WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.279 Heavenly Father, we have gathered once again this Friday evening, Lord, and it is our privilege 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:14.519 and it is our joy to gather in your presence with our little brothers and sisters in Christ 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:18.980 to cry out to you in prayer and to hear from you. 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:24.679 And so we ask that you speak to us first from Psalm 79 this evening. 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:35.200 Teach us about your mercy, about your justice, about your glory and how we ought to live for it. 00:00:36.179 --> 00:00:38.039 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:45.379 In Psalm 79, a short and sweet psalm, 13 verses, the psalm of Asaph. 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.240 I'll read it out loud. 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:56.039 13 verses, Psalm 79. 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:08.400 Those are lyric sheets. 00:01:12.819 --> 00:01:13.760 Brian recycled. 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:19.219 Psalm 79. 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:24.659 Oh God, the nations have come into your inheritance. 00:01:25.579 --> 00:01:27.140 They have defiled your holy temple. 00:01:27.859 --> 00:01:29.459 They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:36.519 They have given the bodies of your servants, the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:43.180 They poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem and there was no one to bury them. 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:49.140 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:51.880 How long, oh Lord, will you be angry forever? 00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:54.260 Will your jealousy burn like fire? 00:01:54.260 --> 00:02:00.939 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name. 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:04.859 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:09.000 Do not remember against us our former iniquities. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.639 Let your compassion come speedily to meet us. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:14.400 For we are brought very low. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.319 Help us, oh God, our salvation for the glory of your name. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.780 Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name's sake. 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:28.159 Why should the nations say, where is their God? 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:34.939 Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:38.180 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you. 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:41.759 According to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:48.759 We turn sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors, the taunts with which they have taunted you, oh Lord. 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:53.560 But we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.599 From generation to generation, we will recount your praise. 00:02:58.919 --> 00:02:59.179 Amen. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:09.759 So if you're a Christian, you probably have something in your life that reminds you probably of God's faithfulness and his blessing. 00:03:10.060 --> 00:03:14.919 Something that maybe is the most kind of surest kind of reminder of that. 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:27.099 Maybe it's your family, your parents or your spouse or your children or maybe it's your job or whatever it might be. 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:35.739 Imagine that thing that is most precious to you, that to you is the most clear example of God's kindness toward you, is just ripped away from you. 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:48.939 And that's really what we find here because that kind of devastating experience can make even a faith-filled Christian doubt and leave them reeling. 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:55.400 And for Israel, the surest and greatest sign of God's favor in their lives was their promised land. 00:03:55.740 --> 00:04:01.320 It was their city of Jerusalem and it was the temple which represented God's presence in their midst. 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:08.060 And in 587 BC, Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and the temple was burned down to the ground. 00:04:08.659 --> 00:04:13.060 And this psalm is most likely a reflection after that event in Psalm 79. 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:19.779 And with this, the psalmist reminds us that God delivers his people from their sins for the glory of his name. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:21.600 That's really the main point of the psalm. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:26.120 And then first in verses 1 to 5, we see the plight of God's people. 00:04:26.640 --> 00:04:29.879 And then we see in the rest of the verses, the plea for God's salvation. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.780 So we'll just talk about that in turn. 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:33.400 Verses 1 to 5 with me. 00:04:34.200 --> 00:04:35.320 Verse 1 begins, 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.640 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance. 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:40.379 They have defiled their holy temple. 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:41.840 They've laid Jerusalem in ruins. 00:04:42.100 --> 00:04:46.520 And this is such an ironic and sad sentence because Israel is God's inheritance. 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:48.540 They are his special possession. 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:55.400 And yet pagan nations, those who are not God's special possession, have come to God's inheritance. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:56.740 They've come to inherit the land. 00:04:57.520 --> 00:05:00.020 They've defiled the temple and have ruined Jerusalem. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.939 And not only have they destroyed the city and its temple, they have killed God's people in cold blood. 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:06.540 It says in verses 2 to 3, 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.560 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food. 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:12.040 The flesh of you are faithful to the beasts of the earth. 00:05:12.140 --> 00:05:16.160 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem and there was no one to bury them. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:24.040 The nations have decimated the population of Israel so that there are more dead people now than people who are alive to bury them. 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:26.200 So there are dead people who can't even be buried. 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:30.580 The streets are filled with the putrid smell of rotting flesh. 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:33.540 And the birds and beasts are feasting on them. 00:05:33.540 --> 00:05:41.379 And this is all the more tragic because it's not just the fickle and faithless people among God's people that met this fate. 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:44.980 But it includes God's servants, it says in verse 2. 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:46.580 And it's God's faithful. 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:50.060 Those people have also, like them, have experienced this judgment. 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:53.400 They've become food for the birds of the heavens and beasts of the earth. 00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:55.580 Everything is seemingly upside down, right? 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:56.120 And backwards. 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:59.160 Instead of Israel, the nations have come into the inheritance. 00:05:59.819 --> 00:06:04.100 And people whom God created to rule over the world, over his creation as his representatives, 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:06.259 are instead reduced to the bottom of the food chain. 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:08.660 Food for the birds of the heavens and beasts of the earth. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.680 And so the psalmist continues his lament in verse 4. 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.180 We have become a taunt to our neighbors. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.300 Mocked and derided by those around us. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:20.439 They're being mocked. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.139 And you could imagine the kind of mockery that they would face, right? 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:24.620 What happened to your great temple? 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:27.000 What happened to your great city? 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.139 Where is your great kingdom? 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.160 Where is your great God? 00:06:34.259 --> 00:06:35.800 But this has happened to you, right? 00:06:35.840 --> 00:06:40.560 So that sense of abandonment by God himself is the most difficult, I think, 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:43.439 for God's faithful people who are singing this song to bear. 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:45.780 And that's really captured in verse 5. 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:48.699 How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever? 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:51.240 Will your jealousy burn like fire? 00:06:51.240 --> 00:07:00.079 And then in verse 6, the psalm transitions to the plea for God's salvation. 00:07:02.379 --> 00:07:07.040 Verses 1 to 2 had noted that the nations have invaded and infiltrated God's inheritance 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:10.060 and defiled the temple and ruined Jerusalem. 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:12.740 And now in response to that, in verses 6 to 7, it says, 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:16.060 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.420 and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name, 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.180 for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:23.959 So these nations don't acknowledge God. 00:07:24.259 --> 00:07:26.720 They neither know him or call upon him. 00:07:27.019 --> 00:07:28.100 So they're crying out to God, 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:32.260 Why do you let such nations trample on us and lay waste to our city? 00:07:32.420 --> 00:07:33.700 Pour out your anger on them instead. 00:07:35.820 --> 00:07:40.860 But as they're crying out for this kind of redemption and justice upon the nations, 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:44.020 the people who are singing this remember Israel's guilt, 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:45.540 their own guilt, 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:50.160 and that the current plight is a due punishment for their rebellion against God. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:53.260 Because the punishments that are listed here, 00:07:53.380 --> 00:07:54.120 what they're experiencing, 00:07:54.380 --> 00:07:58.520 is exactly what God had threatened in Deuteronomy 28, 25 to 26, 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:01.420 for breaking the covenant and being unfaithful to him. 00:08:02.260 --> 00:08:04.980 And these are some of the covenant curses that are listed there. 00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:05.220 It says, 00:08:05.320 --> 00:08:08.480 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. 00:08:08.840 --> 00:08:12.180 You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. 00:08:12.460 --> 00:08:15.180 And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:18.400 And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:20.179 and for the beasts of the earth. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:22.699 And there shall be no one to frighten them away. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:22.979 Right? 00:08:23.459 --> 00:08:25.519 I mean, that's almost verbatim, right? 00:08:25.599 --> 00:08:26.459 Line after line. 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:29.639 It's exactly what God had told them would happen 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:32.159 if they were faithless to God and rebelled against him. 00:08:32.439 --> 00:08:35.379 And it has happened exactly so in verses 1 to 4. 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:39.379 And so remembering that what they're experiencing now is their own doing, 00:08:39.819 --> 00:08:42.779 that their punishment for what they brought upon themselves, 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.500 they now say in verse 8 in repentance, 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:48.940 Do not remember against us our former iniquities. 00:08:49.340 --> 00:08:51.940 Let your compassion come speedily to meet us, 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:53.899 for we are brought very low. 00:08:54.899 --> 00:08:57.059 This is such a heart-wrenching cry, right? 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:02.720 It's like the basis for the plea for God's salvation is not God's justice, right? 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:07.240 Because if God's justice and righteousness were the basis for this cry, 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:08.220 this plea to God, 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.740 then they would be punished because punishment is what they deserved. 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:16.580 So instead, the basis for their plea to God is His compassion, 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.220 His mercy, His grace. 00:09:20.180 --> 00:09:22.440 And we see the same pattern in verses 9 to 10. 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:23.860 Follow with me. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:24.620 It says, 00:09:24.620 --> 00:09:42.360 Again, it's in verse 3. 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:48.200 He talked about the nations pouring out the blood of God's people like water all around Jerusalem. 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:51.000 And now the psalmist asks God in response to that, 00:09:51.159 --> 00:09:53.480 Avenge the outpoured blood of your servants. 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:59.240 And this is really helpful and insightful, the way he asks God of this. 00:09:59.300 --> 00:10:00.320 Because he doesn't say, 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:02.379 Help us for our sake. 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:04.279 He says, 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:06.080 Help us for the glory of your name. 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:07.519 He doesn't say, 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:09.080 Deliver us for our sake. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:09.799 He says, 00:10:09.860 --> 00:10:12.639 Deliver us in a tone for our sins for your name's sake. 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:14.740 Why should the nations say, 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:15.460 Where is your name, God? 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:19.559 The name of God stands for the entire person and presence of God, right? 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:20.240 So His glory. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.240 And frequently throughout scripture, 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:24.340 we see people praying exactly this prayer. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:25.179 They're praying to God, 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.539 not to act for their own sake, 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.019 but to act for His name's sake, 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:30.220 for His glory's sake. 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:33.920 And the scripture uses that phrasing all the time, 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:36.899 and all throughout Old Testament and New Testament. 00:10:37.800 --> 00:10:40.019 And that's because God had promised to His people 00:10:40.019 --> 00:10:41.639 that He would put His name on Israel. 00:10:41.779 --> 00:10:43.279 He would put His name in Jerusalem, 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:44.860 on Jerusalem and on His temple. 00:10:45.300 --> 00:10:47.639 So the fall of Jerusalem and the fall of the temple 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:50.220 damages God's name and reputation. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.279 And so that's the basis for the psalmist's plea. 00:10:53.920 --> 00:10:56.180 And so earlier in verse 4, 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:56.680 the psalmist said, 00:10:56.779 --> 00:10:58.340 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, 00:10:58.340 --> 00:10:59.720 but now we see in verse 12, 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:03.220 that God is ultimately the object of their taunts, right? 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:03.940 He says, 00:11:04.180 --> 00:11:06.200 Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors, 00:11:06.300 --> 00:11:09.300 the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord. 00:11:10.160 --> 00:11:10.379 Right? 00:11:10.420 --> 00:11:13.300 This is because the name of God is on Israel. 00:11:13.940 --> 00:11:16.720 The taunts that they are subject to as God's people 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:20.000 is effectively and ultimately leveled against God Himself. 00:11:20.420 --> 00:11:24.220 So the shame, the loss, and the ridicule of God's people 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:25.399 falls on God Himself, 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.040 and this must not be, right? 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:29.579 And so they're crying, 00:11:29.740 --> 00:11:32.279 Lord, we know we don't deserve Your deliverance. 00:11:33.219 --> 00:11:36.199 Lord, we know that You are not obligated to help us in any way, 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.860 but help us, O God of our salvation, 00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:40.240 for the glory of Your name, 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:42.799 deliver us and atone for our sins for Your name's sake. 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:43.980 Because as for us, 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:45.939 we have been defeated by our enemies 00:11:45.939 --> 00:11:47.360 because of our sins against You. 00:11:47.740 --> 00:11:49.860 But You, O Lord, are the sovereign King of all. 00:11:50.599 --> 00:11:52.860 As for us, we deserve their taunting. 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:57.639 But You, O Lord, should never be the subject of such mockery. 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:00.500 So for Your name's sake, God, deliver us. 00:12:02.100 --> 00:12:03.399 This is so important. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:06.659 It's true that God saves us for our good also, right? 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:11.419 But the scriptural emphasis consistently falls on the fact 00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:13.560 that God delivers His people from their sins 00:12:13.560 --> 00:12:15.139 for the glory of His name. 00:12:15.139 --> 00:12:20.460 And so our salvation, then, is not primarily about us. 00:12:21.059 --> 00:12:22.799 It is primarily about God. 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:27.559 And our salvation doesn't reveal how lovable and awesome we are. 00:12:27.819 --> 00:12:30.419 It reveals how loving and awesome God is. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.139 And so it's so easy for us to get that backwards. 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:37.220 And the medieval theologian Martin Luther 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:40.360 wrote about how as sinners, 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:41.580 because of our sinful nature, 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:43.920 we tend to be curbed in upon ourselves. 00:12:44.800 --> 00:12:46.200 And he says this about that. 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:47.560 Our nature, quote, 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:49.840 by the corruption of the first sin, 00:12:50.040 --> 00:12:52.960 being so deeply curved in on itself 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:55.420 that it not only bends the best gifts of God 00:12:55.420 --> 00:12:57.120 towards itself and enjoys them, 00:12:57.460 --> 00:12:59.440 or rather even uses God Himself 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:01.040 in order to attain these gifts, 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:02.860 but it also fails to realize 00:13:02.860 --> 00:13:06.160 that it so wickedly, curbedly, and viciously 00:13:06.160 --> 00:13:09.020 seeks all things, even God, 00:13:09.580 --> 00:13:11.160 for its own sake. 00:13:11.580 --> 00:13:13.020 You guys follow that? 00:13:15.800 --> 00:13:19.500 It's kind of a self-oriented curvature 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:21.100 that we have in our life, 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:21.879 in our orientation, 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.259 that destroys Christian discipleship. 00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:27.980 Because a Christian that is curved in on himself 00:13:27.980 --> 00:13:30.100 can't weather suffering, right? 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:31.860 Because he believes ultimately 00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:33.180 that this life is about himself 00:13:33.180 --> 00:13:35.080 and that God should make his life good and easy. 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:39.400 And a Christian that is curved in on himself 00:13:39.400 --> 00:13:41.060 can't bear constructive criticism. 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:44.520 Because he is more concerned about his name and glory 00:13:44.520 --> 00:13:46.440 than about God's name and glory. 00:13:47.160 --> 00:13:48.740 A Christian that is curved in on himself 00:13:48.740 --> 00:13:51.759 does not stand in wonder at God's grace 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.520 because ultimately he thinks that it's his goodness, 00:13:54.660 --> 00:13:55.460 not God's goodness, 00:13:55.460 --> 00:13:57.360 that's the basis for salvation, right? 00:13:58.220 --> 00:13:59.740 And the psalmist knows better than that. 00:13:59.740 --> 00:14:00.799 So he doesn't pray, 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:02.820 help us for our sake. 00:14:03.220 --> 00:14:03.620 He says, 00:14:03.680 --> 00:14:05.159 help us, O God, of our salvation, 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:06.539 for the glory of your name. 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:08.899 Deliver us in the tone for our sins for your name's sake. 00:14:08.899 --> 00:14:12.779 And even though deliverance had not yet come 00:14:12.779 --> 00:14:15.939 to the psalmist and the singers of Israel, 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.059 in spite of their dire circumstances, 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:20.840 people who sang this song 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:22.919 put their faith in God 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:24.279 and praised him nonetheless. 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:27.939 And in contrast to the nations who taunted God, 00:14:28.059 --> 00:14:29.259 they continued to praise him. 00:14:29.259 --> 00:14:31.019 And that's what we see in verse 13, 00:14:31.179 --> 00:14:32.179 the conclusion of this song. 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:34.480 But we, your people, 00:14:35.379 --> 00:14:36.980 the sheep of your pasture, 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:40.600 we will give thanks to you forever. 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:43.319 From generation to generation, 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:45.939 we will recount your praise. 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:49.059 Such a wonderful commitment, right? 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:51.759 Saying that even though we are destroyed, 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:54.179 even though we are experiencing your judgment, 00:14:54.580 --> 00:14:56.240 even now we will praise you 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:57.759 and we will thank you forever. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:59.919 And because they have faith 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:02.980 that they believe that God will deliver them 00:15:02.980 --> 00:15:05.279 from their sins for the glory of his name. 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:06.659 And they continue to praise him. 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:09.879 For us, things are a little better, right? 00:15:09.939 --> 00:15:13.100 Because that we live in an era of fulfillment, right? 00:15:13.139 --> 00:15:15.419 And that prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 79 00:15:15.419 --> 00:15:16.840 has been answered for us. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:22.019 And this was promised in Ezekiel 26, 22 to 28. 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:24.519 This was God's promise to his people. 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:25.100 It says, 00:15:25.100 --> 00:15:27.920 It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:29.580 that I am about to act, 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:31.800 but for the sake of my holy name, 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.759 which you have profaned among the nations 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:34.560 to which you came. 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:37.560 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:39.379 which has been profaned among the nations, 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:41.420 and which you have profaned among them. 00:15:41.920 --> 00:15:44.159 And the nations will know that I am the Lord, 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:45.759 declares the Lord God. 00:15:46.180 --> 00:15:47.500 Even when through you, 00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:49.700 I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 00:15:49.700 --> 00:15:52.420 I will take you from the nations 00:15:52.420 --> 00:15:54.060 and gather you from all the countries 00:15:54.060 --> 00:15:55.800 and bring you into your own land. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:57.960 I will sprinkle clean water on you 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.140 and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:01.780 And from all your idols, 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:02.759 I will cleanse you. 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:04.620 And I will give you a new heart 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:07.100 and a new spirit I will put within you. 00:16:07.300 --> 00:16:09.660 And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh 00:16:09.660 --> 00:16:11.420 and give you a heart of flesh. 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:14.860 And I will put my spirit within you 00:16:14.860 --> 00:16:17.179 and cause you to walk in my statutes 00:16:17.179 --> 00:16:19.399 and be careful to obey my rules. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.379 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers 00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:23.559 and you shall be my people 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:25.240 and I will be your God. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:27.539 So that was the promise 00:16:27.539 --> 00:16:29.860 and really echoing this psalm. 00:16:30.379 --> 00:16:31.779 And God fulfilled that promise 00:16:31.779 --> 00:16:33.639 and answered the prayer of Psalm 79 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:35.099 once and for all through Jesus. 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:37.899 By Jesus living for us, 00:16:38.019 --> 00:16:39.360 living in perfect righteousness 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:41.879 and dying an atoning death 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:44.759 and rising victoriously from the dead 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:46.180 and by ascending to the heavens 00:16:46.180 --> 00:16:47.879 and sending the Holy Spirit to us 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:49.240 so that we have new hearts 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:52.100 and we have the spirit of God dwelling us. 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:55.399 And that's really what assures us of God's presence 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:57.539 in spite of whatever we might experience in the world. 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:00.440 Because to this day, actually, 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:02.940 the Jews in Jerusalem, 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.880 you know how the temple is destroyed. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:07.319 The second temple was after this first temple 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:08.319 was destroyed again. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.859 Now the only thing that remains is the wailing wall, 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:11.879 the western wall. 00:17:12.059 --> 00:17:13.720 That's the last remains of the temple. 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:16.939 And they mourn there for the lost temple. 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:19.859 And on every Friday, each week, 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.159 they recite Psalm 79 00:17:22.159 --> 00:17:25.519 because they're mourning the lost temple 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.619 and they're still longing for God's restoration 00:17:27.619 --> 00:17:29.179 in that sense. 00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:35.080 And we know that Jesus fulfilled the temple, right? 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:36.920 That he said in John 2 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:38.980 that he is the new temple of God. 00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:41.720 And according to 1 Corinthians 3, 00:17:42.180 --> 00:17:44.200 we ourselves are temples of God 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:46.340 by virtue of our union with Christ. 00:17:46.820 --> 00:17:48.039 And the spirit of God, 00:17:48.080 --> 00:17:49.600 the very spirit of God dwells in us. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.199 So then, even though we still live in a world 00:17:52.199 --> 00:17:54.119 that's marred by sin 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:55.480 and the consequences of sin, 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.299 and even though we still sin ourselves, 00:17:57.939 --> 00:17:58.959 and because of that, 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.279 there's brokenness in our lives 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:01.859 and in the lives of all those around us 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:02.559 in the whole world, 00:18:02.659 --> 00:18:04.059 because of our union with Christ, 00:18:04.199 --> 00:18:06.419 because of union with Christ 00:18:06.419 --> 00:18:07.240 who's the temple of God, 00:18:07.339 --> 00:18:09.299 because of the spirit of God who indwells us, 00:18:09.299 --> 00:18:11.819 we can always be assured 00:18:11.819 --> 00:18:13.319 of God's presence with us, 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.579 no matter where we are, 00:18:14.659 --> 00:18:15.619 no matter what's going on. 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:17.299 And so we can say, 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:20.119 even better than the psalmist can, 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.539 that God has delivered us 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:25.440 from our sins for the glory of his name. 00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:27.680 And so then our lives also should be characterized 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:29.319 by the praise of verse 13. 00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:30.819 But we, your people, 00:18:30.919 --> 00:18:31.879 the sheep of your pasture, 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:33.779 will give thanks to you forever. 00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:35.759 From generation to generation, 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:37.680 we will recount your sins.