear my prayer. Give ear O God of Jacob, behold our shield, Oh God. Look on the face of your anointed for a day in your courts is better than 1,000 elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness for the Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Oh, Lord of hosts blessed is the one who trusts in you. This is the reading of God's Holy and Falbo authoritative word, may write these eternal upon our hearts, three points to frame up our time long for God to draw near to God and finally enjoy God, first long for God. If this is your first time reading Psalm 84, if you're new to Christianity, or if you think of Christianity just as some world religion, you perhaps find verses one and two very puzzling. The emotion here, the descriptive language of the affections that this person feels, this worshiper of God feels for God, how lovely is your dwelling place? What a tremendous word, lovely. When's the last time you used the word lovely? How lovely is your dwelling place, Oh God. He's focusing on the beauty of God's dwelling place and by dwelling place he's talking about in his mind as an old testament believer as a believer in the old covenant, he's thinking about Jerusalem and in Jerusalem, it's the temple. And within the temple, is the Holy of Holies, that's where the presence of God resided. And it was marked by a mysterious light to show the presence of God. It was God's Shekhinah glory and only the high priest, only once a year, only after undergoing rigorous rituals could enter into the Holy of Holies. Everyone else desired to be there, but they understood, we can't be in the presence of God and the Holy of Holies without dying because of our sin. He longs to be there in the presence of God. Verse two says, my soul longs, yes, it faints for the courts of the Lord. When was the last time you had a desire like this, I long to be there? And it's talking about a particular place. If you are not from the area and you've desired to go visit family during the pandemic, you know this feeling of homesickness. In particular if you're an international student or from outside the United States you know this or if you're an immigrant you know this feeling, this desire of homesickness. My family immigrated here when I was five, but for some reason every winter I still have a desire to go back to Estonia. There's something about going back and smelling the air and feeling the presence of your homeland, that's what he's talking about. You miss this place. He longs for it. And it seems so strange for us to talk about God's presence like this, this longing or homesickness for the presence of God. How often do we long for God like this? And I want to show you that we do long. We have these yearnings deep inside of our hearts and it's yearning and a longing for things that only God can give you. Even if you're not a believer or if you're just interested in Christianity or you're new to the faith, I want to show you that deep inside your heart you will long for things that only God can give you. And what do I mean? I mean, things that separate us from the animal realm. Animals are satisfied if they have everything necessary for survival; food, shelter, security. You can have the best food, you can have shelter, you can have security and you will not be ultimately satisfied, why? Because there's something in our human consciousness that desires, something that transcends the physical. We have at least five transcendental desires, deep inside of our hearts. We have a desire for perfect knowledge. We have a desire for perfect love. We have a desire for perfect justice. We have a desire for perfect beauty and the desire for a perfect home. Perfect knowledge is the first one, perfect knowledge or truth. We want to know and we want to know what is true. We long for this, even as little kids. Little kids, what's their favorite question? Why, why is the sky blue? My daughter's had this kick, my daughter Elizabeth. She had this kick where she wanted to know the world record of everything like, "Dad, what is the heaviest stone in the whole world? What is the deepest point in the ocean? What is the fastest animal in the whole animal..." Why, why, why, I don't know why. Thank God for Wikipedia, and I don't even know if that's true. But have a desire for what is true, we long for desire for what is true. Even in a post-truth culture that we live in, there's fact-checkers. We hear something, is this true? Then there's a fact-checker, and then you find out that a fact-checker is actually sponsored by a certain political side. And then you find out that that's not true and what is true? I don't know. But we long for Truth. What is Truth? Capital T, Truth. Partially, this is why we long for knowledge. We love to know. We love to learn. This is why there's such a boom in podcasts. This is why Amazon is such a gift from the Lord, in terms of books. Do you want a book? Yes. And half a second, you buy that book and then it comes in and you add it to the stack of the other 30 books by your bed that you have not read. You read the introduction you're like, "I'm bored, next book." We want more, podcasts and books and lectures online and we long for scintillating conversations with people. We're impressed with knowers. You're about to finish one degree and you're thinking about... I'm finishing my doctorate in preaching from Westminster at the Abbey, I just finished my last class. And as I'm finishing my last paper, I'm like, "Ooh, now I can start another degree." We want more knowledge. We want to know more. I was having a conversation with someone recently and they were like, "Imagine not having any bills. What would you do if you had zero bills?" And the person's like, "I would go get another degree." Maybe that's just Boston. We want to know. We want knowledge. We long for truth. We also long for perfect love and not just to be loved, we long to be perfectly loved, unconditionally loved. We long to be fully known and fully loved, and everybody is looking for this. And what we think of in terms of perfect love, unconditional love, is love from another person. But we understand no matter how great a person is they're not perfect therefore, they will not love you perfectly; you're also not perfect. So then if you're looking to each other for that ultimate love, that perfect love, you'll only meet dashed expectations. We can't satisfy each other's perfect or unconditional love. I was trying to think through who is the closest person in my life that loves like this. I think it's kids. I think it's little kids who they don't know just how bad you are just yet, they get to know that the older they get. My mom and dad, they're not perfect either. But my three-year-old, she doesn't know yet. She shows my wife her love, by going up to her and licking her in the face. "Why are you licking her?" "Because I love her." Why? Because for her and mom and ice cream are in the same level, unconditional, I'm going to love you. And every single one we long for, from our stories to our movies, to the art, to the music, we're in transferred love stories. How did people meet? How did they end up? Where we long to end up happily ever after. We also long for perfect justice and by justice, I don't just mean what's fair. Yes, it begins there. Little kids, you don't have to teach them this is fair, this is not fair, it's written on their heart they know and we like them when we see that something's not fair, we're outraged. If that thing does not get fixed, then all of a sudden it turns into cynicism. But we don't just want justice, this isn't fair it needs to be punished. The opposite side of justice or the flip side, the positive side of it, is goodness. We want goodness. We want good to happen in the world, to people, to us. We want the world to be as it ought to be, as it should be. And we may disagree on what that looks like, but this idea of oughtness or shouldness it's written on each one of our hearts. We expect more justice or goodness than our finite world can deliver. We also long for a perfect beauty. We see glimpses of beauty and nature in magnificent red sunsets, majestic snowcap mountains. We see this glimpse of beauty in music or we see in art. Even sports; the perfect throw, the perfect catch, the perfect hit, the perfect championship. There's art, is this art? The perfect baked good, there's art there. It does not satisfy. We need another vantage point or we need that same thing again or a different or more of it and then after a while, we get bored with imperfection. Think of your favorite song, you hear the song for the first time and it's a hit and you listen to it over and over and over and over. After a while, it loses that power to move you. Nothing changed with the song, but you just got bored with that glimpse of beauty. And then we long for a perfect home or a perfect place of harmony or peace. It's a yearning to feel comfortable in this world, secure in this world. Think of how many channels, how many resources are invested into this and to shows about houses, about restoring houses, renovating houses, real estate shows. Why do we have this idea of a forever home? And that's the phrase that's used; this is where I want to live forever, this is where we are going to find our ultimate home. Five inner desires, and any solely, earthly satisfaction of these five, they always leave us frustrated. No matter how good this physical representation of this transcendental desire, it still leaves us wanting because we want the perfect version because we know that the perfect version exists. How do we know that? Well, it's written on our hearts. We seek these things; perfect knowledge, perfect love, perfect justice, perfect beauty, perfect home and it's things that only God can give us in himself. Deep inside we know that this is true, it's written on our hearts. The New Testament Version of this Psalms is found in 1st Corinthians 2:6-10, which have all of these components and you can study this text. I'll just read it here. Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. That's the knowledge that we're looking for. The ultimate knowledge, the ultimate truth, the ultimate wisdom, is we impart the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory, for our beauty. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Crucifixion here, this is God's justice poured out on God's son for our sin. But, as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, this is a beauty that we long for. What God has prepared for those who love him, that's a love that we long for. These things God has revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God and the depths of God is the home that we're looking for. We are created to find our home, our knowledge, our beauty, all of these transcendence things in God. St. Augustine of Hippo wrote 1600 years ago, he said, "Thou hast made us." God, you've made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find the rest in you. So what do you long for? I want to submit to you that underneath every single one of those longings is a desire for God, for things that only God can give you. And this is where sin gets in the way. Sin clouds our vision. Sin comes to us, and this is Satan, this is the world, this is flesh. They all tempt us to find satisfaction in things, and experiences, and people, in anything other than God, even in good things. But if you seek the ultimate from a good thing, it turns into idolatrous thing and an evil thing, a deprave thing. A good thing, when you're seeking the ultimate innate, can turn into a deprave thing. Look at Jeremiah 2:12-13, be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Evil one, refusing to find true refreshment for the hunger and thirst of our souls in God, instead seeking that satisfaction for the thirst of our souls in things, other things, cisterns. And that he says, they're broken, they can't hold this water. Forsaking God's fountain and seeking to make our own, whatever this is. The first evil, turning away from God. The second evil, seeking that which only God can give us in whatever it is that you long for. And it starts with the desires of the heart. It all starts there; gluttony, lust, envy, enmity, sloth. It's all in anger. It's all in there. And then we seek to find satisfaction for those things, in things. And what it does, it only makes us thirsty, it only makes us hungry and never satisfied. So this is what the psalmist is saying and he says, "I know that nothing in this world satisfies therefore I want to be in a place that does satisfy, which is the presence of God." And he's picturing in his mind Solomon's temple, but it's not about the temple it's about what the temple represents. And what it represents is, God's covenantal love and his knowledge. He says, "Israel, I've chosen you. I've decided to put my presence within you. I've decided to reveal myself; my will, my law, this is how you find satisfaction in me. That's why Psalm 84:1, he begins with this longing; How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts. And it's a longing to be in the presence of God. Verse two, my soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy. My heart and flesh, he's not just saying my mouth, he's not saying my throat, not my vocal cords, my flesh. He longs for God with almost a physical desire. He talks about this soul; my soul, the innermost being and starts there. But it's like a hunger, it's like an ache that works itself almost physically. And the language that he uses to describe the intensity, the desire, this language that's used elsewhere to talk about romantic relationship. A lover is almost kept from his beloved, that's the kind of language that he uses. And he even expresses jealousy for birds, that's verse three; Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my Lord. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. He's jealous of these birds who are nesting in the rafters of the temple, their ways unimpeded into the temple courts. They soar above everything that is in the way of this psalmist entering the presence of God, and they build these nests on top of the columns. He's yearning to be in the presence of God like this, why? Because the psalmist, most likely he didn't live in Jerusalem. Most likely he came to Jerusalem once, twice, three times a year at most for the festivals. They would come and they would experience the presence of God, and then they would leave. And as he experienced God he said, "I wish I could just stay here. I wish I could be in the presence of God uninhibited, unimpeded." When I was in my early 20s and I was studying God's word and I loved God's word and loved God's truth and before God called me into ministry I was like, "Man, it must be so cool to be a pastor. Pastors get to be in the presence of God all the time, that's their job. They just study God's word." Of course, the pastor standing up here is going to tell me how great the presence of God is because that's what he does full time. That's all of his professional waking hours, that's all he does. And then I became a pastor. And one of the things I've realized after becoming a pastor is, becoming a pastor like most people that become pastors we call them the ministry, they do it because they love God's word. You love feasting on God's word, but feasting on God's word is a different skillset than preparing a feast of God's word. It's like someone who's like, "I love food. I want to devote my whole life to food. What can I do? I'm going to go into culinary school. I'm going to become a chef." You loved eating, but you spend all your time cooking. That's what's going on. So as I'm sharing with you how great God's word is, how great the presence of God is, I'm also preaching the same thing to myself because you can prepare a tremendous meal without even having a taste of it yourself. So it's to say, you need to develop in yourself this appetite, this longing, this desire for the presence of God. My wife asked me last night, she said, "What are you preaching?" I said, "Developing a longing for God." And she said, "What are your practical tips for that?" I don't have any because you know what, I preach God's word. Are there any practical tips in here? Obviously, I can give you practical tips. You can't develop a longing with practical tips. That's like saying, "I need practical tips for developing a desire to see beauty everywhere." You can't. It's either you have it or you don't and if you don't, how do you get it? You ask God. "God, I want this longing. I want this hunger. I want this thirst." And it's a blessing from God and of ourselves, we do not have this active desire. And here the psalmist, you see it in him. And it's one of these things that's better caught, not taught. Yeah, I can give you these little practical points and I'll give you a few after, but it's more like this person longs for God and they found God and they're satisfied. And God, I want what this person has. And he says, "The maker of heaven earth invites us into this relationship, into this presence of longing anticipation and delight." The second point is to draw near to God. So you long for the presence of God, but then you need to actively draw near to God. You have this desire, if it's given to you by God, if not you ask for it. Once it is given to you, then you need to practically draw near to God. And here I'll tell you this, this is really important and most likely if you've been in the faith for a while, you know this. Whenever there's a longing for God, almost immediately there's something that shows up that keeps you from acting on that longing. And there's different reasons for spiritual warfare or the flesh or the world, there's a resistance. There's almost like a force field that's all of a sudden enclosed over, so he longs for the presence of God. And then verse five, he starts talking about needing strength. Look at verse five, "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion." He says, it's a blessing when your strength is in the Lord. Why is he starting to talk about strength? Because you need it, that's the assumption here. All of a sudden, he's like, "Yeah, longing for God. This is great." And then he's like, "Yeah, but to be drawn into the presence of God, you need a strength that is not your own. You need strength from God." Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in God, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Blessedness of worship belongs to those who desire and then act upon it, despite the resistance from the enemy. Look at James 4:7-8; submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Draw near to God that sounds great, but he says in order to do that you need to actively resist evil out there, Satan, and resist evil within. And the evil within that he's talking about is, this double-mindedness. And the double-mindedness, every single one of us who pursues the Lord you know exactly what this is. The spirit decrees what God commands, but the flesh does not. I want to do what God tells me to do, but I don't do the things I want to do, instead I do the things I don't want to do, that's Romans 7, there's this fight on the inside. And that's why he says, "You need strength and blessed are those whose hearts are the highways to Zion." Why is he talking about highways in the heart? Well, he's talking about a longing to draw near to God that's willing to overcome the patterns that we've been used to. And by patterns that we're used to what I mean is; when you are used to a life of sin, sin becomes almost second nature. Sin becomes like, you don't even have to think about it, your mind just goes there and then your actions follow where your heart and your mind... You ever been really tired at work, back free COVID when you had to drive to work? And you were really tired at the end of work and then you get in your car and then you drive home, and then you pull in and you're like, "I do not remember the last half hour. I have no idea how I got home." It's like your muscle memory took over. You were thinking about a million other things, but you got home safely and you didn't kill anybody. You're like, "Whoa, how did I do that?" Something like that happens in our heart. Our heart, our desires, once our heart wants a thing, and it begins to follow that thing over and over and over there's a rhythm in life and you begin to act without even thinking about that action. It's just natural. It's a pathway. And the more you do that in your heart, the broader it gets. Now, it becomes a highway in the heart. And he says, "Blessed are those whose heart are the highways to Zion to God's presence." Well, this is one of the things, in terms of spiritual disciplines and one of the things that we need to learn to do is, we need to re-navigate the paths of our heart. And we need God's word and God's people in our life and you need to train yourself up in righteousness where it's like, "Yeah, this path feels natural, but I know where it leads. Instead, I want to follow God's pathway, the pathway into God's presence." It doesn't feel as natural and it takes a lot more work, but the more you do it the more natural it becomes. And then when you're by yourself, and you have nothing to think about, think about Sunday afternoon, there's naps and then there's Sunday afternoon naps. I don't know why Sunday afternoon they're just more blessed especially after church; church, Los Amigos Burrito, nap. Right before you go into your nap, analyze what you're thinking about. Analyze where your mind naturally gravitates when you don't have to think about anything. And he says that, if you want to experience the presence of God on an ongoing daily basis, train up your heart, your thoughts, your desires, to travel on the highway to God. Do we have highways in our heart to the presence of God? And this includes spiritual disciplines on a daily basis; wake up, a cup of coffee, scripture, prayer. And includes fasting, silence, solitude, community with other believers, corporate worship. Corporate worship is so crucial to our health as believers, our maturity, but also our health. For 11 years, I've been in one of those transient cities in the world trying to convince people, "God is great. Find your satisfaction in God." And then people become believers, and it's like, "Corporate worship is crucial, it's important. Joining a church membership, you are all one body of believers. Covenant membership, crucial. You have the Holy Spirit as a believer and the more believers together, the more Holy Spirit we have together. So yes, corporate worship is important and this is how we show the world the glory and the majesty of the presence of God by gathering together. Corporate worship, corporate worship, corporate worship, it's important," then COVID hits. And then we didn't have church for like three, four months and then we're back to church and wearing masks and social distancing. And then we've got people in the church and there's people in the culture, on two sides of the spectrum. The first side of the spectrum right here is, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I can't do anything. I'm going to die. Yeah, I'll go to the grocery store and I'll hang out with my friends." This right here, part of the sermon, this is for between you and the Lord, what's the Lord telling you? Obviously, there's people who need to stay home immunocompromised. But there's also people who are like, "Yeah, I'm not going to go to church. I'm going to take a flight across the country." And I've been on a flight recently, it was on American Airlines. And here's what happens on American Airlines, I had a person sitting right next to me. And also on American Airlines they're like, "Mask, mask, mask, mask, mask. Okay, it's coffee time. Okay. Everyone, take your mask off." And then everyone's pretending like, "Oh, okay. COVID knows during coffee break do not..." What I'm saying is, just be consistent. If you're going to stay home, just be absolutely consistent and so don't hang out at the beach with friends, et cetera. I just don't use COVID as an excuse. Pastor Shannon, Pastor Andy and I for the longest time, we didn't want to do live streaming because we understand the very second you're doing a live stream when a person is just a little lazy on a Sunday, they're staying home and they're like, "I'm still worshiping with my..." No, there's something physically important that is, body beliefs. That's one side. The other side, we've got Christians who are like, "Do you understand what this is? This is government overreach. This is going to lead to totalitarianism. It starts with a mask. It's only a mask, and then all of a sudden they're going to send you to the Gulags, that's number one. And then going to church with a mask and then being told where to sit? No, that's impinging on my freedom. Liberty or death, that's my only two options." So we got people over here and people over here and all I just want to say is, corporate worship is important and that's it. There's risks in everything. There's risk in driving. There's risk in taking the tea. There's risk in going out to eat; even more so now with outdoor dining, you're going to get a chill and get sick. Psalm 84:6; as they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs, the early rain also covers it with pools. He says, "We need the presence of God, see God, long for God." And then after we do, you begin to draw near to God. And as you do, there's temptation, there's a force field, there's an enemy. And then also, there's these physical challenges to drawing near to the presence of God. And here he brings in the Valley of Baca, which is the valley of weeping. I'm pursuing God, I want God's presence, but then as I long for God's presence, I see my own brokenness. I see my own sin, I see this in the people around us and represents this place of affliction. And part of the affliction's the enemy pulling us back from God or times when we just feel dry inside, empty of joy like a parched desert. And what he's saying is, when you find yourself, you're drawing near to God and you find yourself in this place of temptation or Valley of Baca, valley of weeping, you got to keep going. When you get here, the temptation is to stay there. When you feel a lack of joy to stay in this place, a lack of joy, and instead of breaking through and continuing to seek after God, we begin to seek joy in sin, joy in things that only cause more spiritual thirst. So he says, when you stay here, when you fight through this Valley of Baca, that's when God will send springs and rain and covers it with pools; living water, springing up to eternal life. And then he says in verse seven, they go from strength to strength. So you got strength from God to keep going. When you got strength to keep going, you got a little stronger and you go from strength to strength. It's as if, "God, I want your presence, I'm drawing near. There's a forcefield, I'm going to break through." As you break through, you get more strength. And the more strength you get, the more presence of God you want and the greater the pull toward the presence of God. And then as he mentioned, Zion, one of the things that he does here is, he stops, he pauses and he prays for the political situation in Israel that's verses eight and nine; O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. God of hosts, which is used in verse one, three, eight, and 12, is saying, God of armies. God of all spiritual armies. God there's something in the political realm, the physical realm in my culture and my society, that's keeping me from experiencing your presence. And he says, God, Lord of hosts give ear, God of Jacob, Selah, behold our shield, O God, look on the face of your anointed. Your anointed, he's talking about the King. God, look in the King. God help us politically. Your ultimate protection, your ultimate shield. Most likely the psalmist here is in Second Kings chapter 18, in the days of King Hezekiah. Where the King of Syria comes in, he takes over Jerusalem and keeps the people of God from worshiping God. So the psalmist calls out," Lord, please bless us. And as we draw near to you, give us strength." So long for God, draw near to God and then as you draw near to God and you begin to enjoy the presence of God, you begin to realize that whatever the cost was to get here to the enjoyment of God it was worth it. Look at verse 10, for a day in your courts is better than 1,000 elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. By doorkeeper, he's talking about, I would rather be on the threshold of the presence of God. I would rather be the lowest of the low in the presence of God, the highest of the high, in whatever the world has to offer. And the presupposition here, and this is really important, is he understands that there's trade-offs. If you want to experience more of the presence of God, deeper fellowship with God, walking with God, abiding with God, to say yes to that, you got to say no to a lot of other things. In your heart, you need to resolve God's presence. One day of God's presence is more satisfying than 1,000 years in sin and 1,000 days elsewhere. And this is one of things that we need to and I'm not sure we believe this is Christians. I'm not sure we believe God's presence is better than sin. Do you believe that? And I ask because this is one of the greatest temptations of Satan, the greatest lies of Satan. And one of his most insidious lies is that the Christian life is boring, that it's dull. It's full of drudgery. It's void of anything scintillating, exciting. Sin is exciting and anything to do with Christianity is just boring, and that's one of the biggest lies of the enemy. And once you start analyzing, even go through times in your life when you have sinned, what happens next? What happens next is emptiness every single time. It over promises and under-delivers every single time, and yet we still believe that sin is more exciting than the presence of God. It's not. Look at how the psalmist talks about God's presence. Psalm 16:11, You make known to me the path of life, in your presence, there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures for evermore. He says, you can have the ultimate satisfaction for your soul, which makes all of life so much more enjoyable. Psalm 34:8; Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 36:7-8; how precious is your steadfast love, O God. The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you will give them drink from the river of your delights. Uses the metaphor of food and drink, as a way for us to understand satisfaction of the soul. Psalm 63:3-5, Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live, in your name I will lift my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. It's getting to that time, where I'm getting hungry for lunch. He's saying this God's presence satisfies the soul like fat and a rich food. What's fat and a rich food? He's talking about steak, obviously. What's it say in the Hebrew? Ribeye. Tomahawk ribeye. That's what he's talking about. He uses the greatest physical food as a way to say, this is what happens in the soul. My wife and I last night we were... we do bedtime story from the Bible and scripture and prayer with our daughters. And last night when my wife was reading from a children's Bible about Jesus, this is where words chronologically, Jesus at the wedding in Cana, they ran out of wine. Jesus' mom comes to him and says, "Hey, you got to help them out, they're out of wine." Major faux pas back in the day. And then Jesus, he said, "Okay. Take the six jars," they're about 30 gallons each. "Fill them up to the brim with water and turn them into wine," and then the wedding continued. And then I'm like, "What's going to be the application of this story in a children's Bible?" And the application was, we're all sinners and we need to repent of our sin and when we do, Jesus forgives us. Amen. Let's pray. It's true. Repent of you sin and you will be forgiven. I was like, "I don't think that's the application." My wife's like, "What's the application?" I was like, "The application is, this wedding's boring and Jesus made it fun. That's the application." Responsibly, obviously, 180 gallons of wine responsibly. It's an absolute lie of Satan that life is more enjoyable apart from God, that's a lie. It's an absolute lie. God wants you to enjoy life, but he wants you to seek ultimate satisfaction in him which makes the rest of life so much more enjoyable. Indeed, the presence of God is worth it. One day in God's presence is better than 1,000 in the greatest vacation. That's why St Paul said, "Indeed, I count everything as loss, because it's a passing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. I'll give everything up, in order to gain Christ." Psalm 73:25-26; whom have I in heaven but you? And there's nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, my God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 84:11; the Lord is a sun, a source of life and light, and a shield, he is our source of protection. The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. He said, "Seek ultimate satisfaction in God and then God longs to bless you with honor, with favor, with all the other things. He'll give you those good things, as long as they don't become idols." He says, "God is our shield." Why is God our shield? What is he a shield from? First of all, he's a shield from our own sin. He is a shield from the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin. And how do we know that God is our shield? Because he sends his son to die on the cross for our sin, bearing the wrath of God that we deserve for our law-breaking, for our evils of seeking satisfaction and things other than him. And Jesus Christ covers us, when we run to him as our refuge. And then Psalm 84:12; O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. Blessed is the one who trusts in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Blessed is the one who trusts in God, who fills us with the Holy spirit. Our bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. We don't need the temple, the priest, the sacrifice, because of Christ we have access into the presence of God. So we go back to the beginning question, What do you want? What do you seek? The scripture tells us, seek God, he alone is a source of perfect knowledge and truth. Jesus is truth. He alone is, and offer's perfect love. God is love. He alone offers us justice and goodness. He is perfect justice and goodness. He alone offers us perfect beauty, he is beautiful. And God alone offers and is our perfect home, our perfect place of belonging. I'll close with the Ephesians 3:14-21; for this reason I bow my knees before the Lord, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you that you are the all-satisfying God. Lord, we do repent that so often we seek satisfaction in things, other new people, other new experiences, other than you. Lord, we thank you for the reminder that you are a God who cares about our wellbeing, our ultimate wellbeing, beginning even now. You said that whoever believes in your son, Jesus Christ, has eternal life now. I pray that everyone here; everyone hearing these words, turns from sin, turns to you and lives a life of satisfaction and joy and peace as we pursue you, as we long for you, as we draw near to you and as we enjoy you. And we pray this in Christ's name, Amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 7
October 18, 2020 • Psalm 72
Audio Transcript: Good morning and welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastor's here at Mosaic along with Pastor Andy and Pastor Shane. If you're new or if you're visiting with us, we'd love to connect with you, either through the connection card that you can fill out and then toss in the box at the at the back. Or you can fill out the connection card in the app or on the website. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word? Heavenly Father, we come into Your presence with fear and trepidation. Trepidation, because You are a holy and a mighty God. We thank You that You are just. And as we thank You for Your justice, we recognize that we deserve to be punished for our sins. So we cannot pray for Your justice without also asking for forgiveness for our sins. We're thankful for Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life and died the death that we deserved to die. By grace through faith in Him, we are given imputed righteousness and now we can cry out, "Give us Your justice and give us Your righteousness. Holy Spirit, we pray that You come into this place, come into this space. Come and fill our hearts. Prepare our hearts to hear from Your holy Word. Lord, as we today open up Psalm 72, in which the psalmist prays for the King, we see a pattern that we too, Your people, are called to pray for those whom You have placed into positions of authority. We pray for every single person in a position of authority over us. We pray for the town council here in Brookline. We pray for Mayor Marty Walsh, Mayor of Boston. And we pray for governor Baker, Governor of Massachusetts. We pray for our congressmen, and we pray for our senators, and pray for the Supreme Court. We do pray for our President and our Vice President, we pray for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. We pray that You fill them with wisdom like You filled Solomon. You call us to pray that Your Holy Spirit guides them. You tell us that, You, the great God of the universe, You guide the hearts of Kings, of those in authority like water in Your hands. We do pray for this upcoming election and we pray that You give us wisdom in how to vote in every single sphere, every single level of the election. We pray that You put into power, put into authority, the person that You have decreed before the foundation of the world. We pray for religious liberty that we can continue to gather as Your people to hear Your Word proclaimed, to worship You in freedom. Freedom that's lacking in so many parts of the world, a freedom that we take for granted all too often. We do pray that You make us a people who don't look to our political representatives to fix all of our problems. They cannot, they are but frail humans. So we look to You, oh great God. We turn to You for forgiveness, and we turn to You for healing, and we turn to You for blessing, and we turn to You for security and protection, and we turn to You for ultimate guidance. You are the one who can order the chaos of our hearts and of our lives, and we ask for that now, no matter how painful it is. We ask for Your grace, and protection, and mercy. Bless our time in the Holy Word. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. We are in a sermon series called Balm Psalms, where we are looking at some of the choices. Psalms in the first half of the Psalter, we'll pick up the second half of the Psalter at some point later on. We'll do Season Two on Balm Psalms. Today, we are in Psalm 72. Next week, we cap off the series. After that, we got a four week series in Malachi, which then brings us to Advent in which we will look at the first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. Today, we look at Psalm 72, which is a prayer of coronation, a prayer for the king, a prayer for people in power over us. The first lesson that we must draw from the very beginning is that we as God's people are called to pray for those in positions of power. How often do you pray for those in positions of power over us? Do you pray for them more often than you complain about them? Here's my challenge to you. For every time that you share a political meme on social media or in group texts, pray as often. I think if we do that we're going to have revival in the land. But scripture does teach us to pray for those in positions of power. 1 Timothy 2:1-2. "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way." He does not tell us to pray according to their godliness or according to their righteousness, he says pray because they've been placed in this position of authority. And as we look at Psalm 72, which is a psalm of King David. King David writes this prayer for his son, Solomon, and he prays for Solomon. He prays that Solomon will be blessed by the Lord. If one of the greatest kings, King David, prays for his son who had one of the greatest Kingships of the Old Covenant. If that person needed prayer, how much more do the rulers over us? We must pray regularly for leaders no matter how just or unjust they might be. Pray for wisdom as well in whom to vote for in this coming election in 16 days. And as we do, one of the things you realize as you pray Psalm 72, you realize how far our leaders fall short of the standard. As we pray this, we bemoan that sinful people are leading sinful people. And we cry out to God, "God, send us a true King. The King that, His image is written on our hearts." This is why we're so disappointed with earthly leaders. No matter how great they are, were ultimately disappointed. Even Israel was ultimately disappointed with Solomon and with King David ... Will serve you. He refuses, they succeed, they rebel, and then following the following kings ruling over Judah don't even come close to the glory of Solomon. In 586 BC, the last Davidic King goes into Babylonian exile and there's no more kings on the throne of David from then on. So as the people of Israel after 586 BC, as they pray Psalm 72, they're praying Psalm 72 in a similar way that we are praying it. They do pray for their current leaders, but ultimately, the Psalm was about the great leader that's coming. It's a prophecy of the coming King, and I'll just set that up with the verbs in the Psalm. Psalm in verse 1, there's an imperative, "God, give Your justice. God, give Your righteousness to the King." That's an imperative. It's a command. And then every verb after that is an imperfect, and it can be translated either as adjustive, may it be. Or as a future tense, it will be, he shall be. And you say, "Which one is it?" Well, poetry is infused with ambiguity often, because it wants you to read both meanings. So as we read this as a prayer, "May this King be, may this King be righteous, just. May He be good, may He lead to prosperity, may He protect His people." You're also reading it as a cry for the prophecy, "He will be." Who's that? Jesus. Jesus will rule with justice, Jesus will rule with righteousness. So it's a prayer for our leadership now, and it's a prediction and a cry for the future Messiah to come and reign. That Psalm is long and we'll read every single section under each point. The five points that cover our time in Psalm 72, we'll look at the righteous reign of the King, verses 1-4. The eternal reign of the King, verses 5-7. The universal reign of the King, verses 8-11. The compassionate reign of the King, verses 12-14. And the blessed reign of the King in verses 15-17. First, we see the righteous reign of the King. Verse 1 begins with a petition. It's a prayer, it's pleading for God to do the following. Verse one, "Give the king Your justice, O God, and Your righteousness to the royal son." Or the son of the King. He's not asking the King to just be just, though that would be good. He's not asking for God to make the King just righteous, that would be good as well. No, he's asking for something greater. He says, "God, give the King Your justice. Give the king Your righteousness, O God." First thing that we noticed from the very beginning, is that the people of God do not look to the King for ultimate justice and righteousness. They're not praying this prayer to the King, they're praying this prayer to God. The first thing that this prayer does is it reorders our priorities. We don't look to the President of the United States, or the governor of Massachusetts, or the mayor of Boston to reorder our lives, to fix absolutely everything. We know that this person is placed in authority under someone who has a greater authority, which is God. I think that's one of the problems with politics in the United States. One of the biggest problems is we look to this one figurehead to figure out all of our problems. And every four years, there's the poll that goes out and survey that's run in the whole country, are, "Is your life better off after the four years of this person in power?" And then you're like, "Is my life better off?" Actually, if you're really honest, probably 99.99% of your life really hasn't changed that much. So why do we spend so much emotional energy, so much stress, so much anxiety, thinking about this one person who is empowered? What this does in the very beginning of this prayer, as you pray for those in powers you realize there's someone in power over this person. And Lord, I pray that whoever's in power realizes that You have ultimate authority, that You will judge, that You have a standard of righteousness, that there is a standard of righteousness. The cry here is, "Lord, put people in positions of power that recognize that they are under authority, that You will judge, You will bring to justice this person with their actions and their decisions. And as we cry out for this, Lord, we pray that You give Your justice to the King, we can't but pray the same thing for ourselves." Because that would be hypocrisy. How can we pray for the King to receive God's justice if we don't pray that for ourselves? Do you pray that for yourself? Are you willing to pray, "God, give me Your justice for everything I've done. God, judge me according to Your perfect law." You can't pray that for the King if you don't pray that for yourself. And one of the beautiful things that we see here is that as you pray this, you see your need for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the ultimate hope for our country is not for the right president, or the right senator, or the right congressman, or the right governor, or the right mayor. The ultimate hope for our country is the gospel of Jesus Christ, transforming us first. God, I do cry out for justice, but I realize how far I've fallen from Your standard of justice. So I pray for forgiveness as well, and I pray for imputed righteousness." How can you pray that God gives the King His righteousness, "God, give Your righteousness to the King." What's that talking about? That's talking about an imputed righteousness. You can't pray that for the King without praying that for yourself, "God, give me an imputed righteousness." Whose righteousness? "That of the ultimate king of King Jesus. God, forgive me of my sins. Thank You that Jesus Christ led a perfect life, died on the cross for my sin, the death that I deserved to die. Bearing the wrath of God, and now by grace through faith, an imputed righteousness is offered to me." So as we pray for the King, we recognize our need for a greater King, and that's King Jesus. No king, no matter how talented, no ruler no matter how successful, no matter what the innate abilities. No king can reign with this justice and this righteousness, this justice and this truth without the empowerment of God. "So God, we ask that for the King, we ask that for ourselves." All too often, this election and the past election, but what we've seen is ... and the one before that, if you have a good memory. And the one before that, every single election, we always look at the final two candidates. The people that went through the whole primary and all of that and we say, "These two? These are the only options? There's 330 million people in this country, these are the only options?" And then you get to debates, the lesser of evil, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. What this does, what the Psalm does is it shows us that the greatest need is not for the leader, it's for a people. The greatest need is for us to be transformed. The reason why it's these two, no matter who it is, is because these two reflect the people. They reflect us as a country. That's why I say the greatest hope of this country is not the President, the greatest hope is a gospel that can transform the people, reawaken the people to the rule of God, to the rule of Jesus Christ. And the more people who submit to the rule of Jesus Christ, the more people like that, that there are people of justice, people of righteousness, perhaps then We'll have better candidates. And that's why verse 1 is so important. He recognizes that it's the people, it's the people that pray for the King. It's the people who pray for the King to be under God who is the ultimate King. It's the King who rules on behalf of God, it's the King who needs the wisdom of God, and needs to ask for the wisdom of God just like King Solomon asked. 1 Kings chapter 3, God comes to Solomon in a dream and says, "Ask whatever you want. Anything, anything that you want. Anything in the world. You want riches? I'll give you riches. You want power? I'll give you everything that you want." And this is the dialogue, verse 9, "Give Your servant therefore ..." Solomon says, "'... an understanding mind to govern Your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this Your great people?' It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, 'Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.'" Lord, I need an understanding mind, that's what Solomon asked for. That's what we want in the rulers, that's what we want in the person in charge over us. And as we pray, "God, give Your wisdom, understanding, a discerning mind to those in power over us. Give us the same, give me the same." And where does wisdom begin? It begins with the fear of God, we recognize who we are under the authority of God, created by God to glorify Him. "God, give us wisdom and give our leaders wisdom. God, make Your judgments be the King's judgments, may He rule in accordance with Your justice and judgment." Verse 2 of Psalm 72, "May He judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills in righteousness. May He defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor." Few things I want to point out here is he emphasizes righteousness. Righteousness in the context of not just upholding uprightness or truth, but a righteousness that includes compassion. Compassion to the least of these. It's a responsibility to give justice, to seek vindication, the rescue of the afflicted and the needy. It's a King who cares for the weakest of the kingdom, the most in need. So he talks about, "Give Your poor with justice." And he talks about, "Including the deliverance of the children of the needy." God has a soft spot for the disenfranchised, for the marginalized, for the weakest. And in Scriptures, His categories for the least of these, they're the widows, and they're the orphans, and they're the immigrants. Those people who do not have financial power, that's what he's talking about primarily. "May the King, may those in leadership care about those who need this socio economic justice, particularly for the children in need. God, we pray that those in leadership care about children." That's emphasized, it's highlighted here, particularly of the children of the needy. In Old Testament contexts, in Scripture, children life did not begin at birth. The whole phrase of "she was with child", the Psalmist and the prophets talk about, "You knit me in my mother's womb." The child is there, that's life. It has its own heartbeat, it has its own DNA. "God, we pray for leadership that cares about life in the womb, life at conception. God, we pray that You send someone to defend, we pray that You send someone to crush the oppressor, that You give deliverance to the children of the needy." So the king, the righteous king of God, the people in leadership that we want and long for, are not people that conquer, it's people that defend. Defend the nation, defend the people. In particular, defend those who are most defenseless beginning with children. So as we look at our options, who is standing up for life? Who wants to defend the children? Defend life and defend their innocence? We live in a culture that says you can choose your gender and not your sexuality. You can choose your gender at age eight. And our leaders will praise that. Well, 1 Peter 2:14 tells us the job of those in leadership is to punish evil and praise that which is good. What is good and evil? Well, you can't decide what's good and evil apart from a standard, apart from the God that we pray to, "God, give justice. God, give righteousness." There is a line between good and evil. So the King is the one who protects children, he protects the poor, he defends the people. Why? Because he understands they're not his people. Look twice in this text, it says, "May he judge Your people. May he judge Your people. May He defend the cause of the poor of the people of the needy for Your people." Over and over, God wants justice because God is their Creator. The people belong to God, not to the King. And then in verse 2, the other thing I want to point out here, "May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your poor with justice." Why emphasizing poor and justice? He says, "We need to pray for leaders that are not swayed by those who have powerful interests. Not swayed by money, not swayed by bribery where the rich get justice or don't get justice, and the poor do not because they can't buy their way out." So Lord, we pray the wise ruler does not allow justice to be bought or sold." Isaiah 1:17, "Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." Amos 5:15, "Hate evil, love good and establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." Amos 5:24, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Whose justice? God's justice. To even talk about justice is to assume a God with laws. A God who is just. And ultimately, the only righteous King is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the author and Creator of life and of our salvation, He's the perfecter of our salvation. He came as a King who came to serve those in subjection to Him. He came to love care. He said that ... The Scripture says that, "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering flax He will not put out." Jesus is the perfect combination of justice and compassion. Of justice and compassion. You look at Him every once in a while and you're like, "Who is this?" As He goes into the temple, as He starts tossing tables of tax collectors and money changers who were oppressing the poor from worshiping God. And then He's so tender, so gentle to the woman caught in adultery. He's got toughness against the oppressor, and He's got compassion for the oppressed. He's tough and strong enough to deliver us from every oppressor, and tender and gentle enough to care for the oppressed. So as we pray this for our leaders, we also pray, "Lord Jesus, come. Lord Jesus, we submit to You. Rule over us every square inch of our lives, rule over us with justice and righteousness and make us a people who reflect You. So then hopefully, by Your grace, we can have a leader who reflects You as well." Point two is the eternal reign of the kingdom. Verses 5-7, he talks about a dynasty. A dynastic endurance of this King. Verse 5, "May they fear You ..." King, "... You while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. May He be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth." What he's crying out is, "Lord, we want great rulers. And since they're so great, we don't want them out of office." Obviously, this isn't talking about a human being, it's talking about someone greater. God promised to King David, "David, you will have someone, a descendant of David will rule on your throne forever." 2 Samuel 7:16. "And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me, your throne shall be established forever. Forever." With Rehoboam like the second generation as Solomon's son, all of a sudden Israel's kingdom gone. Now he's got 2 tribes instead of 12 to rule over. And then after 586, we don't have any of that. Obviously, this is a prophecy. A King who would indeed rule justly, a Kingdom marked by righteousness, peace, prosperity and a Kingdom that would endure forever. Verse 7, "In his days, may the righteous flourish and peace abound, till the moon be no more." Here, he is back to something very more tangible, very more specific. "Lord, we pray for rulers that allow the righteous to worship, that allow the righteous to flourish." He's talking about those who worship God. "Lord, we pray for leaders that create an atmosphere, create a culture, create a society where the people of God are free to worship Him as He decreed. Where the people of God are free to teach the whole counsel of God without fear of retaliation or consequence. Lord, we pray for leaders like this, leaders that establish conditions for the Church to do the Church's work." So as we choose whom to vote for, this is one of the things we got to keep in mind as well. Who is going to further this condition or who is going to detract from it? Who will create conditions for the people of God to flourish? And who will create a condition where the people of God do not? "Lord, we pray for rulers that allow us the space to fulfill the great commandment, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.'" Love as is decreed by the truth of God's Word. And here he says, "May peace abound, may the shalom of God." The universal flourishing, righteous flourish. And as the righteous flourish, they work to further the common good, and then peace flourishes in the culture. Point three is the universal reign of the king. He prays for a King who has a global kingdom embracing the reign of a King whose Kingdom was global. Look at verses 8-11. "May He have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before Him, and His enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render Him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before Him, all nations serve." Solomon's kingdom was great. But as great as it was, we couldn't conceive of Solomon's reign having global dominance. Yes, the Queen of Sheba did come to King Solomon and she did bring gifts as a sign of allegiance. Four and a half tons of gold, which is an astonishing amount. Other kings came bearing gifts, silver, gold, garments, weaponry, spices, horses, mules. Kings from Ethiopia came and brought gifts. But certainly, Solomon did not have a global Empire. This is talking about a different King. Zechariah 9:10, the prophet echoes the sentiment, he says, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off and He shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." This King that we're crying for is a King who is a King of all people. He transcends all people, therefore He can be King over all people. Whose this talking about? This is why it's so important. Obviously, he's talking about Jesus Christ who has a Kingdom not of this world for now, He has a kingdom of hearts. One of the reasons why the Magi from the east came when Jesus was born, Magi from the east came with gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh, is to show that people of all the ends of the earth will one day submit to this King. This is why King Jesus before His ascension, He gave us, the Church, the Great Commission, "I want you to go and make disciples, of followers of Christ, disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. And lo, I Am with you, always until the end of the days." What was He talking? He was talking about, "Go and share this gospel that transforms hearts, hearts of all people." So that one day, people from every single tribe, nation, tongue will bow down before King Jesus and worship of Him." Point four is the compassionate reign of the King, this is verses 12-14, "For He delivers the needy when He calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence, He redeems their life, and precious is their blood in His sight." God is calling for us to pray for a King or ruler that protects those who need protection, but a compassionate protector. We mentioned this in righteousness, but here it's explicitly expounded that we pray for someone who has concern for the poor, the needy. The poor is mentioned three times as a category verses 2, 4, and 12. The needy is mentioned four times in verses 4, 12 and 13 twice. God is telling the people of Israel to pray for a King that protects the most vulnerable. Why? Because the people of Israel had a problem with this just like people of all times, people from all nations. Frequently, the rights of the poor were trampled by the powerful through dishonest gain. And over and over in Jeremiah and all the prophets, and Leviticus as well, God talks about the fact that He abhors dishonest gain. Oppression and violence are the two evils that threaten the poor and needy. Oppression is the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful, often using usury, or just exorbitant amounts of interest to put people into debt for all of life. And violence was just ruthless disregard for life. So he says, "Lord, we pray for a King who has pity on the needy. He will protect from the oppression of violence and will redeem their life. Their life is precious, their blood is precious in His sight." And hear the language of redemption. We see this language all throughout Scripture, and particularly we saw this language at play where someone redeemed the poor in the book of Ruth. Do you remember? We had a great sermon series over quarantine in the book of Ruth. In the book of Ruth, we see Ruth with her mother-in-law. They come into Israel, they have no money, they have no finances, they are in this category of poor. And by the way, poor in the Old Testament isn't the person who can't afford the iPhone 12. If that's the definition of poor, that's me as well. That's not the definition of poor. The definition of poor is someone who could not feed their families. If you don't have food, you are poor. You have food, you have sufficiency, you are not poor. That's how the categories work. So Ruth comes in. And what Ruth did was she saw work. God provided ... In the Old Testament, He provided provision through the gleaning laws, where people in positions of power, land owners, people who owned farms or farming establishment, what they were called by God to do is provide work for those who are the least of these. The widows, the orphans, the immigrants. Ruth was a widow and she was an immigrant and Ruth started working. God cared. The King cares by providing meaningful work for those in need, primarily a hand up not just a handout. However, it was also taught in Scripture, that if a person is not able to work due to sickness, an accident, old age, et cetera, that the people who had means of wealth were to care for the least of these. Jesus taught us the same thing, to provide for those who are the least of these. He said, "What you do the least of these, you do unto Me." The King's job is to make sure that they're protected from this oppression, protected from violence, so that they can be provided for. And ultimately, this shows us the picture of the gospel. Boaz redeemed Ruth by providing work for her, but ultimately not just providing work for, he ultimately paid for all her debts. Now she had freedom, and then he ultimately made her his. This points to the ultimate King of kings, Lord of lords, Jesus Christ comes into ... He redeems us, redeems us from our greatest bankruptcy, which is our spiritual bankruptcy. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor." Poor in what? Poor in righteousness. Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt who come to the Lord and say, "Lord, forgive me of all my debts." He does forgive because He paid for our debts on the cross of Jesus Christ. We are to pray for a King that allows us to fulfill the great commandment to love God with all heart, soul, strength and mind. And love our neighbors as ourself. To fulfill the Great Commission, that's our job. Not the King's job, that's our job. And fulfill the great compassion. Lord, as we pray for the king to provide for the needy, are we working to provide for the needy? In particular, we saw this in action over quarantine with our COVID fund. We saw people with influence, people with resources caring for those who were hit the hardest during quarantine. May that continue to be the pattern of our life as the people of God. And fifth, the blessing reign of the King. The king blesses the people and the people bless the King. See, here in verses 15-20, we have 10 petitions for the King, the land, the people, and the nation's. Verse 15, "Long may He live, may gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for Him continually, and blessings invoked for Him all the day. May there be abundance of grain in the land. On the tops of the mountains, may it wave. May its fruit be like Lebanon, and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May His name endure forever, His fame continue as long as the sun. May people be blessed in Him, all nations call Him blessed." May all the nations call this King blessed, he's ultimately talking about the kingship of Jesus Christ. And this echoes the promise that God gave to Abraham, "In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." What's fascinating is the verse 16, he prays for abundance in the land. "Lord, we pray for abundance in the land, we pray for prosperity." And he's talking about a supernatural prosperity. When the nation prospers and the nation is filled with righteous people, then everyone prospers. He says, "May there be abundance of grain in the land. On the tops of the mountains, may it wave. May its fruit be like Lebanon." If you've ever been to the top of the mountain, I'm sure you've seen a lot of great things. You go to the top of Mount Washington, there's a lot of great things up there. There's even a little tour shop up there and you can buy snacks and stuff. One of the things that you do not see at the top of Mount Washington or any of the mountain, is you do not see grain. There's no grain at the top of a mountain. There's grain on flatland, there's grain on lower ground. There's not grain and abundance of grain on mountains. What he's talking about is, "God, may You send us a supernatural prosperity. Prosperity that only comes from You." We see the same echo in verse 3, "Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills in righteousness." Hills are fertile, mountains are barren. Why is he asking for prosperity in the mountains? And by the way, prosperity means a flourishing of shalom. From the very top bank, prosperity come. He asked for supernatural prosperity, a supernatural blessing. And God does promise a supernatural blessing for people under one condition, the condition is that you submit to God, that you are a righteous people. Look at Leviticus 26:3-6, "If you walk in My statutes and observe My commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go throughout land." If you're righteous, you shall be blessed. That sounds great, until you look at the United States of America. That sounds tremendous, until you look at your own life. "Lord, this blessing depends primarily on me. If so, what hope is there? What hope is there for me personally? What hope is there for my nation." This is why the gospel Jesus Christ is such good news and our ultimate hope. The gospel of Jesus Christ comes to us and says, "You are not righteous, you are sinners. You have rebelled against the ultimate King of the universe, the God of the universe." We deserve punishment, we deserve pestilence. We do not deserve prosperity. So God sends His Son, Jesus Christ. He, though being rich, became poor so that we might become rich in Him. The King of the universe subjects Himself to be murdered by us, rebels. The King of the universe submits to what we deserve for our rebellion, He submits to the wrath of God. He does this to save His people. I don't care who you're voting for ... I do care. You should listen to earlier in the sermon, there's a clear criteria. It's important who vote for. Don't give your ultimate allegiance to the person. The Scripture says, "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, strength and mind." Not that person. No matter how great any King, no matter how great any politician, they did not die for you. They did not go to the cross for you. They did not observe the wrath of God for you. They're just a person and they need Jesus just as much as you do. So we cry out, yes, we pray for our politicians, we pray for the people in power over us. But ultimately, we pray for Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:8 says, "But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your Kingdom." Jesus Christ came and the very first words that He said in His very first sermon is, "The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near. Therefore, repent and believe in the good news." As we pray for that King, we pray that that King repents and believes in the good news, but we also pray the same for ourselves. "Lord, we repent of our sins. And Lord, we pray that You forgive us and give us faith." The prayer in Psalm 72 answers in part ... The cry of it is answered in part with the coming of Jesus Christ the first time. With His life, His death, His resurrection, His missionary mandate, His ascension to heaven, He ushered in the Kingdom. An all ready but not yet Kingdom. Where is Jesus' dominion to the end of the earth? He healed people, but not all people. He preached the good news to the poor, but not to all. He died and rose again, sent His disciples as witnesses to the end of the earths, but still we haven't preached the gospel to the ends of the earth. Jesus ascended, seated at the right hand of God the Father, and we still are told to cry out for the second coming. Jesus taught us to pray for the second coming. "Our Father ..." He said, "Pray like this, 'Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.'" The ascended Lord promised in Revelation 22:20, "Surely, I Am coming soon." And you know what the saints cried out? "Amen, come Lord Jesus." So we pray for those in authority over us, we also bemoan the fact that they fall so short of the standard that's written on our hearts. Written there by God Himself and is a story of Jesus Christ. It's the image of Jesus Christ, so we cry for Him to come. The Psalm ends with this benediction, Psalm 72:18-19, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be His glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen." The God of Israel, the God of Jesus ... our God, the triune God of the universe, He alone can do such wondrous things. He alone and endow rulers with righteousness and justice, He alone can make not only hills but mountains wave with gorgeous grain and prosperity. He alone can give the King dominion to the ends of the earth. May His name, His name be glorious and blessed forever. And may His name and His glory fill the ends of the earth. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank You that You the great King of the universe came and died for us, Your rebellious subjects. Lord, You call us to Yourself not just to be Your servants, but when we are saved by grace through faith, when we repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ, You also make us Your children. Children of the King. I pray, make us a people who reflect the ultimate King of the universe, make us a people of justice who cry out for justice because we have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Make us a people who live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Make Your Church flourish. I pray that we do not forget our mandate, that we don't our responsibility, the responsibility of the Great Commission, and the great commandment, and the great compassion to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to all the earth. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 6
October 11, 2020 • Psalm 51
Audio Transcript: Good morning, welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic along with pastor Andy and pastor Shane and if you're new or if you're visiting with us, we're so glad you're here. If you'd like to connect with us, we do that either through the connection card that you can pick up in the back and then leave it in the back, or online in the app, or on our website. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's word. Heavenly father, we thank you for the Holy scriptures and we thank you that in the scriptures you do not gloss over sin. Even the greatest heroes in the faith have fallen because every single one of us is a sinner by nature and by choice, and we thank you for the example of King David. We thank you that you pursued him, you did not relinquish him to his sin, instead you came and you made him see the darkness of his sin. We pray Lord that you today send us the Holy Spirit and let us see the darkness of our sin. It's within each one of us that every single one of us we have sin within and the capacity to sin infinitely more egregiously than even David himself. So Lord keep us from our sin, do not lead us in ways of wickedness, instead lead us in paths of righteousness and Jesus we thank you that you have given us that example, but you didn't just come to give us the example, you came to atone for our sin, to pay for it so that you the God of the universe remain just as you justify those who are unrighteous. And we thank you Christ that you offer forgiveness, that you offer grace, that you offer mercy simply when we come to you with a broken and contrite heart. So send us hearts of contrition today, soft hearts toward you and help us be a people who accept your grace and extend it to others, show others the path of righteous, where to find that grace at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. We pray bless our time in the Holy scriptures and we pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, amen. We're in a sermon series called Balm Psalms and which we are going through some of the choices, Psalms and scripture, the word balm meaning it's balm to our souls, that it does send us healing. It provides relief from the pain of this world, the pain of our own sin and folly. Today, we are looking at Psalm 51 in which King David, a man after God's own heart, one of the most choice servants of God himself, he pens a prayer of repentance. If you look at King David's life and you ask what is the greatest victory of all of his life? You can look at perhaps his victory over a bear in which he wrestled with his hands, a bear, or you can point to the fact that he wrestled and killed a lion with his bare hands, or the fact that he took on Goliath with just a few stones, or you could look at the Philistines that David himself took with the very small band of brothers took on the Philistine army. You can point to all of those as potential great victories, but I would submit to you that his greatest victory we see in Psalm 51. We see the picture of a man who is victorious over his sin, over his pride, over his self righteousness and he is on his knees before God, a broken man. He's a contrite man, he's a man with a limp, he's a man with a wound. He's a man in desperation, a bruised reed and in this text you see a man who is confronted with the gory nature of his sin as he sees the glorious nature of God's forgiveness. It's a familiar story, the story of David and Bathsheba. We see this in second Samuel chapters 11 and 12 in which King David sends off his armies to continue fighting, continue building his kingdom, he stays home. He stays home and he's spending time on his palace roof, he begins to wander, goes for a little stroll. His eyes began to look around, he glances where he should not and he begins to think of things that he should not. He sees a woman bathing on her rooftop, Bathsheba, calls for her not knowing at this moment as he's blinded by lust, as he's blinded by sinful desire, not knowing that this will lead him to break half of the commandments of God, half of the 10 commandments. Not only does he commit adultery, he also kills, steals, bears false witness and all started with covetousness. In second Samuel 11:5, Bathsheba sends him a message with three words, I am pregnant. At this moment, David he's faced with a decision, do I come clean? Do I repent of my sin? He chooses not to, choose to cover it up. Sends for Uriah to come to spend time with his family, Uriah does not even enter his house, sleeps outside. He says, how can I go in and sleep in the comfort of my home when my brothers are out on the field, sleeping on the ground. Uriah goes and he's a stand up man, a man of principle, contrast that with David. And then David is left with either repentance or murder, he chooses murder, tells his commander in chief I want you to send Uriah to the front lines, at the very last moment when the enemy is about to destroy everyone, I want you to pull back the rest of the soldiers so Uriah dies. And to cover it all up, David goes in silence. He murdered by decree after committing adultery, for months he's got a quiet conscience because it's a steered conscience, it's a hardened hiding conscience. And then we see the grace of God in Second Samuel chapter 12, where he sends the prophet Nathan and he confronts King David. He confronts him when King David tried to block off the truth of God as it speaks into this situation. Before I read the confrontation of Second Samuel chapter 12, one of the things I want to point out is a lot of us... if this is your first time reading this text, or even if you've heard the story before, a lot of us we read this text from a position of self righteousness where we say but I've never done that, nor could I. I do not even have the potential to commit murder or adultery. I could never do that. If you read the text in that way, from a position of self righteousness, you are no different than David before Nathan comes to him. You are no different than David when David is incensed by the sin of someone else, of a hypothetical person in his kingdom and all the while blind to his own. So this is the story of Second Samuel 12, one through seven then verse nine and I'm going to read this in order to set the context for Psalm 51. And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, it grew up with him and with his children and he used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock, or herd, or prepare... to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. Nathan said to David, you are the man. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. David is outraged by the sin of another... a lesser sin, significantly lesser. In Psalm 51 David finally comes to grip with... comes to grips with his own sin and this isn't just a Psalm that's given to us to show us the repentance of David, it's a Psalm given to teach us how to repent, how to repent from the heart in contrition. So that brings us to Psalm 51, would you look at the text with me? Psalm 51, verse one. Have mercy on me O God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from the blood guiltiness O God, O God of my salvation and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. So Lord open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise. Do good to Zion and your good pleasure build up the walls of Jerusalem, then will you delight in right sacrifices and burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings, then bulls will be offered on your altar. This is the reading of God's holy inerrant, infallible authoritative word, may he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time as we meditate on true repentance. Repentance first of all, turns from sin, then it turns to God and finally repentance believes the gospel. First of all, repentance turns from sin. In order to understand Christianity and to understand the gospel in the Holy scripture, you got to understand what repentance means. You got to understand, you've got to have a working definition of repentance and learn the discipline of repentance on daily basis. My favorite definition of repentance comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the definition goes like this. A saving grace, repentance is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God and with full purpose of an endeavor after a new obedience. So we see that in it you realize who God is, he's Holy, who I am, I'm a sinner. You realize that sin is actually destructive, it also breaks the heart of God. So I want to turn from sin and I want to turn to God and do everything I can empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk in obedience. Therefore, repentance isn't just feeling bad for your sin. It's not feeling bad for the mistakes you've made. It's not even just... it's not having heart wrenching grief over the consequences of sin, that's not what repentance is. It's being convicted, inwardly humbled that you've sinned against a Holy God and you want to do everything you can to turn from it, thankful for the grace of Jesus Christ. We all experience guilt and we all experience shame Christian or not, Christian or not. It's a universal human feeling because the morality of God is written... God's moral code is written in our hearts. We've all done things that we know are wrong, have been wrong and we all feel shame. I shouldn't have done that, we feel guilt, guilty for doing that. Even if we don't believe in some external moral code, we still feel the weight of this and I'm not just talking about adultery or murder that separate us from God. It's every single sin, every single transgression against God's law is a treason against our creator. David here recognizes his sin before God and he does not blame shift. He does not justify his sin based on his accomplishments, based on his past righteousness, based on the songs that he's written, based on all the great work he's done for God, he doesn't, he doesn't blame shift, he doesn't make excuses. Look how often he uses me and my in the first five verses. Have mercy on me O God, blot out my transgression, wash me thoroughly from my sin for I know my transgression, my sin is ever before you. I have sinned, I was brought forth in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me, he owns it. He takes responsibility for his sin. He takes responsibility for his own decisions because without admission of guilt you can't accept God's forgiveness. And what's fascinating is he recognized in verse five, this theological category called total depravity. That we are born with sin, where every single faculty of our being is tainted with sin. We're not as bad as we could be, but there is sin within, original sin that leads to total depravity. But he says I'm born a sinner, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me, he owns that but he doesn't use it as an excuse. He doesn't say it's my past, you don't understand my family, but I wasn't brought up in the right way. There's nothing that he points to, to excuse his behavior and that's the first step to true repentance. You got to get rid of the blame shifting, you got to get rid of the excusing and you got to own the sin. I made these decisions, yes I'm a sinner by nature, I chose to sin. That's the star where he uses me and he uses my and there is sorrow over that sin, which leads to forgiveness and transformation. Last week, we talked about the different categories of sin of transgression. In sin and iniquity, transgression is seeing God's law and stepping over it on purpose, defiantly, rebelliously. He says I've transgressed, I've stepped over the law, blotted out and uses this verb often several times, blotted out, blotted out. And he's talking about this idea that God is a judge and he Chronicles our sins and he's begging God, God when you open the book of justice, please, please, God I want that redacted. I want black stripes over that, over my sin, over everything I've done. Please blot it out of the Chronicles of justice. In sin he misses the mark of righteousness and he says Lord cleanse me, I need a cleansing from sin, the iniquities twisting what God made straight, wash me from that. He owns it and this is the beginning of repentance. I have sinned, Lord forgive me of my transgression and my iniquity and my sin. Psalm 51 verse four, against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. God, you are the one I have violated. You are the first one that I've sinned against, before sinning against anyone else I've sinned against you. The prodigal son when he comes to his senses, returns to his father in Luke 15:21, he says father I've sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. He understands that his sin is first of all against God the father before it's against his earthly father, because every sin is always against God first. David loved God, but at this moment when he commits this heinous sin, he loves something more than God, he loves sin more than God. David committed adultery with Bathsheba because he loved a sin more than God and he says, God have mercy on me because I sinned against you first. If you went to David when he was a teenager, writing Psalms under trees, as he's watching his dad sheep. If you go to him as a teenager and say David when you are the pinnacle of your career, when you have all of the greatest blessings of God, it won't be enough for you and you will actually take that which is not yours, that which is forbidden, David would have never believed you. He would have never believed that he was capable of that. How did David end up there? David who was a man after God's own heart, David who saw God worked for him so powerfully miracle after miracle, how did he end up in this place? Well, he didn't stumble into it, he didn't go from perfection to this. He gave in incrementally, little by little a thought arises in his mind, a desire in his heart and he does not put it to death. He lets it fester, he lets it grow and little by little it begins to take over his imagination, his heart and then ultimately it leads to deeds. Imagine if David had repented before committing the sin, imagine if he had repented of the desires and the thoughts. And this is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ that Jesus says sin starts in the heart and you need a heart transformation, you need heart surgery spiritually speaking. In the gospel, Jesus Christ gives us strength to deal with those desires, to fight those desires before they lead to action. So this is what I want to encourage you dear Christians. I want to encourage you to fight sin on a heart level, thought heart level before it leads to deeds. And here's why this is... and this is why if you read the sermon on the Mount, this is why Jesus starts with the heart. And he says, you think you've heard that it was said that adultery is wrong, but I tell you whoever looks upon another person... whoever looks upon a woman or a man with lust for them in their heart, you've already committed adultery. Meaning adultery is what leads to the sinful lustful gaze. In the same way, he says if you're angry with your brother or your sister, that's tantamount to murder because you in your heart, your anger is leading to this hatred where you wish that they had disappeared. So the true battle against sin that God is calling us to, the true battle against sin that leads to righteousness and holiness is on the level of the heart and the level of the mind. The earlier we repent, the less damage our sin does. God forgives David ultimately for the penalty of the adultery and of the penalty of the murder. God does not remove the consequences of that sin and this is why a lot of Christians they mix up these categories. Oh, if I ask for God to forgive me, then he'll protect me from the consequences of the sin, not necessarily. This is why God tells us not to sin in the first place because of how destructive sin is in our own lives, in the lives of the people around us. So God didn't remove the greatest consequences of the sin, Uriah was still dead. Bathsheba's family was destroyed. The child that Bathsheba and David had, that child died and there was family dysfunction in David's family for the rest of his life. Second Samuel 12:10 through 15, the words of Nathan. Now, therefore the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife, thus says the Lord. Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun for you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die. Nevertheless, because of this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord and the child who was born to you shall die. And Nathan went to his House. Repentance is turning from sin and it's turning to God. You see, David isn't demanding that God forgive him. He pleads with God, look at verse one, have mercy on me O God, according to what? According to David's great track record, according to everything David has done for God, according to all the great things David could do for God, no, it's not according to David's track record at all. It's according to your steadfast love, it's appealing to God's character. God, you are a God of love, steadfast love, of love that's unshakeable. According to your abundant mercy have mercy on me, because your mercy is abundant please give me some. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. David is begging God for the new covenant. He's begging God for something deeper than just repentance, what's he asking for? He's asking for regeneration. He's asking for heart transplant as is prophesied in Ezekiel 26, 25 through 27. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the hardest stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. He's saying God, I'm not just asking for forgiveness of the sin because it's not enough. The sin is still within me, I need a clean heart, I need a willing spirit, I don't just need cleansing, that's part of it, I also need regeneration. I need something different, why? Because if you think repentance is just turning from sin, you will never overcome sin because sin is too powerful, it's too medicine, it's too magnetic, it's too entrancing. Look at Second Samuel 12:9, this is what Nathan says to David. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight? You've despised the word of the Lord in committing the sin because the word of the Lord is an extension of the Lord, so you've actually despised the Lord, why did you... how do I know you despise the Lord? Because you loved something greater than the Lord. And that brings us to something really important and that's this, David didn't just commit five. He didn't just break five of the commandments, he didn't transgress just five of the commandments. In order to break any of the commandments, you have to first break the first commandment. What's the first of the 10 commands? Thou shall have any gods before me. So before David killed and committed adultery and stole someone else's wife and bore false witness and coveted that which was not his, before he did all those things, what led him to do all those things is he stopped loving God. He now loved something more than God. Before he committed adultery, he committed idolatry and what was the idol that he was following? It was himself. He started worshiping himself, he started worshiping his own desires, he started worshiping his own lust. So in order to get rid of a sin, turn from us and you got to turn to something greater, sin is something that does capture our hearts and our desires, we love it, that's why we're stuck in it. So the way to overcome it is to love something with a greater love. This is what Thomas talked about when he said the expulsive power of a new affection, where you love something more than the sin when what scripture calls us to love is God. There's no greater power in the universe than God's love. That's what David is asking, God based on your abundance of your love, please forgive me and as he turns from sin, his heart is filled with God's love which begins to transform him. And you see the depth of David's repentance, he's deeper than the ground. I think of repentance like this, a lot of us we don't see our need for repentance because of the light pollution of self-righteousness. At night in Boston, you rarely see the beauty of the stars because of light pollution. Some of us are like we think because we measure ourselves against other people, we measure ourselves against our past. David measures himself against God and as he sees how far he falls short of the standard of God, he ends up in the depth of a well of his sin. And the deeper you go in the well of repentance, when you gaze up, there's less light pollution and you see the glory of God's grace, the bright stars of his grace and that's what begins to transform you. You see that God is willing to forgive no matter how dark our sin. One of my favorite illustrations of repentance and the effect of repent and the process of repentance is from C.S Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and which there's a little boy named Eustace was really selfish and he loves riches, and he finds this gold bracelet, he puts it on his arm and he's in love with this. He's coveting this thing, he's thinking about dreaming about it, captures his imagination and when he goes to sleep he becomes outwardly what he was inwardly, which was a ravenous dragon. Transforms to the dragon, he's driven from humanity. In a moment of loneliness, begins to cry then Aslan the lion, the Christlike figure comes and offers him transformation and Eustace doesn't accept, tries to remove the dragon himself to no avail. And then finally he asked for Aslan's help and he says the very first tear he made was so deep that I thought had gone right into my heart. When he began pulling the skin off... worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. And then the rest of the texts he describes just how Aslan peels it off, it's painful, but he's able to bear it with the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off then ultimately turns into a boy again and he's baptized in the waters and dressed in new clothes. Repentance is always painful. It's always painful to come to terms with your sinfulness to say, I am not the person I thought I was, I'm not as righteous as I thought I was, I'm actually sinful and I desire wicked things, harmful things, destructive things. I need cleansing, I need transformation. Psalm 51, six through 12. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, take me... take not your Holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, uphold me with a willing spirit. Now he goes deep. He's dealt with the transgressions, the iniquities, he's dealt with the fact of the sin, now he goes deep and starts repenting of the heart desires that caused him to stumble. And he says Lord, you delight in truth in the inward being. He goes into the very depth of the heart and he says, Lord you delight when this truth inside assumption that there's not always truth inside and he says you teach me wisdom and the secret heart, what's he talking about? He's not just talking about the heart, he's talking about the secret heart. He's talking about the part of your heart that you are not even honest with yourself about, it's the secret heart. There's things in your heart that you know you desire, but then there's secret part of your heart where God needs to teach us wisdom, if he doesn't, there's folly. So we need to stand in judgment so to speak as an umpire over our own secret heart and guard it, guard your heart, be careful what comes out of that secret heart. Do you speak truth and wisdom to the folly to counter the folly of the secret heart? Or do you let those little thoughts bubble up into your heart, into your mind, into your imagination, ultimately into your actions. So we've got to ask Lord, please teach me wisdom in my secret heart, teach me to fear you which leads to wisdom. He says purge me with hyssop, hyssop is a shrub with hairy little leaves where it retains more of the water and they would dip it into a bucket with water, a bucket with blood when there's the atonement and they'd splash on people in order to create an atoning cleansing feeling. He says please Lord, with the hyssop purge me of the sin. The word for purge in the Hebrew is just a play on the word sin. De-sin me, de-dragging me... unsin me, please Lord, that's what he's begging. And so he's saying sin in a sense, it leads to a feeling of dirtiness, a shame that you feel you need cleansing from, almost like you need a shower but you need a shower for your soul, and the deeper the sin, the deeper the cleansing that you need. That's what repentance is, repentance is like a shower, that's why we need it on a daily basis. But once in a while, you need a deeper cleansing and for deeper cleansing, if you're from a Slavic background, or a Finnish background, or Scandinavian background, you know if you want a deeper cleansing, you go to the sauna. My dad, his father was from Finland and my dad built a sauna recently, he was sending me pictures... we have a group family chat and he was sending me pictures of the sauna that's finished. He was like hey, come by for a sauna and I like... great, I like the sauna session, but sauna session with real Russians with... my dad's in that, you can't just sit there. You also need a venik and a venik is, its they rake birch branches, they dry them out, they bind it together and then you go in there and they dip it in water and then they say turn around and then you give them your back and they go... they start wailing on your back in a very like sadistic way, make it as painful as possible and then you can say hey, it's kind of painful. My dad's response is yeah, but it's good for you. I'm cleansing you of the toxins of your skin and the beauty is you always have to trade and then whoever... you reciprocate of the love. So true deep repent is kind of like that, it's painful. With every smack it's painful, but there is a cleansing and David understands that this cleansing is going to transform him and though his sins are scarlet, he asked Lord please make me whiter than snow. But the deepest part of his prayer is this. He says God, I don't just want to be forgiven of my sins, I don't just want for you to blot out my sins, I want you and he begs God, don't cast your presence... don't cast me outside of your presence. Don't take the spirit of God from me, let not your Holy Spirit be taken from me, why is he saying this? Because he's seen this happen to Saul. He saw King Saul, and he saw Saul turn away from the Lord and when he should have repented, he didn't. And then the spirit of God departed from Saul and Saul's life just went into shambles, fell apart. And he says please, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. We see that true repentance in David's mind, he begins to get it, the greatest thing that we get through repentance isn't just forgiveness, we get God. He doesn't just want the cleansing, doesn't just want the forgiveness, he wants the presence of God. In the Old Testament, in the Old Testament saints were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was with them, it wasn't in them. In the New Testament after the day of Pentecost, now the Holy Spirit regenerates and it doesn't just regenerate, it seals our hearts and the Holy Spirit is now within every single Christian. And that needs to change how we think about sin, that the Holy Spirit first of all is always with us. So he always gives us power to overcome sin, but then also if we choose to go against the spirit, we grieve the spirit and we go into a sin, into act of sin with the Holy Spirit, with us, that's what leads to grief. And David says I don't want that, I want your presence, I don't want to continue sitting. I want not just cleansing, not just forgiveness, I want renewal and transformation, that's why he says Lord, give me a clean heart. Give me an upright spirit, a new and willing and upright spirit, so repentance is deeper than remorse, it's a cry for regeneration. He says, I don't want to vacillate anymore between holiness and sin, I want holiness. Second Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. So repentance is turning from sin, turning to God and asking for all that God is willingly offering us. God you are the heart cleanser, clean my heart. God you are the spirit giver, give me the Holy Spirit. God you are the joy restorer and the bones that have been broken by the consequences of my sin, restore so that they dance with joy. God you are the life upholder, the sin remover. God I want all of that and as we draw near to Christ, he draws near to us. Repentance is turning from sin, its turning to God and its believing in the gospel. Where do we get the gospel from Second Samuel? Where do we get the gospel from Psalm 51? Look at second Samuel 12:13. David said to Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die. The Lord has put away your sin, you shall not die, how can God say that? How can the just God of the universe say that and still remain just, he doesn't say here for your heinous sin we're going to bring a lamb, a sacrificial lamb, or goat or a bull, none of that happens. He says God has chosen to put your sin away, what sin? Sin of adultery and murder. Well, surely a righteous God can't just put away sin, you can't just pretend that it didn't happen without penalty. God is a righteous God and his wrath burns hot against sin, so why wasn't David killed? Why didn't David die for his sin? He should have, he deserved to. How can God just forgive him and remain just. And also if you look at the Levitical code, Leviticus one through seven, which addresses the sacrifice... sacrificial system prescribed by God, it was only for unintentional sins. There were no sacrifices prescribed by God for premeditated or defiance sins, they couldn't be removed by sacrifices. So the penalty for adultery in the Old Testament, in the Levitical code, it was death. The penalty for murder, also death. So if there's no sacrifice for the sins and David deserves the death penalty, how could he be forgiven? And if all you have is the Hebrew scriptures, if all you have is the Old Testament, there is no answer. David didn't know a thousand years later, God would send a son of David, God would send his own son. Jesus Christ came into the world and lived the life that David should have died... should have lived and Jesus died the death that David should have died. Before the foundation of the world, God planned to pay the penalty for David sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Hebrews 9: 13 to 14, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life. Jesus never looked upon a woman and thought what can I take from her? He looked and he said how can I serve her? The greatest illustration of that is the woman at the well who has been used by men for years, comes to Jesus and Jesus says I want to offer you true water, water that leads to eternal life. Jesus never took advantage of woman, Jesus never took advantage of a man. Jesus unlike David did not send an epistle, a letter for Uriah to die, instead Jesus Christ is the letter of God that was sent into this world. He is the word of God and Jesus took on Satan, sin and death on the front lines and he took it upon himself by himself, in the father's presence, the Holy Spirit's presence were taken away from the son and Jesus dies on the cross crying out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The father and the Holy Spirit they left the son so the son could absorb the wrath that we deserve for our law breaking... This is mind-boggling. Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God became on the cross an adulterer. He became on the cross a murderer so that he could forgive David of his adultery and his murder. Sin became sins that we might become the righteousness of God. He didn't just take on David's sin, he took on our sins, all of our sins, each of our sins. In the very moment before he died, he said it is finished. In the very moment he said it is finished, the curtain in the temple surrounding the Holy of Holies was torn from the top to the bottom as proof that he is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Our sins have been paid for by Jesus Christ, that's why David could be forgiven, that's why we can be forgiven. That's why when God commands us to repent, he's issuing an invitation, come, bring all of your sins, bring all of your shame, bring all of your guilt to Jesus Christ, who's willing to forgive. In Psalm 51:13 David says this, I will teach transgressors your ways, then after being forgiven I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. He says my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness, my mouth will declare your praise, what's he saying? He's saying Lord forgive me and after I'm forgiven, I want to teach other sinners to find the grace that I have found. This is why if you truly come to faith in Christ, you care about others coming to faith. You want your neighbors and your friends, those who are far from the Lord, this is why Mosaic exists, we exist so that our friends, our neighbors, everyone in the city, everyone beyond, everyone that we come into contact with can have their sins forgiven. God wants to forgive, God wants to cleanse, God wants to wash and what does he demand for forgiveness, for acceptance, for eternal life, he says this. The sacrifice of God are broken spirit, a broken in contrite heart, O God you will not despise. Jesus brought the ultimate sacrifice and now he calls us to bring our sacrifices, which are broken in spirit and are broken in contrite heart. So how do we accept that forgiveness? How do we do it? We do it by repenting the same way King David did and he prayed like this. Have mercy on me O God according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, let's pray.
Balm Psalms: Week 5
October 4, 2020 • Psalm 32
Audio Transcript: Good morning, and welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic, along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. Today we are celebrating our ninth birthday as a church. Happy birthday Mosaic, happy birthday. Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday. My wife asked if we're having cake today. I said, "Baby, what is it? 2019? No. We'll have extra cake in 2021 at our 10 year birthday." Lord willing, Lord willing. Thank you, everyone for your sacrifices, for your service, for your ministry. In particular, everyone who's been here one plus years, raise your hand if you've been here more than one year. Wow. Praise God. More than two years. More than three years. More than four years. More than five years. Vlad and Edgar. You've been here for five years? Six years. Seven, eight, nine. Elizabeth raising her hand, my daughter, Elizabeth. I remember how old Mosaic is because of Elizabeth. She's also nine. And Edgar. Edgar's been here from the beginning. Edgar started the church. Good job Edgar, thank you. One really, really, really, really important note I want to make at the beginning. For us to reopen full force, we need to reopen Mini-Mosaic. To reopen Mini-Mosaic, we need 11 volunteers. 11 volunteers to sign up to help with Mini-Mosaic. Four assistant teachers, four front table. I start with those because those are the easiest. Front table is you just literally sit there and you look welcoming and you sign people up. Front table assistance, you don't really have to do much. It's just the gift of presence. And then we need three teachers. Now this is an appeal in particular to the parents. Why in particular the parents? Because I know how tired you are being with the kids all week, this is a respite for you. You just want to come to church and just get a break from your kids. I know. It's hard. But here's the thing, if we get parents to sign up just for once a month, once a month, you serve all of the other parents in the community. So that's the appeal to the parents and then to anyone else who feels led by the Lord to serve in a really important way. We would love to help you sign up. You can do that by going downstairs after the service and talking to Raquel Ross, who was our Mini-Mosaic director and thank you in advance, TIA. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word? Holy God, we thank you that you are holy. Even though we are sinners, we don't have to lower your holiness. But we can be honest about your holiness, so we can be honest about our transgressions, our sins and our iniquities. Why? Because of your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you that you sent your son because you so loved the world, you sent your son, to die for our transgressions, our willful defiance against your law of our sins of missing the mark not because we didn't see it, but because we didn't want to see it and you're willing to forgive us of our transgressions, of our iniquities, of our sin because you placed it all on Jesus Christ and you are more willing, more ready to forgive us of our sins when we confess, than we are to confess. Holy Spirit, I pray that you come today and that you send each one of us the gift of repentance, the gift of faith, and then ultimately the gift of good works, which is proof of heartfelt repentance. Holy God, I pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures what an incredible Psalm, Psalm 32 is, and I pray that you help us experience the joy, the deep, heartfelt joy of being forgiven, the blessing of that gift. And we pray all this in Christ's Holy name, amen. We're in a sermon series that we're calling Balm Psalms. Why? Because the Psalms are like balm for our souls. John Calvin said that the Psalms are an anatomy of every part of our souls. Therefore, if you want to study the human person, if you want to study yourself, if you want to know yourself, you need to study the Psalms. Anyone can give us knowledge of the human body, not anyone can give us knowledge of the human soul. Very few places that you can go to, and scripture is that place. The Psalms give us an expression of the whole range of human emotion from the highest of highs to the lowest of depths. And one of the main emotions that is described in the book of Psalms is gratitude that leads to joy. Thanksgiving that leads to happiness. So the psalmist talks about Lord, we thank you. We're so grateful that you have saved us from the hands of our enemy, and we experience so much joy. Lord, we thank you that you allow us to come into your presence. Thank you for your presence, and we experience so much joy in your presence. And Lord, we thank you that you are our rightful king. You rule righteously and everything that you do we worship you for that. And we thank you for that. And we experience so much joy as we thank you. Well, today we're going to talk about thanksgiving for forgiveness. As the psalmist, King David, as he repents of his sin, confesses his sin, he doesn't stop in the contrition. He doesn't stop in the confession. He doesn't stop in the broken heartedness. He moves on to thanking God for forgiving him, therefore experiencing incredible joy. He emphasized contrition, yes. But he doesn't stop there. And it seems paradoxical to talk about repentance in the context of thanksgiving and joy. When we think about confession, especially if you come from a Catholic background, confession is where you go and you tell the priest of all of your sins. You tell him, everything that you've done that's wrong, and then you walk out. You feel a little relief, but usually there's no transition into joy that then strengthens you, empowers you, enhances your walk with the Lord. It seems paradoxical to talk about God, I thank you for forgiving my sin. And to talk about the bliss, the rapture, the thanksgiving you feel, the joy you feel after he forgives. It seems paradoxical unless you've experienced it. If you've experienced the joy that fills your heart when God forgives you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you've experienced the relief of forgiveness, the removal of guilt, of shame and the freeness of the restoration, not just the forgiveness of sin, but a restoration of fellowship and service with Christ. Here in the middle of our a sermon series in the Psalms, we're going to cover Psalm 32 today and Psalm 51 next week. And it's a two part examination analysis of what repentance looks like, true heartfelt repentance. Psalm 51 gives us the full confession, the full journey of realizing how Holy God is, and realizing just how deep and dark our sin is. And he goes through that whole progression. Here, in Psalm 32, we don't get the full progression, we get the destination. So the point of the Psalm is, why wouldn't you repent of your sin? Look at the destination. So much freedom and your soul. So much forgiveness God is offering us. So Psalm 51 is the journey of complete confession, Psalm 32 is the destination, that's what we're talking about. Holy Scripture tells us that God is in the business of turning a negative into a positive. And the more negative the negative, the more positive the positive. The deeper the loss the greater the win and the restoration. Scripture talks about God turning doubt into trust. Anger into love, sadness into joy. He talks about darkness getting turned into light, death into life, sinners into saints, and at the very center of Christianity is Jesus Christ dying on the cross, the ultimate death of the Son of God. The worst thing that we can imagine happening in all of the universe, and then God restores it into the resurrection. And that's what this Psalm is about, that God is willing to find us, meet us in our loss and he's willing to forgive us any and all sins upon sincere confession. And what is sincere confession? It's not just acknowledging our sin, but it's also acknowledging that we have a desire to no longer sin in the same way. To no longer fall in the same way we fall. To no longer commit transgressions and iniquities. And true confession leads to true restoration. And that's the two parts of true repentance. Confession is the negative side and then restoration is the positive side. So that's what we're going to look at in Psalms 32. Would you look at the text with me. Psalms 32. A maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of the summer. I acknowledge my sin to you. And I did not cover my iniquity I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who was godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble, you surround me with shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding which must be curbed with a bit and bridle or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked but steadfast love surrounds the one who trust in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice a righteous and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Two parts to the sermon, because there's two parts to the Psalm, we'll talk about the happiness of confession and then the happiness of restoration. First of all, the happiness of confession. The big idea of this Psalm, especially the first part of the Psalm is that God wants you to be happy. He's offering you happiness, He has created you for happiness in the presence of Himself. And happy are those who when we sin, which we do on a daily basis, instead of keeping silent, we confess our sins to the Lord, and the Lord is sure to forgive. So this is Psalm 32, a maskil of David. Maskil means instruction. It's a Psalm of instruction and it instructs in the way that we should go, and particularly and way to find happiness in the presence of the Lord. And He begins with a double blessing. Verse one and verse two, you see that blessed and blessed. The word blessing, I asked my daughters last night. Every night, we have devotion before we go to bed. And we've been going through the Psalms, because I'm preaching from the Psalms, I've been living in the Psalms. So we were in Psalms 32, and I said, "What is blessing?" And my daughter, Sophia says, "Blessing is when God blesses you." Public school nowadays. You can't use the word in as you're defining the word. You can't do that. But I think a lot of us we have a hard time because it seems so abstract. In what other contexts do you hear the word blessing other than, Instagram hashtag blessed when you're in a very nice place? What does it mean that we are blessed? And the word really in the original, it just means happiness. It's the ultimate form of happiness, and theologians get into the difference between joy and happiness. But it's the ultimate form of bliss, of euphoria that you feel, that says there's a blessing that comes with knowing that you're right with the Lord. The greatest source of blessing is God Himself. And what gets in the way of us experiencing God, and the presence of God, experiencing a deep, profound, abiding relationship with the Lord is our sin. So if sin is in the way of experiencing joy, we need something to save us from that sin. So He says, blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity. We get three nouns here for sin. There's three different aspects, angles that we get of sin. The first word they use is transgression. What is transgression? This is utter rebellion. It's a personal defiance, deliberate defiance against God when you know God's way, and you know how you should be living but you choose not to. It's a raised fist to God. Sin. What is sin? Sin is missing the mark that God set. A mark, it's an archery term, and we miss it. We shoot at the mark and we miss it, the word is used in Judges 20, where there were elite soldiers, Benjamites who could use a slingshot in such a way that it would hit a single hair. And if you hit the mark, you have not sinned. That's what the original term means. And then iniquity is deviation from the right path. It's going astray, taking the wrong road. So this is the picture that He paints for us, that there's a mark, God says, "This is how to live a godly life, a happy life, a full life." That's the mark. And you're to walk in that way toward that mark, and one degree off and you're going to end up in a completely different place, one degree off, and he says what happens is we see the mark, we see the path, but we choose to transgress. We choose a different path deliberately because we think we can circumnavigate God to find happiness. And this is what the world promises, this is what Satan promises, this is what our flesh promises, that true happiness is found outside of God. He says, this is my sin together. They particularly the full dimension of human, evil, all of our sin. And then, to counter the three nouns for sin, he gives us three verbs for forgiveness. There's forgiving and there's covered and there's not counted. Forgiven is there's a burden on me. It's like a backpack full of rocks, as you're climbing up a mountain, there's a burden upon you. And to be forgiven means that the burden is lifted. Covered, the sin is covered, it's concealed, it's out of sight. It's a forensic term. Like you're in a court of law and the judge says you're not guilty and not counted, not imputed, it's not reckoned. God doesn't record it. So here, David says, "This is really the key to happiness." Are you struggling with happiness in your life? Do you find that you're missing happiness? That you're going through days, that you're going through weeks through months, you're just in a funk. He says, perhaps you're missing out on the blessing of the forgiveness, of the covering of the not counting, or not imputation. So he takes all of sin, as dark as it is and he says, "No matter how dark the sin, God can deliver from all of it." And he indicates with these three verbs, a completeness of divine deliverance from all evil within, of everything that we've done that's evil. We have a hard time understanding just how incredible this is, because we take it for granted. Many of us, if you've heard of Christianity, if you heard of Jesus, if you heard of God, yes, of course, God forgives. Yes of course, Jesus loves me. He died on the cross for all my sins. Yes, of course, I should just believe in Him and be forgiven. Yes, yes, yes. But it doesn't lead to joy because we don't see the depth of our sin. We don't see it graphically. And this is why the Old Testament is important every Christian needs to be... We don't have enough Old Testament theology in our practical lives of theology. If you read the New Testament, apart from the Old Testament, you don't get the full picture of God, of holiness, of sin. In the Old Testament, God provided for sin to be atoned for. And He provided a very vivid, a very graphic, a very gory picture of forgiveness. Study in Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16 talks about the Day of Atonement where the people of God will gather before God's presence. And the priest would, after slaughtering a bull the priest would take two goats. The first goat he would slaughter, blood, gory, all of that. And then that blood was to be a symbol of the provision that we need for the atonement of our sin because sin leads to death. The penalty for sin is death. So if we are to be forgiven, if our sin is to be atoned for, if we're not going to die, something has to die in our stead. That's the first goat. The second goat, the priest would lay hands on that goat and confess in particular, all of the sins of the people of Israel. As the hands are laid, he's confessing the sins of the people, the transgressions, the sins, the iniquities and then sends the goat away to die in the wilderness. In the Old Testament, God promised that there is forgiveness, there is atonement for a limited time, in bringing this guilt offering. And every year, the people got would be reminded that sin leads to death. Sin leads to death, sin leads to death. And only in that context, can you understand the incredible grace of God where He sends the ultimate Lamb of God. Not a goat, but a lamb, a sheep. And that sheep is Jesus Christ, He's the Lamb of God that took all of the sins of the world upon Himself. And He died on the cross in our stead, with all of our sins, every single one of our particular sins laid upon Him as if He had committed all of those transgressions, acts and iniquities, and then He is slaughtered. Like a sheep, He's led to the slaughter and then He's slaughtered, His blood is shed, His body is broken, so that there is now provision for the forgiveness of our sins. So Jesus now is our ultimate sacrifice. Jesus Christ is our ultimate high priest and Jesus Christ is our temple. Therefore, as we think about Jesus forgiving our sins, we can't rejoice in the forgiveness of sins until we come in contrition, in brokenness of heart to the foot of the cross and see Christ dying in our stead. Anything you have ever done can be forgiven by God, any sin, any iniquity, any transgression. And you can get specific and you can... We have those places in our minds where we store our pasts. They're just there. They're embedded, it's indelible, you can't get rid of it. It's just there. And we try and close that door. But when we understand that Christ, His sacrifice is enough to cleanse me from all of that, we can now begin to experience joy and happiness. Now what's the catch? Is there a catch to the forgiveness of all of my past sins? And not just past, but past, present and future. What's the catch? And there is a catch. That's Psalm 32, two, blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. That's the catch. There is no deceit. He's saying, God can't forgive you of sins that you keep covered up. God can't forgive you of sins that you keep masked in masks of fake righteousness, self righteousness, self justification, mask of duplicity, deceitfulness, disguise. And here's why we do, because it's so hard to own up to that's how dark my sin is, that's how wicked I am, that I can do this X, Y and Z, we would rather cover it, "No, I'm not that bad." And he's saying, if there's a spirit of deceit in us, there is no hope for forgiveness. Because the spirit of deceit keeps us from being honest with God. And as we're in the Psalm you need to ask yourself, and it's difficult, I know. But you need to do this really hard soul work and just ask yourself, what am I hiding from God? Because I'm hiding it from myself. That's the ultimate reason why we're hiding it from ourselves because you can't hide anything from God. But we're not honest with God. What are you covering up in self justification or with comparison, where you grade yourself on a curve, because the people around you are so much worse than you are? So this Psalm calls us, to come to the Lord of naked transparency, to take off every single one of our masks. Stop pretending that you're better than you are. Jesus loves you. God loves you, not the masked you. Take the masks off, come to Him, be honest with yourself and with God. How did David do it? David, a great man after God's own heart, David, who wrote so much of the Holy Scriptures, David, the greatest king that Israel had ever had. Had David ever experienced a season where he was ensnared by the spirit of deceit? Yes. And that's what makes this Psalm so profound, that he lived through this. This great man of God had been blinded by the spirit of deceit, and you can study this, and Holy Spirit, we'll deal with it more next week. But David, when he should have been in battle, he stays home. And he's on his roof and he starts looking where he shouldn't have been looking. And one thing leads to another and he sees this woman, Bathsheba, who was married to Uriah. And he has her brought to him and he impregnates her. And then instead of repenting of that egregious sin, he tries to cover it up because of spirit of deceit. He would rather cover it up because it's too costly to be honest about the sin. So he masks himself, masks what he's done, and then he calls Uriah, Bathsheba's husband who's at battle to come home, because he thinks if Uriah spends time with his wife, then there's an excuse for the baby that's coming. Uriah being a loyal soldier, he refuses and says, "Look, I'm not going to sleep at home in the comfort of my home when my brothers are at war." So he doesn't do what David wanted him to do. So David's sin, it's more likely it will become public. So David sees that there's only one way to continue covering up the sin and that's to get Uriah out of the picture. So he tells Joab his general, "Send Uriah to the very front, the forefront of the hardest fighting and then draw back from him so that he might be struck down." David with his words, commits murder. Uriah now dies, he's out of the picture, David can now marry Bathsheba. Uncomfortable. And if you study especially the Old Testament, you see how graphic sin is. How dark it is. And that's for us to understand just how incredible grace is. But it all starts with the spirit of deceit. No, that's not a sin. No, I'm entitled to this. I deserve this. I've sacrificed so much. God owes me this. There's a million ways to rationalize our sin when we lawyer up ourselves. Deceit kept him quiet. Verse three, from when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of the summer. He gave us three nouns to describe sin and then he gives us three verbs for how God forgives. But he gives us three ways that he suffered before he repented. When he was silent, his bones wasted away, day and night your hand was heavy upon me, and my strength was dried up. How long did David keep quiet after sleeping with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah? How long did he keep quiet? Almost a year. Almost a year this great man of God pretended that he was holy, pretended that he was righteous, pretended that he was leading the people of God in all righteousness. And in the meantime, he's got this mask on of righteousness, of hypocrisy. And deep inside, he's wilting away. He talks about his bones almost rotting, languishing from deep inside. His bones are wasting away. He's talking about his core. In his core, he doesn't have words to describe his spirit, his soul. But it feels like in his bones there's rot. And he's talking about the physical anguish that starts with mental, emotional, spiritual, psychological anguish. It's devastating. And this is a metaphor for a depression that comes when there's known sin in our lives. Sometimes, sometimes, and I'm not saying that there's not physical depression, and we can have that... But I am saying that sometimes we feel depression in our lives because of unconfessed sin. That's what this text is saying. Silence about sin makes us physically sick. I'm not saying that all sickness is because of personal sin. That's not true. Because even the disciples looked at a person who was blind and they said, "Jesus, who sinned? Was it him or was it his parents?" Because they think that all sickness can be attributed to a person's sin or the parents' and etc. Jesus said, "No, it's for the glory of God." But sometimes, and this is a conversation that a lot of Christians don't want to have nowadays, because they're like, "Oh, now we're getting into the medical field and the pastor is not a doctor, so he can't talk." I'm saying it's clear from scripture, that some sickness does come from sin. The presence of habitual sin in our lives. In all kinds of ways, where anxiety increases, stress increases, and perhaps leads to knots in the back or higher blood pressure, shorter temper, insomnia or extra pounds. There's an unexplained affliction in our lives. If it comes out of nowhere, we must ask as we're praying for healing, as we're praying for restoration, we must ask, "Lord is there sin in my life that is leading to this?" David clearly knew, he says, "My bones are rotting, they're wasting away." There's something wrong deep inside. And God sometimes does send that heavy hand of affliction, which is a proven sign of His love. Revelation three 19, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. God's is a good father and when His children are sinning, sometimes, because we won't willingly repent, He does send reproval or discipline. Psalm 32, five, from the anguish that he's experiencing, spiritually, psychologically, mentally, emotionally, all of that. From that anguish, the graphic imagery of that anguish, we see a matter of fact declaration. Psalm 32, five, I acknowledge my sin to you. I did not cover my iniquity I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Selah, by the way, means just a break. It's just a pause and he wants us to pause here and meditate on what he's just said. And by the way, the confession is missing, the confession itself, that's Psalm 51, we'll talk about that next week, when the prophet Nathan confronts David and David confess I've sinned against the Lord. But David here, and I want you to notice, he says, my, three times. My sin, my iniquity, my transgressions particular. I confess, I acknowledge it, I will confess to whom, it always starts with the one against whom you primarily sinned, against the Lord. This is what true repentance is. It's not just saying, "God forgive me of sins." God forgive me for my sins. My iniquities, my particular transgressions, he owns his sin. He fights the spirit of deceit. He owns his sin. He acknowledges it, he doesn't cover it. He confesses it the sin weighed him down, and God's forgiveness releases him from the burden. One of my favorite things about verses one and two is in the Hebrew the verbs precede the nouns. He talked about his transgressions, he talked about sins, he talked about his iniquities. But in the Hebrew, the verbs forgiven comes before transgression. Is forgiven transgression, is covered over sin, not counted by the Lord for iniquity. And what he's saying is that God is so ready to forgive us of our sins. He is a forgiving God. He's a God of grace. He's so gracious that we can't even talk about our sin without speaking first about forgiveness, about the covering, about the not counting. The ordering is important. Because even for us to acknowledge our sin is already a work of grace in God in our heart. For us to even think about repentance is already proof of the work of God in our lives. We don't come to repentance because we finally logically worked it out, reasoned it out. Repentance is alien to us. Just like Gods imputed righteousism is alien to us, repentance is alien to us. We are so sinful that we cannot even repent on our own. That's why when a lot of people say, "Yeah, you know what? For a season I'm going to sin." Christians grow up in church and then they go to college, "I'm going to sin for a season and then I'll come back to church." Repentance is not in your power. Repentance is a gift from the Lord. Where do I see this? Romans two, four, or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience? Not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? A lot of Christians, they are getting degree by the degree subtly hardened to the presence of God, to the person of God, because they are presuming upon His grace, "I'll repent when it is convenient to me." That's false. That's a false narrative. Repentance comes from God. God leads us to repentance in His kindness. Acts 11, 18, when they heard these things, they have fell silent and they glorified God saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." Repentance itself as a gift from the Lord. Second Timothy, two, 24 and 25, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness, God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. Repentance is a gift. So if you feel the Holy Spirit working in you, this desire to repent of your sin, of your iniquity, of your transgression, do not presume that there will be multiple other chances. Perhaps there will be. Whenever you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin, leading you to repentance, at that moment, you must repent. It's an act of the Holy Spirit in us, resulting in the outflow of repentance in our rebellion. This is how rebellious we are, how naturally stubborn we are, that we cannot repent on our own. Even repentance is a gift. Even faith to believe in the God of the universe who's holy, against whom we've sinned, even to have faith is a gift. Ephesians two, eight through 10, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. What's the gift of God? Salvation. Not a result of work so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in Him. You've been saved by grace through faith, that's a gift. Salvation is a gift. But it is the gift of God. The emphasis isn't just on salvation, it's on faith itself. This is how gracious God's grace is that even the faith to believe in Him is a gift. And the repentance comes together with it. So he says, do not be silent about your sin, confess your sin to the Lord, it's already been exposed on the cross. On the cross all of your past, present, future sins, all of them have been laid down on Christ. There's no need to hide. And if God would immediately forgive King David for his egregious sin before the coming of Christ in person, how much more so will He forgive us our sins that have already been paid for, and confession is just how we accept this gift. First John one, seven through nine, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. Even when we're walking in the light, we still have sin, and we need to be cleansed of it. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is a caveat, that a lot of people don't talk about. The caveat to having all of your sins forgiven is honesty. Brutal honesty, naked transparency before God. St. Augustine, one of my favorite theologians, he had Psalm 32 inscribed on the wall by his sick bed to remind himself. And this is a person who had lived decades of holy, righteous living, worked for the Lord, served the Lord. But he wanted to be reminded of his sin, iniquity, transgression, that's all been forgiven, covered, removed, not counted against him. Why? Because he said, "The beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner." The beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner. Doesn't matter how many years you invest in getting an education, getting knowledge, if you don't know yourself to be a sinner before a holy God, you don't know anything of ultimate importance. This is why when Jesus Christ came, what was the very first word on his lips as written down in Holy Scripture? Gospel of Matthew chapter four, verse 17, the very first word out of the mouth of Jesus Christ in the Holy Scripture is the word repent. Repent. And because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, the commandment of repent is not God issuing condemnation, it's God issuing an invitation. By repent, He's saying, come and receive forgiveness. Come and receive a new heart, a transformed mind that leads to a new life. Now we don't stop there. This is important. I always get carried away with point one. We don't stop there. A lot of people say confession, just confess your sins, acknowledge your sins. God forgive me my sins. True repentance always leads to a transformation of life. And this is the point two, happiness of restoration. Happiness of confession always leads to a change of worship, a change of the way that we live. Psalm 32, six and seven. Therefore, based on that forgiveness, therefore everyone who's godly offer prayer to you at a time, when you may be found surely in a rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for him, you preserve him from trouble, you surround him with shots of deliverance. All of a sudden, he went from sinner, transgressor, a person who commits iniquity, he goes to being godly. You see that word in verse six, who is godly. He calls himself godly. This is imputed righteousness of God. God who is now my security, He is my rock, He is my salvation. He is my preservation and Him alone now I worship. We see in verses one through five, he had sinned because his object of worship was wrongheaded. He was worshiping pleasure. He was worshiping an idolatry, comfort, security, significance. Now repentance leads to new worship and he's worshiping God with shouts of deliverance. Isaiah 55, six and seven, seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him returned to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. He's saying, seek the Lord while He may be found. Pray to the Lord while He may be found. Verses eight, and nine, I will instruct you, who's talking now? It's God. All of a sudden we go from David speaking to God, the Holy Spirit's speaking, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. He's saying true repentance always recognizes, I've been on the wrong path, I'm going to repent. That's what repentance is, it's a change of mind that leads to a change of heart, that leads to a change of life. Now he says, I want to live a different life, I want to follow the instruction of the Lord willingly. This is how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes everything. Every other religion, every other worldview, you study any revolution, you study anyone who tries to change the world. Apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, everyone tries to change the world by changing forcefully the behavior of a person. Submit to me, say this, follow this way, become part of this particular movement, or else. Christianity comes in and God doesn't just say, repent, or die. He says, repent because Christ has died. See how much I loved you. I've given myself in order to forgive you. When you see Christ dying on the cross for your sin, it changes your heart. Now you want to follow him. Now you're not like the donkey and you're not like the horse or the mule, which they need pain in order to follow. He says, no. Christ took our pain. And now when we see that he did on the cross for us, we now follow because our hearts are changed, our hearts are live toward God. Psalm 32, 10, many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trust in the Lord. And that's the key phrase, the wicked trust in themselves. They trust in their works, they trust in their righteousness they trust in themselves. Whereas the righteous person, trusts in the Lord and when they trust in the Lord, the Lord's love, is the power that surrounds them and empowers them. Psalm 32, 11, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, oh, righteous and shout for joy all you upright in heart. Started with the blessing of being forgiven, the blessing of having your iniquities covered, your transgressions removed. And then he ends with gladness, rejoicing and righteousness, and a shout for joy. Three calls to exalt. Be glad, rejoice and shout for joy. Do we face hardships in life when we follow the Lord? Yes, of course. Maybe even more so. But he says when the waters of difficulty rise against us, they won't reach us. In the beginning he said, it's blessed to be forgiven, blessed to have our transgressions removed, not counted against us. The mark that we talked about, that mark, the end goal, that's home. A lot of people sin, because they think that home is not where God is. Home is something that we build for ourselves. And that's what happened with the prodigal son. The prodigal son said, "I am going to experience more happiness and joy apart from the father. I'm going to take everything that father's given me and I'm going to and enjoy life. I'm going to build a life for myself apart from the father." And apart from the father, he doesn't find happiness. He finds brokenness. And then finally he repents, he comes to he's senses. That's what repentance is. And he comes back to the father hoping that there's a chance that he will be forgiven. And this is Luke 15, 18 through 20, I will arise and go to my father, I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. This is the beauty of Christianity because this is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We don't even have the potential of being forgiven. God is so ready to forgive us. He is on the road waiting for us to return. And then he runs toward him, he hugs and he kisses him and he completely forgives him because of the compassion he felt for him. This is the God that we worship, this is the God that we praise, this is the God who was ready to forgive. So if you do have sins, if you have a spirit of deceitfulness, today is the day of repentance in particular because we are celebrating Holy Communion. And I'm going to read first Corinthians 11, 23 through 32. And as I do, Elizabeth, would you mind bringing me one of the little communion cups? I forgot to bring it. I was so excited to preach. I forgot we're... Just one of them, Elizabeth. Since you're nine, and we're celebrating Mosaic's ninth birthday. Okay, nobody look at her so she won't be shy. Thank you, sweetheart. She looks very autumnal today. Thank you baby. First Corinthians 11, 23 through 32. The words of St. Paul as inspired by the Holy Spirit, for I received from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed, He took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also, He took the cup and after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant of my blood do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. What does it mean to partake in a Holy Communion in an unworthy manner? What can make us worthy before the Lord? Nothing that we do. What makes us worthy before the Lord is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But in particular for us, what makes us unworthy today when we believe in Jesus Christ is to partake in the Holy Communion with a spirit of deceit, where we know that there is unrepentant sin in our lives that we have allowed to fester, and to grow. Before you partake in Holy Communion, make sure that you repent wholeheartedly before the Lord. Confess, acknowledge and cry out to the Lord to give you the power of the Holy Spirit, to turn from the path of sin, to step into the path of righteousness. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread, or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of Christ. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak, and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So if you are a Christian, a repentant Christian, who's repentant today of sin, particular sins, this is a chance to repent, to accept grace and to participate in Holy Communion. If you are not a Christian, if you have not repented of your sin, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service. It won't do anything for you, instead, just spend the time meditating on the gospel of Jesus Christ. What does it mean that the God of the universe sent His Son to die in my place for my sins, and is willing to forgive? Would you pray with me as we pray over the bread and the cup. Holy God, we thank you for the bread and the cup. We thank you that the bread symbolizes the body of Christ, which is physically broken for us and the cup symbolizes the blood of Christ, which is physically poured out for us. But the physical pain wasn't the greatest pain that you experienced. In the same way that King David experienced spiritual anguish, psychological anguish, deep inside, as his bones, it felt like, were wasting away, Jesus you experienced that wasting way of the soul because you took our sin upon yourself. That was the greatest anguish as you took our sin. The sinless Son of God took our sin and bore the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin, for our transgression, for our iniquity. And Jesus, you did that willingly. Because you love us. You want the best for us, which is God. And you reconciled us with God because of your sacrifice. And we thank you for that. And now in the presence of God, we can experience the joy of forgiveness and the joy of God's presence. Bless our time in the Holy Communion. We repent of all our sins and we pray that you forgive us. We pray that you count them not against us. We pray that you reckon not on our account, instead in pure to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took the break and after breaking it he said, "This is my body broken for you, take eat and do this in remembrance of me." He then proceeded to take the cup and He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of my blood which is poured out for the sins," many, "take, drink and do this in remembrance of me." Holy, gracious and merciful God, we thank you, that you Holy Trinity did not leave us in our sins but before the foundation of the world you had a plan to redeem us. You predestined for us to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit because of your son's work on the cross. We thank you, Jesus, that you showed us the way of life and the way of life is the way of the cross, where we are called on a daily basis to deny ourselves and to follow you. And Lord wherever we do sin, transgress, wherever we commit iniquities of stepping off your path, I pray that you give us the gift of repentance, the gift of grace to turn from that sin and turn back to your path, so that we can continue to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whose name we pray. Amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 4
September 27, 2020 • Andy Hoot • Psalm 22
Audio Transcript: Good morning. Or for us here today, good afternoon. My name is Andy. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic, along with Pastor Jan and Pastor Shane. This is a prerecorded service. We are meeting online right now this Sunday, because the temple where we meet has plans and preparations for one of their great annual holidays. So, we are meeting online. We look forward to seeing you next week. Thank you for just being flexible, after a long season of being flexible. But we pray that the Lord would continue to work profoundly through the mediums of technology that he's given to us. Today, we are continuing. Before I go into that, if you are new to Mosaic, you can still sign one of our connection cards. You can click on a link and fill one out. If you want to learn certain information about the church, the body here, our values, community groups, fill that out. We want to get to know you. We will follow up with you. Please do that. But today, we are continuing in our series, Balm Psalms. We've been going through this series through the Psalms, talking about how the Psalms are like balm for our soul. They're soothing. They meet us. They give us words to our deepest and strongest emotions in the Christian walk. Additionally, they drop balms of truth for us. Today, we're going through Psalm 22. Growing up, my mom used a lot of skin products. And some skin products, you just have to use over and over and over again for days before they make a difference, before they improve your condition, before they improve that cracked skin. Psalm 22 is one that you really have to spend time with. You have to meditate on. If you don't know, this is the Psalm that is typically referred to on Black Friday. Good Friday, excuse me. On Good Friday. And on Good Friday, we typically read about the afflictions of Jesus Christ, as he approaches the cross, and he's on the cross. Often, the pastors, preachers will spend time quoting Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is the most quoted Psalm, most quoted, most alluded to Psalm in the New Testament. This is a crucial Psalm in the history, in God's redemptive history. And so, just want to delve right into it. The best way to really take in this Psalm is to read it by yourself. Meditate on it. Spend time with it. Go back and forth in between the New Testament and the Old Testament. When you spend time with that, you see this is a Psalm written 1000 years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Before crucifixion was even invented, crucifixion is predicted here. There's a lot of debate when you dig into the commentaries. Does this prophesy? Was David functioning as a prophet when he wrote the Psalm? Yes, it should be blatant. It should be obvious. You should read this Psalm with me right now, and think that you're in the New Testament. Today, I'm not going to exposit it. It's a little too long for me to take you through all 30 or so verses in one sitting. I want to pull out a crucial theme that is a part of this text. Would you please listen as I read the word of God? Psalm 22. "To the choirmaster, according to the Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted. They trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame. "But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. 'He trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him.' "Yet you are he who took me from the womb. You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. "Many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of Bashan surround me. They open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death. "For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. "But you, O Lord, do not be far off. O you my help, come quickly to my aid. Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. "I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. "From you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. "All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship. Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him. It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it." This is the word of our Lord. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we praise you for this text. We praise you for just the details that you have laid before us to show the lengths, the depths that you went, that Jesus Christ endured, to preserve your name and provide a means of salvation for us. Lord, we praise you for your holiness. We praise you for working for your great name, and inviting us into relationship you with great compassion. Heavenly Father, we pray right now. Use this time of worship together to give us a grand vision of you, in all your glory and all your holiness. Give us a healthy fear. Shake us to the core, that we may worship you properly. Holy Spirit, please be with us. Correct and sharpen our hearts, as we delve into your word. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. If you know the tiniest bit of Christianity, you'll know that the Bible claims that God is holy. You might have distant memories of singing Holy, Holy, Holy. Lord God Almighty, if you grew up in the Protestant church. If you're from a Catholic background, you might be triggered by the word holy, to think of first holy communion. If you like history, you might think of Holy Wars. Sadly, some of you, many of you, when you hear the word holy, you might only think of ways that you've sinfully used it in a profane manner at a time of exasperation. Whatever your association with the word holy, if you've been in the church for any amount of time, the word has probably become commonplace to you, a common part of speech, something you encounter a lot in God's word, and hear and say in prayer in small groups. But when we think about the word holy, the sad reality is that a lot of us in the church don't understand God's holiness. And we downplay its importance in our lives. That's wrong. Isaiah 6:3 is a passage that highlights the importance of God's holiness. The prophet Isaiah, at the time of his calling, he receives a vision from the Lord, sitting on his throne in all of his glory, with seraphim, these heavenly beings on either side of him. One seraph calls out to the other seraph and says, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." We can't speed past the repetitive nature of holy made here. It wasn't sufficient for the seraph to say, "God is holy." The seraph had to use the word holy three times to capture the depth and breadth of God's holiness. In Hebrew culture at that time, to say something twice was to make clear that this was really important. The listener here should focus in upon hearing something repeated twice. To say something three times was to attach supreme, superlative importance to something. In all of scripture, the only quality of God that is mentioned three times in succession is holy, holy, holy. Isaiah says, God is not simply holy or even holy, holy, He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, justice, justice, justice. It does say that he is holy, holy, holy. And that's not enough. The whole earth is full of his glory. When we think of holy, holy, holy, it's supposed to stretch the boundaries of our intellect, stretch the boundaries of our imagination, whatever you think of when you hear the word holy, hear that God is holy, you need to know that God is in an entirely different category of holiness. He's much holier than you ever thought he could be. When we think here, holy, holy, holy, it's meant to humble us with the realization that God is different from us. That God is infinitely greater than anyone and everyone who has ever lived, who has ever existed. This is essential to know that God's holiness is the crucial feature of his being. The crucial essence of his being when we come to Psalm 22. When we come to Psalm 22, we're walking on holy ground. Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher, pastor once said, "We should read Psalm 22 reverently, putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture, it is this Psalm." Why is it holy? In seeing the grave detail, we see the length that God went to preserve his own holiness, by pouring out his wrath for the sins of man on his own son. Perhaps more than any other piece of scripture, the holiness of God is on full display in Psalm 22. His ways are altogether different. He himself is altogether different. Today, I want to talk about God's holiness. I just want to clarify even further, what is holiness? What is God's holiness? Why does God's holiness matter? How does God's holiness provide comfort? I'll go back and forth to this more topical connection with the text. What is holiness? The word for holiness comes from the Hebrew word qadosh, which means to cut. To be holy means to be cut off, to be set apart from everything else. It means to be in a class by oneself, a cut above the rest, when we think of great athletes, great artists, great figures. Qadosh has another layer of meaning. I mean, to be holy, qadosh means to be entirely morally pure, in every way possible, at all time. Often, holiness is cut short in its definition. It's defined by using only one aspect, one of the aspects that I just presented, but we have to include both. To say that God is holy is to say that his holiness occupies a place of power and moral purity that no one else has ever had before, or where no one else has ever sat before. We therefore don't have anything that we can compare him, as a frame of, compare God's holiness to as a frame of reference. Because there's no metaphors, there's no similes, there's no comparisons that quantify what God's holiness is in relation to us. God is altogether different. He's altogether pure. To say that he is holy is synonymous with saying that he is God. Psalm 2, we touched on this in recent weeks, it taps into this. "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits on the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'As for me, I've set my King on Zion, my holy hill.'" It's folly to think, for rulers of the nations to think themselves, think of their thrones on a similar level of God in his holiness. First Samuel 2:2 proclaims, "There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you. There is no rock like our God." Exodus 15:11 asks, "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?" To clarify even further, God's holiness is not just a feature. I misspoke a couple of minutes ago, it's not just a feature of who he is or what he does. His holiness is not just one of many other attributes that sets him apart from all other beings. God's holiness is the essence of who he is. Everything God thinks, desires, speaks, and does is an expression of his holiness. Therefore, God is holy in every attribute and every action. He is holy in power. He is holy in justice. He is holy in awe. He is holy in mercy. He is holy in grace. He is holy in sovereignty. He is holy in wisdom. He is holy in patience, holy in wrath, holy in faithfulness, holy in compassion. He's holy even in his holiness. So why, point two, why does this matter? If you're anything like me, you're probably thinking, "I kind of get it. I think I can define how he's holy. But what does this mean for me? How does this doctrine impact my life?" First and foremost, the holiness of God is at the center of the redemptive narrative of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's at the center of scripture. It is the holiness of God that brings us to this moment, highlighted in Psalm 22, that points to Jesus Christ bearing the wrath for man's sin on the cross. Without the holiness of God, there'd be no moral law to which every human being is responsible. Without the holiness of God, there would be no divine wrath, as depicted graphically in Psalm 22, against man's sin. Without the holiness of God, there would be no need for a perfect son sent as an acceptable sacrifice, as atonement for the sins of man. Remove God's holiness from our doctrine, or remove it from the life of the church, remove it from the speech of mankind, and it all boils down to your sense of right and wrong. Really means nothing. Your sense, your desire for justice means nothing. Our sense of these things, it stems from God's holiness. God has imputed to us some of, communicated to us some of his attributes. As image-bearers, we know, we have it written on our heart what is right and wrong. And so, we can't ignore God's holiness. Some people come to Christianity and they say, "I want to learn about God." They want to read. They want to study. They want to do the apologetics. They want to engage in argument. But they don't want to confront God's holiness. They think they don't need that. You can't come to Christianity without confronting God's holiness. It's at the center of the story. So, how does God's holiness provide comfort? Want to read from Psalm 22 again. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The famous words that Jesus Christ spoke while he was hanging on the cross. "Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." In a moment that seems so out of control, that seems so evil, where wrong seems to be rewarded and right seems to be punished, where God seems to have abandoned the Psalmist, abandoned Jesus Christ, it's the recollection and the love of the holiness of God that allowed the Psalmist, that allowed Christ to persevere through the crucifixion. This is the first thing that he says in that feeling of forsakenness, that feeling of abandonment. With the utterance of "my God, my God," in the midst of this excruciating trial, Christ still views God the Father as God. He doesn't lash out against God. He doesn't shake his fist at him. He does not revoke his faith in the Father. He does not seek his own vindication in the moment. What he finds refuge in, what he seeks, what he proclaims first and foremost is, "Yet you are holy." It's the holiness of God, and leaning into that, in this moment, that allows the Psalmist, that allowed Jesus Christ to stay faithful and persevere through the most despairing of moments. Jesus Christ, thinking about his father, his holiness, knows that God is far bigger in his holiness than the circumstances that he faces. A.W. Pink, theologian says, "Never did divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Savior's countenance was marred in the midst of his dying groans." This Christ himself acknowledges in Psalm 22. When God had turned a smiling face from him and thrust his sharp knife into his heart, which forced that terrible cry from him, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," he adores this perfection. A lot of theologians take time to argue, he had the whole Psalm in his mind. What the Psalmist knew when he wrote this, what Jesus knew and believed with the eyes of his heart, was that in every situation that he was in, in the care of his sovereign and holy father. In our lives, it's the same. Every situation you have been in, every situation you are in, the situation you're in right now, every situation you will be in is under the sovereign control of the holy God. It often doesn't seem this way, but it is true. Because God is holy, what he does is always right. What he says is always true. Whatever he wills is just. Whatever he promises, he will always deliver. In year 2020, do you believe this? Psalm 22 teaches us in verse 1, in our perceived forsakenness as Christians, perceived abandonment, God is holy. Furthermore, Psalm 22, verse 1, when God seems far away, "God, you've called me to this task yet I don't feel like you're showing up," he is holy. When he doesn't seem to answer your prayers, the groanings of your heart, he is holy. Verse 2, when you're crying and anxious, but still get no answer, God is holy. Verse 6, when we're stomped on like a worm and scorned and despised, God is holy. Verse 7, when you're mocked, God is holy. Verse 8, when accused of wrongdoing, God is holy. Verse 12, when the people of power look down on you, he is holy. Verse 13 to 15, when your body is sapped of all strength, when you feel like you're reduced to a lifeless heap of flesh, when you thirst and feel like death, God is holy. Verse 16, when enemies of God's people, these dogs surround you and harm you, God is holy. Verse 18, when your garments and belongings are taken, he is holy. Verse 21, when he rescues you, he is holy. Do you believe this? Ted Tripp says, you have to preach this message of God's holiness to yourself over and over again. Evil is not in control. Injustice does not rule. Corruption is not king. Satan will not have victory. God is, and will always be worthy of your trust, for this one reason. He is holy. We might not get to see it in this life, but with his holy might, God will defeat every evil thing that has inflicted pain and brought upon every difficulty injustice. And this form of despair will eventually deliver us to a world free of all that is wrong, forever. So, when we as Christians, when we don't find comfort in God's holiness, there's something wrong. There's something going on. The message of Psalm 22, of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is that Jesus Christ was forsaken by the Father, so that we who are in Christ would never be forsaken by him. Second Corinthians 5:21. "For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God." Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." There might be times that we don't feel like we're children of the holy God. We don't feel that he's holy and in control. In these moments, these are feelings, not truth. We need to reject those feelings. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Who can understand it?" And in this flesh until Jesus Christ returns, our own heart can condemn us. Satan condemns us. The world condemns us, but we can't trust those feelings, whatever the source or the cause. We need to fight feelings with faith. Ephesians 6:16, 18, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." We need to fight condemnation with conviction like the saints of old. Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Though it might appear that God is not with us in the bleakest of moments, we trust that he is. We trust that with him on our side, we're never in the wrong place or the wrong situation. Though we might face temporary injustice, he will eventually bring full justice. One day, we will reign with him in full holiness and splendor. Where does this conversation, this discussion of the holiness of God lead us? What direction should encounter with God's holiness lead us? To praise and celebration. This is the end, the turning point of the Psalm, Psalm 22, verse 22. "I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. "From you comes my praise in the great congregation. My vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever. "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. "All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship. Before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him. It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to people yet unborn, that he has done it." No, we encounter God's holiness, and we praise and worship him for it. Ironically, when we're in the valley, when we're in despair, when we feel like God has abandoned us, we feel like we're falling apart or becoming undone, but it's an encounter with God's holiness that truly causes us to become undone. In God's holy presence, we lose all sense of pride, all reasons to boast in ourselves, the desire to keep on living for our own glory. With our creatureliness and our sin exposed by our holy God, we really see our need for our Savior. We see the impossible gap between ourselves and the Father, and finally understand that the Son who was forsaken by the Father is the only way to bridge that infinite gap. We celebrate God's holiness because when God reveals it to us, the purpose is not to get us to run from him in hopeless terror, but to run to him to find grace for all of eternity. We receive God's offer of grace and we praise him. We lead lives of worship and praise and mission for his glory. A classic prayer called The Valley of Vision praises God for his holiness, and really captures those trying moments, when we see his holiness most clearly, like this moment on the cross. The Valley of Vision. "Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou has brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights. Hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold thy glory. Let me learn by paradox, that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells, the brighter thy stars shine. Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley." Please join me in prayer. Lord, we pray. Give us the vision of Jesus Christ. Let us see you working, for your glory, for your holiness, out of deep love for us, in the valleys, in the moments of despair. Lord, we pray, give us a grand vision of you moving, of you running, pulling the strings of life, guiding the world, all for your glory. And Lord, while we wait, let us run with praise. Let us celebrate your holiness. Let us proclaim it with joy, and invite others into it. Lord, I pray, honor our lives, honor our faithful efforts to you, especially when we don't have strength to walk forward without your help. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 3
September 20, 2020 • Psalm 19
Audio Transcript: Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. And it's so good to worship together. If you'd like to connect with us and you're new, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the Connection Card and the Worship Guide or in the app or online. We'd love to get connected with your information and we would like to send a little gift in the mail to say, "Thank you for coming out." With that said, would you please... Oh. One quick announcement. Next Sunday we are not meeting in person. Unfortunately. We will be meeting online. And I will be in the Facebook Live chat. I really enjoy that. And there might be a chicken wing question. Who knows. Who knows. Would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's word? Lord, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures. We thank you that the Holy Scriptures reveal so much about your character. About how gracious you are. About how loving you are. How pure you are. How holy you are. And we thank you that through the Holy Scriptures we get to meet the hero of the Scriptures, your son Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you for living the life that each one of us was intended. A purpose to live. And for dying the death that we deserve to die for our law breaking. We thank you Holy Spirit that you are with us. And Holy Spirit I pray you continue to tune our hearts to the voice of God. Let us hear the proclamation of your glory that creation preaches and declares. Let us hear your holy voice that directs us and guides us to live lives that glorify you most. Continue building your church here, Jesus. You are a great builder, and you get all the glory. Thank you for leading us here, and I pray prepare our hearts now. Remove any doubt, anxiety, stress, worries and let us hear from you. I pray this in Jesus name, amen. We're continuing our sermon series through the Psalms. We're calling them Balm Psalms. Balm in terms of it's balm for your soul. It's medicine. It's ointment. It's anointing for your soul and hopefully in your time with the Lord, in your devotions, you're spending time in the psalms. Today, we're in Psalm 19. Junior year in college I had a season of doubt. I looked around at my fellow students, at my professors and no one believed in God. Very few believed in God. Almost statistically insignificant. And then I had this one professor. He was there for just a year from the University of Moscow. And he was a believer. He was a Russian Orthodox believer, but he loved the Lord and he loves the Scriptures. And I asked him, I said, "Why do you believe? No one else around us believes. Why do you believe?" And he quoted Emmanuel Kant and this is the quote that he gave me, "Kant said this in the Critique of Practical Reason, he said, 'Two things fill my mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe. The more often and steadily we reflect upon them. The starry heavens above me, and the moral law within me. I do not seek or conjecture either of them as if they were veiled obscurities or extravagances. Beyond the horizon, my vision, I see them before me and connect them immediately with the consciousness of my existence.'" And Kant was actually buried in Russia and this is his tombstone and it's the quote on top, it's in German and at the bottom it's in Russian. It talks about the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. That's why I believe in God. Can we know that God exists? Of course we can. Even to ask that question from the perspective of Scripture is folly. Scripture says, "Yes, of course God exists. Look around. The greatest miracle in the history of miracles is creation itself. It's creation ex nihilo. Creation from nothing. Everything from nothing. God speaks. It's there." And today we're looking at Psalm 19 where it says that, "Creation speaks. It declares. It proclaims that God created everything. And it declares and it communicates something about God because God is a communicating God." Can we know who God is from creation? We can know some aspect of Him that He's all powerful. That He's beautiful. That He's an architect. That He's a designer. That He's a creator. But the other aspects of His character are veiled. Creation can't give us those, and that's why we need the other book that God gives us which is Holy Scripture. Got is Elohim, great creator, almighty God. He's also Yahweh, a conventional God who loves us. So God's written two excellent books published for our instruction edification. The first book is creation. Its natural revelation shows that God is a genius of a God. The second book shows us the will of God. That He created us for a purpose and that we are to obey His will. That He is sovereign over every single person. Not just over Christians. He is God over all. And today as we enter into the incredible Psalm that Psalm 19 is, a great writer C.S. Lewis said, "This is the greatest writing he's ever read in his life." The greatest lyricism. One of the finest poems in the world", he says, in his reflections on the Psalms. Today we're going to look at glory of God in all of creation in the Scriptures. And in God's recreation which is Christians. So would you look at psalm 19 with me? Psalm 19, "The heavens declare the glory of God. And the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them, He has set a tent for the sun which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strongman runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hidden from His heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure of making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them as your servant warned in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern His errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer." This is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May you write these eternal truths on our hearts. Three points. We'll look at God's glory in the cosmos. We'll look at God's glory in the Scriptures. And we'll look at God's glory in the Christian. So the first point is God's revelation or God's glory in the cosmos. By cosmos I mean all of creation. Everything that is and it begins with Psalm 19: 1 and 2. "The heavens declare the glory of God." It's as if everything around us is a sermon. It's a preacher declaring the truth that God is and the sky above proclaims His handiwork day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. By heavens, He's talking about the sky. He's talking about the galaxy. He's talking about the universe. The cosmos. And e talked about this a little last week, that we are to meditate on the nature around us. It is created for us to be wow by, to have awe. To be in awe. Which is one of the greatest places to be. Little children ... this is why children are so happy. Children find awe in everything. I was just admiring my daughter, Milana. She had a little bottle of water. She's wowed by it. Because she doesn't see little bottles of water on a daily basis. She sees bigger bottles. And she loves it. It fits her hand so perfectly. She's wowed by it. It's such a happy place to be. Such a joyful place to be. And I think as we grow older, we get desensitized to the awesome nature, the world that we live in. It speaks. There's mystery. There's splendor. There's order. And the galaxies of the cosmos, they're loud. They're direct. People often say, "I've never heard the voice of God. I don't believe in God. I've never heard the voice of God." Well, God doesn't often speak audibly. He speaks louder than audibly. He doesn't just speak to our ears, He speaks to all of our senses if we are willing to receive the message. The heavens aren't just glorious. They declare. They proclaim. It says, "Days pour our speech. Nights reveal knowledge." It's like there's two choirs. The choir of the day, and the choir of the night, and they're singing together in beautiful harmony. They utter forth. That's like the speech bubbles forth. From the very beginning, the Psalm is what He assumes is there's no pretext for disbelief. There's no justification for it. You can't live in physical reality and just believe that it just happened. That's not just disbelief, that's willful disbelief. Reality in a created order demands that we acknowledge the creator. And we aren't just to acknowledge. We are to adore like creation does. It declares. It proclaims that he's glorious. Psalm 19:3, "There is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard." So it's not audible. It's not distinct words, but it's real. It's not precise, but it's still an eloquence. It's a wordless word. You ever hear people around you speaking in a different language? The thing I always think when I hear a different language around me, it's like two people speaking different language, they're totally talking about me. And as a bilingual speaker, if you hear me speaking Russian in front of you, I'm totally talking about you. 100%. Why would I speak in English? I'm going to speak in Russian to just ... Right? And it's as if nature speaks a different language. We know it's there. We need someone to decipher that ... what is nature saying? What is it speaking? Psalm 19:4, "The voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." And the assumption here is everybody hears. Everybody hears. The question is, what do you want to do with that testimony? And the New Testament sheds light on this, that there is wrath from God when people willfully tune down the volume of God's creation. Romans 1:18 and 20, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. For what can be known by God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without excuse." Saying the reason why people reject that there is a creator behind the creation is not that there is not enough evidence, it's because there's a suppression of truth. I don't like this truth. Therefore this truth isn't true to me. God says, "No. No. You can't do that. There is no excuse." Romans 10:18, "But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all of the earth and their words to the end of the world." He quotes this psalm. So meaning that nature exists. We exist not just for natural order. There's not just a natural end to our existence. There's a moral end that we exist just like all of nature exists to declare that God is glorious. It's important not just that it is, but what it says, and nature is a form of language and it's speaking about God and the heavens are a sign and every sign about God is a vehicle of ideas about God. So the fact of nature reveals the fact of God. The being of God. The vastness of nature shows that He is immense. The uniformity of nature declares His unity. There's an order in the godhead. The regularity of nature discloses His unchangeableness. He does not change. He's immutable. The variety of nature manifests His exhaustlessness. The adaptations of nature unveil His wisdom and the happiness of nature declares His wisdom. His goodness. That God is a good god. One of my favorite things in the world is to watch animal videos. There were the cat videos that were ... and then there were little puppy videos that go viral, and then there's goat videos. Videos of little goats. And they are like the happiest beings ever. Sophia, my oldest daughter, started dreaming about having a farm and she's like, "I just want some goats." And I said, "Who's going to care for the goats?" She talking about hiring someone. Good for you. There's a happiness in creation. It shows us that God is a happy God. He's a good god. And nature is telling us to think about God. And as we contemplate nature, we have to contemplate God. And it's not His only revelation, obviously. But it's a great and beautiful revelation and God's testimony is both of His work and His work is a testimony about His goodness. And it's plainly discoverable. The more you study, many of you are in fields where you study God's creation on a daily basis. You could probably preach this part of the sermon significantly better than I can. It's everywhere. Charles Misner was a physicist who was friends with Einstein and he said this, he said, "The design of the universe is very magnificent and should not be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religions. Although, he struck me as basically a very religious man. Einstein might have looked at what the preacher said about God, and felt that they were blasphemy. He had seen more majesty than he had ever imagined in the creation of the universe and felt that the God they were talking about couldn't have been the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that the churches he had run across did not have proper respect for the author of the universe." What a quote. The author of the universe. It's as if we're daily reading a book and saying, "There is no author." Psalm 19:4b through 6, "In them, He has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber. And like a strongman runs his course with joy. It's rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat." So this part of the sermon, He crescendos with the son. He said, "The sun on a daily basis proclaims. It's a witness to God's glory." And he personifies the sun here. He says, "The sun is like a bridegroom." It's like a groom. It's like a groom on his wedding day. If you're married and you were a groom for your husband and you were a groom at one point, you know exactly what this feels like. That morning, you're about to get married. I remember the day, the night before I got married, I couldn't sleep. I slept like three hours. I was just so excited. And thinking through all the details and still mad that I invited my barber who was supposed to cut my hair the evening before, and my barber comes to my wedding, he forgot his scissors. He forgot all of his tools. And that's the only reason I invited you, Joe. So I'm thinking about that and I was like, "Well, it's okay. We'll use a little gel and a little pomade and we'll figure this out." That's what I'm thinking. Then you wake up and I remember with my boys, we went to Dunkin' Donuts, and I still remember the egg, ham and cheese on an everything bagel. I still remember. The extra large coffee. Cream and sugar. I still remember all of that. And then you get ready. The tuxedo. The excitement. He said, "The sun is like that." There's an exuberance that every day is a gift. It's a gift to be alive. There's a joy. There's an eager anticipation. There's a brilliance. There's a radiance. And it moves through the sky, He said, "Like a strongman." Like a world class runner. Where it just seems so easy for them. Right? You ever watch the Olympics, you're like, "Yeah. I could do that. That's so easy." Someone once said like, "Every Olympic event should have just one regular person. Just for like so we know how good is Michael Phelps. Just throw in the commenter. The guy who was saying that Phelps is slow." Throw in that guy. And He's like this is what the sun's like. It's like an athlete. He makes it look so easy. Unaffected by how difficult it is. And it provides continual undeniable proof of the greatness of God. However nature has fallen, it's great and it's good, but it's fallen. So we can know a lot about God but the fallenness of creation gives us doubts. Is God good when there are earthquakes and forest fires and tsunamis and tornadoes? Is God good in those moments? And that's why we need more than just general revelation. We also need special revelation. We have natural revelation. We also need supernatural revelation to show us just how great God is. And this is the second point that God's glory in the Scriptures, God is not silent. He has spoken and He expresses Himself in two books, in nature and the Scriptures. And He comes and tells us that the Scriptures are from Him through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came. He believed that the Old Testament was God's word. He spoke more of God's word, and then sends the Holy Spirit to speak even more of God's word through the church. And Saint Peter, Peter the main apostle of Jesus Christ, the main disciple, he saw the glory of Christ. He saw the transfigured Christ where Jesus Christ unveiled His glory. Removed just a little bit so Peter, James, John, they saw the glory of Christ. And this is what Peter writes about that in connection to the Holy Scripture. 2 Peter 1:16, "For we do not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God, the Father. And the voice was borne to Him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." This is one of the most mind blowing text in all of Scripture. He said, "We saw the glory of God in Jesus Christ and we have something", not just equal in revelation. We have something even more glorious in revelation. And he's talking about the Holy Scriptures. He's talking about the miracle of the Holy Scriptures, and this is what the Psalmist talks about starting verse seven. He talks about the law of the Lord. It's perfect. Reviving of the soul. And here, I love getting into all the details about the lyrics and just the wordplay. One of the things I just want to point out is, he gives us 12 qualities here about the law of God. And you can study them on your own. He gives us six nouns, six adjectives and six verbs about the beauty of it. So you see how it's all planned. He's talking about the law and when we think of law, we think of just God's commandments, but it's more than that. It's the word Torah, or Torah, which is the God's teaching. It's God's wisdom. God's instruction. So for us, the Torah, for us God's instruction is more than just the Psalm. More than just the Ten Commandments. More than just the Old Testament. It's all of the Holy Scriptures. All 66 books. And if you study the Holy Scriptures, you really do see it's a miracle of God. If you go outside today, if you go up to 40 people, and you say, "Tell me what God is like from your perspective", you won't have 40 perspectives. You'll probably have 400 perspectives. Because every single person probably has 100 opinions on God and they're all contradictory. They will not be in unison. And the Holy Scriptures written over 1,600 years. Over 40 authors. In three different languages. Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Written on three continents. You're talking about people who were tent makers, physicians, shepherds, farmers, fishermen, priests, philosophers, kings, and they're all singing in harmony. They're all speaking about the same glorious God. They're all speaking about the Holy Trinity with Jesus Christ at the center of this one theme. God created everything that humanity rebelled against God. That God sends a redeemer to die in our place. And that God does redeem and that God does transform people by the power of His Holy Spirit through the Holy Scriptures. And the Holy Scriptures have transformed billions of people. Lives are transformed. When people read this book and submit to the teachings of the God of this book, it transforms people. It transforms men. It transforms women. It transforms families. It transforms communities, nations. It transforms everything. And he says, "The law of the Lord, it's perfect. It's whole. It's complete. It's lacking defect of any kind. And it revives the soul." And the beauty of this text is he says, "The law of the Lord", he changes from El, Elohim, to Yahweh. That God gives this law because He's a loving God. And he gives us this law, this teaching, to show us how our souls can be revived. And the assumption for revive for this word is that something is wrong. That our souls are languishing. That there's a lack of energy. There's a lack of vibrance. There's a lack of life and our souls need to be refreshed and restored and reinvigorated. They need to be renewed. And the Holy Scriptures do this. If you're a Christian and you devote yourself as a discipline to studying the Scriptures, loving the Scriptures, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You wake up and it's as if you died a little in the inside. That's the only way I can really describe it. There's like a spiritual amnesia that happens where you forget that everything that happened before in terms of God, you wake up and it's as if everything God did, all of the revelations you got, it's as if blank slate and you need the soul to be revived again. And that's what God's word does. The second part of verse seven is, "The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple." It's sure. The testimony is God's own witness about who He is, what He requires. That's what the law is. And it's sure. It's verifiable. It's trustworthy. It's dependable. And there's a prophet. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simply. Assumption here, apart from God's law, there is no wisdom. And wisdom is very different from knowledge. You can get lots of knowledge about how the world works, but without wisdom which is why the world works the way it is, that's what wisdom is. It's being able to take truths about God and those truths now have purpose. And now you know how to take that knowledge and apply it. Wisdom is thinking the thoughts of God. It's seeing life as God sees life. And it's acting accordingly. Some of the most educated people in the world, if they don't know God, if they don't know why everything exists, if they don't submit themselves to God, Scripture calls that folly. That you can be getting incredible education, but without wisdom, without why are we here, who's behind me being here, what is my purpose in life, you're missing it. So my girls are back in school. Praise God. The youngest. The two youngest go to school now. Milana goes to pre-kindergarten at age three. And that, I feel so good about that. Praise God. The two oldest is still online, but the two youngest are out of the house for at least a few hours of the day. One of the things, as I grow older, like I've read the wisdom part. But as I grow older, I begin to realize a lot of what they teach in school is just folly. Like teach my kids math and two plus two is four. There's no debate on that. Teach my kids math. Teach them how to write. But as far as the content, apart from God and God's wisdom, you remove that from the classroom, and there's a lot of folly being taught. And we need to understand that we need wisdom on a daily basis. We need wisdom about how the world is. How the world works. And the wisdom is this is ... God says, "This is who you are. And here is the design book. Here is the design user manual." You need God's law. Psalm 19:8, "The precept of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart." Precepts are right and they rejoice the heart. What are precepts? They're rules. They're regulations. This is how you work, and I want to give you this manual so that you know how to have moral satisfaction. That's what the joy is. To gladden the heart with moral satisfaction. The law isn't given to us by God to restrict us from good. It's given to us to restrict us from evil. You ever meet a child that grew up with zero restrictions? You ever meet a kid like that? And for some reason it's always at the grocery store or at the airport. That's where you meet those kids. I don't know why it is, but it's true. Next time you fly, you'll see those kids. And probably that kid is sitting right next to you on the plane. We know. We know that children need a framework. They need to be told no. We know this. Why in the world would we think that if God has children, He would not tell them no? God does tell us no. He tells us no all the time to give us a better yes. He actually wants us to get to the point where wee tell ourselves no. That's self-control. Self-discipline. And say, "Yes" to the great things of life. That's what parenting is. And that's what the Holy Scriptures are. God is saying, "This is my word to you as my children. I want the best for you." The law is designed to lead us in the way of life, peace, blessing. And that's why His law is very specific about very nitty-gritty everyday things. Here's my law regarding work. He's my law regarding finances. Here's my law regarding desire. All kinds of desire. Here's my law regarding love. Here's my law regarding how you structure your life. And it leads to rejoicing of the heart. Sin steals joy. Holiness replaces it. Holiness fills our heart with incredible joy. Psalm 19:8, "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." The commandment of the Lord enlightens the eyes. It's pure in the sense that there is no sin, malice corrupting influence. There's no darkness in God's law. And it does enlighten the eyes. In terms of it reveals what life is like. It reveals the path forward. It enlightens your eyes. It clears your vision. It's like when you wake up. You always got to wash your eyes. There's all kinds of gunk in there. And for me, I don't really see everything until I put on my glasses. Everything is blurry right now. The first two years I would preach without glasses because I was like, "I don't need to see people's reactions." It would just ... I don't need to see people falling asleep. I don't need that. This is what God's law is. It fixes your eyes. You begin to see what is good. And you begin to see what is evil. And on top of that, and this is as you grow in the faith, you don't just see good. You begin to love good. You begin to be drawn to the good. You don't just see evil. You begin to hate evil. The part of loving God is also hating evil. All the evil within, all the evil without. And part of loving God is also loving the things that God loves and God loves the world and God loves people. And God's law does this to the sight of our hearts. The eyes of our hearts. Psalm 19:9, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." The fear of the lord, it's clean. Again, there's a parallel with the previous verses. Clean is pure, meaning the fear of God is what cleanses us. The fear of God is what keeps us close to Him. And I believe that a lot of Christians don't really grow in their faith because they don't have a theology of fearing God. If God is the God who created everything that there is, if God is who Scripture says that God is, why would we not fear Him? And I'm not talking about a fear that pushes us away from Him. I'm talking about a fear that pushes us away from anything that would pull us away from God. There's a difference. Fearing God is you love Him so much. You want to do everything you can to bring delight to His heart instead of disappointment. And that's what fear is. He's so great. He's so incredible that when you love Him, you fear anything that will pull you away from Him because that's what brings disappointment to His heart. How is your fear of ... Do you fear God? Do you fear God? And the greater ... I don't know ... You kind of experience this when you meet someone famous. If you've ever met someone who is in power. If you ... I remember one time I shook Bill Clinton's hand and I was in college, one time. And I remember just like people were in awe of the president. People were in awe of this person in a position of power. There's something ... there is like a trepidation that happens. Well, how about the God who created that guy? How about the God who created everything? And a very healthy love for God always comes with fear. Fear of God that's pure and it's enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Psalm 19:10, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." He's saying that the law of God, the word of God, it's treasure. Many of us we don't really understand Scripture because we read Scripture like we read a law book or like a history book. He says, "No, no, no. This is the way you got to read Scripture. Like a treasure map." Like this map is given you, and you, if you study this map attentively, you will find much treasure. More treasure than fine gold. And He says, "It's sweeter than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." My community group knows this and the staff at Mosaic knows this. Whenever we have Scripture and we study Scripture, I start to salivate. Like it's so delicious. There's so much goodness in God's word as you dig into really what's going on. Paying attention to every single word. And he said, "It's like honey." The thing about honey, if you've ever met anyone that is a beekeeper that makes honey, Tanya's dad is a beekeeper in Philadelphia. He used to do this in Ukraine and then he went to a monastery that has huge fields. He walked up to the door and said, "Hello. I'm going to bring my bees here. Is that okay?" And they said, "What are you talking about?" He's like, "Here's some honey. It's a foretaste of the honey I keep bringing you." And they said, "Okay." So he's got these little beehives. He's got little boxes. And he shows us what he does and it's so much work to care for them and to create a space for them to live and to make sure they don't get sick, but it's so worth it. And that's what He says. That's what Scripture is. It takes time to mine for treasures. It takes time to make the honey. But it's so worth it. A few things here about how to study Scripture. My favorite view of how to study Scripture comes from the monastic movement where they would study. That's what they did as a full-time job. And they talk about the five movements of studying Scripture. Because a lot of people think of Scripture of like I need to study the Greek, I need to study the Hebrew, I need to really understand what's going on, and it's a very mechanical understanding of Scripture. But the goal of Scripture is to have a relationship with the Lord. To spend time with the Lord, for Him to satisfy your soul and give you power for the day. The five movements are silencio, lectio, meditatio, oratio and contemplatio. The first one is silencio where you're quiet before the Lord. You sit down with Scriptures. Quiet before Him. And you start praying. You start a conversation with the Lord. You ask for the Lord to fill you. You enter into God's presence. You slow down. You intentionally release the chaos of what's inside and the noise in your mind. And then lectio is you begin to read the word slowly. Paying attention to every single word, lingering over the words, studying the context. Studying how the words work together in the sentence. How the sentence works together in the paragraph, et cetera. When a word catches your attention, stop. Pause. Because at different readings, God speaks differently. Yes, it always means what it meant and the context is the same. But sometimes... and this is why I always say in my community group, "What hit you in a fresh way? What stood out to you in particular as you're reading this text?" Stop and attend to what God is saying. Meditatio, read the Scriptures a second time out loud. Savor the words. Listen for an invitation from the ... and there's something about reading it out loud. Speaking the words of God into the space. Oratio is you respond. Lord, what did you teach me here? How do I need to change? How do I need to repent? Where in my life am I not submitting to your word? And you enter into a personal dialogue with the Lord. And then contemplatio is contemplate. The rest of the day, contemplate. What did the Lord say and what is He continuing to say, yield and surrender to the Lord. Psalm 19:11, "Moreover, by them your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward." And from the warning, he transitions to prayer and repentance. And he allows God to warn Him and as God warns him, he turns to the Lord in repentance. And this is point three. The glory of the Lord in the Christian. And by Christian, I mean a person who has represented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ. Psalm 19:12, "Who can discern his errors, declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression." He asked God. He said, "God, I have hidden faults." What does hidden faults mean? It's sins that you don't see how sinful they are. It's when you see the world around you living a certain way and then you say, "Why can't I live like that?" And you come to the Lord and you say, "Lord, reveal the sinfulness of sin." That's what he's talking about. That's the hiddenness. And then the presumptuous sins, when you allow hidden sins to remain in your life, they become presumptuous sins. And by presumptions sins, there's a defiance. No, I will not submit to the Lord. Or, and I see this in a lot of Christians, you presume on God's grace. Yes, this is a sin. But God will forgive me. God understands. And that lack of fear keeps you in the presumptuous sin which has dominion over you. So he says, "God, forgive me. Reveal the sinfulness of sin and release me from the dominion of it." Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer." I love how he brings the word redeemer in here, and I love how in the temple we have a Bible verse. I know that my redeemer lives. It's from the book of Job. Why in the Old Testament are we using the word redeemer? And if you remember in the Book of Ruth, we talked about this. That Boaz was the redeemer. The redeemer of this idea was this is a person who will come and pay for your debts. This is a person who will come and free you from the dominion of another owner. And he says, "God, you, Yahweh, you're my redeemer. Redeem me." And ultimately, it was Jesus Christ who dies on a cross for our sins. He said, "No. You humanity, you", every single one of us, we have not kept God's law. We have actually contradicted. Transgressed God's law. We were enslaved to the presumptuous sins of our hearts. Jesus Christ comes. Lives a perfect life. A life of embodying the law. A life of perfection. Purity. Holiness. And then gives Himself as a sacrifice for us, for our sins. And this is why I love these verses in the Psalms, because he's talking. This is how you become a Christian. You repent. You ask for forgiveness. You turn away from sin. You turn back to the Lord who is our rock. And He is our redeemer. 1 Peter 1:10 through 12, "Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully. Inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you. And the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven." Things into which angels long to look. In the same way that we stare at the sun or we stare at creation. Don't stare at the sun. In the same way that we are blessed by looking at creation. Angels stare into the gospel, because they can't believe what God did to recreate humanity. Meaning that every single Christian is a miracle. In the same way that creation reflects the glory of God, it's a miracle. In the same way that Holy Scriptures are a miracle. Every single Christian is a miracle of God because it took that. It took God's word, spoken into your heart in order to regenerate you. So God is glorified in the cosmos, in the Scriptures, and in the Christian. In conclusion, what do you think of when you think of the good life? What do you think of when you think of the good life? Do you think of fast cars, vacations, big houses, et cetera? This is what God wants. This is was God says that leads to ultimate satisfaction. What is the chief end of man? This is the Westminster catechism. What is the chief end, chief and highest end of man? The answer, man's chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully enjoy Him forever. Enjoy God. Enjoy His creation. Enjoy His Holy Scriptures, and enjoy the fellowship that God gives us with His children. Let's pray. God, what a great word that you have given us from Psalm 19. I pray that you make us a people who do enjoy you. Who seek to enjoy you on a daily basis. That you are so much better and so much satisfying than anything else. And we thank you for Jesus who reconciles us with you, and we thank you for the Holy Spirit who is with us. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 2
September 13, 2020 • Psalm 8
Audio Transcript: Good morning, welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy and it's so good to worship in person. Thank you, Kayla, for leading us. That was... Praise God. Thank you, team. It's a great time to be alive. That's all I want to say. Praise God. And with that said, would you pray with me over the preaching of God's word? Lord, we thank you. What else is there to say? When we consider the glory of your creation and realize that the creator is even more exponentially, infinitely more glorious than the glory of His creation. Lord, you are the greatest artist. We love your art. We see your art on a daily basis and we realize that you are greater. You are so much greater that your name is majestic, your name is greater than creation. Lord, I pray expand our vision of you. Expand, not just theological vision, but our true understanding, the vision of our souls expanded until we see how glorious you are, how minuscule we are. And even though we're so small compared to your grandeur, we decided to rebel. We decided to be kings over our own little dominions, over our own lives. And, Lord, despite our rebellion, just despite how nonsensical it is to rebel against a great and loving king, you didn't leave us in our rebellion. Instead, you proved that you do care for us by sending your son Jesus Christ, your most precious treasure. Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross for our sin, for baring the weight for our rebellion. And by forgiving us for the rebellion when we ask for forgiveness, when we repent, and we do repent, we submit to you, and I pray show us today how we can continue to bring every single aspect of our lives under your dominion and continue to rule as kings and queens crowned with glory and honor in a way that serves you and our neighbor. And we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. The title of this sermon is God's Glory and Ours. I think we think too little of God's creation. I was reminded of this, this week. My wife Tanya and I, we took a trip to Mt. Washington. We didn't hike up, we drove up because we're old and lazy. No, because I'm old and lazy. We drove up and who's driven up to Mt. Washington? I had no idea how scary it is. You're an inch away of dying and not only do you hold your life in your hands and I was holding Tanya's life in my hands as I'm driving I was like, "Baby, please don't distract me. I don't want to kill us," but you're also entrusting your life to the people driving down the mountain. And I don't trust... No offense. We're in New England. I don't trust any drivers in New England. So we did that. But we got to the top and, man, it was gorgeous. It was breathtaking. All we could do is walk around and just be in awe and "wow, God. This is glorious." The air is different. Just everywhere you look it's gorgeous. It's beautiful. And then you compare, I did a little comparison. I was like, "Oh, this is pretty high. Everyone in New England is all about Mt. Washington." And then I Wikipedia-ed highest mountains in the United States. It's not even in the top 200. But still such a reminder that God's creation is glorious. And we need to think more about that. I think one of the things that the enemy wants to do is remove that aspect from our worship. And we do that, and for me personally I grew up going to public school in Rhode Island and there was no talk about God creating. Everything they teach you about creation has the presupposition that there is no creator. And you just believe it because these are people in authority over you. Creation demands a creator. Whatever begins to exist has a cause and the universe has a beginning, therefore, the universe has a cause. That's the most logical way to put it. And then you just study the laws and constants of physics and they almost conspire together to create a livable world, a livable Earth. The precise calibration of more 200 known physical cosmological perimeters, that's just for an Earth that's livable. What about for a universe to just exist? How did that happen? When you study the fine tuning necessary, astrophysicists tell us they know the values of the four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetic force, the strong and weak nuclear forces. Alter one of those values, just make the smallest alteration and the universe can't exist. The ratio between the nuclear strong force and the electromagnetic force had been off by one in 100,000... By one in 100 quadrillion no stars would be formed. That's just two perimeters. Now you multiply that by all the necessary different conditions and the chances of that happening are so astronomical that the notion it just happened, it just existed, it defies common sense. It's like tossing a coin up 10 quintillion times, that's 10 with 16 zeros after and every single time it lands heads. That's just math. That's just facts. And we operate in this glorious world, this glorious creation many of us just assuming this false narrative that's been pedaled so we stop worshiping. You talk about the sun, the right mass, right light, right age, right distance, right orbit, galaxy. You talk about irreducible complexity of molecular machines, you talk about DNA. DNA, six feet of DNA are coiled inside every single one of your body's 100 trillion cells. Four letter chemical alphabet that spells out precise assembly instructions for all the proteins from which your body are made. To say that just happened, that's as absurd as walking down, hiking in the woods and you come across Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. And you say, "Oh, I'm so glad this tree produced... I'm so glad this just happened." And imagine if it's not just Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. It's Dostoevsky reading his Crime and Punishment and he's telling you, "By the way, I created this and where did I get these ideas? I got them from the Bible because I believe that morality's written on every single persons heart." That's how absurd it is to believe that everything came from just nothing. It just showed up. And then you talk about consciousness, our introspection, our thoughts, our emotions, our desires, our beliefs, our ability to even ask "Where do we even come from? What is the meaning of life? Where are we going? How should we now live? What is the best way to live for the common good? If there is a creator, what's His will for us?" And this is why I love Psalm 8. Today we're in Psalm 8. Psalm 8 is the very first hymn of praise in the Psalter. This is important because last week we looked at Psalms 1 and 2, which are the two pillars into the entrance way of the throne, the throne room of the Psalter where we worship God. We talked about the blessing of God's law, the blessing of God's king who gives us that law, and then Psalm 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are all lament. Lament for the fact that there is evil and sin and corruption and unrighteousness in the world and in our hearts. And there's a pause. There's a reprise to just worship God for the fact that he's a majestic creator and then there's four more Psalms of lament, five more Psalms of lament. So Psalm 8 is sandwiched in between 10 psalms of lament and every single one of those psalms has 64 poetic lines showing us that every single detail of the Psalter is under God's sovereign control. So what's the point? What's Psalm 8 trying to say? It's trying to say that the way through suffering, when you're in a season of anxiety or depression or suffering or broken, the way through that take a pause and just meditate on God's creation. Even practically, physically going out into nature, going to the ocean, going to the mountains, taking a trip to just worship God for being such a great creator. And what does that do? It shows us how everything is under God's control. God's not in 99.99% control. There is nothing that's out of His control. Every single detail that has ever happened, that happens, that will ever happen is 100% under His absolute control. What that does is it bolsters our faith. We realize if God has allowed this season of suffering in my life then He has the purpose for it and He will take me and He will take me through it even stronger. It's a Psalm that's attributed to King David. King David was a shepherd. He tended his father's sheep and often he would sleep, spend the night in the field tending his father's sheep in the fields of Bethlehem. And nights in ancient Palestine, they were pitch black except for the light emitted by the moon and the stars. So he would gaze, he would gaze and he would wonder and marvel at how glorious God is and one last thing I'll mention before reading Psalm 8, what's the connection between suffering and creation? What's the connection between our suffering and marveling in God's creation? Look at the Book of Job. Job suffers. He loses his children, he loses everything he had, he loses his health. And then for 36, 37 chapters he's lamenting to God, "Why did you let this happen? I've tried to follow you righteously. I've tried to... Why God? Why God? Why God?" And then Job 38, 39, God speaks and instead of explaining to Job the exact reason for Job's suffering, all God does is point to his creation. "I created the lion. I created the hawk. I created Behemoth." We don't even know what that is. Wooly Mammoth, maybe? Maybe a Dinosaur. I don't know. Behemoth. It's in there. Leviathan, I think it's the Loch Ness Monster. I don't know. And what's God do? God is saying, "Look how great I am. And if I am this great and this good, then everything that's happening to you it's under my control. And I'm allowing this to happen because I have a blessing that's coming your way that if I sent it to you now, if I sent it to you pre-suffering, you wouldn't be able to handle the burden of that blessing. I need to first refine you and perfect you and humble you so that, that blessing doesn't crush you by inflating your pride and removing you from a relationship with the Lord." So with that introduction, would you look at Psalm 8 with me? Psalm Chapter 8, Verse 1. "'O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established your strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you were mindful of him? And the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. 'O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth!" This is the reading of God's holy and authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame up our time. Talk about our King's name, Lord, is majestic. Our Lord's glory is everywhere. Point three, what are we that God would care and crown? And four, our King's name Jesus is majestic. So first of all, our King's name, Lord, is majestic. That's Psalm 8, Verse 1A. "'O Lord, Our Lord." The first Lord in most of your Bible's that's capitalized is to say Yahweh, oh Lord, Yahweh. That's his name. That's how he revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush and says, "I am Yahweh. I am that I am. I'm the absolute God without beginning or end." Utterly self sufficient without need, absolutely free to do whatever He chooses, and whatever He chooses because he's holy is holy. That's the definition of holiness. And he's above all things. He's everywhere. He's the one that sustains everything. He's greater, wiser, more beautiful, stronger, more wonderful than anything else in the world. Oh, Lord. You're Yahweh. You're our lord. Adonai. You're lord of everybody, of everything that exists you are lord over that. Of every single human being. He isn't just God over those who recognize his lordship. He's not just God over those who choose to make him God. He's not King just over those who profess Jesus Christ as king. He created everything. Therefore, he is king of everything. He is Lord of everything. That's important. Sometimes you hear Christians even say, "You know what? We shouldn't tell people about God's morality, about the Ten Commandments, about how God's designed family or gender, sexuality, about how God wants us to spend money and care for people. Don't talk about any of that. Just tell people about Jesus. That Jesus forgives of sin." Jesus does forgive of sin. What is sin? Sin is rebelling against the God of the universe. Telling people... This is why we have a responsibility as preachers, as humans, as Christians, as followers of God, we have the responsibility to be able to say, "That is good. And that is evil." It doesn't matter if you don't submit to God, if you don't believe in God. There is objective good and evil. Telling people you don't have to submit to God's law until you become a Christian is like telling people you don't have to submit to the law of the United States until you become a citizen. No, you're here. You're a citizen. There's laws and the laws are for everybody. Same thing with God. God is king over absolutely everybody, so there is objective law, there's objective good, there's objective evil and we as Christians, obviously, do it lovingly and kindly, but we need to call out sin and we need to call out evil. That's evil. What Governor Newsom in California passed this week, passed a law that you can have same sex relations with an adolescent and it's legal. We have got to stand up for that and say "That is evil. That's an abomination in..." and I can give you so many examples. That wasn't even in my notes. There is objective good. There is evil. God is king and he's God over absolutely everything. And He's so glorious that even the mention of his name is majestic. God's name, it's his reputation, it's his identity, it's his character. All of that is majestic. That's how he reveals himself. His name is so great that it's above even the glory of his creation, so we stand in awe and we stand in worship of his glory and he alone is the one whose name is majestic. So we say to kings, we say to people in power "Your majesty." That's false. Only God alone has true majesty. Why does he has majesty? Because he has glory. And we see it everywhere. That's point two. Our Lord's glory is everywhere. His name is majestic in all the Earth because His glory is above the heavens. Look at Psalm 8:1B. You have set your glory above the heavens. So we look at the heavens, we look at the cosmos, we look at the galaxy, we look at the universe and it in/and of itself is glorious. That's why a lot of people are tempted to worship creation. When you see how beautiful it moves you. It moves you on a soul level, on a heart level. That right there that's to inspire you, ignite in you, zeal to worship God. So we are not called to worship creation, we are called to worship the God of creation. Worshiping creation is like worshiping the iPhone. It would be nonsensical to worship the iPhone. We don't say "Thank you, iPhone, for existing." We say "Thank you, Steve Jobs, for creating the iPhone." And we don't even say you thank you... Yes, but we don't worship him. So we're looking and marveling at creation is to get us to worship God so we aren't called to worship humans or creation, but God who he created everything. He created the Banff National Park in Canada. Julie Busby, she is from Canada and she's a faithful member here. After the first service she said, "Thanks for giving a shout out to that park." And I don't even know about that park, I just Googled forty most beautiful places in the world and Banff National Park came out. So did the Great Ocean Road in Australia. The Snow White Hot Springs in Turkey, the Cherry Blossoms in Japan, the Caribbean turquoise lagoons, coral reefs, the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, the Amalfi Coast in Italy, the Fiordland National Park in New Zealand, the Havasu Falls in Arizona, Cape Town, South Africa, Blue Lagoon, Iceland, and Boston in the fall. That's the best one. That's the best one. That's to get you to stay here forever. Enjoy. God created all of that. He created every single one of those things so that we can just rejoice at how beautiful it is. How awe inspiring it is. It reminds us how small we are, how tiny we are compared to all of this. His glory we see in creation, but his glory is even above creation. We see a hierarchy here. We see He is the most glorious. His name is majestic. His glory is above the heavens and then we see His glory within creation. Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 148:13, "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven." So Earth and heaven, the proclaim, they preach, they exalt in the glory of God. His glory is visible from the heights of the heavens to the depths of the Earth. Everything in between and what's interesting is the psalmist goes from heaven, the glory in heaven, to little children. To the weakest on Earth. Little babies. This is fascinating. You ever wonder why this verse is here? Verse two. "Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger." So we just went from God, his glorious creation, we got babies and there's a connection between babies and the enemies of God. That babies, in some sense, they silence or still the foe and the avenger in the enemy of God. The fact that there's enemies here shows us that we are not in the pre-fall creation. Genesis one and two, God created everything. It was perfect. There was no evil in the world, though there was the possibility for it. And then Adam and Eve, who were given dominion over everything, they rejected God's lordship, his kingship, they disobeyed, they'd rather be gods in their own site, sin happened, no because of the fall there is an element of curse in creation. So there are foes, there are enemies, there are avengers. So we know the world is not as it ought to be. What's the connection between enemies and babies or infants? Well, babies and infants are helpless. Absolutely helpless. Remember the first time my wife and I we have four daughters. We took Sophia home and I remember just being shocked by the reality if I do not care for this little one, this little one will die. And God gave her a gift of screaming. That's really their only weapon. And my girls wield that weapon with incredible skill. And for some reason, with each progressive one I don't know if they taught each other, I don't know if Sophia taught Elizabeth and then Elizabeth and Sophia taught Ekat "if you're hungry this is what you do. You go up to dad at 3:00 AM." And number four, she's the best. She's the best screamer of the whole... So the same place where they get nourishment, their mouth, is the same tool that they use in order to cry out for help. "Help me. Help me. I'm hungry." It's a sign of their vulnerability and how is this connected to silencing the enemy? Well, because the enemy or the foe or the avenger of God is the direct opposite of a little baby. The foe or the enemy they think themselves to be self sufficient, they think themselves to be absolutely in control. They think of themselves as being in the place of God where the child knows unless my father and mother, unless an adult, unless someone helps me I can't live. And God has established this hierarchy with humans under creation and this relationship between parents and children in order to both teach parents that this is kind of what my relationship with you is like. You're nothing but a little baby and I care for your vulnerable. And God establishes little babies from the very beginning, from conception God is in the mix. God is involved. Look at Job 31:15, "Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?" Or Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," before you were even conceived I already knew you, "and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Or Psalm 139:13, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb." And what's the connection between God being that involved with little babies, creating human beings? The connection is that the enemy hates everything God creates, in particular the crown of God's creation, which is humanity. This is why the enemy, the foe, the avenger whose the force of chaos, which is Satan at the helm and he actually is the one that comes to kill, steal, and destroy, he wants to murder humanity and he wants to destroy all of creation and he starts with babies. Satan wants to attack humanity at its most vulnerable. That's babies. To kill them before they're even born, to kill them after they're born, if you can't kill them physically I'm going to kill their innocence so that they have no idea of even a desire for God. And the cry of a baby, why does God choose a cry of a baby to silence the foe? When a baby is born what's the first thing everyone looks for? I've been there four times. The first thing everybody's waiting for is the cry of the baby. The cry of life. And God is saying in some sense as the baby breathes out the spirit, that's God's spirit in the baby and it's establishing strength against the enemy. That life is going to dominate death. That light is going to overcome darkness. And this is what's so beautiful, that God choose to vanquish the enemy and the foe and the avenger through the most vulnerable. Through the weak. So this is a word for children and there's no children here, not that I see. I saw children in the first sermon. We got a... Children are powerful. You're powerful to fight the enemy and you fight the enemy through praising God, reading scripture, praying. There's something about babies prayers. I mentioned this, anytime I have a really pressing need I go to my youngest because she's more innocent than... There's something there, you have a connection with God. There's something pure and this is why God chooses babies. He chooses infants to vanquish his enemy and that's a lesson that God wins through weakness and we'll come back to that in a second. And then point three is what are we that God would care and crown? Look at verse three. "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place." The moon and the stars it's not just the work of your hands. It's a work of your fingers and this is an image of a sculptor or an artist. That God is the greatest artist, that God who made our galaxy, who made the Milky Way, he made it beautiful as an artist and when we look at creation we have to look for his fingerprints in that creation. When I personally myself, when I look at the heavens and then he connects with verse four, "What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?" The fundamental question that you have to ask, "what am I?" What am I? What is my identity? And the culture tells you that you form your own identity, you choose what your identity should be, you need to go out and find yourself. And here Psalmist, he connects my identity, what am I? And he connects with God in the same breath. "What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you would care for him?" What am I? The Milky Way is one of 10,000 billion galaxies each containing 100 billion stars. There's more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on the Earth. That's how vast the universe is. And he's saying in this vastness is there meaning? Am I significant? That's a great question. That's a humbling question. Why would you care for me? Of everything that there is, why would you care for me? I'm but a tiny speck of dust on a tiny, little, blue dot. In a seemingly infinite universe he's astonished that this great God he does care. The question why do you care for me? It's assuming the answer yes. I'm asking you because I already know. That's how majestic you are. That's so glorious that you do care. Why? That's what he's asking. Why? Why would God care for us? In particular, sinful, rebellious creation why would God care for us? And the only logical answer that you can find is grace. Grace. It wasn't anything in us. It's just his free sovereign grace. He chooses to love us. He chooses to care for us. Divine choice and grace. Not only does he care for us, he also crowns us and that's verse five. "Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor." Most likely if you're looking at your Bible you probably have a footnote there after heavenly beings because translators kind of don't know with this verse. Heavenly beings, it's the world Elohim, which is the word for God. You made him a little lower than God. So the translators from the Hebrew to the Greek of the Septuagint, they're like, "Not sure about that." So they wrote in heavenly beings, but in the context this is a correct translation that God makes us just a little lower. Just a little lower. And now we begin to understand what the image of God is. God didn't just create us to be his creation or his pets. He created us to be his children. And what happened in the Garden of Eden, it's the same story of the prodigal son, it's the son's say "I don't want you to reign over me. Give me my inheritance. I'm leaving." We leave the household. And this is why when Jesus Christ comes he comes as the true son, as the first Adam, as the correct, redeemed humanity and he is the one that goes and he finds the prodigal son. That's what Jesus Christ did. He found us to bring us back, brought us to our senses, brings us back into the house of God. And this is why we're just lower than God. Because through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross baring the penalty for our law breaking he extends to us his blessing for the law abiding and he allows us to be adopted into the family of God. And yes, the sons and daughters are higher than the angels. We're just a little lower than God, the father. That's the preeminence that he gives to us as he crowns us with glory and honor because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And one of the things that you do... This you just meditate on this. It breaks all kinds of categories. One of the things it does is it informs our view of fellow other human beings. That fellow human beings are created in the image of God. Every single person is created in the image of God and they're crowned with glory and honor. That was their purpose. That's their purpose. And in his grace, God the king puts us in position of authority. He ordains us and gives us rights and responsibilities. The word for crown here is talking about putting a crown on a person, on nobility. It's a picture of the emperor installing a vassal king saying "This right here, this dominion, I'm entrusting it to you. Not to rule any way you want. To rule it using His policies, using it to fulfill His goals with policy guides, etc." And ruling over the dominion that God has given us it begins with submitting to the king. This is what Adam and Eve the reason why they lost the true dominion because they stopped submitting to God. So when we come to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ in repent of our sins, he is now reinstating us into his kingdom where he rules through us. And the first thing that needs to happen is that you need to submit yourself to him. And this is what it means to rule over yourself. This is why one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is self control and we use that power for what? We use it to serve the king. God what do you want me to do? And we use it to bless the people that he's given us influence over. So people call each other king or queen all the time. We really are kings and queens in a sense. Kings and queens not using our authority to domineer, but using our authority to bless. Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the Earth." So we still have this commission in a sense. Do we have dominion over everything? No, not yet. It begins with submitting to God in the beginning. Verse six of chapter eight, "You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet." Now that's interesting. He's given us dominion over all things. Do we have dominion over all things? Not yet. Keep that in the back of your mind. Verse seven, "all sheep and oxen, all beasts of the field." So dominion over domesticated and wild animals and then verse eight, "the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea." So dominion over all marine life. But we don't have dominion over everything. We don't even have dominion over ourselves. The evil that's inside, the sin that's inside, what its done is it controls us. Do we have dominion over the Earth? No. Do we have dominion over the wild animals? No. Do we have dominion over sickness, Cancer? No. So we need someone to come in, someone to be a true Adam, the second Adam, the one who will completely submit to God, the father, in order to redeem us and restore us to our proper place and that's Jesus Christ. Our king's name is Jesus and his name is majestic. Verse four, "what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?" When did God prove that He truly cares to us in absolute, undeniable detail? He did it on the cross of Jesus Christ. God himself becomes a human. The king of the universe, the creator of everything comes into creation, breaks into creation, lives a perfectly obedient, loving life of service and goes and gives his life as a sacrifice, as a ransom for many, pours out his blood and when we repent of our sin his life, death, burial, resurrection are counted to our account which begins to redeem us. Does God care? Of course he cares. He comes and suffers like no one else suffers in order to save us from the greatest enemy which is death. So God revealed that he does care on the cross. And when he visited, he loved people so much that he didn't just show them the way he actually lived the way for them. Jesus, this God became incarnate, he's the same God that created everything. This is John 1:1-3, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." So God, the father, creates through Jesus. The word. God, the father, speaks Jesus. This is how majestic Jesus' name is. The father says Jesus and everything is created. In him everything was created, in him all things hold together and so Jesus Christ comes, he conquers Satan's sin and death and he goes after his ascension he sits at the right hand of God the father until God, the father, puts every single enemy under the feet of Christ. And that's from Ephesians 1:20-22. "That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church." So Jesus Christ is king over absolutely every single thing. And he rules through the church. The Book of Hebrews is the longest quotation of Psalm 8 and this is in Hebrews 2:6-9 and it answers the question, well what about us? Jesus reigns but then what about everything being put into submission to us? "It has been testified somewhere, 'what is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.' Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him." Everything isn't in subjection to us just yet. However, what do we see? "But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." We've been given dominion, but it's not yet the case. We have control over domesticated animals. We don't yet have control over wild animals like lions and tigers and rhinos. Nor do we have control over the birds of the Earth, the fish of the sea. But we see the one that has everything in subjection. We see Christ. What does it mean that Jesus has everything in subjection? He represents redeemed humanity. We see Jesus who suffered death so that by the grace of God we won't have to taste death. Because he was resurrected he now gives us the power to have dominion. Hebrews 2:10, "For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." Jesus suffered in order for that perfection to happen. I thought he was already perfect? He was perfect. But this is how God uses suffering in order to cleanse us for what Jesus what through as an example and then bringing many children to glory, this is Hebrews 2:14. "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one has the power of death, that is, the devil." So Jesus crowned us with glory and honor, we sinned rejecting his authority because of that sin now there's death. Jesus comes, lives a sinless life, conquers death so that in the new heavens and the new Earth he can recrown us with glory and honor where he is going to install us as kings and queens over the new creation, the new heavens, the new Earth so that we reign with Him. Through humble servant hood. And by the way, Jesus talks about this all the time. He talks about the fact that he is going to come back and we live in 2020. Every single day brings us a day closer and with every single event I'm like, "I think Jesus is coming back tomorrow." When he comes back there's going to be a physical thousand year reign where Christians, those who entrust themselves to him, submitted to him, we are going to reign with him. He mentioned that many times. Luke 22:28-30, "you are those who stayed with me in my trials and I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." It's a physical reigning. Second Timothy 2:11-13, "The saying is trustworthy, for: if we have died with him and we also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself." Or Revelation 5:9-10, "And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the Earth." So how does that apply to our lives today? Are you faithfully serving the king in your life today? Are you bringing everything in submission in your life to the king today? If you can't rule over you, if you can't submit every thought, every deed, every desire, everything in our life to him now why would he entrust us with more here and with more after? And the last thing I do want to point out is we will have authority and dominion even over wild animals. So Isaiah 11:6, "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fatten calf together; and a little child shall lead them." For some reason I have this graphic picture of my youngest daughter, Milana, doing this. She could probably have... She has dominion over them now but it's incredible. And the picture is that now the curse has been removed. Now there's true peace on Earth between humanity and God, between humanity and creation. So what are we to do with this dominion now? First of all, the very first thing that we need to do is submit to God. And we do that through the gospel, we do that through repentance, we do that from turning from sin and turning to Him. And then after doing that, look for his glory everywhere. Habakkuk 2:14, "for the Earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." We are to work for that glory like the knowledge of God's glory. This is what evangelism is and we evangelize, we tell people of God's glory, we tell people about the glory of gospel and we worship. And worship. And by the way, worship is the way that we are established against the enemy, the way our voices are established against the enemy. And this is Matthew 21:14-16 this is Palm Sunday, Jesus is coming into Jerusalem on a colt, on a donkey in humility and all the children are screaming out "Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna" worshiping God, here's the king and then the Pharisees, the enemies they're saying, "Please tell them to stop because you are not the king, you are not the Messiah and this is what Jesus says in response. And he quotes Psalm 8:2. "Have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise?" Which sounds slightly different than what we read, well, because Jesus is quoting the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Our text says, "Out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength because of your foes and stilled the enemy and the avenger." So how does Jesus establish strength against the enemies and the avenger? He does it through the praise of his children. When we worship God the enemy shudders. When we worship him collectively as a church, when we worship him by ourselves, this is how he establishes strength. This is how he overcomes God's enemies. So we'll close with verse nine, "Oh Lord, Oh Lord. How majestic is your name in all the Earth." Let's pray. Lord, you are great and you are gracious. And Lord, you are king, you are Lord and Lord forgive us for forgetting that. I pray, Lord, continue to expand our vision of how great and glorious you are so that we see how minuscule we are and we see how egregious our sin against such a holy God so that we can see how great your love is in bridging that chasm by sending your son Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit, I pray continue to give us the power to praise you with every fiber of our being and make worship a lifestyle and I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Balm Psalms: Week 1
September 6, 2020 • Psalms 1—2
Audio Transcript: Good morning. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic. If you're new, if you're visiting, welcome. We're so glad you are here. We'd love to connect with you. If you'd like to connect with us, we'll do that through the connection card that you hopefully received, or you can fill it out online. With that said, would you... Happy September, by the way. We're entering the most glorious season in Boston, September and October. It's all downhill from there, so enjoy. Would you pray with me over the preaching of God's Word? Holy God, we thank you that you are a great God. You are a glorious God. You are an all-powerful God. You care for us. I pray, Lord, that you bless these series in the Psalms. I pray, Lord, that you deepen our devotion for you as you expand our vision of you. Not only are you glorious, but you are beautiful. You are so creative. You are the greatest artist, and you're the greatest poet. I pray that your Psalms, your poetry, becomes our poetry, that these words become our words, that these prayers become our prayers. I pray that you teach us to love you not just with our minds. It's too easy to just stay there. I pray that you ignite our emotion for you, our affection for you, our imagination for you. Redeem our emotions, redeem our affections, our desires, and our imagination. Please do that through your Holy Word. Jesus, remind us that you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and you call us to bring every single square inch of our lives under your dominion. You entrusted us to us so that we submit ourselves to you and as we do, we experience blessing. I pray everyone that hears these words find true blessing in life, finds the best life that there is, which is the blessed life from you. We pray that you bless our time in these Holy Scriptures. We pray this in Jesus name, amen. So we're starting a new sermon series called Balm Psalms. Balm, as you know, is... It's a soothing ointment. It's to soothe physical ailments, but in terms of the Psalms, we're talking about a Balm for our souls. And we are also... Right, it's a play on words, bomb, balm. It's theological bombs that God drops into our hearts, into our minds, into our lives to show us that our vision of God is too small. And that's one of the reasons why we don't experience God and the power of God as we should, His presence as we should. The series, hopefully, will be... I want to give you a taste. I want to give you the words. I want to give you a framework for studying the Psalms, for you to dive into them on a daily basis, to bathe your soul in this balm, in these bomb balms that absolutely obliterate these false categories that we have of God. My one goal, my one desire as we go through these series is to help you deepen your devotion to God, not just study theology dryly, but to love God, love His Words, love His work. Now the Psalms are... They're hymns. They're songs of praise. They're prayers, both individual and corporate. They show that praying is important. Singing is important. Experiencing God is important. Creativity is important. Beauty is important. God created all of these. The word for the psalter in the Hebrews, Psalms... It just means praises. It's the largest book in the Old Testament with 2,527 verses. It's quoted more often than any other book in the New Testament. It's quoted more than any other book from the Old Testament over 560 times, it was that important. There's hymns, there's laments, there's thanksgiving. By the way, some of the things I'm sharing with you... I just learned recently. I took a class on preaching through the Psalms at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia just this summer and just so much goodness. I can't wait to share it with you. One of the things that my professor said is that God invented poetry. God designed poetry. And in the book of Psalms, He shows us how to use poetry as the greatest communicator, he communicates with poetry to communicate to the whole person. Prose... It speaks to the mind. Poetry speaks to the heart, the soul, to our emotions, to our imagination. He invented it to communicate to the whole person. Over 27% of Holy Scripture is poetry, almost a third. God invented it to communicate to us, to stimulate our affections for Him. They're dense. They're intense, emotional, little balms of emotion. It's better to express acute desires of lament, of praise, et cetera. It's given to the community to memorize. That's why these little tricks, these little lines of communicate, these techniques like simile are used, comparison of like or as. Metaphors are used. Metaphors are image based on similarity within difference. God is a sun, S-U-N. God is a rock. God is a lion. Christ is the lamb. God is a shepherd metaphors. There's also anthropomorphism, which are used to... We ascribe, in the poetry, human likeness, human attributes to God because we don't have other ways of understanding Him, so God moves with His fingers. He has hands. There's thick darkness under His feet. The psalmist says, "Lord, I pray that you keep me as the apple of your eye." Does God have an eye? No, but you know He's communicating. There's zoomorphism where we ascribe animal form or attributes to God. God, hide me in the shadow of your wing. I love that. You can see that image. Hide me in the shadow of your wing. There's laments. There's hymns. There's thanksgiving. There's psalms of ascent where the Israelites would sing on the way up to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival. There's songs of trust. This is how you trust God in times of chaos there's royal psalms to remind us that God is King. He deserves our submission and our affection. There's Psalms about Zion, about the city of God, salvation history. There's Torah Psalms, one of which we're going to cover today. Torah Psalms, Psalms 1, Psalm 19, Psalm 119. Torah doesn't just mean God's law. It means God's teaching. It means God's wisdom. He teaches us what His mind is like, how He thinks so that we think His thoughts after Him. There's five books of the Psalms. The Psalms is just one book, but there's five within Psalms 1 through 41... That's one book. Then 42 through 72, then 73 through 89, 90-106, then 107-150. Each book concludes with a doxology to praise Him, praise God. And the fifth book ends with a doxology of doxologies, five psalms just telling us to praise God, thank Him for who He is, and worship Him for who He is. God, thank you. God, thank you for being so amazing. Today we're going to cover Psalms 1 and 2 and I call this the two pillars into the temple that is the Psalms. They're meant to be read together, understood together. I'll just show you a few reasons why this is true. The first line of Psalm 1 begins with blessed or happy. This is the way to happiness. This is the way to true joy, a serenity of heart. The first line of the second Psalm ends also with blessed. This is the way to happiness. This is the way to blessing. Psalm 1:6, we see, it says, "For the Lord knows the ways or the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." And Psalms 2:12, "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. You perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him." Psalm 1 talks about meditating on that which will lead to life and Psalm 2 talks about meditating on that which will lead to death. Psalm 1:2, "But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night." That same word is used in Psalm 2:1, "Why do the nations rage? And the peoples plot in vain." Plot, in Hebrew, same word as meditate. Some mediate to find out. What is God like? How can I be in tune with His will? And others meditate on how to rebel against God. So with that introduction, would you look with me, please, at Psalm 1 and Psalm 2. Psalm 1:1, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Two points to frame up our time together, only two, because that's all we need. We'll talk about the blessings of the law, and we'll talk about the blessings of the king. First, the blessings of the law. One things I just want to point out. As you study, I took six semesters of Hebrew in seminary, not enough. Just even a little study of the original language, you begin to see the wordplay. You begin to see God's genius in this book, in all of Holy Scripture. I'll just point one things out. This is just God flexing. The first word of Psalm 1 begins with aleph, which is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And then the last word in the Psalm begins with tav, which is the last letter in the alphabet. This is what He's saying. He's saying, "This Psalm shows you the A through Z of how to live a godly, blessed life." God is about to expose to us, reveal to us a secret of the blessed life, of the happy life. Psalm 1, "Blessed is the man or blessed is the person who walks, not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1 is a Torah psalm like 19 and 119, to teach us not just the law and a lot of us this is what we don't understand. When we think about God's law, we think of about God restricting us from keep from something fun, from something, something that will lead to life. No God's law isn't offense to keep us from joy and happiness. God's law is a guardrail to keep us from dying to keep us from perishing. So His law is actually good. Its His wisdom. And we know that God, when you understand, there are some laws that are just stupid in the United States, I can give you a lot of examples but my time is limited. There are some laws that are just arbitrary, like who invented this law? This is dumb. And because I don't know that the government loves me. The government never written me a letter that say, "Jan I really love you. I love you so much. I'm going to forgive you. All of your taxes. I'm going to forgive you all of your debts, someone has paid your debts for you." You know what? If that happened I'd be yeah, teach laws are good. These people have my best in mind. But when you read God's law, it's coming from a loving God who has the absolute but your best in mind. He wants you to flourish. It's like a father writing letters, writing guidelines to his children. I want you to prosper. This is the way to the best life. And the best life is the blessed life. And He begins by saying there's two, two wisdoms. There's a wisdom from God and there's counsel for God. And there's wisdom that's evil. So the man who's blessed is a person who does not take the advice of wicked people. Instead takes that advice and compares it to the advice of God. And I grew up in a Christian home. My dad taught me early on. He said, "Look, there's going to be people in your life especially when I went to college, there are people in your life who have PhDs, who have multiple PhDs who have accomplished a lot academically." He says but when you look at their life, morally they're fools, their lives have been lived in folly. And you can look at the consequences of that folly. You can be a genius in terms of the world and still be a fool from the perspective of God. So blessed is the person who does not take the counsel of the wicked. We take counsel wicked all the time. It's we're inundated with it. We drive in the car with my girls we're driving to visit my parents yesterday. And they're like, let's turn on the radio. I don't want to turn on the radio because there's so much trash on the radio that just inundating us. And this is advice. This is how to live. This is the best life. And we're getting these messages. We're getting this narrative from every which person that you can live your best life apart from God. So blessed is the person that does not take the counsel of the wicked. So meaning if you're a Christian, you will look different than the crowd, especially in a place like Boston. Your decision should be patently different, fundamentally different, your pattern of life, your lifestyle, the way you speak, the way you think, the way you live when no one is looking. And you see the progression here in verse one, it's about walking in the counsel than standing in the way of sinners and then sitting in the seat of scoffers. There's growing comfort with evil. First of all, you listen to it it's a casual acquaintance, and then you're standing in it. And then finally you sit down into the ways of evil. And He's not saying that we can't interact with those who are not Christians or those who don't love The Lord. Jesus He spend time with sinners. He would eat with sinners and fellowship with sinners in a sense in order to save them, in order to influence them to come onto the path of the Lord in order to have their sins forgiven. And we are to do the same. And this is just a basic question. Do your non-Christian friends influence you more than you influence them? Do they influence your life more than you influence their life? And it all begins with finding the true blessedness of the true wisdom verse two, His delight is in the law of the Lord. You don't just read it. You delight in it. And on His law. He meditates day and night. You so delight in it. You're always thinking about God's law. You're only speaking about God. You bring in God into every conversation. You're bringing God into every single decision God's law. Psalm 19:7-8, "And the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." Psalm 119:97, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." So scriptures are not just to be read and not just to be studied they're to be heated absorbed. They're just saturate our minds and they're to be delighted in, the scriptures teach us the wisdom of God teaches us who God is, who we are about our human predicament, about the possibilities we are to pray the Psalms, trust the Psalms delight and meditate in them. This guides our path and keeps us from the path of perishing. Psalm 1:3, "He's like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, in all that he does, he prospers." He's saying that the blessed people, those who meditate in God's law day and night, they're rooted. There's a stability. There's a profound peace. There's a groundedness or plantedness and there's also prosperity. That you do prosper you're alive. One of the things I do want to point out here is in the Hebrew for planted, is like a tree that's planted. It's a divine passive that's the term. It's a divine passive participle. He's planted the question is by whom? By whom is the righteous person planted? Is planted by the great gardener himself and actually in Hebrew. The word for planted is transplanted. Transplanted and is communicating the God finds us a wild shoe in an arid arid land. He digs us up and he transfers us to a place of streams of water, a place where we will flourish. A place that's well-watered and he plants us in Himself. He plants us in his word and our souls are nourished like streams of water through God's word. This is what salvation is like. Salvation is God pouring His spirit into our lives, transplanting us from a life of sin, into a life that honors God wants to be with God. John 4:14, this is Jesus with the woman, the Samaritan woman at the well and he tells her, "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." God communicates the sin what sin does is it promises us water. Instead it makes us even more thirsty. It promises us refreshing water instead it gives us saltwater that makes us even more thirsty. So you need more and more and more of the sin. And you're never, you're never satisfied. John 7: 37-39, and the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Now this, he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, and as yet, the spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Saying the water waters, the stream of water it's the Holy Spirit. Are you planted next to the Holy Spirit? Are you watered on a daily basis by the Holy Spirit? That's why He starts with the word of God, because the word of God was written by the Holy spirit. You experienced the Holy spirit. As you read meditate, delight in what He wrote. He's always with us. And He fills us with satisfaction with delight. I've always loved the phrase in whatever he does he'll prosper. And I've always prayed that over my life, Lord, I want to prosper in everything I do. And for some reason, the very first thing that always comes to mind is money. God, you said I'm going to prosper. I Want to prosper in all that I do. I want to prosper in everything. And I just want to point out here, there is a prosperity when you live according to God's wisdom, there's a material prosperity that comes when this tree produces fruit for whom does the tree produce fruit? For itself? No trees can't eat fruit. The tree produces fruit to refresh others. So He's talking about prosperity in service, prosperity in generosity, prosperity in giving, prosperity in blessing. And this is where the teaching of Jesus Christ comes in and connects with Psalm 1. Jesus Christ said, "It's more blessed to give than to receive." The true blessing isn't when you hoard, when you get more for yourself, because what's the point of fruit being produced and then falling and rotting on the ground there's no point there. He's saying this is prosperity when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Psalm 1:4, "And the wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away." Chaff and here he's using the imagery of ancient farming practices, where they would get grains, sheaves of grain and they would bring them into the barn. And they will lay them down on the threshing floor and crushed the grain with a threshing sledge and then take a winnowing fork and toss up the grain. And as they toss up the grain, the grain, the heavy grain, the seed falls down to the floor while everything else gets blown away by the wind. And that's what chaff is. That's the chaff. And he says, righteous are like a tree they're well, water. The chaff is dry and it gets blown around by the wind dried up, not bearing fruit. It's worthless, it's dead. Psalm 1:5, "Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. And He's saying the judgment is imminent. It's inevitable. And God, the King, He will judge every single one of us." Psalm 1:6, "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." And the word here for knows is intimately knows. He's watching over. He's guiding as a father, as a shepherd, embraces cares for watches over as the righteous walks in the way, walks in the path that God has for us. In the book of Acts, the Christians were called people of the way as we followed Jesus. There's two ways in life when we talked about this last week, but it's all over scripture. One leading to life, the other to death, Deuteronomy 30:19-20, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice holding fast to Him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and give. Joshua 1:8 talks about the same thing as one of my favorite verses actually my senior in my yearbook, senior yearbook in high school, this verse was under my picture. Don't try to find that picture. That was back when boy bands were cool, bleached hair frosted tip, don't look at it, but there's still a Bible verse to show that there's redemption, even in folly. Joshua 1:8 "This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on a day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. And He starts there because... And I start there because many Christians today, they have this perverted theology of Christianity where Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He forgives me and my sins so I can live any way that I want false. False if you're a true Christian. If your sins have been truly forgiven you're a Child of God, and you want to honor God who is a King, he is your Father, but he's still a King. And when he tells us something to do, we are to do it. Yes, there's forgiveness when we repent. But true repentance is turning away from sin, not just being sad for the consequence of the sin, not just being sad, that there is judgment for that sin. And then going back to the folly, no. Who is the ultimately blessed man? Is Jesus in the Psalm? Yes, of course he is the word for man blessed is the man, it's emphatically masculine for a reason. It's a reference to a particular man, the son of God, who is the son of man. He's the mediator between God and man, the man, Jesus Christ. Who delighted in God's law like nobody else, who did this perfectly, who meditated on the law of God day and night, who embodies this Psalm? It's Jesus Christ. Did Jesus care about the law. Yeah. His very first sermon. The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:17-18 He says, "Do not think that I've come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the Law until it is accomplished." Jesus Christ came and He loved the Law so much. He loved God's wisdom so much. He fulfilled it completely. He did not sin once. Every single one of the 10 commandments, he fulfilled, he didn't just not do what was said, do not do this. He also did everything that was prescribed to do so. So as you take the 10 commandments there's sins of commission do not murder, do not covet, et cetera, et cetera. And then there's sins of omission. The opposite. The flip side is this is what you are to do. Thou shall not have no other gods before me, therefore, worship God and worship him alone. Jesus fulfilled the law and He goes to a cross and bears the penalty as if he did not obey the law. How does that happen? How does God the Father allow God the son to be punished for transgressing the Law. It says cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. Jesus, hanged on a tree, bearing our curse upon Himself. He did it in order to save us. So he's talking, don't be wicked. Don't walk in the way of wicked. That was every single one of us. And Jesus comes and He lives the life that we were supposed to live, but didn't, and He goes to the cross and He bears the penalty that we deserve to bear so that we wouldn't have to. So how can I become this blessed person? How can I make sure that I don't bear the curse of God trust in Jesus Christ, give your life to Jesus Christ, repent of sin, turn to him and you become a Child of God. And he puts you on the path on the way where you will be blessed and find blessing as you delight in the word of God. Matthew 7:!3-14, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Have you found this life? Have you found this way? Jesus welcomes us to Himself to the way, the second point blessings of the King in this Psalm there's opposition, between the righteous and the wicked. Again, these two categories and the different chaining factor between the righteous and the wicked is submission to the King. And the main theme of Psalm 2 is the kingdom and dominion of God. And this is why Jesus taught us to pray that kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's an invitation to a God-centered life, a God-centered world, dominion of God, the kingdom that was and is and is to come. So when we meditate on someone, when we meditate on God's Law, we hear the voice Of the King who gives that law and who enforces that law? The God is a God of law and order for prosperity sake and for His glory. So the keys to happiness in Psalm 1 and 2 is happy or blessed are those who meditate on the law of God, delight in the law of God. And then Psalm 2 is blessed and happy is everyone who takes refuge in the King, who takes refuge in God, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God is in charge, God is in control of everything. Therefore we can rejoice. That's what Psalm 2 is about. And there's four acts in Psalm 2 and applies to King Dave, ultimately to the King of Kings, which is Jesus. So at first, the first act is verses one through three questions about chaos. The author is saying, "God, where are you?" When there's so much chaos and calamity in the world? God, where are you? This is Psalm 2:1, why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast their cords from us." Who's this anointed capital A in the ESV. This is the Messiah. This is the one who is anointed to be the King of Kings. He's talking about the son of God, who was also the son of David. And He's saying the nations are gathering to get the Kings of the world are gathering to get the plot against God. God, we don't want to submit to you. We want to be kings of our own lives. We want to sit on our own thrones and He's so he's not just talking about political Kings. He's including those. Is talking about us. He's talking about every single human being who wants to be King of our lives. We want to decide what is law? What is good? What is evil what's allowed and what isn't. And the author of this rebellion is Satan himself. And Genesis 3:15 God says, "I'll put enmity between you Satan and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." He's talking about the offspring of the woman here is Jesus Christ, bruising the head of Satan. And He did that on the cross. And as he bruised and the image of Christ, putting his heel into the head of Satan, crushing, you said giving him a death blow. He didn't kill him. But on the cross he gave him a deathblow bruised... Satan bruised, the heel of Jesus and Jesus bruised Satan's head. But even that from the very beginning from the garden, there's still enmity between God and his people and Satan and his people. And God calmly sits on his throne. I love this image of our sick in verse four. He who sits in the heavens, laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. And he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury saying, "As for me, I've set my King on Zion, my holy hill." Does God laugh? God does laugh. God has a sense of humor. God invented laughter. And one of them there's lots of... you can prove that God has a sense of humor, by just looking at creation, just many, many examples where it's like, God's just messing with us. My favorite, perhaps this is new, but I've never heard anyone really talking about Luther mentioned this a little bit. God is sitting on his throne. He's sitting. He's not worried. And He's laughing at people who are sitting on their thrones. They're trying to be Kings and he's laughing at them because those same people who are Kings of this world, God created every single person in such a way. We're on a daily basis. You have to sit on a thrown. In order for cleansing to happen. So the most glorious Kings in all of creation, the most glorious presence, the most Napoleon and Alexander, the gray and everybody on a daily basis, they're humbled. There's a deep theology there. There's deep, deep theology. So next time you're on the throne actually as your body is being cleansed, repent. So your soul gets cleansed. You're welcome, is transformative. To God just creating a designing like humbling aspect God's laughing and God doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked. So He's not laughing like ha ha, I'm going to kill you. I can whack you in a second. He can. What scripture says, "He doesn't want the death of a wicked." So he puts a plan into place. How can I deal with the rebels? How can I redeem the rebels and bring them into my family? How can I do this? And still remain just, and we see that in this Psalm as well. God's anointed speaks and reveals God's plan for dealing with the rebellion. That's verse seven, I will tell you of the decree: The Lord said to me, this is Jesus speaking the Lord said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you." Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. What's God's way of dealing with the rebellion without killing the rebels. He sends a son and he says, "Today I have begotten you." And a lot of people have misunderstood this language of begotteness. They think, oh, the Father created the sun and there's lots of cults and lots of heresies that have come from that theology. No, that's not what He's talking about. The sun hasn't been has existed before all of eternity, the son, there was never a moment when Jesus Christ was not. Jesus is part of the Trinity Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. So what's the begotten language today. I have forgotten you. He's talking about a particular day today on this day, when the identity of Jesus Christ was manifested. When the father bore witness to Christ as being his son and full power. When was Jesus Christ manifested as truly the Son of God in the resurrection, when he comes back from the dead. That's what the begotten language is talking about. The begotten is the resurrection. Where do you get that? In Romans 1:1-4, Paul, a servant of Chris Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. You are my son today. I've begun He's talking about the resurrection. When the manifestation of Jesus, as the Son of God happened, and this, we see prophesied in Psalm 2 written over a thousand years before Jesus Christ was born. The genius of God's plan, the genius of God's word, who's the author talking about, of course Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son of Abraham. Revelation 17:14, they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings. And those with him are called and chosen and faithful. So the promise happened that Jesus would be born, the King would come and the King came humbly to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many, resurrected ascends to heaven, and then he's coming back. So this Psalm is a warning and it's also an invitation warning judgment is coming invitation, repent of your sins. Every knee will bow Philippians 2:9-11, therefore God is highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Everybody will bow and everybody will confess either you do it in humility in this life, or you'll do it in humiliation when Jesus returns. That's why He gives us this closing appeal in Psalm 2:9, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel. Judgment is real. Jesus Christ is coming back. We live in 2020 with every single day. I'm like, Jesus coming back today. He's coming back, with every single new iteration of the 2020 craziness like Jesus coming back. He's got to come back. But it's true with every day brings us closer to the physical return of Jesus Christ in the second coming. Revelation 11:15, then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and He shall remain forever and ever. So Jesus is coming back. Why? To crush all opposition to reign and righteous and son David's throne. Revelation 19:15-16, from his mouth comes a sword, a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God almighty on his robe. And on his thigh, He has a name written King of kings and Lord of lords. When Jesus returns, he will return physical. And He will reign physically for a thousand years and Satan and all who, who followed Him will be thrown to lake of fire and tormented forever. That's a reality. That's a fact. And now the Psalmist ends with this appeal. Now, therefore, O Kings be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for the wrath his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. He goes, it's incredible back and forth, fear and trembling. He's coming as a King to vanquish all his enemies. So don't be his enemy. Take refuge in Him, submit to Him. Every single one of us we're in verse three, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away, their cords from us. Have you never had the thought how much life would be easier if there was no God, if there were no rules, if there were no commandments, can you, we've all been there. We've all wanted a reality apart from God, we all try to try to create these excuses and he's here. We've all done this. We've all fallen short of the glory of God, but he says, "Take refuge in him." Not from Him in Him, don't run from God. Run to God. There's no refuge from Him, but there's refuge in Him. So run to Jesus Christ, run to Christ today. King Jesus taught us the way of happiness the way of blessedness. And I'm going to read this, the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. And that'll be our transition to Holy Communion. But this is Psalm 1 and 2 echoed in Jesus' first sermon, Matthew 5:2-11, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, and for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you amen. At this moment, we're going to transition to Holy Communion. I've been waiting for this for five months. You've got these cool little cups, they got both bread and the cup. If you are a Christian, a repentant Christian, if you have repented of your sins, and if you are continuing to repent of your sins, your welcome to participate in Holy Communion. If you are not a Christian, or if you are in sin, now that you have not repented off, please refrain from this part of the service. Instead, spend this time repenting of sin and meditating upon God. If someone who wants to participate in communion has not received one of these. We can bring you some, just raise your hand if you haven't received one of these. So the way it works is you take the top off and there's a little piece of bread right there. This is actually my first time ever doing this. And then there's little thing that you take off for the cup there it is. Alright. The night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread and after breaking it, he said, "This is my body broken for you, take it and do this in remembrance of me." (silence) He then took the cup. He said, "This cup is a cup of the new covenant of my blood just pour out for the sins of many take drink, and do this in remembrance of me." Heavenly Father you are a great God. Thank you so much for sending your son, Jesus Christ, your beloved son, your begotten son, to die on a cross for our sins, bearing the full brunt of your wrath for the curse that we deserve for our law breaking. For our rebellion, for our sin and our sins. Lord, we thank you that you provided a way for the rebels to become your children. We pray Holy Spirit continue to fill each one of us. We want to be like the blessed person, the blessed man, the blessed woman planted by the streams of living water, which is the Holy Spirit. Lord we thank you for the songs and we pray that in this next season, you do deepen our devotion for you. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
God Our Refuge 1
March 15, 2020 • Psalm 46
Audio Transcript: Hello, Mosaic Boston family, and if you're joining us for the first time online, my name's Shane, and I'm one of the pastors at Mosaic Boston Brookline. In just a moment, we're going to have a special message from Pastor Jan, encouraging us from the Scriptures. But before we do, just a couple of things. First of all, we want to acknowledge that we understand that this is a bit weird. Two weeks ago, none of us could have imagined, expected, that this is where we would be, but this is where we are now, and so we want to make the best of it. With that in mind, just a couple of things. First of all, it's important for us as a church to stay connected spiritually, and even virtually, during this time where we've been encouraged to distance ourselves from one another physically. And so, if you haven't done so yet, we would encourage you to download the Mosaic Boston app, keep up to date with the things going on, on our website, and check your e-mail often for further updates about what will be going on in the life of the church. We're going to try to keep you up to date, week by week, as things move forward. Secondly, you can, if you're new to mosaic, download that Mosaic Boston app, and fill out one of the connection cards there. That's a great ways to start getting connected. You can leave prayer requests and things like that there, as well. For the families at Mosaic, if you have children or teenagers, we would greatly encourage you to take advantage of the resources that we are putting out, for you to go through, together as a family. Our Mini-Mosaic Director, Raquel, and our Teen Director, Tyler, have worked hard to put those together, and we hope that they're a blessing to you. Many of you have faithfully been giving to Mosaic Boston Online. If that's not something that you've done before, we would encourage you at this time. This is a great time to do it. Or you can set that up very easily on our website, through our secure giving portal. And then, finally, we'd really encourage you as individuals, as friends within the church, and as community groups, to stay connected with one another. Check in with one another, encourage one another, pray for one another and be with one another, in spirit during this time that we are apart. We will be keeping you up to date, so check the website and your e-mail often, and right now, we're going to hand things over to Pastor Jan. This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit http://mosaicboston.com. What a week it's been. So much turmoil, so much information coming at us rapidly. So many changes and so many feelings to be processed. How have you been processing everything that's been going on? My wife and I, we have four daughters. Our second daughter, Elizabeth, who is eight, she processes our feelings through poetry, and she wrote this poem last night. She wanted me to read it. It's called A Warm Wooden Cabin. A warm wooden cabin sits in the woods. Inside, you see warm, hot cocoa. You sit down near the fire, and smell nice hot cookies, right out of the oven. You hear the wind outside. While you're reading a good book, you're bundled up in blankets about to fall asleep. When you hear a growl and a loud roar, you jump up and run away. But before you know it, you're in Heaven, eating ice cream and laughing at the bear. The end PS, God is good. Heart emoji. A little dark, but she's Russian, so fits into the genre of Russian poetry. There's a lot going on. And I think as somehow, it's emblematic of where we find ourselves, where it seems like everything was going so well, for so many. We were experiencing prosperity. Then out of nowhere, we've been blindsided. So how are we to respond? And that's what I want to talk about today. Would you pray with me? Heavenly father, we thank you that you, God of the universe, are our refuge and strength. You are our help in this time of need. Lord, I pray that you send us the Holy Spirit, and make your people a people who are characterized not by panic, but by prayer, not by fear, but by faith, not by anxiety, but by action. We pray, Lord Jesus, that you make us a people who are grounded in an unshakable hope, and ready to care for our neighbors, and ready to share the hope that we have in Christ. Lord, bless this city, bless this state, bless this country, bless the world. We pray for our political leaders that you send them wisdom, and knowledge and discernment, and we pray for supernatural intervention, you send healing. Most importantly, I pray that you awakened many from spiritual sleep, awaken them to the reality that life is short, eternity is long, and that we can be reconciled with the God of eternity through Christ. Awake people up from the false assumption that we are in control. We are not. And we cry out to you a God who is, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So, as you've probably heard, we have had to cancel our in-person gatherings. And why did we do this? Well, first of all, we did not cancel our services, because we ourselves are afraid of getting sick, or even of dying, because the scriptures, as Christian Scripture says that, "To live as Christ, to die is gain." We have canceled our services and we forsake gathering in person, in large groups, for the sake of the most vulnerable neighbors around us. Jeremiah 29:7 says, "Seek the welfare of the city, where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare, you will find welfare." Love is the reason why we are changing our practices. In the case of the young and healthy, this particular virus doesn't pose much more threat than the flu, but in the case of those who are immunocompromised, over the age of 70, this isn't just a flu, this is deadly, and they are potentially at grave risk. One of the central tenants of Christianity, one of the axioms of Christianity, is that the strong must consider and have regard for the week, and that's what we're doing. We're forsaking gathering not to minimize risk to ourselves, but to minimize risk to others. At the same time, the disease can go unnoticed in the healthy, and those who are symptomatic, they can even carry the virus for long periods of time, while increasing the risk to others, without even knowing they're infectious. So we are minimizing physical contact and large crowds. We're doing this at the counsel of medical professionals in our own church, and of those in the healthcare system. We don't want to overwhelm potentially the healthcare system, or cause a spike in other vital social service needs. It is sad. We love our church, we love our gatherings. It's sad that we don't get to meet in person, and it's even more sad that we have to keep physical distance from one another. It seems so counter to our spiritual DNA, where we are drawn towards those in pain. We are called to embrace those who are suffering. It seems like this form of neighbor love isn't very loving, but at this one moment in eternity, we must take a step back physically, and draw near to one another virtually and spiritually. Regarding community groups, we are leaving that up to the discretion of the leaders, who'll stay in communication. If it seems prudent, meet virtually on Skype, Google Hangout, Zoom. If you do choose to meet, please do practice the sermon. If you are showing any symptoms of illness, please stay home, or if you're in contact with those who are immunocompromised, or prone to risk, please stay home as well. Our text for today is Psalm 46. Would you look at the text with me? Psalm 46, a timely text. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. "God will help her when morning dawns, the nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice. The earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth, he makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariot with 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 fortress." This is the reading of God's Holy in there, and infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. One big point from the sermon today is that God is our refuge, god our refuge. God is sufficient to get us through. He has to this point. He will, from this point on, and we are called to lay hold of this sufficiency. We see three scenes in the Psalm. First, God is the refuge against the raging of nature. Second, God is the resource against the raging of nations, and third, God is the ruler over the rebels of the earth. First, God is the refuge against the raging of nature. We see, in this illustration, the first scene in the first picture, a cataclysmic earthquake. In Verse Two it says, "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling." The author of this psalm is imagining the absolutely worst case scenario, the most, the most cataclysmic apocalyptic event that he can imagine. It's an earthquake that that is so severe, that a mountain is swallowed up by the sea. It's a natural order turned upside down. And what's the response? This is our response as the faithful, as those who love God. We run to him, to find relief and comfort, and God is described as refuge. He's described as our strength and our help. Refuge, meaning, he is our shelter, he is our security, he is our protection, and God doesn't just provide refuge. He is our refuge, the one whom we shelter, and he himself is our defense, no matter what. He's also our strength. We are weak, he's strong. He's able to meet us in our circumstances, provide us with the strength we need. And also, he's our help. Scripture says he's our very present help in trouble, and this is comforting, that the omnipresent God of the universe, who is always with us, extends his heavenly fatherly embrace, when we are particularly in trouble. You see this all over the place, in particular, Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd, O shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Notice the change from speaking about God, to speaking directly to God. It's a change from the third person to the second: "He makes me lie down. He leads, he restores." It's almost as if he is theoretical, abstract. Verse four, as the Psalmist finds himself in the valley of the shadow of death, when evil is before him, he goes from "he" to "you," from talking about God, to crying out to God, exceeding nearness. This text tells us that God can be trusted. In particular when the whole world goes crazy, God is the source of our calm in the midst of chaos. The second scene we see is that God is the resource against the raging of nations. Psalm 46: 4-7: "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice. The earth melts, and the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress." In this scene, we see a picture of a city engulfed by a massive siege. It is surrounded by enemies, an innumerable horde of enemies. And the Psalmist says, "There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God." Jerusalem was one of the only ancient cities not built on a river, and ancient cities needed water close to them, especially in a siege. And when the enemy, Sennacherib, attacks Jerusalem in the Old Testament, he's sure that the lack of water will ultimately drive them to surrender. But unknown to Sennacherib, Jerusalem had a source of water. A wise King named Hezekiah built an underground tunnel secretly, bringing in 1,777 feet of a trench, to bring water in through solid rock, from a spring in Gihon, to a Pool of Siloam. And here, the Psalmist says that this water symbolizes God's very presence, that he himself is our greatest spiritual resource. He is in our midst. He shall give us what we need to quench our spiritual thirst. He alone can sustain. It's a God who speaks the siege into oblivion. He is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of angelic armies. In the old Testament, there's a story of the prophet Elisha, and he and his servant is surrounded by enemies. Thousands of soldiers surround them, and the servant is terrified, and he says, "Elisha, my father, what are we going to do?" And Elijah says, "Those who are with us are more than those who are against us. And more than those who are before us." The servant's eyes are opened, and he sees a hail full of angelic soldiers, horses, and chariots of fire. William Plumer said, "No real harm can befall the child of God walking in the path of duty." And the third scene we see that tells us that God is the ruler of, over the rebels of earth, Psalm 46: 8-11: "Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He turns the chariots, burns the chariots with 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 fortress." The third picture is that of a battlefield, after a battle is over. It's in the aftermath war. We see bodies, we see weapons strewn all over, and the text tells us that God himself will triumph over his enemies. The word of God tells us in the end times, the words of Jesus Christ. Wars and rumors of wars will come, but in the Old Testament, and the New Testament, believers are fortified with the confidence that all of the kingdoms of this world will one day become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Because God is sovereign, because God is great, because God will triumph, the believer is told to be still. No matter the turmoil, no matter the turbulence, be still, and know that he is God. We're told to avail ourselves of his sufficiency. We're told that when we rest in the Lord, it is well with our soul. We don't rest in ourselves and we don't rest in people or governments, but in God. The question that arises from this text is, how do I know that when Christ returns? Or how do I know when I die and meet Christ, that I will be accepted, that I will be welcomed, and I will not be on the side of his enemies? The word of God tells us that if you are in Christ by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, you become a child of God. And as a child of God, you have nothing to fear, outside of Christ. The fear that we experience now, and the fear that we experience in the face of this virus, in the face of any adversity, is nothing compared to what we should really feel, which is fear of justice, the wrath of God for our sin. This is what makes the Gospel such good news. That Jesus Christ came, and Jesus Christ personified this psalm. Jesus Christ is our present refuge and our future victory. Jesus personally promised that when we are in him, when we belong to him, he will be with us to the end of the age. That when we trust in Christ, repent of our sins, Jesus gives us the secret aqueduct of the Holy Spirit, who gives us rivers of living water. John 4:14: "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 7:37, Christ says, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" To give us this water, the water that leads to eternal life. Jesus thirsted to give us protection from the storms of life. Jesus absorbed the greatest storm known to man, which is the judgment for our sin. Jesus, though he was sinless, paid the penalty for a virus infinitely more deadly than the one before us, and that's the virus of our sin. To give us refuge, Jesus lost refuge. To give us strength, Jesus lost all strength. To give us help, Jesus lost all help. He went through the greatest trouble known to mankind. He did that for us. On the cross, as he was being crucified for our sins. Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was forsaken by the Father, so that we would never have to be. So respond to this grace. How are we to respond? We're to repent of our sins, and repent of our fear, repent of our anxiety, and instead, accept the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he'll pour his spirit into your heart, and forgiveness and mercy and grace. Once we're in Christ, there's nothing to fear. Don't panic. Instead, pray, plan, be prudent. We are to remain faithful, not fearful. As believers, we have to redirect our energy from anxiety and panic to love and service and preparation. Faith is surrender to the one who is in control. This virus has brought the world to its knees. And from here, we pray. We pray to God, who is our refuge, and our strength, and our help. We don't overcome fear with just information. We overcome fear with faith, but we are to be informed. There's a difference between fear and prudence, so be informed about this virus and its developments. Go to http://cdc.gov. If you are showing signs of illness, the best way that we can love others is to stay away. If you see symptoms of illness, call a doctor, hopefully get tested. As more tests come out, if you experience a fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, just a tiredness, or muscle or headache, stay at home, as instructed by medical professionals. Wash your hands. Work to prevent the spread, and pray. Pray for yourself, pray for the church, and pray for our community. In particular, pray for the doctors and medical professionals, who are courageously on the front lines, fighting and preparing for the fight across the country, and across the globe. The apostle Paul said, "I want you to be free from anxieties." Philippians 4: 4-7 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Matthew Six, 25 and 27, the Lord Jesus says, "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?" It feels like in the past few weeks, everything has changed, but at the same time, the most important things have not. God is immutable. He's still on his throne. Therefore, we have an unperishable hope, especially in the face of mortality. The storms of life, like this one, they expose our foundations. What are we trusting in? What are we building our lives on? Is the material rock, or is it sand? And Scripture says that only Christ is the rock on which we stand. Suffering, or the prospect of it, reveals what we're truly trusting in, who our true God is. So even as Jesus spoke words of comfort, he made clear that his friends would suffer. He said, "In this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world." Christ offers us a real hope, and the real Christian hope is our ultimate confidence. It's rooted in the historical life, historical death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of his resurrection from the dead, he's proven that he is the creator of the world, and also its Redeemer and sustainer. And he will return. And one day, he will renew the entire creation. And this hope isn't just theological, it's not just cosmetic, but it's personal as is written, the astonishing and wonderful words of the Heidelberg Catechism. "What is your only hope in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins, with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the Devil. He also preserves me in such a way, that without the will of my Heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me hardly willing and ready from now on to live for him." The church has experienced epidemics. It's lived through wars and famines, and the church of Jesus Christ has responded, by offering a compelling hope, an unshakeable hope, of a kingdom that cannot be touched by these dangers. The church started in the Roman Empire in the Roman world, and it was a world full of plagues. Epidemics regularly decimated cities and regions, and though people didn't understand germ theory of disease, they knew enough to flee the cities, when they saw people getting sick. And the first Christians, who saw themselves as missionaries, as emissaries, as ambassadors of Christ, that remained in the cities, did not flee the place. They stayed, and they served. Sociologist Rodney Stark in his work, The Rise of Christianity, makes a statistical argument that this commitment, by itself, is commitment to provide meaningful care for those who are stricken by the plague, that in itself, was a major contributor to the growth of the church in the first centuries of the common era. When this plague passes, and it will, what will our neighbors remember of us? Well, they remember that Christians took immediate, decisive action to protect the vulnerable, even at a great personal cost, organizational cost. Will we as Christians be remembered, we are people not of panic but of prayer, not of anxiety but of action, not of fear but of faith, ready to serve as we are able, as we can, while protecting ourselves and keeping appropriate social distance, to provide for the needs of those around us, and most importantly, to bring hope. Practically, if you know of someone who is elderly or immunocompromised or at risk, perhaps that you could reach out, and ask if they need help with grocery shopping. Or perhaps you know someone who is struggling with the economy, has been laid off. This is a great time to practice generosity, sacrificial generosity. And most importantly, are you ready to give a defense for the reason for the hope that you have? With gentleness and respect, pointing people to the great news, despite all the bad news that's out there, to the great news, that in Jesus Christ, by grace through faith, through the repentance of our sins, our eternity is secure, no matter what happens, for me to live as Christ, and to die is gain. No matter what happens, I'll be in Heaven, eating ice cream. Psalm 112: 6-8. "For the righteous will never be moved. He will be remembered forever. He's not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady. He will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries." And I'll close with Romans 8: 31-38. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? If he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus, the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. who will separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?" Or COVID-19. "As it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor anything now nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord." God is our refuge. Would you turn to him? Let's pray. Lord, we pray by the power of the Spirit. Intervene. Stop this virus. We pray, send healing to those who are suffering. We pray, fill our hearts with your Holy Spirit, and empower us, for the duty that you have for us, the mission that you have for us, to care for our neighbors, and to share the good news of Jesus Christ, and the unshakable hope that he offers. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.