Psalm 86:11- The Gospel and the Fear of God

[0:00] Father, often you tell us to pray for things we don't want. And so, Father, we're just being honest with you. The way, Father, we deal with that is we just ignore it.

[0:12] We don't bother praying about it at all. We don't think of ourselves as being rebellious against you. We just ignore it. Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a mighty work in our lives, that the Holy Spirit would bring the gospel to our lives in a deeper and deeper and deeper way so that, Father, we hear your word and we long to try to live it and to pray it and to put it into practice.

[0:40] So, Father, do that wonderful work in us this morning as we spend time studying your word. And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

[0:52] I don't want to be presumptuous about you folks that there's things that God tells us to do that we don't bother doing. But actually, that's true. There's all sorts of things he tells us to do that we don't actually want to have happen.

[1:08] And so, we just generally tend to ignore it. Andrew, if you could put up the first point. We're in a sermon series of all-around one-verse sermons. And my hope is that you will want to memorize these scripture passages and as you memorize them that you'll be able to pray them and meditate upon them and think upon them.

[1:27] And it's easier to do that if you memorize them. So, this is the second week. It's a series of different verses which are well worth our time to memorize and meditate upon. So, if you would just join with me.

[1:38] This is the verse that I'm preaching on today. Just one verse. And by the way, if you come here in the fall, don't worry. If I spend 35 minutes on one verse, if I preach 10 verses, I won't preach for 350 minutes.

[1:50] It's just one-verse sermons. So, if you would say this with me, please, that would be very helpful. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

[2:01] Unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 8611. Can you say it with me again? Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

[2:13] Unite my heart to fear your name. Now, here's the thing about this. It might be that for most of us as Christians, we know we're not really allowed to say that we don't want that.

[2:24] But from a Canadian perspective, most people in Canada don't want any of that. Or any of this, I guess I should just say.

[2:35] Let's just be honest about that. So, the fact of the matter is, is if we advertised in our services, come with us this Sunday to fear the Lord, that would not draw the crowds.

[2:47] It might draw the crowds of the curious to see who the kooks are that want to actually gather together to fear the Lord. But it's not a felt need.

[2:57] It's not something that Canadians think they need or that they want. In fact, lots about the text is very impressive. Like, your truth? Like, God? Like, why do you think your truth is more important than my truth?

[3:08] Like, why do you think your way is more important than my way? Like, the way to grow as a Canadian is to become true to yourself, true to your own way. Not let anybody else tell me how to be happy. Nobody can tell me how to be happy.

[3:20] I have to be happy on my own terms. That's what Canadians think. Very interesting. Many of you who are parents and maybe showed that pleasant enough movie Frozen to your kids, go back and look at the words to the song.

[3:34] That many of your young kids might have even learned the words of the song. And you'll see that in the words of that song, basically what they're saying is, nobody can tell me how to be happy on their terms. I'm happy on my own terms. I'm happy in my own way, with my own truth.

[3:46] I have to be true to myself. And as our kids sing that song, that's what they're learning. Now, some of you are here. So here's the thing.

[3:59] When I was in Angola a year ago, one of the things which was so interesting for me about being in Angola with the missionaries is that many of the missionaries in the mission agency that I was visiting, health care was a key part of their mission.

[4:16] I mean, they wanted to share the gospel, but part of the way they shared the gospel was through health care. By getting to know people, caring for their physical needs, they would know that they were Christians, and they would get to share the gospel with them.

[4:28] And one of the problems that they had in going to the rural villages, because they're in a community of about a million people, but they went out to the rural villages, and in the rural villages, they might have to say something because the baby's sick or somebody's sick.

[4:43] And so the nurse practitioner would say, listen, when you come in, the doctor will give you some medicine. And then the nurse would say, here's the things you have to do. And one of the things they might say is that you can't drink the water here anymore.

[4:58] And they would show them how to make the water clean. And they'd say, the water is making you sick. You can't drink the water. You have to follow this procedure to get clean water or good water that will make you healthy and not make you sick.

[5:14] And then they'd also give them some medications that they had to take. But the problem that they would run into time and time and time again is that the people, they would all nod very politely, because Angolans are very polite.

[5:29] So they would nod like this. But inside, while their head was going like this, their inside head was going like this. Because in their inside head, their inside head was saying, what's wrong with our water?

[5:43] Like, my ancestors have been drinking this water for generations. I don't need your water. Like, I don't need you white person to tell me how to have proper water. So they would nod politely.

[5:54] And then the nurse practitioner would leave. And they wouldn't use the technique to make the water clean, but they would use their own water, which was just making the problem worse. And in many cases as well, they wouldn't take the medication, because they'd think that what was really at matter was something the witch doctor had said, or some other way that they had offended against some spirit, the spirit of the tree or the water or the bush or whatever.

[6:17] And so this doctor was coming, or the nurse was coming, and they were giving these people in these remote tribal areas things that they didn't want, didn't think they needed.

[6:31] So let's just think for a moment. I mean, in Canada, we're far more sophisticated than in rural, very, very deeply rural Angola. We might all say we're far more sophisticated.

[6:42] But let's just pretend for a moment. Let's just at least give some credence to ask ourselves, this psalm up here, this part of the psalm, teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

[6:53] Unite my heart to fear your name. Maybe it's wise. Let's just take it for a second to say maybe it's wise. And it's telling us to do something that we Canadians, who are very sophisticated, think we don't need and we don't want.

[7:09] But maybe it actually is something that we need or we want. Maybe in some ways we're more like a rural tribe in Angola than we realize.

[7:20] So let's look at the first thing. Teach me your way, O Lord. So some of you might say, well, okay, George, what's up with that, George?

[7:32] Like, okay, you want me to sort of like not just dismiss it off of hand, but actually look at it and take it into heart. And it says, you know, teach me your way. But George, what's up with that? Like how on earth can it be that one size fits all?

[7:46] Like are you saying that there's just one way for Angola and one way for Canada, one way for somebody who's sort of illiterate and somebody has a PhD for a man and for a woman, for a person who's gay, a person who's heterosexual?

[8:00] Like, like George, like that just doesn't make any sense to me that there's just this one way. And then the other thing that they might say, if they're just saying, okay, George, I'm going to take you up on your challenge.

[8:15] I'm not just going to dismiss it. Just roll my eyes and I'm going to actually look at it and try to take it seriously. But, okay, but George, let's say, I don't know, George, isn't this just sort of leading to you just saying that you have to do the religious things that you say you have to do that, I don't know, I don't know, you have to, I don't know, read the Bible, go to church.

[8:34] There's going to be a whole pile of don'ts and a few pile of do's. And most of the do's are just really pretty boring. And I'm not even remotely interested in it. Like George, it just sounds like religion and it's just not, doesn't sound like very helpful.

[8:47] Like I'm willing to maybe try to at least have a conversation with you about it rather than just dismiss it. But I just can't see this going anywhere. Teach me your way. Those are really, really good comments, by the way.

[9:02] If you can get to a point where you have a conversation with somebody like that and they say that, those are very, very good. And on one level, we have those types of fears lurking deep in our own mind about texts like this.

[9:13] So here's the first thing about this line because my first point is teach me your way, oh Lord. That's my first thing. Well, what's it going on to say? Well, here's the thing.

[9:25] It probably is the case that when the person who wrote this and the Jewish people who are reading this, and even for many of us, we might get a little bit uncomfortable with what this imaginary person said about thinking that there's just one way for rich and poor, for gay and straight, for married and single, and for Angola and Canada and Nigeria and Singapore and Russia and Manhattan.

[9:53] And we might get a little bit defensive and we might talk a little bit about religion, but at our heart of hearts, even the way we try to defend the text will show that we're in trouble.

[10:05] Because we will start to try to talk about this text. We'll try to defend it as something religious when we as a Christian need to read this in a very, very different way than the original people would have thought.

[10:18] Because you see, as Christians, what's the thing that we should realize when we read this text? Is that no religion works. I mean, part of the whole point of Jesus' ministry was to speak to people's hearts about what they knew on one level about their lives.

[10:38] That nobody could keep all of the different rules and commandments in the Old Testament. Like, nobody could keep them. Nobody could keep them. There's just too many of them.

[10:49] And we're always breaking them. And the fact of the matter is, is that God doesn't want you and me to pray this because it now is that we all have to keep a whole pile of rules and a whole pile of rituals.

[11:03] And that's what the way is. And God is to teach us all of these different rules. Like, as a Christian, we should look at this and say, one moment, if I try to make myself righteous and justify myself, if I try to make myself right with the living God, if I try to just follow all these commandments, if I'm honest with myself, it just doesn't work.

[11:32] And the heart of the Christian faith is that the gospel isn't good religion and it isn't good rules, but it's good news. And what is at the heart of the Christianity?

[11:44] Is that the good news is that God has provided a way because no human being's way works. No human being, even when God reveals, keep these laws, keep these commands, do these sacrifices, do all of these types of things, nobody's actually able to do it.

[12:00] Like, nobody was able to do it other than Jesus. Nobody could do it. So when we read this text, see, here's the problem for us as Christians, and non-Christians often pick this up about us.

[12:14] On one breath, on one hand, we talk about grace, but then after we've said grace, we talk about what we have to do as if there is no grace.

[12:24] We talk on one hand as if it's all what God has done, but then after that's left our mouth, two seconds later, we're talking about what we have to do.

[12:36] But when we pray this prayer, teach me your way, O Lord, what we as Christians should be saying is, Lord, teach me the gospel.

[12:47] Father, bring the gospel to bear. May your Holy Spirit bring the gospel to bear at deeper and deeper and deeper levels of my life.

[13:00] Father, what this prayer is teaching us to say is, Father, I want to be honest with you. I sort of remember the gospel, but then immediately, I think it's all up to what I do and what I accomplish and how I can make myself look good and how I can justify myself and how I can make myself righteous.

[13:19] And then I start to feel guilty and I start to feel overwhelmed by it. And I sort of, Father, I say I believe the gospel, but as soon as I say it, I forget it. And the Christian growth doesn't come by we human beings developing better willpower or increasing our IQ or increasing our word power or increasing our wealth or increasing our power or increasing our influence.

[13:45] Christian growth happens as the Holy Spirit applies the gospel to more and more areas of our lives where the gospel starts to become real to us at a deep level.

[13:58] That we start to think about money in terms of the gospel. That we start to think about sexuality in terms of the gospel. That we start to think about singleness or marriage or children or lack of children in terms of the gospel and how the gospel is forming us.

[14:16] See, so for we as a Christian, when we say, teach me your way, O Lord, part of that is, Lord, teach me the gospel. Bring the gospel. Speak the gospel into deeper and deeper layers of my life, deeper and deeper places of my life.

[14:29] Father, make the gospel real to me. Make the gospel real to me. It's not just about religion. It's all about what Jesus did to make us right with God.

[14:43] What Jesus did to make us reconcile to God. About a year or two ago, I had to get to the airport really early in the morning.

[14:55] I was going to Vancouver and I was going to take, I was going to a Christian conference. And so I arranged a cab ride the night before. And sure enough, at whatever it was, 5.15 in the morning, the cab shows up at my house and I get out and the cab driver was, this particular cab driver was very chatty.

[15:16] And so he asked me where I was going. I mean, he knew I was going to the airport because that was all part of the arrangement. And he said, where are you going in Vancouver? Now here, I just remember, I think last time I was here, two Sundays ago, I just asked to pray for me.

[15:30] There's times, like what went through my mind, he said, where are you going? And what went through my mind is, oh, I'm going to do some continuing ed. That's what went through my mind. But, you see, this is how we can bear witness to Jesus in a very simple way.

[15:45] But instead, I realized that was a temptation. What I said was, well, actually, I'm a pastor of a church and I'm going to learn more about what it means to be a Christian. And how to live as a Christian.

[15:57] That's what, that's actually what I was doing. If I had just said I was doing some continuing ed, I would have been sort of ashamed of the gospel, really, wouldn't I have? Just being honest before you. So, the cab driver was a Muslim.

[16:09] His ears pricked up and he immediately said, well, how can you be a Christian? And, you know, the gospel, the Bible is all full of errors, et cetera, blah, blah, blah. And I, I, I, I give a very quick answer to that, an accurate answer about, well, actually, you know, we can trust the Bible more than you think and scholarship, but give it like a two or three minute answer.

[16:29] And then the conversation turned into a very, very different way. He said to me, well, he said, okay, that's, that's good that you can be more confident in the Bible than you can in the Koran. But he said, it doesn't get around the big, the basic problem.

[16:43] For many, many years, I tried to keep the Koran. And now I, I just tell my mom and I tell my family that how can a book written 1400 years ago guide you about how to live your life today?

[16:56] Like, how can it be true? And, you know, I, I, he said, I keep Ramadan, sort of, I sort of cheat during the day, but I really like getting together with all my family to have a big feast at the end of the night, but I don't like really being all hungry all day.

[17:11] So I, you know, I, I sort of, I hide it, but I, and, but he said, the fundamental thing is, it doesn't matter if your book is more accurate than mine, is anything written so long ago can't possibly be true for today.

[17:22] And, if you could put up the second line, teach me your way, oh Lord, that I may walk in your truth. I mean, that's a really good point, isn't it?

[17:38] Like, how is it that something that was written in our case almost 2000 years ago, how can it actually be something that we can walk in today? Well, here, here's several things in terms of why we should want to pray this, that after we say, teach me your way, oh Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

[18:03] And remember that what we're praying is that the gospel, that God will have the Holy Spirit bring the gospel to deeper and deeper and deeper layers of levels of who we are.

[18:14] And, one of the things I actually said to the cab driver is, I said, one of the things which is very remarkable about the Bible is all the things that aren't in it. I said to him that, you know, the Bible doesn't tell you a way to do economics.

[18:30] It doesn't tell you a way to do science. It doesn't tell you a way to do government. It doesn't tell you a way to do diet. That part of the reason I trust it, apart from, mainly I trust it, because of Jesus and his death and resurrection, I told him.

[18:44] But, it's amazing how much stuff isn't in it. But, what's being asked in this prayer, it isn't as if the Bible, the, Jesus, the God isn't calling us to pray this prayer to say that everything you need to know about everything is found in this book.

[19:01] Like some of the, you might know that if you talk to Muslim apologists, they'll try to show how the Quran teaches modern genetics, or it teaches modern science, or it teaches the modern way about how things came to be.

[19:13] And, if you follow some Christian apologists, they'll show you how that's just not the case, which we wouldn't expect anyway. But, the Bible isn't like that at all. And, and what's at the heart of this prayer, that I may walk in your truth, for Christians, well, there's several things.

[19:30] first of all, what we're asking here, is that I, may I walk in your truth, that I may walk in what is real. Because that's the Christian understanding of truth.

[19:42] The truth, is knowing what's real. And, why wouldn't we want to know what's real? Like, isn't that a good thing to pray for?

[19:54] The Bible, the text isn't saying, help me just to try to figure out how I'm going to, I'm going to fix my Gmail account by reading the Bible. And, that just would be silly.

[20:08] The, the fact of the matter is, is that the Bible paints this picture of this propulsive move, towards just being able to know what is true, what is real, and actually know what is real.

[20:21] And, you can't know everything exhaustively, but to actually know the real, to know the truth, and to know that the truth is good, that God is true. The second thing which this prayer is doing, is it's making a claim, and this is the thing, I, I'm not very good at communicating it, when I share the gospel with non-Christians, but one of the things I try to bring them around to saying is, you know, listen, this, the claim that Christians are making, is that this is true, that Jesus really did live, that he really did die, that he really did die in my place, that he really did rise, on the third day, that he really did perform these miracles, that it's true, it's true the way, that it's true the way, your bank balance is true, it's true in the way that you, it's true to say that Ottawa is the capital of Canada, it's true in these very, very, very deep and real senses, and, and so on one level it's saying, this prayer is just saying, Lord, now help me to know, in light of the fact that you really exist, how the world really is, because that's another part about it being your truth,

[21:24] Canada is committed to the proposition, that God does not exist, and, the Supreme Court understands its role, to make its rules and its decisions, on the premise that God doesn't exist, and so would be the media, and so would be the university, but we Christians would say, God really does exist, and to know that God exists, is not walking away from reality, but entering into reality, and understand how things really are, and this prayer, is an invitation for us, to no longer be people of the lie, but people of the truth, you see, at a very, very, very fundamental level, God is true, and he wants us to know the truth, he wants us to know the truth, about who we are, he wants us to know the truth, about the world, he wants us to use our minds, and our hearts, and our imaginations, and our wills, to know what is true, to know what is real, to know that God is real, that he really exists, to know that, that everything that we see, is a created thing, it's not something, that just happened on its own, and everything in the Bible, is saying to us, it is very easy, to be people of the lie, it's very easy, to say that we want to know something, because it will make us popular, it's very easy, to say we want to know something, because it will give us honor, it's very easy to want to know, because we want to know something, so it will mean that, we aren't covered in shame,

[22:58] It's very easy to want to know something because knowledge is power or knowledge is just any of these types of things, or knowledge will make us more money. But the Bible is calling us to want to be people of the truth, to know what is true, to know what is real, to live in a world that is true and real, to be losing as the gospel becomes deeper and deeper in our lives that we no longer want to see the world from the perspective of illusion or of power or of honor or of shame or of making money as the central thing.

[23:32] But we just want to know what is true, that God calls you and me to be people of the truth. And the gospel comes into our lives to start to be able to give us the type of security with God and security with ourselves that we can start to believe the truth is our friend, that clarity is our friend.

[24:04] And that knowing the truth doesn't necessarily, shouldn't make you arrogant or proud, but it's just good to know the truth. And the gospel will lead us in that way, will form us in that way.

[24:23] But somebody might say, okay, George, if you could put down the third point, teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth, unite my heart to fear your name.

[24:33] But George, come on. Like fear? Like, George, isn't it wiser to try to learn to live without fear? Like, why is it that you would want to tell people to pray that they would fear your name?

[24:50] And just so you know, name in the psalm is a way of actually saying fear you, fear God, fear who you are in your truth, your reality, your essence, all that you are.

[25:05] It's all sort of capsulated. It's sort of a way that the Jewish people would try to encapsulate knowing God as he really is. And they'd use the word name because God names himself.

[25:17] He reveals himself. And so to fear your name is to fear God as you really are, as you've truly revealed yourself as you really are. And so some might say, George, why on earth do you think it's a good thing to want to encourage people to actually fear God?

[25:34] Like, isn't it better to learn that God is a God of love, that God is your friend, that... And I don't know, what is this stuff, George, about uniting your heart to fear him?

[25:50] Like, George, don't you think it's a better thing to try to just figure out what's going on in your heart at your deepest level and just trying to be true to it? Like, George, isn't that what our gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgendered friends have really taught us, that you just need to try to be true about who you are, your basic identity, and not to be able to fear it and not tie it to some God or anything like that.

[26:15] Like, George, what you're asking us to pray for just doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Those are very good comments. Like, they really are.

[26:28] And here's, I think, why this is so wise. Teach me your way, O Lord. Remember, when we pray that, we're praying that the gospel will...

[26:39] that we're really, what we're asking as Christians is when we ask to know your way, it's not a matter of us knowing the rules that God wants us to follow to make us right with him or to make ourselves look good or manipulate God or get anything from God or put him in his favor, but it's really just acknowledging that none of that works at all.

[26:59] And we're asking the Father to have the Holy Spirit teach our heart at a deeper and deeper level the truth of the gospel, that Jesus has done everything to make us right with him.

[27:10] And when I say that I may walk in your truth, it's not that we're saying that everything that's true that matters is in the Bible, but everything in the Bible is true, but that God is inviting us to be a people of the truth.

[27:22] And so when it says, unite my heart to fear your name, here's the truth about you and me. Every human heart is splintered and broken and contradictory.

[27:39] Every human heart is splintered and broken and contradictory. We want to have more money, but we don't want to be materialistic.

[27:58] We want to be completely and utterly fiercely independent of ourselves, and we'd love to have a life partner that can be with us. We'd like to have children, but we don't really want to change their diapers or have them wake up ten times in a night because they're puking their guts out.

[28:22] We want to be really popular, but we don't want to be those shallow people who want to be popular. We want to be really fit, but we'd also like to eat lots of poutine and watch Netflix.

[28:41] And we'd like to be thought of as good, but we'd also like to be known as a bit dangerous, edgy.

[28:54] And we could just keep multiplying it, and for different generations, you're going to add different things. But the fact of the matter is is that our human hearts are splintered and contradictory. Which is the real me? Like, which is the real me?

[29:10] You know, the fact of the matter is we want to be faithful to our spouse, and we also want to potentially imagine having sex with people who aren't our spouse or be found attractive by others.

[29:21] You can keep multiplying this time and time again. Which is the real me? And that's separate from the fact that for many of us, our hearts have been broken. Our hearts have been crushed. Our hearts are weighed down.

[29:35] Our hearts are heavy. The fact of the matter is is that if we take a moment to think about it for a second, what most of us would like would be to have our hearts be healed and to be made whole.

[29:50] To no longer have our hearts ruled with it being splintered and broken and battered and bruised and contradictory and going in different directions, that on one level, this prayer is exactly what people really want, that our hearts would be one.

[30:11] That there'd be a basic type of coherence and order and wholeness to our hearts that aren't contradictory. But then some of you say, well, George, what's up with that?

[30:24] That makes sense. But gosh, unite my heart to fear your name? Like, that doesn't seem to make any sense. It doesn't make any sense to say, like, I could say, George, I could have prayed with that prayer.

[30:34] If you just said, well, unite my heart, like, unite my heart, and, you know, you could have, that could be a greeting card. Unite my heart.

[30:46] And then if you just said, unite my heart to dot, dot, dot, dot, that would be a profoundly Christian greeting card. Unite my heart to love, to joy, to dance, to be independent.

[30:57] You know, the very, very funny thing is that we Canadians, we want to have a business, like a greeting card that says, unite my heart to dot, dot, dot, and then realize that the reason we want dot, dot, dot after it is precisely because our heart isn't united.

[31:08] We want a whole pile of contradictory things that work against each other. Be united. I mean, be independent. Be compassionate. You know, be decisive.

[31:19] Be open. So, George, I don't understand how this text wants to say me, unite my heart to fear your name. Well, remember, everything to see in the text is to be seen in light of the gospel.

[31:35] St. Augustine a long time ago said, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they rest in you. You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they rest in you.

[31:49] I mean, the wisdom of the Bible is that we are creatures. We aren't gods with small g's. We are creatures. And as creatures, God made us to be connected to him and united with him.

[32:04] In a sense, we are never properly centered or whole until we're connected to God, reconciled to God. Until we're reconciled to God, our hearts will always be contradictory and splintered.

[32:20] And so, what this prayer is praying us for in terms of the fearing of the name of the Lord is it's asking something that if we think about it a little bit, it's actually a very, very common human problem that gets magnified a hundred million times when it comes to God.

[32:39] So, think of a very, very standard problem in a couple. In a couple, a very, very standard problem is that I can start to forget that Louise is different than me.

[32:53] And I can easily start to imagine that what I want is what Louise wants. what will make me happy is what will make Louise happy. That what I plan is what Louise wants to plan.

[33:06] I can start to forget that Louise is different than me. Now, I'm really protected in that for two reasons.

[33:18] One is, Louise will get mad at me completely and utterly properly when I start to overwhelm her and think that somehow everything I want, everything I think is right, everything I think is the best way to do it is exactly how she thinks and she'll get mad at me because she's real and she's right there and she should be mad at me.

[33:40] She's doing the right thing to be upset. And so, at least there's some type of a proper protection against that. But what's it like with God? I mean, the fact of the matter is that it becomes very easy, this is cutting in and out.

[33:56] Is that just me? I don't know why it's cutting in and out. I'll just keep talking. The light's not flashing at me which means it needs a new battery. Anyway, so, what this idea of the fear of the Lord is is that the gospel starts to come into our hearts and into our minds and into our lives so that it starts to teach me and train me as to the difference between me and God that I no longer get confused about who I am and who God is.

[34:29] Where I get to know more and more and more where I begin and end and my edges even at the level of my will and my affections and my emotions and where God is that I understand that I'm different and separate from God.

[34:43] and that as the gospel comes into my life to tell me more and more and teach me who God is and teach me who I myself am it begins to work within me so I know my edges and I know God's edges and I know that God is different than me and I don't confuse my will with God's will and my pleasure with God's pleasure and my hopes with God's hopes that the gospel gives me a context whereby I start to understand I'm not God and that's good but at the same time as the gospel starts to create within me this sense that God is completely and utterly different from me yet at the same time the gospel communicates to me that God is close to me that he wants me to know him he wants me to love him he wants me to yearn for him he wants me to desire to taste more and more of him but at the same time I never do that or the gospel starts to train us to learn never to do that thinking that somehow

[35:45] God and me are the same or that my plans and my desires are the same and it's the work of the Holy Spirit to create within us this sense of God being so different from me and so other than me and that I am not God but that that's good and the whole process this whole naming of it in the Old Testament is calling the fearing of the Lord and it's not just an Old Testament idea it's in the New Testament if you go back later on and read Acts chapter 9 verse 31 one of the things that Acts 9 31 says is that the church was growing in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit because it's the role of the Holy Spirit to help me to know how different I am from God to not confuse my wants with God's wants my imagination with God's imagination my happiness with God's happiness it starts to teach me and train me about the difference between me and God and to be comfortable with the fact that that is good and that I shouldn't want to try to usurp

[36:46] God's role and the reason the word fear is used is because on one hand as a person who's been has the gospel I realize with a type of fear and loathing or you start to get trained by the gospel to realize that when you start to actually transgress as if you're imagining or pretending that you're God that you get convicted of sin and the word fear then starts to become a word of awe of awe of God of just how who he is in and of himself and I am not God and he is infinite and I am finite and he's the creator and I am a creature he is outside of all time I am in time and his thoughts are higher than mine his wisdom is greater than mine his purity is different than mine and it's only as I'm reconciled to God that that starts to make any type of a sense of the goodness and properness of it and I don't want to talk to you as if I've achieved all of these things all I'm trying to tell you is that's what the fear of the Lord is and why it is that we want to pray it we want to pray to know the fear of the Lord because it will only help you to know who you are and how you're not God and how God is God we know this in a very very tiny little way when we're non-Christians because what happens and actually even in our fallen selves is that when we bump up against God or get too close to God we realize that we're not

[38:27] I'm not going to go that direction I'm going to confuse you we're just going to keep with the other thing I want to encourage you this is why the line works together unite my heart to fear your name is that as the gospel comes into our life it starts to create the context whereby my heart can be healed and I can have one heart and it even it means that in my prayer I can say Father I confess before you I'm so divided I'm so contradictory I'm so scattered Father unite my heart and so much of my scatteredness is connecting to want to be like God or take God's role or be more important or greater or be the center or any of those things and Father I don't want to do any of those things unite my heart to you to fear you to know your name to know who you are to know that I've been made in your image you're not made in mine you are my creator I am not your creator you are not a creature

[39:29] I am the creature Father unite my heart make me whole unite my heart Father around who you are to be reconciled with you Father unite my heart to fear your name to never just to have a deep settled fear that I will ever start to transgress my life in such a way that I start to think that I am God or that I am great or that I am over you Father help me to have a proper fear of transgressing into your realm Father unite my heart make my heart whole connected to who you are and that I am a creature redeemed by Jesus I am a sinner redeemed by Jesus I am I am one who is far from God and your son crossed that infinite distance that I could not cross your son crossed that to bring me to you I could never come to you your son has brought me to you Father unite my heart to fear your name please stand just invite you to say this psalm with me this is one verse

[40:37] I mean the main thing about this I guess is I just want to encourage you to memorize the verse and I I mean the thing that I've been trying to work out all week because I memorized it quite quickly this particular verse is I'm trying to pray it every day because I need it I need to be reminded of the gospel and I need to walk in the truth and I need to walk I need to have my heart united and I want to I need to have my heart fear God so if will you just say this with me now as a prayer and I'll close with prayer teach me your way oh Lord that I may walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name Father we ask that the Holy Spirit would move mightily in our lives I ask that the Holy Spirit would move mightily in my life and I ask Father that as the Holy Spirit comes deeply into my life Father that that the gospel will become real more real to my mind more real to my plans more real to my memories more real to my guilt more real to my shame more real

[41:54] Father to every part of who I am Father I ask that the Holy Spirit would move deeply within me so that I would know more fully who Jesus is how much he loves me and how much he accomplished for me in his sinless life and sin bearing substitutionary sacrificial death Father bring the gospel home to me in an ever deeper and realer way through the work of your Holy Spirit and I ask this in Jesus name Amen praying for my sins Amen paradise amen方 creative速り passage ainsi muş神