And thanks so much for reading, Ben.
And let me add my welcome to that of Graham's.
My name's Archie.
And if you hadn't already worked that out,
I'm the pastor in training here.
And it's great to be here this morning.
And do have that passage open in front of you.
I know I say this all the time, but it's just so helpful.
So if you've got a Bible in front of you,
just open it to Psalm 115.
And there are Bibles kind of on the pews around you.
You'll also be able to get it on your phone.
If you do have it on your phone,
put your phone on airplane mode.
We all know what we're like.
And if you get a message, you'll just reply to it, won't you?
Certainly, that's what I would do.
But fine to have it on your phone.
And let me get a show of hands as we start.
Put your hand up if you trust politicians.
Yeah, I thought so.
Generally speaking, as a profession,
they're just not the sort of people that we trust, are they?
Apparently, we just don't trust them.
They consistently top the list in the UK
of the professions that we just don't trust.
And let's be honest, we've got good reason not to trust them.
Katie, my wife, often reminds me
that it's much better to under-promise and over-deliver
than to over-promise and under-deliver.
And I guess that's why we've learned not to trust politicians.
Just very often, they make promises
that they can't deliver on.
And trust is important to us, isn't it?
It's true with politicians,
but maybe you know it just much more personally.
If you've ever trusted someone and been let down by them,
that sort of betrayal is one of the most horrible feelings
that I think we can experience, really.
It can be horrible.
And on the other side of that coin,
it's wonderful, isn't it,
to be able to trust those that we love
and those that love us most.
Because trust is right at the heart
of any healthy relationship.
Trust is just very important to us.
And our psalm this morning gets us asking that question,
what do we trust?
Not just what politicians do we trust
to make good on their promises,
but what, or I guess rather,
who do we trust when life gets tough?
So we've just sung about the one who is the Lord of all,
even in the storms of life.
When you're no longer able to steer the ship yourself,
who are you going to trust to the wheelhouse?
And importantly, ultimately, not just in this life,
but what do we think happens when we die?
And who do we trust with the answer to that question?
Who do we trust with our eternities?
We're in a section of the psalms
that Graham has just told us.
It's often called the Egyptian Hallel.
Hallel, you know that word.
You might not think you know that word,
but you do know that word.
It's a familiar word.
Hallel, hallelujah, means praise Yahweh, praise God.
And these psalms from 113 to 118,
we've seen a couple of them over the last two weeks.
They are praising Hallel, praising God
for his rescue of ancient Israel out of slavery in Egypt.
And so they're just often known as the Egyptian Hallel,
the Egyptian praise.
And I think it's quite hard to say exactly when
or for who this psalm was written,
the one that we've just read together.
But I think verse two gives us a little bit of a clue.
So have a look at verse two with me.
What does it say?
Why should the nations say,
where is their God?
We can imagine, I think,
that this psalm is probably written at a time
where the nations surrounding Israel
are questioning the existence,
perhaps the potency and the goodness,
of Israel's God.
Now, if I'm honest,
I think that could be at any time
in ancient Israel's history.
But a time, I think, perhaps of national crisis,
a time where Israel are particularly struggling.
It does not look as though their God is with them.
I wonder, I suppose it could be in the aftermath
of the Assyrian or Babylonian invasions,
where both Israel, the northern kingdom,
Judah, the southern kingdom,
they were both conquered, taken into exile.
And then when they returned from that exile,
we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah,
they've returned and they've begun rebuilding the temple.
But the temple is just very unimpressive
compared to what was there
before they were taken into exile.
And we read in those books
that the nations around them mocked them for it.
It might not be that,
but maybe that is the context.
Whatever the context is,
the nations around them are looking on at Israel
and asking, where is your God?
He doesn't look so powerful now.
And maybe that sounds familiar.
It's true, isn't it?
That the world around us is always calling into question
the existence, the potency, and the goodness of our God.
I mean, even just think about over the last few years,
how little God has been in the conversation.
We've faced some pretty big things
with COVID and various wars, climate change,
and nowhere.
Flick through any newspaper,
the Scotsman, the Times, the Week,
watch Sky News in the morning,
whatever it is,
nowhere you will find the suggestion
that God has anything to do with any of those things.
Much less would you see anywhere claims
that he might be the solution.
And I think that really reflects
how people think about God in Scotland today.
In other words,
they just don't really think about him at all.
He probably doesn't exist.
And even if he does,
he must surely be impotent,
or evil,
or both.
And we certainly wouldn't trust him.
You know, just last week,
I was sat with a friend whose mum died last year.
And his dad had a stroke just 10 days ago.
And he's reached a point in life
where he's asking some big questions.
We had some fascinating conversations
about the gospel
and about God's word and his purposes.
And in many ways,
it was a really encouraging conversation to me.
But these conversations,
they're often very similar.
I don't know if you find this,
but people are genuinely interested.
They see that the gospel,
the good news of Christianity,
does make sense.
Most of my friends would even know
that they're sinful in some way.
They long for eternal life.
But then it's also really discouraging
because for them,
for a lot of my friends,
what their unbelief boils down to,
often as they look at the world that we live in,
the mess,
the injustice,
the pain in their own lives,
they're asking,
where is your God in this?
For some of them,
they've probably convinced themselves
that that's the case,
maybe just to justify the way that they're living,
to avoid confronting their sin,
though I think they know that it's there.
But however it is that they've reached that position
in their thinking,
just like the nations in this psalm,
they see a messy world,
they see the faith of Christians,
they see my faith,
and they're asking,
where's your God in all of this?
Maybe you're here this morning,
and maybe you're there too.
Maybe you have similar questions
about where God is in all of this mess.
Well, stay tuned this morning,
because let me tell you,
this God,
the God that we believe in,
he is utterly trustworthy.
And this psalm would tell us
that it's utterly foolish
to put your trust anywhere else.
But where is this God?
Well, the psalmist answers that question immediately.
Have a look at verse three.
Our God is in the heavens.
He does all that pleases him.
And this God, Israel's God,
the God of the universe,
is just absolutely in control.
He's in heaven.
That's not some spiritual other world,
but in the heavens.
It just means the skies.
Where is he?
He fills the galaxy.
He inhabits the universe.
And notice he does all that he pleases.
Not some of what he pleases.
Not what he pleases for some
or in some circumstances.
No, God does all that he pleases.
He is absolutely in control.
He was in control
when he rescued his people
from slavery in Egypt,
when he spared him
from his wrath at the Passover,
as we'll hear about a little bit later.
He was in control
in the context of this psalm.
Whatever it was that Israel faced
as they were mocked
by the nations around them,
their God was in control.
And he is in control today.
Everything going on in the news.
I spent just two minutes
on the BBC website this week.
I tried to avoid it as best I can.
But just two minutes.
Headlines about war,
about people stuck in hospitals,
about economic turmoil,
about assaults and abuse.
In all of the mess out there
and in all of the mess in here,
in my sinful heart,
though the world does not recognize him,
our God has got this whole thing
under control.
Would we trust him in that?
And it is absolutely essential
that we do
because,
and this is really the first big thing
that I want us to see
in this psalm this morning,
because if we trust in man-made idols,
this psalm says
that we will become dead like them.
If we trust in man-made idols,
we will become dead like them.
Let me read from verse four.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths,
but cannot or do not speak.
Eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear.
Noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel.
Feet, but cannot walk.
And they do not make a sound
in their throats.
Do you see the irony here?
The Israelites' God,
who has rescued them out of slavery,
he has spoken to them.
He's given them his perfect commandments,
helping them to live wisely in the world.
The nations around them,
those nations that mock their God,
well, the irony is
they worship these idols,
created trinkets,
preciously made.
Yes, they're made from silver and gold.
But of course,
as these verses,
yes, those idols are silent.
They cannot speak
like the God of the universe does.
They're blind.
They're deaf.
They cannot smell or feel or walk.
Picture with me Andy's bedroom.
Andy from Toy Story,
if you know the scene,
take yourself to his bedroom.
As he leaves the room,
what happens?
The toys,
they come to life,
don't they?
They talk to one another.
They even plot together.
Those toys,
they are alive.
They are precisely the opposite
of what this psalmist describes.
What's the psalmist saying?
These idols,
they're utterly inanimate.
They are not alive.
These idols are dead.
And to our modern sensibilities,
of course they are.
We know that Toy Story
is fantastical.
And actually,
most people today,
I think,
would agree.
Like,
maybe even if you don't believe
in the God of this psalm,
you'd probably still say,
wouldn't you,
that inanimate objects
can't actually be gods.
They have no real agency
or power in our world.
But of course,
there are millions
who worship idols
exactly like these
in our world today.
Virtually every major religion
takes man-made things
and puts them in a temple
or in a church
and calls them holy.
But there's more to it than that
because increasingly,
I think,
the worldview around us
isn't simply atheistic.
It doesn't just rely
on man-made idols,
but it is spiritualistic
and superstitious.
This is everywhere.
Let me just give you
a couple of examples.
I was speaking to a friend
at the rugby club this week
and he was talking
about manifesting.
I don't know if you've
come across this trend
that if you focus
your thoughts on your goal,
on a desired outcome,
just focusing on it
and trying to bring it
into being.
He was talking about
wanting to put on
a bit of weight
and manifesting that
as though tapping
into some stream
of consciousness
would make that happen
for him.
Maybe that kind of
half-supernatural
kind of belief
is familiar to you.
I think it's everywhere
at the moment.
It might be less spiritual
and more superstitious.
Katie and I are going
on holiday in September
and, you know,
flights are way cheaper
on the 11th of September
than they are on
any other day of the year.
Apparently,
they're also cheaper
on Friday the 13th.
People just are
way more superstitious
than I think we realise.
And maybe if you're honest,
you can be a bit
like that too.
Even just in subtle ways,
superstitious,
trusting in your own
man-made rituals
and idols
to get you through life.
I think more than that,
outside of the
explicitly supernatural,
isn't it just very normal
to place our ultimate
trust in the material?
Perhaps that's most obvious
with our money.
I know I sometimes do that.
Very often we think,
don't we,
that if we just had
enough money,
then all our worries
and problems
would disappear.
And if we're doing
alright with money,
how easy it is
to trust that
in place of trusting
our God.
That whatever our
idols and superstitions,
whatever it is
that we're trusting
to get us through life,
they might offer us
comfort in the moment.
They might be genuinely
helpful for a time.
But the hope that they give
always fades.
Ultimately,
and maybe you've
experienced this yourself,
they all have the capacity
to let us down
in the end.
Whether we run out of money
or our superstitions
just don't work out
or the friends
and family members
that we had trusted
let us down
in some way or another.
All of these things
can let us down,
prove themselves
to be hollow
and ultimately
do more harm
for us than good.
Wherever we're trusting
things other than
this God,
this God who
does not change,
who is a solid rock,
wherever we're trusting
other things,
this psalmist says
we've got to see
those things
are not really alive.
They don't have
real agency.
They do not speak today.
And ultimately,
they cannot save us
because they are dead
or they are dying.
And did you see
in verse 8
where the psalmist
is going here?
It says,
those who make them
become like them
and so do all
who trust in them.
In other words,
those who make
and trust in idols
will die.
See that these idols
are totally inanimate,
they're impotent,
they're dead.
And I actually think
this is supposed to be
comfort for the Israelites
because the psalmist says
those nations around you,
they might look powerful
and you might be
facing troubling times.
Maybe your temple project
just doesn't look
that impressive.
Times that cause
those people
to mock your God
but ultimately
those people
are going to become
like their idols.
Dead.
And us too,
if we trust
in man-made idols,
will become dead
like them.
And now of course
we will all die
and I hope that's not
news to you
but you will one day die.
And so whatever it is
that we're trusting in
or in whatever it is
that we face in life,
whether we're unwell
or we're caring
for someone who's unwell
or we're looking
for a new job
or navigating
a tricky relationship,
whether it's at home
or at work
or at school,
wherever we are
and those around us
are calling God
into question,
whatever it is
that we trust
through that,
we have to say
it's really just
putting off the inevitable,
isn't it?
Because though they might
help us steer the course,
at the end of it all,
we will all die.
We will all become
like the idols
that we've worshipped.
And yet,
in all this,
there is the glorious hope
of the Christian gospel
that if we trust
in the living God,
we will live forever.
That's the second big thing
in our psalm this morning.
If we trust
in the living God,
we will live forever.
Do you notice
the repeated refrains
in verses 9 to 11?
As the psalmist say,
trust in the Lord.
He is their help
and shield.
In those verses,
it is all of Israel,
the house of Aaron,
that's the kind of
priestly family,
those who fear the Lord,
that I think is
outsiders welcomed in.
The psalmist says,
trust him.
Trust him because
he's been faithful
in your history
as a nation
and he will be
faithful forever.
For the readers
of this psalm
and the other psalms
around it,
singing these psalms
and remembering
the exodus,
the rescue from slavery,
remembering the Passover,
the deliverance
from God's wrath
and his justice,
they're remembering
that God has proved
himself to be faithful,
faithful to his promises
and he will be faithful
forever into eternity.
Have a look at verse 12.
The Lord has remembered us.
He will bless us.
Again, it's Israel,
Aaron's house
and all who fear the Lord,
both the small
and the great.
This God,
the God who we've seen
is in total control.
He wants to bless
his people.
I love that little detail
that it's the small
and the great.
God's blessing
is for you,
the least
and the greatest,
the poor
and the rich,
the servant
and the king.
He has remembered
them all
and he will bless
them all.
But just imagine
how difficult
that must have been
for these people.
incredibly difficult
to see in the context
as God's people
have these nations
mocking them.
The glory
of the Jerusalem temple
once a genuine wonder,
now nothing
compared to the temples
of the great empires
around them.
Even as it's being rebuilt,
it's unimpressive.
They don't look
much blessed.
But God's promises
are sure
and he will
bless those
who trust in him.
and that remains
true today.
God has promised
to bless you.
Do you believe that?
And would you
trust him
from the smallest
to the greatest,
the least
to the most,
whoever you are,
however you
have been made
to feel about yourself,
would you trust
this God
and receive his blessing
on your life?
Now what exactly
does that mean
to trust in him
and he will bless us?
What are we saying?
Are we saying
that we're blessed
according to a measure
of our trust?
Materially blessed?
There are lots of people
who would speak
that sort of way,
claiming that with
enough trust in God
we can kind of claim
any blessing
as our own.
What blessing
would you like today?
Are you single?
Would you like
a husband or a wife?
Would you like
some money
for that project,
some physical healing?
And look,
God does of course
give such good things
to his people
in his will
but not because
one trusts him
more than another.
That's not how
blessing works.
God is not
a vending machine.
It's not a case
of I do my bit,
I trust God
and he does his bit,
he blesses me accordingly.
Instead,
it is all according
to his grace.
all the good things
that we get in life,
all of the ways
that we have been
blessed by him.
It's not because
we deserve them
in any way at all
but would we trust
that any blessing
we have received,
any blessing
that we will receive
comes from him
and not from dead idols
and crucially
to trust that
God's blessing
his people
won't always
look like
what the world
calls blessing.
Remember the context
here is the
nations look
and mock.
Clearly it didn't
look like
worldly blessing.
Whatever was going on
was not impressive.
It won't always
look impressive.
In fact,
it might look
very unimpressive.
Have a look
at verses 14 and 15
for an example
of how God's blessing
might work.
It says,
may the Lord
cause you to
flourish
or give you
increase.
You and your
children,
may you be
blessed by the
Lord who made
heaven and earth.
You know,
the idols of the
surrounding,
the nations
surrounding Israel
were often
attributed with
fertility and
prosperity,
just two of the
most important
things in the
ancient world.
That's what the
people foolishly
trusted in idols
for.
But one of the
great promises
of Israel's
scripture was that
God's people
would be the
ones who
would be
fruitful and
who would
multiply.
Just fundamental
to the Bible
is that those
things are
blessings from
God.
It comes right
at the beginning
with Adam as
a kind of
global promise.
And then it's
repeated at
various points to
the leaders of
God's people as
a particular
promise to
Israel.
And it's a
promise that in
some ways has
already been
fulfilled by the
time of this
psalm.
The Israelite
nation had
grown.
It had
occupied the
promised land.
But of course
here it seems as
though they're in
a national crisis.
And so God
says to them,
you may be
decimated now.
It may look as
though your God
has deserted
you.
The nations may
mock, but still
I am your God
and I promise
that those who
are left will
once again be
fruitful and
multiply.
And God
doesn't over
promise and
under deliver.
He delivers on
his promises.
And what do
we make of
that promise
today?
That God's
people would
be fruitful?
That they
would multiply?
I'll be honest,
from where I'm
standing, church
doesn't always
feel all that
fruitful.
I mean, just
look around,
we're a pretty
unimpressive
bunch, aren't
we?
Especially on a
kind of quiet
summer Sunday
like this.
It just doesn't
feel like we're
multiplying all
that quickly.
certainly across
Scotland, that's
the headline,
isn't it?
Christianity is
dying.
This building is
testament to
that.
I mean, just
look up at this
false ceiling.
Most of you
probably know
that hides a
balcony, a
constant reminder
that at one
point this
building had a
capacity for
many hundreds
of people.
What do we
make of God's
promise that his
people would be
fruitful and
multiply?
Well, it
might be hard
to see.
It might be
really hard to
see it here in
Scotland at the
moment, but
God's church
continues to
grow.
Honestly, I
think the
church decline
narrative here
is massively
overstated.
I think the
pews have been
emptying of
people who
never really
believed in
the first
place.
And we can
talk about
that afterwards
if you like,
but much more
than that, I've
been listening to
this brilliant
podcast recently.
It's called
GLO.
A review of
it is in the
monthly newsletter
if you want to
read more about
it.
But it exists to
tell stories of
how the church is
growing all over
the world.
As they put it,
they say this,
when we look at
the global church,
when we see that
the gospel of
Jesus Christ is
not losing
steam, it is
in fact flourishing
in new and
amazing ways,
God is still
at work.
It may be
very hard to
see it sometimes,
but God does
not break his
promises.
There are more
Christians alive
today than there
ever have been
in the history
of this planet.
God does not
break his
promises.
His church is
being fruitful,
it is multiplying,
and it will
continue to do
so.
For the God
who is in
control is
behind it,
and his gospel
is very good.
His promise
is that if we
trust in him
and the living
God, then we
too will live
forever.
That is good
news.
And it's good
news that has
real power.
Here's why.
You see back in
verses 4 to 7,
we saw that the
idols are dead,
that they have
no life in
them.
In verse 8,
we saw that all
who trust in
them will follow
them to the
grave.
I take it that
is to the
eternal grave.
And why is
that true?
Well, it's true
because an
idol who is
not alive cannot
die to save.
An idol who is
not alive cannot
die to save,
and that's what
we need.
Here's why.
Our human
instinct, which
leads us to
trust anything
other than the
living God, in
other words, our
rebellion against
him, our sin,
demands a
price.
It demands
death.
It's why those
who turn away
from him in this
psalm face
death.
But we can
point to a
victorious,
living saviour,
a God who
became man,
who joined us
in our
suffering, who
really encountered
the crisis that
all of humanity
faces, who
witnessed and
was tempted by
our rebellion
against God,
but who,
having lived a
perfect life,
took the
punishment for
that rebellion
in our place,
who, unlike
already dead
idols, he
really could
die for us,
and he did.
But he didn't
stay dead.
He really did
rise again.
In John
chapter 20, we
read the
wonderful story
of Thomas.
Why don't I
just read it for
us?
You don't need to
turn there, but
in John chapter
20, it says
this.
Now Thomas,
also known as
Didymus, one of
the twelve, was
not with the
disciples when
Jesus came.
Jesus has
risen from the
grave, he's
appeared to all
the other
disciples.
Thomas wasn't
there.
So the other
disciples told him,
we have seen
the Lord.
But he said to
them, unless I
see the nail
marks in his
hands and put
my finger where
the nails were
and put my
hand into his
side, I will
not believe.
A week later,
his disciples
were in the
house again, and
Thomas this time
was with them.
Though the
doors were
locked, Jesus
came and stood
among them and
said, peace be
with you.
And he said to
Thomas, put your
finger here, see
my hands, reach
out your hand and
put it in my
side, stop
doubting and
believe.
Thomas said, my
Lord and my
God.
Then Jesus
told him, because
you have seen
me, you have
believed.
Blessed are
those who
have not
seen and
yet have
believed.
It's one of my
favourite scenes
in all of the
Gospels, that
Thomas' encounter
with the risen
Jesus.
As Thomas felt
the nail marks
in his hands,
as he put his
hand in the
wound in Jesus'
side, this
isn't a ghost
story.
Jesus is
alive.
And he's
alive today.
He sits at
the right hand
of the Father,
reigning in
heaven.
Our God is
alive.
Would we
trust him?
For anyone
who trusts in
the living
God, they
will live
forever.
Just notice
then finally
as we finish
how God's
people are
called to
respond to
this good
news.
In verses
16 to
18.
How do
God's people
respond?
They
respond with
Hallel, in
praise.
Do you
notice these
verses contain a
bit of a
summary of
the psalm?
I don't
know if you
noticed that.
Where is
God?
He's in the
heavens, which
are his.
Where is
man?
On earth, which
is his.
But those who
trust in things
of the earth
will die.
And in their
death they
will not
praise him.
But we,
God's people,
those who
trust in him,
we will bless
him, we will
praise him.
Do you notice
the implication
there is that if
we trust in
him, we will
live forever and
so we can
praise him from
this time
forth and
forevermore.
We noted
last week that
the Israelites
sang this
set of
psalms as
they celebrated
their rescue
out of slavery
in Egypt.
And every
year at the
festival of
Passover they
celebrated that
rescue.
And in
particular they
celebrated the
moment where
God's judgment
passed over the
homes of those
who were
faithful.
As each
faithful family
sacrificed a
lamb that
was God's
sign to
them, a
sign of
their
faithfulness
so that
his judgment
would pass
over them
and fall
instead on
the Egyptians
and those
who had not
trusted in
him.
In that
story God
promised to
rescue them
and he
delivered on
that promise.
And you
know we can
read and
sing these
psalms today
knowing that
Jesus came
to be the
once and
for all
time sacrificial
lamb.
That for us
God has made
a way, he
has promised
that for
those who
trust in
him, those
who are
faithful to
him, that
the judgment
of God
might pass
over them
and God
delivers on
his promises.
If you're here
this morning and
you do not
trust him,
maybe you're
one of those
who mocks,
who laughs at
God's people.
Where is your
God?
And I suspect
if you're here
this morning you
might be a bit
more respectful
than that.
And yet if
you're honest you
can't help but
agree.
God just
doesn't seem
all that
powerful in
the mess of
this world.
If that's
you, let me
ask you, who
or what do
you trust?
Who do you
trust to steer
the ship in
the storms of
this mess?
As life gets
tough, where
do you turn?
And who do
you trust to
see you through
the other
side?
can the
things that
you trust
make a real
difference?
Do they have
the capacity
to let you
down?
And ultimately
with your
eternal fate
to your
eternal position
before God,
can those
things that
you trust,
can they
really speak?
Can they
really save?
Do they
really live?
And for the
Christian, if
you do
trust like
that, how
will you
respond to
your God
this morning?
The God
who is in
absolute
control, the
God who is
alive, this
living God
who has
promised to
rescue you,
this living
God who has
rescued you
in Jesus, he
is far more
trustworthy than
any man-made
thing, certainly
more trustworthy
than any of
our politicians.
He never
breaks his
promises.
So will you
trust him this
morning?
Will you
see his
blessing on
your life and
on his
church?
And will we
praise him
together?
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father,
I thank you so
much that you
are a God who
speaks today,
that we can
come to your
word as we
have just done
and hear from
you.
Lord, I thank
you so much
for Jesus.
I thank you
that he came
to save us,
that he is
alive, that he
died and that
he's alive
again.
Lord, I pray
that you would,
by your Holy
Spirit, help us
to trust you
this morning
and that you
would draw out
our praises
for you,
for your glory,
name and in
Jesus' name.
Amen.