Audio Transcript:

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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, 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.