Through Doubt to Deeper Faith - The Book of Psalms

Living Word Bible Church

Media Give App

Through Doubt to Deeper Faith - The Book of Psalms

July 25, 2021 • Andrey Bulanov • Psalm 73

Give

Main Idea:
Asaph gives us an honest recollection of his journey through doubt as he sees the continual prosperity of the wicked and questions God's justice. As he comes to the edge of loosing his faith his perspective is restored as he comes into the presence of God, and gains a fresh understanding of the fragility of the sinner's success as well as the enteral and enduring faithfulness of God. Asaph is honest about the complexity of true faith and shows us that battling with doubt is not always an enemy of faith, but actually part of the healthy journey of a growing faith.

Outline:
1. The confession
2. The disturbing question
3. The breakthrough
4. The new perspective
5. The deeper desire and the deeper peace

Scripture References:
- Psalm 73
- Isaiah 40:6-8
- John 6:27
- Titus 3:4-6

Application Questions:
- What kind of faith drives you today? Is it a faith of mere practices, traditions, culture or logical answers?
- Have you ever been captivated by the ever-present love of God?
- What is your response to the success and confidence of the world around you?
- Are you honest and open about the questions that linger in your heart? Where do you go to get perspective?

-----

One of the unique things about living in our modern secular world is that we live in a world where everyone's beliefs are under pressure from the different beliefs of the people around them.

In previous ages it was not always so.

The last 1500 years in the West, we have seen a more or less same worldview. God, morality, truth - were shared, though of course to differing levels. Today, we have a buffet of ideas and perspectives that surround us and it does not matter WHAT you believe, you are always under the nagging question - why this and not that?

This is important to note since so often in the church complex questions are shooed aside and people who struggle with doubt and questions are shamed and made to feel weak.

Part of the reason for that is because our tendency is to get very defensive toward someone who is asking complicated questions - we are afraid that it will challenge OUR faith and so we want move away from that as quickly as possible.

The reality is however, truth is never afraid of questions. The God of Scripture is the God who is always inviting questions, who is calling all who doubt to come and present their struggles before him.

We have God's famous invitation in Isaiah 1:18 - "Come let us reason together". We have constant challenges that God in the OT presents to the false prophets of other religions, saying, "Come and present your case, lets hear your arguments for why you believe in these false gods!"

Jesus asks them if they want to leave him too, he challenges his followers to truly count the cost of following him.

Paul challenges his readers to examine themselves, to see if they are actually in the faith!

All over Scripture, there is an invitation to consider the evidence, to ask hard questions, to confront and share our doubts before God and his Word.

This is a very honest Psalm, encouragingly so, strikingly so. It exposes the deep battles that rage within the faithful follower of Christ throughout the ages. It pulls back the curtain and destroys the notion that even spiritual leaders are bulletproof in their faith.

It is honest about the complexity of true faith and it shows that battling with doubt is not always an enemy of faith, but actually part of the healthy journey of a growing faith.

1. The confession

Asaph was one of the men in the temple ministry during the reign of king David. He was one of the people responsible for leading God's people in ministry. No doubt this is a position where his faith is an example to others and it comes with a lot of pressure to be "strong in the faith".

He shares with us his spiritual journey, he opens his heart and his struggles.

And again remember that as it is the words and feelings of this specific man, its also part of Scripture, it is the words that God himself gives to us as from himself.

He starts out with a confession of faith - a statement of his deepest conviction, which sets out from the start what he truly believes NOW to be true. As he shares with you his journey of doubt and faith, he does not want you to have any doubt as to where he is at NOW.

"Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart..."

This is a statement that affirms God's faithfulness to his people. Again, as NT readers reading this we need to see here not just speaking of Israel, but to those who are called the people of God, to those who follow him from the heart.

"Truly God is good..."

Indeed, surely, for sure, UNDOUBTEDLY - God is indeed good.

"As for me, my feet almost slipped, my nearly went astray"

Or as another translation puts it:
"I had almost stopped believing; I had almost lost my faith" (NCV)

In contrast to his first affirmation - of the unquestionable goodness of God - he gives us a confession of a struggle that he himself experienced in his relationship to this wonderful God.

"I had almost stopped believing; I had almost lost my faith" (NCV)

Its important not to brush over this too quickly and miss the strength of these words! He isn't just talking about a LITTLE struggle! He is speaking of a point of his life that was desperately dark and difficult!

One of the chief worship leaders serving under King David confesses that he had a period in his spiritual life that was so difficult that he fells like he almost abandoned his faith, and yet here he is, leading worship and boldly tell all to hear, sharing the journey so that this can serve both to glorify God and build up the people of God.

2. The disturbing question

Doubt often grows through a disturbing question that lingers in the back of our mind, that threatens to disrupt everything we believe and know. A question that makes us uncomfortable. A question that we may not want to face head on because we think we don't have an answer for it.

Our common response to such things is to try to shake them off and go about our life, but as it lingers in the shadows the doubt grows and challenges our beliefs more and more.

Asaph's struggle was a true and challenging one. Essentially it boils down to the question of God's justice - why do the wicked people prosper and seem to experience so much success while I am living a life of continual battle and struggle as I seek to walk faithfully to God and his word?

As he watches the life of the wicked people, his heart grows bitter and even envious of them.

Look at them! They hate God! They mock God! They do whatever they want! They party, they enjoy all manner of pleasure! They are so confident! And yet their businesses are so successful! They grow in riches more and more!

Notice that theres two main characteristics that he is highlight about the wicked: prosperity and pride.

They have an easy time until they die,
and their bodies are well fed.
5 They are not in trouble like others;
they are not afflicted like most people.
6 Therefore, pride is their necklace,
and violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge out from fatness;
the imaginations of their hearts run wild.
8 They mock, and they speak maliciously;
they arrogantly threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues strut across the earth.

When I look at the wicked people of the world, why does it seem like very often, they are experiencing the TOTAL OPPOSITE of what God SAYS will happen to them??

Am i just caught here in some sort of sick game? Here I am seeking to follow the ways of God and it is hard! Isn't it supposed to be blessing and joy to walk with God? Isn't sin supposed to ruin lives and lead to destruction?

"For I envied the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked."

It's crazy because when I consider this question it's almost like Asaph wrote this story exactly for our social media driven age.

The digital revolution has given us eyes to see into the lives of everyone else, and most of those are people who deny God. The greatest icons of our age, the pop stars, the CEO's, the billionaires, the geniuses - youtube, tik tok, snapchat and instagram gives us a very PERSONAL lens into their homes and their pleasures.

We see 25 year old millionaires walking around their mansions in a silk robe, surrounded by women and cash and lamborginis. And they are telling you how just two years ago they were living in their mom's basement.

We see Joe Rogan and other famous voices, bringing on all the smartest people in the world on his podcast and talking about the power of psychedelic drugs and how much better he feels and how REAL the changes are in his life.

And they preach to us a message that says, "HEY look, I am REALLY happy and my life is REALLY good and you can have this too!"

And you look back at your ordinary life and your struggles and your work at trying to read the Bible and pray and seek growth and how challenging and dry it can feel sometimes and you begin to wonder.

"Am I the one who has it backwards???"

Asaph is not just dealing with some shallow, petty jealousy. He's asking a real and challenging question.

If we are not ever tempted by the prosperity of the wicked people around us, if we never wonder about the justice of God and of how upside down our christian value system often feels - we are either being naive or we are just ignoring this deep and lingering question in our hearts.

3. The breakthrough

Asaph struggles with this for a while.

Did I purify my heart
and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?
14 For I am afflicted all day long
and punished every morning.
15 If I had decided to say these things aloud,
I would have betrayed your people.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless

The process of dealing with seasons of doubt and difficult questions that wont go away is NOT, as is commonly done in the church - to treat them with simplicity and say something like: "Just believe!" "Trust what the Bible says!".

We don't want to downplay the seriousness of these questions - rather what we want to do is to increase our view of the power of the answers that Scripture holds!

Often times we think we know what the Bible says but because we never really allow ourselves to be truly challenged, we never really discover that power of the answers that we hold in front of us!

Asaph, the godly and wise man of God, who is tasked with leading worship for the people of Israel - when he seeks to understand this thing all on his own, when he tries to wrap his mind around this problem - he comes to a complete dead end.

This is the lowest place he has ever been. This is where he feels like he is loosing his faith.

Here is where his journey of doubt and faith hinges, where it turns.

And that turn comes through a very unexpected way:

"When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary.
Then I understood their destiny."

The sanctuary of God is the place of worship, the inner place of the temple. It is the place where God dwells.

At first glance this may seem like a strange way to break out of your spiritual depression: go to church and everything gets better. And obviously that is not how it works for most people.

And i really don't think he is being that simplistic here. He's not saying, i just went to church and everything got better.

What is interesting about the old testament inner sanctuary of the temple was that it was designed as a mini cosmos.

When you would enter the worship space that God had designed for the people of Israel, it was meant to remind you that you are entering the presence of the God who reigns over all things, and through him, you see the who world a certain way.

when Asaph says, "I entered God's sanctuary and then i understood their end.." he isn't just speaking of going to a physical space that had some magical effect on him. he is saying that he entered into a different perspective. He came into the presence of God and in that space, he also entered into place from which he sees all of life from a different angle.

Here is something that we need to understand when it comes to knowing truth: its not just about logic and arguments. Real knowledge comes through a certain posture.

The bible shows us that as limited creatures we do not possess a mind that is able to take in all of reality, to comprehend it, to sift it and to understand it.

We are always depending on someone else's perspective of reality. We are always feeding off of another persons perspective on truth.

And every perspective other than God's perspective is going to give us a view of the world that is skewed or flawed in some way.

Knowledge depends on where you stand. The mind is not only logic. Perspective depends on the posture of the heart. True insight is always born out of the moral stance of humility before the Creator.

This is why the book of Proverbs tells us repeatedly - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..."

Often times in our doubts, we think we just need answers and information. And yes that is definitely part of the answer. But Asaph shows us here that real light comes when our heart comes into the presence of God, his glory, his wonder, his wisdom and grace - and chooses to see all things from that at the center - not our own desires.

This is why our spiritual routine of worship, Scripture and prayer is so important for all of life - its not just keeping the spiritual part of our life healthy - it is impacting our entire view of life!

4. The new perspective

What is it that Asaph sees?

"Indeed, you put them in slippery places;
you make them fall into ruin.
19 How suddenly they become a desolation!
They come to an end, swept away by terrors.
20 Like one waking from a dream,
Lord, when arising, you will despise their image."

Things are not always as they seem.

In the presence of God and in light of the vastness of eternity - the prosperity of the wicked suddenly comes into a proper light.

You may look from one perspective, and feel like your success, your wealth, your health - its all so solid and so sure.

And yet you look from another angle and you realize - it can all fade away in a moments notice.

One of the repeated ideas of the Bible is that the wicked come to a sudden end. To see through a deeper perspective is to realize that no amount of power, success or wealth can grant to a person true spiritual power to withstand judgement.

Isaiah 40:6-8
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of our God remains forever.”

the success of the world around us is REAL. But it is a certain KIND of real - the kind that quickly fades.

Its more like the reality of a dream - which feels very real, and then all of a sudden its gone.

We are so tempted to be enticed by the shiny things right in front of us rather than seeking that which truly lasts, which gives lasting joy and life.

When we see the prosperity of the world around us we don't need to pretend its not real, or think that they are all just faking it, on the inside they are just suffering. Some of they ARE suffering. But many of them are truly happy.

What we need to learn to do is see their happiness in a proper light - like a flower, that is here today and gone tomorrow.

Unless a human heart is connected to the life giving joy and presence of the Creator, all we are is grass. Taht is a fact. And it ALWAYs comes to a sudden end, in this life or the next.

John 6:27
"Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you..."

5. A deeper desire and a deeper peace

As Asaph has these realizations he begins to reflect on his journey and his own heart a bit more clearly.

When I became embittered
and my innermost being was wounded,
22 I was stupid and didn’t understand;
I was an unthinking animal toward you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.

He's like - man as I look back I realize that was so foolish - like an unthinking animal.

And my stupidity and my pain was directed at YOU God!

And yet here is the crazy thing - in the midst of that you never left. You didn't leave me. you continued to hold my right hand and walk with me?!?

Notice that Asaph is not convicted by God's harshness but by his kindness. He does not say that he went into the sanctuary and he realized that God is a scary judge and that he better repent or he would be crushed by God just like the wicked.

As Asaph comes into the place of worship and as he allows his heart to be captivated by the truth of God's majesty, beauty and power - he is reminded that God's justice on the wicked is unavoidable.

He is reminded that their momentary success is a great tragedy because their success makes them feel invincible against God - which makes them even more blind to their desperate need of God.

But in addition to this, he is reminded of God's amazing goodness and patience. He realizes that even in his deepest, darkest season of doubting, God was working with his heart, he was guiding him, he was taking care of him and he was leading him to a deeper place of faith.

He realizes that God is closer and more present in his life than he ever thought possible. He sees that God's kindness and care and concern for him was SO MUCH GREATER than he ever realized.

This is what transformed Asaph, what truly brought him home from his searching - he came into the presence of the Lord God Almighty - and here he was stopped dead in his tracks by one great truth that all of a sudden matter so little - YOU ARE LOVED.

You are loved by a God who created and crafted the universe, the molecules and the galaxies. You are loved by a God who provides the breath in your lungs every day and heartbeat that keeps you alive. You are loved by a God who loved you even when you were like an unthinking animal towards him. You are loved by a God who is working through the various circumstances in your life, the struggles and the questions - to call you home, to bring you to himself.

"25 Who do I have in heaven but you?
And I desire nothing on earth but you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart,
my portion forever."

The eternal love and grace of our Creator, our heavenly Father is the ONLY thing that fills and captivates our hearts the way that they were meant to. It's the only thing that turns the lights on and puts everything else in perspective.

Asaph says, "You've always been with me, guiding me and loving me...whom who i have in heaven but you??"

My whole life is filled with the guiding and loving presence of God. He leads me. He provides for me, even in the toughest seasons, he is working a purpose which takes me into a deeper and deeper knowledge of his love for me.

What else is there that anyone could ever possibly want?? Even my body will fall apart but Lord - you are my life, my strength - my everyhting.

This is the center of the power of the biblical message - the true and living God is not just a God of answers, or proofs, or real justice - it is his LOVE for sinners.

The true discovery of the truth of God, and the true REdiscovery of God always includes a very PERSONAL discovery - that God in his heart loves and is working through the plan of redemption to communicate that love to our hearts.

He came personally to get us - he lived in our world, he became one of us - he took our human guilt upon himself and he was raised through suffering victorious over the grave - that he might draw us to himself - all this he did for you when you were dead to him.

Titus 3:4-6
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,
5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior

God's eternal love is the only thing that fills and refills our hearts - to bring real peace and freedom.

What kind of faith drives you today? Is it a faith of mere practices, traditions, culture or logical answers?

Where are you at todaY? Have you ever been captivated by the ever present love of God? Have you ever been awakened from the sleep of a sinful human mind that sees nothing but the here and now?

Are you enticed by the world around? Do you see the success of the world around you in an honest light?

What is your response to the deep questions that linger in the heart? What is your response to poeple who ask such questions? Do you see healthy doubt as a pathway to deeper faith?

The Lord Who Reigns! - The Book of Psalms

August 29, 2021 • Andrey Bulanov • Psalm 97

Main Idea: • Real faith is rooted in seeing God for who he really is: as exalted, mighty and holy King over all things. This vision of the true God must make us both tremble and rejoice. 1. See the glory of the King a. God is all powerful and has full control b. God is holy 2. See the judgement of the King a. He Works Unstoppable Justice and Righteousness in the World 3. See the gladness of the King Scripture references: • Psalm 97 • Romans 1:21-23 • Ps. 33:10-11, 13-16 • Ps. 99:1-3 • Hebrews 12:28-29 • Rev. 6:15-17 Key Concepts: • God's glory • God's lordship and sovereignty • God's holiness • God's total justice and judgement against sin • True peace, joy and gladness only comes to those who tremble at his glory Application Questions: • What is your view of God? ○ Does your view of God bring BOTH trembling and fear AND gladness and joy? ○ Here's the thing - unless he is a God that makes you tremble, he is also not going to be a God that makes you rejoice, because he is not powerful enough. ○ But also, unless he makes you overflow with gladness and joy, then you have a wrong view of his holiness, power and justice. If all you do is tremble and fear - but have no joy in this God then you failed to see that he is the God who has USED HIS POWER to come to your rescue. • Do you worship this God? Do you view the Jesus of the gospels as also the exalted LORD of the universe? • Do you base your christian on your emotions? Or do you allow the unstoppable FACT of his power and glory to be your foundation? ○ Yes, the resurrected Jesus is not sitting physically with you at the breakfast table to have a cup of coffee - but do you realize that his Lordship and Reigning presence as your King is JUST AS PRESENT?? ○ The fact that we fail to see him as King in our daily lives does not make him less so. • Is your view of God reflected in the dangers and threats that surround you in life? ○ All the hype today is the laws, the government overreach, the fear over vaccines and COVID. Yes lets talk, let's do our homework, let's think and do our best to make decisions - but let's not allow these things to cause us to change our view of God - Jesus reigns supreme, he is holy, righteous and unstoppably in control. He comes to the rescue of his saints. He brings gladness to our hearts. ○ Learn to bring in the power of this truth into those battles, into the greatest troubles of your heart. ------- We live in a time when it is very popular to talk about self improvement. Fitness, health, therapy, diet, supplements - its popular to talk about how you can take control of your life and how your whole life flows out from the choices that you make. And this is true to an extent. But it's not the full truth. The Bible teaches us that "the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge". In other words, our view of God, our relationship to him and our perspective of him is the beginning of all correct thinking and living. In other words, deep down at the foundation of all of your behavior is your perspective on God. Speaking of the work of sin and sinful motivation in the human heart, Paul says this in Romans 1 "21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles." Notice how the whole outflow of idolatry in the human heart flows out of a knowledge of God, and a desire to avoid giving him thinks and worshipping him. As human beings we are born with a built in awareness of God and his law - and everything that we do, every one of our actions is in some way connected to that knowledge. For example, when we say something like, "You know, of course I believe God is holy and he is King, that he is the most important one, but I just don't read my Bible or pray much because its just really hard to stay focused and honestly I just get bored with the Bible" - you are actually telling me a lot about what you think of God. You believe he is important, but not THAT important that he gets your attention. If I live my life with a very shallow intake of truth, and I have not deep alarms in my heart, I am actually showing that even though God and his truth is important, I am OK without it. You would never admit that or even agree with it verbally, but the undeniable evidence is in your daily behavior - if you are living your life and you feel OK you are proving that you actually think its OK to live without submitting to God and his truth. This is also connected to a false view of our emotions. We think that if I try to read the Bible, and if I am bored, then that is just a fact - the bible is boring, and I can't really change what I feel about it. YES YOU CAN. Your feelings only flow downhill from your convictions. Your feelings are not as permanent as you think. Here is a simple test - if Jesus appeared to you in the flesh as you are making your morning coffee and asked to join you - your feelings would get in line really quickly. You would not be bored. All of a sudden you would not think your phone is so distracting. You are confronted with a fact - and your feelings get in line with it. EVERYTHING we do is a reflection of what we think about God. We are ALL theologians - we all have a view of God that makes our lives possible. Our tendency as sinners is to make God small - to make him fit into a box that allows us to live as we want. This is why when the Bible calls us to see God for who he is, to renew of vision of God - it calls us to look up, to see his greatness, his power, his authority, his supremacy. We have a deep need to be confronted with the fact of God's exalted and holy nature. We need our perspective to be invaded with the greatness and power of God. 1. See the Glory of the King 1 The Lord reigns! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coasts and islands be glad. 2 Clouds and total darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. 4 His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord— at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; all the peoples see his glory. Notice how this whole Psalm is revolving around the proclamation of a FACT: The Lord reigns! In many ways this is the message of the whole Bible. The Bible is not trying to sell us the idea of God and his kingdom. Its trying to warn us about the unstoppable reality of it. Most of the time, God's immediate glory is not visible to us. The Psalmist is trying to give us a series of human images that give us a sense of what would it be like to come into the presence of the pure and unstoppable power of the God of the universe. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to face the power and glory of the God who created and upholds all of reality? The molecules that make up your face, your hands and your brain - are held together by SOMETHING. And that something is the God who created it all out of nothing. God is presented here as the Lord who reigns - the absolute King who sits on a throne above all creation. Clouds, darkness, fire and lightning. It's like, when you just a glimpse of who he really is, the very fabric of reality begins to be torn apart and starts to melt. Mountains turn to wax. The earth trembles. The Psalmist is emphasizing two things about God here: a. God is all powerful and has full control. Clouds and total darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. 5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord— at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. when have you experienced power in your life? • a fast car • a big check • an AR-15 Imagine pure, total, infinite and unstoppable power. God's power is unstoppable. He is the true King over the world and no one and nothing can stand in the way of that. It is easy for us to think that we live in a world of choas. It is easy for us to beleive that governments have power. Its easy for us to be overwhelmed today by the various powers that surround us in the world. Nuclear weapons, billion dollar companies, artifial intelligence, terrorist groups... But on a very foundational level NONE of them really have any power. There is only One who is in charge. There is only One throne in the whole universe - and God sits on it. Ps. 33:10-11, 13-16 10 The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations; he thwarts the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. 13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he observes everyone. 14 He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth from his dwelling place. 15 He forms the hearts of them all; he considers all their works. 16 A king is not saved by a large army; a warrior will not be rescued by great strength. Fire goes out on all sides and consumes his enemies. The mountains melt like wax. The earth sees and trembles. Of course we do not understand all his ways. Why does he allow evil leaders and governments to prevail at times? When will he execute justice? We don't know. But part of our submission to him as Lord is submitting ourselves to him even though we don't see all the answers. Our God is a God of pure and completely unstoppable unending power. We are small. God is King over all creation. He rules all things. He sees everything. There is no escape from his power and dominion. b. God is Holy This is a concept that is often foreign to us today. The biblical concept of holiness has two parts - something that is totally separate and above everything else, AND something that is totally pure and perfect. "clouds and total darkness surround him..." A lot of the images in this Psalm are directly pulling from the story of when God showed up to meet with the people of Israel in the desert - he descended onto Mount Sinai in a trembling cloud of darkness, fire and lightning. When the people saw this they fell to their faces and were sure they would die. God totally unlike us - he is totally and utterly pure and perfect in every way, and he is completely other, he is nothing like us or anything in the world - he MADE all of reality. He is totally outside of everything that is made. He is not constrained by anything in this world - and when he ENTERS into it with even a slight hint of his true self - the creation starts to fall apart. Ps. 99 "1 The Lord reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He is enthroned between the cherubim. Let the earth quake. 2 The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise your great and awe-inspiring name. He is holy." “The clearest sensation that a human being has when he experiences the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness. That is, when we are in the presence of God, we are humbled and become most aware of ourselves as creatures. This is the opposite of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be as gods.”" R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God Isaiah's vision of God's holiness in Isaiah 6 reminds us of this as well. I am just a creature. I am made. I am dust. And I am dirty. He is creator. He is eternal. He is perfect. Have you ever had that moment of realization of God's holiness? 2. See the Judgement of the King a. He Works Unstoppable Justice and Righteousness in the World Because he is a King of total power and perfect holiness it is inevitable that he has a response of perfect justice and judgement upon all who stand against him. "3 Fire goes before him and burns up his foes on every side. ... 7 All who serve carved images, those who boast in worthless idols, will be put to shame. All the gods must worship him." it is the nature of God that cuts all creation into two categories: those who acknowledge him and those who do not. Blessing and judgement. Idolatry: not just actual idolatry. If you do not see God as Lord, if you do not see him as the Holy King who is over you - you will automatically be bowing down to something else, some other thing that takes control of your heart. Notice the emphasis here is not JUST that all those who worship idols will be judged. Verse 7 ends with a declaration: all gods must worship him! gods: supernatural beings - angels, spirits, demons. Notice that the emphasis here is, Just like his power and his holliness is UNSTOPPABLE - it means that ALL will come face to face with him. All WILL acknowledge him sooner or later. The massive difference is the timing and the outcome: See him today, bow to him, worship him - and live in his gladness and joy. Or you run from him - and you still meet him. But then there will be no where to run. And it will end in judgement, death and destruction. All the gods will worship him - all the spirits, all the powers, all the angels, all the rebels, all the governments, all the rulers. Hebrews 12:28-29 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. Rev. 6:15-17 15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?” There is no neutrality here folks. There is no such thing as "almost christian" or "kind of christian". You are either worshipping the king, or you are worshipping idols - your selfish desires, your pride, your plans. Kids - especially those who grew up in the church: do you understand that Jesus is not just Savior who calls us, he is also the Holy Lord who rules all things? Do you understand that you are either following Jesus or you are following sin? Do you understand that you are either worshipping Jesus or you are rebelling against him? Jesus is not just a product that we are trying to sell. He is a Lord, a King who is COMING and we are trying to warn everyone! Run to him today before its too late! One of the reasons we think that our temptations are so big and powerful, one of the reasons we think our desires are so hard to battle - is that we have forgotten the justice of our holy God. He is HOLY. He is with us always. He sees all. And he will come to judge all sin. In his presence none can stand. In his presence all our stupid and foolish desires melt away. what is your view of God? If your view of God does not make you tremble, you've got the wrong god! 3. See the Gladness of the King One of the ironic things about this Psalm is that even though it is presenting God in this terrifying and powerful sense - the response that it calls out in those who believe in him is gladness and joy. Yes we fear this God and yes we tremble - but that trembling and fear is also accompanied by the mind-blowing realization that this God, this King - is OUR King. What does God use his power, lordship and strength for?? He uses it to save. To redeem sinners to himself. To bring lost sheep home. To rescue the weak from the evil. He is OUR rescuer. He is our hope. He is our protector. "10 You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his faithful ones; he rescues them from the power of the wicked. 11 Light dawns for the righteous, gladness for the upright in heart." Yes the night is dark, yes we will face evil and difficult things. Yes we will have to endure battles. But know this - as certain as the rising sun - light dawns on the righteous. What is the meaning of a sunrise? it is to remind you that victory is coming. Your King reigns. As those who read this Psalm from the perspective of the NT and the death of Jesus we see an even richer encouragement - every sunrise reminds us of the sunrise of the third day, when Jesus rose in victory over death. His resurrection is the gaurentee of ours. The King who reigns as Lord over all creation, the Holy and untouchable one - is the King who left his throne to suffer in our place. This might Lord is the one who paid for us with his own blood. This is a King who makes us tremble. But more than that, this is the King who fills our hearts with the song of gladdness, freedom and joy!!!!! Application: • What is your view of God? ○ Does your view of God bring BOTH trembling and fear AND gladness and joy? ○ Here's the thing - unless he is a God that makes you tremble, he is also not going to be a God that makes you rejoice, because he is not powerful enough. ○ But also, unless he makes you overflow with gladness and joy, then you have a wrong view of his holiness, power and justice. If all you do is tremble and fear - but have no joy in this God then you failed to see that he is the God who has USED HIS POWER to come to your rescue. • Do you worship this God? Do you view the Jesus of the gospels as also the exalted LORD of the universe? • Do you base your christian on your emotions? Or do you allow the unstoppable FACT of his power and glory to be your foundation? ○ Yes, the resurrected Jesus is not sitting physically with you at the breakfast table to have a cup of coffee - but do you realize that his Lordship and Reigning presence as your King is JUST AS PRESENT?? ○ The fact that we fail to see him as King in our daily lives does not make him less so. • Is your view of God reflected in the dangers and threats that surround you in life? ○ All the hype today is the laws, the government overreach, the fear over vaccines and COVID. Yes lets talk, lets do our homework, lets think and do our best to make decisions - but lets not allow these things to cause us to change our view of God - Jesus reigns supreme, he is holy, righteous and unstoppably in control. He comes to the rescue of his saints. He brings gladness to our hearts. ○ Learn to bring in the power of this truth into those battles, into the greatest troubles of your heart. The key to maintaining sanity in our crazy world is to tremble and be glad before our King.

The Lord is my Shepherd - The Book of Psalms

August 22, 2021 • Aleksey Khizhnyak • Psalm 23

Sunday Service - Aug 22nd

The Psalmist’s Prayer Habits - The Book of Psalms

August 15, 2021 • Andrey Bulanov • Psalm 62:8, Psalm 22:14–15, Psalm 139:23–24, Psalm 42:5, Psalm 6:4–5

Main idea: We must learn to look to Scripture of a living model for our spiritual life, especially our prayers. When we learn to follow the habits of the Psalmists, we invite God into a deeper walk with us and enrich our experience of his presence. Outline: Full transparency - bring to God the entire contents of your heart Internal awareness - examine your heart in the presence of God God centered orientation - pray for his glory and his kingdom in all your requests Application Questions: 1. What are your prayer habits? Have you ever examined them? 2. Are there parts of your life that you don't tell God about because you think they are insignificant? 3. Do you tell God everything? Do you act like he is your Father, who is looking over your shoulder at all that you do, with a desire to guide and lead? 4. Do you see God as the only one who can truly help you see yourself and your blindspots correctly? Do you invite him to do this regularly? 5. Do you think of God's will as something separate or detached from your everyday interests and concerns? 6. Is your greatest goal in life to live with a confidence that you are running fully in line with God's callings for you? Key Concepts for Discussion: • Our experience of God's work in our lives • Prayer habits impact our relationship with God • Developing a deeper awareness of our hearts tendencies and battles • Emptying our hearts to God • Seeing God as the only source of self knowledge and understanding • Having a correct relationship to God's will Scripture references: Ps. 62:8 Ps. 22:14-15 Ps. 55:4 Ps 57:7 Ps. 139:23-24 Ps. 19:12-13 Ps. 42:5 Ps. 6:4-5 ------------------------ Perhaps one of the biggest ways that we miss out on a deeper spiritual life is in the area of prayer. One of the typical responses that we have to various issues is: "Just pray about it." But perhaps one of the things that we don't think about as often is a lot of our prayer habits themselves may be unhealthy. We pray, but HOW do we pray and WHAT do we pray for? This is why we often have a disconnect in our knowledge ABOUT God and our daily experience OF God. We say we believe he is Lord over all things. We say we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts at all times. But our lifestyle often feels distant from him. Why? One of the answers to that is our practice of prayer. The question is not simply how much we pray, but also HOW we pray. The beauty of the psalms is that they are a massive opportunity for us to learn from many many different examples of genuine prayer and genuine people working through struggles, that are also God's revealed truth. Think about that. This is what makes the Psalms unique. I think sometimes we read out Bibles as a sterile display item. But the Psalms especially, remind us that the Bible is written by real people, in the midst of real difficulty and real joy - expressing all that to God. And at the same time as being deeply human, the Psalms are God's Word - they are the work of the Holy Spirit guiding the true experiences of men, in such a way that the result is real human words, as well as genuine Words from God. We see this very perspective in Jesus when in Matthew 22:43 he says that David wrote the Psalms under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to listen in on the prayers of Charles Spurgeon, Augustine, Calvin - the apostle Paul? That would be truly instructive and fascinating. Perhaps some of their prayer habits - exactly WHAT they pray about and how they talk to God. But in the Psalms, we have a whole book collection of prayers of saints, prayers that also inspired by God himself, prayers that are perfect because they are the work of the Holy Spirit through men. If we understand this we can have a different habit as we read the Psalms throughout our lives - we listen in more carefully on how they pray and we learn to pick up on them more specifically. Three characteristics of the prayers in the psalms: 1. Full transparency - bring to God the entire contents of your heart Ps. 62:8 "Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge." One of the most encouraging thing about the Psalms is the depth of transparency of emotions, experiences, worries, needs and joys. In this verse David is calling the nations to trust in God, but then he gives a very specific expression of that trust. He doesn't just leave it at that. He says, trust in him at all times and pour out your hearts before him. Notice the call here. Pour out your hearts before him. This is the very opposite of a set of rules or formulas. Thats one of the problems in prayer is that we get into specific formulas, specific topics or areas of our lives that we talk to God about, but the rest we just never go into. Here he is inviting us to dump out the full contents of our hearts. Is there stuff that we are or are not allowed to say? What is the stuff that we tend NOT to say to God? But does he really care about all the small stuff? Does he really care about the details? Who told you that he doesn't?? This is one of those areas that we run into a flaw in our theology that we might not realize we have. We say we believe God is sovereign and Lord over every detail of life. But when it comes to the smaller daily details or life or our inner world, we assume he has nothing to do with them. Notice how the Psalmists consistently bring a total emotional transparency to God. Ps. 22:14-15 14 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; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. Ps. 55:4 "My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me." Ps 57:7"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!" I am not saying we sit on the side of the bed and ask God which sock we should put on first. I am talking about bringing him into every aspect of our true concerns and experiences. If we are honest, we will find that we live a lot of our lives in a functional atheism. We bring God a lot of our main concerns but we don't pray in little moments. But the issue is that most of your life is little moments! “Kingdom praying and its efficacy is entirely a matter of the innermost heart's being totally open and honest before God. It is a matter of what we are saying with our whole being, moving with resolute intent and clarity of mind into the flow of God's action.” Dallas Willard What about pouring out to him moments when we feel like our hearts are not right - when we are deeply angry, or frustrated, or impatient...? The sin grows when it is isolated from his presence. but it is sanctified and transformed when brought to him in honesty. Think about the difference between your 5 year old child stomping away to their room in anger, or sitting next to you telling you about how angry they are. When we withdraw from God in our worst moments the darkness grows. But when we learn to freely be his children in his presence, his Fatherly care has a way of both convicting and restoring us in grace. Think about Jesus in the garden. In his humanity - he did not want to go to the cross. He got to the worst moment and he said, "Please if there is any way to avoid this, let's avoid this." Was that wrong for Jesus to pray? Of course not. The problem is that we often feel embarrassed to be our full selves in the presence of God. We think we offend him by bringing our messy frustrations and emotions and weaknesses. Are you angry? Hurt? Frustrated? Stressed? Joyful? tell him about it. talk to him. be angry in his fatherly presence. Don't think that you need to transform your emotions into a perfect state before you can pray. Don't be embarrassed to be a messy child in the presence of your Father. God is an infinitely more caring and present Father than we can ever be to our kids. Learn to pour out your hearts to him! 2. Internal awareness - examine your heart in the presence of God Ps. 139:23-24 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way Ps. 19:12-13 12 Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. 13 Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Ps. 42.5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God. One of the greatest paradoxes of being human is that we are so often a mystery to ourselves. We are very bad at diagnosing our own problems. We are very bad at interpreting our own states. We tend to be very blind to our biggest flaws. This is the danger of sin - it disrupts, not only the knowledge of God and the world - but also knowledge of self. What is the solution? Notice the psalmists consistently find clarity on self in the presence of God. They are aware that they do not fully know themselves, and they know it is only God who can clearly show them who they are. We live in an age of psychology that always promises various kinds of tests to give us clarity on ourselves. The latest trend in pop culture is psychedelics. In the 60's the hippies were advocating drugs as a means of escape. Today the rhetoric is COMPLETELY different - drugs are a way of deeper knowledge of self. The psalms consistently show us that we must learn to come to prayerful, Scripture soaked reflection of ourselves in the presence of God. The difference between this point and the previous one is that in the previous point, we were saying that we need to come to God to pour out our whole heart, to welcome him in to every struggle. The attention is God. Here we are saying that we need to come to God even to get a proper perspective on self. There are two forms here that we see. Firstly we see a prayerful invitation for God to teach us to expose to us our blind spots - for him to expose the since and problems that we are unaware of. We admit that we are our own greatest danger and we admit that we can't even figure ourselves out. We want to live in a lifestyle where one of our prayers is for the Lord to work in us, to help expose our issues and give us that ability to walk in the light. The second form here is of biblical self examination. "Oh my soul, why are you so depressed? Hope in God for I will still praise him!" Here the author is pausing, in his prayerful state, to ask himself some questions - why am I so upset? Why am I so stressed? What truths am I missing in my life?" And then he is supplying biblical truth into his self reflection - "Hope in God, for I will again praise him..." He is interrogating his own heart, in the presence of God and his truth, he is trying to get a deeper sense of why he is not living out the truth that he says he believes. This has been a very helpful habit for me to get into. Personally I am not super good at looking at my struggles. Certain aspects of my life I am constantly analuzing - my productivity and stuff. But when it comes to pressure points or weakness, I really have to stop and ask myself - why am I struggling with this? Whats going on in my heart and life? There was a season a few years ago when I was much more prone to getting frustrated at home with kids were being loud and disobedient. Just in time for that there was an assignment in seminary that made me take a closer look at one area of my life. For me this was very helpful because it helped me see that I was seeing home life as a retreat and source of comfort in way that was becoming unhealthy. Therefore, when I came home from work I wasn't coming with a mind to serve and give but to rest and receive. Its been very helpful to include in my prayer and Scripture reading a routine of regularly asking myself what my struggles are and pausing on that to invite God's truth to give me clarity. Is this going to make us fully aware of all our problems? No. We will always have blind spots! And this brings us to the first reason why it is so important to cultivate a prayerful self awareness. One of the most powerful realizations we can ever come to is how deeply broken we are - and yet that our heavenly Father is here to guide us through life. Secondly, it cultivates a deeper sense of our basic sins and struggles. We need to know our battles. We all have our own battles. We need to watch the battle zones and pray for God's healing work. We need to walk carefully in those areas of life. Thirdly it teaches us that God is the only one who can teach us who we are. The light of his Word and his Spirit - thats the only source of self knowledge. When we cultivate internal awareness in our prayers, when we routinely ask God to show us our hidden faults, when we routinely ask ourselves as we read our Bibles - whats going on in my heart this week? - this teaches us to cement the conviction that the Lord is the only source of understanding for ourselves. 3. God centered orientation - pray for his glory and his kingdom in all your requests We know that we need to learn to pray according to the will of God, but what does that mean? How does that look? What is the point of praying for any of our needs, if at the end of the day the only thing we pray for is the will of God? Why not just cut to the chase and pray for his will? These questions expose the fact that in our hearts, there is often an undetected flaw in our prayer - we view God's kingdom purpose and our own life purposes as two separate things. So i pray for my stuff, but then at the end i just say, "But not my will by your will be done." And in the chance that my desires intersect with Gods, lucky me! he will answer my prayer. This exposes the fact that we view God's kingdom purposes as totally separate from the things that we are genuinely interested in and the things that we care about. When we say that we need to learn to pray according to God's will we are saying that we need to reexamine OUR whole set of goals and objectives for life, and we need to realign our goals with the goals of God's kingdom. when we see the Psalmist asking God for help, they are not just saying, "your will but done.." Instead, they see God as actively working his kingdom purposes in and through their lives, in the daily battles and struggles that THEY are facing. And they are asking for God's help, because they believe that by helping them, he is working his work in the world - he is accomplishing, not just THEIR goals but also HIS goals. Ps. 6:4-5 4 Turn, Lord! Rescue me; save me because of your faithful love. 5 For there is no remembrance of you in death; who can thank you in Sheol? This kind of prayer is ALL OVER the psalms. "God, please help me! If you don't help me, then I can't glorify YOU in my life!" Notice there's two elements here. First of all, we understand that as those who are saved and redeemed by God, he is actively at work in our lives TODAY. He has put you into the life that you live , the family, the friends, the church, the interests that you have - and its all their for a unique way that he is using you and inviting you in following him daily. The second aspect here is that we are his people, are actively adjusting our daily goals and interests more and more closely to God's kingdom purposes that he has clearly revealed in his Word. Why do you want your kids to be saved? Your business to grow? Why do you want to get married? why do you want the things that you want? - is it so that God's purposes may be magnified through your life? One of the biggest misconceptions is that seeking God's will and living for his kingdom is some totally disconnected, far off thing that is completely separate from our real lives and interests today. “Many people have found prayer impossible because they thought they should only pray for wonderful but remote needs they actually had little or no interest in or even knowledge of. Prayer simply dies from efforts to pray about ‘good things’ that honestly do not matter to us. The way to get to meaningful prayer for those good things is to start by praying for what we are truly interested in. The circle of our interests will inevitably grow in the largeness of God’s love.” Dallas Willard God's will is for you to be an agent of his grace and love right where you ARE. Every daily battle we face we are either seeking our own kingdom and comfort, or God's. When you are parenting your kids and you're praying for God to make them obedient - is it just for your sake and your comfort? or is it for him to be glorified in their lives? When you are trying to get a work deadline met, are you praying for you to just have less stress and more comfort? Or are you praying for God to make you successful and fruitful so that you can be a witness in the community to his goodness? When you are for a godly husband or wife - are you praying that for your own sake and comfort? Or are you praying because you are honest with God about your desire for a family and you want to fulfill your God-given calling to glorify God and enjoy him in the beauty of family life? Praying for God's will is not just about praying for mission and evangelism in other nations or things like that - it is about learning to see your everyday life as a battlefield for his kingdom and glory versus your own. It teaches you to think about all your needs and your whole lifestyle in a new way. And it teaches you to have a habit of constantly coming to God and asking him to work HIS purposes in your life. This truly sets you free from the anxiety or stress of expecting certain results. But it also gives you boldness to keep going - to pray for guidance, to do your best and keep working. This is what gives the Psalmist the boldness to argue with God "Why would you let me die? How will I praise you when I am dead??" This exactly what Jesus did in the garden. "Father, if there is any other way - pass this cup from me. Yet, not my will but yours be done." He is actively submitting his desires in the moment to the bigger will of the Father. Only because he did that, there is such a thing as resurrection. The beauty of his victory was the product of his self conscious submission to give himself for the purposes of the Father. This is what we are called to do everyday. Do you want to see resurrection power in your life? Do you want to see God working through difficult situations and changing your life and the lives of people around you in beautiful ways that you never thought possible? Learn to align your hearts desires and interests with his. Make his passions your passions. Make his values your values. Make his dreams your dreams. Application: 1. What are your prayer habits? Have you ever examined them? 2. Are there parts of your life that you don't tell God about because you think they are insignificant? 3. Do you tell God everything? Do you act like he is your Father, who is looking over your shoulder at all that you do, with a desire to guide and lead? 4. Do you see God as the only one who can truly help you see yourself and your blindspots correctly? Do you invite him to do this regularly? 5. Do you think of God's will as something separate or detached from your everyday interests and concerns? 6. Is your greatest goal in life to live with a confidence that you are running fully in line with God's callings for you? When we learn to adjust our prayer habits (not just do this once) to what we see in Scripture, we will also experience a thicker sense of God's guiding presence and lordship in our lives.