WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.719 So, like this morning, to look back, Psalm 4, the Psalm that we read together from the 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:12.519 Old Testament, the book of Psalms, the Psalms, mainly Psalms of David. 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:22.480 And it's quite a reflective Psalm, so I think it's significant to have a bit of self-reflection, 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:27.760 but prayerful as it were, spiritual self-reflection on the last day of the year. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.000 And despite, if you read through that, you might not immediately, the theme might not 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.400 immediately strike you as being one of joy. 00:00:37.400 --> 00:00:39.760 That's really the theme that we're looking at. 00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:45.680 It does speak about joy, and we're going to look a little bit at that theme today at the 00:00:45.680 --> 00:00:48.320 end of the year. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:52.640 We don't know really, we know very little about the background of the Psalm. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:53.960 We're not sure. 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.920 No one's really sure what the background of the Psalm is, which is great in some ways, 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:04.040 because it stops us from narrowing it down too much into a specific historical situation. 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:09.240 But we know that David was inspired by the Spirit of God to give this Psalm, and so 00:01:09.240 --> 00:01:15.680 there's a broad application to us as his living word today. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:21.840 And as part of self-reflection, what's really significant and important in our spiritual 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:25.680 lives, if we are Christians, is prayer. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:32.000 Prayer is absolutely crucial and central to our understanding of ourselves and a meaningful 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:38.120 self-reflection in the company and the presence of our Creator and our Savior. 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:45.719 And it's something actually that we sometimes struggle with in our Christian lives is prayer. 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:52.920 And yet, what we're encouraged to do and think about and consider all the time in our struggles 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:56.560 is to take our struggles to God in prayer. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:01.359 Maybe as you look back in the years, you've been, you recognize you've been afraid of 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.239 maybe sharing your faith with other people. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:12.719 You're concerned that your faith is weak or is misunderstood by yourself or others. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:19.199 We struggle with following Jesus in that society, which is so counterintuitive to do that and 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.159 which is not interested in the gospel. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:31.400 And you've got a million other concerns potentially that impress in on your faith in Jesus Christ. 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:36.840 And if you have all of these things, they can sometimes take an attention away from 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:40.800 our walk of faith and from our relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:47.439 But if there's one thing that I would ask you to take away from this look at Psalm 4, 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:54.360 is the utter significance and vitality and importance of developing, maintaining, maintaining, 00:02:54.360 --> 00:03:00.760 developing and maturing a life of prayer. 00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:03.600 Talking to God is fundamental. 00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:05.920 It's absolutely crucial to us. 00:03:05.920 --> 00:03:07.920 You know, we do things together. 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:09.280 It's great to worship together. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:10.520 It's great to be in community. 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:11.520 It's great to learn. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:12.520 It's great to worship. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:20.320 But ultimately, this walk that we have needs to be a walk of prayer, needs to be a relationship 00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:23.719 with God through prayer primarily. 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:27.400 And we see that in the Psalm as it starts, you know. 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:31.640 That's the whole focus and centrality of it. 00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:35.360 Answer me when I call, oh, God, my righteous, a prayer is so vital. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:41.800 You know, as we think about communication, as we think about the times we spend talking 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:47.880 to one another, talking to our family, communicating with it, whether it's face to face or even 00:03:47.880 --> 00:03:51.600 on social media, I'm not going to bash social media today. 00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:52.600 I'm going to be nice. 00:03:52.600 --> 00:03:54.800 We'll not bash social media. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:59.680 But nonetheless, we communicate and we talk together through social media, through texts 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:04.400 and through WhatsApp and through whatever else it might be and also through individual 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:05.400 interaction. 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.080 Think how many hours we spend doing that. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:14.879 And think of the intentionality that we put into that, the focus, the deliberate work 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:16.879 that we put into that. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:23.840 And the challenge is to put that same level of intentionality into our conversation. 00:04:23.840 --> 00:04:26.480 And I'm using that in an old-fashioned way. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:31.000 They used to use that word conversation as this, meaning the same way as walk, your walk 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.120 or conversation. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.040 Find your prayer life with the living God, you know, growing the life of faith. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.759 Over the last six months, we've spent a lot of time, didn't we, thinking about Jeremiah 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:49.600 17 and discipleship and having that living relationship with like a tree planted by a 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:55.920 living stream, which roots were being sent out into the living water and recognizing that 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:03.000 as being the key to our growth and development as Christians is the roots being firmly grounded 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.800 in a relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.639 There's, that's when we bear fruit. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:10.199 And that's where we experience joy as part of that fruit because we know the fruit of 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:13.920 the Spirit, don't we, from Galatians 5 to 22. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:19.120 The fruit of this, the singular fruit of the Spirit involves all these, love joy, peace, 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:21.680 patience, gentleness, weakness, self-control. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:25.680 Love joy, joy is the second mentioned fruit of the Spirit. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.079 And I think that's significant. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:33.359 So we're going to look at that theme of joy through this Psalm and rightly understood when 00:05:33.359 --> 00:05:38.959 the Bible and the Spirit of God, or the characteristic of having the Spirit of God in our lives is 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:39.959 joy. 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:48.519 It's a spiritual joy, it's when our relationship with Jesus Christ is such that we understand 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:51.159 who He is and what He's done for us and how much He loves us. 00:05:51.159 --> 00:05:53.919 And it's a reason for real joy. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:00.520 And glad tidings if you want to use the language of this time here, celebration of gladness. 00:06:00.520 --> 00:06:03.480 And it's so significant. 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:05.840 It's a crucial part of life. 00:06:05.840 --> 00:06:09.200 Celebration and joy is a really important part of life. 00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:18.439 And we know that idolatry and sin seeks to mimic that joy by giving us joy without a 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.680 relationship with God, which is ultimately hollow. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:32.360 It's not desperate, it's not terrible at a human level, but ultimately it's hollow. 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:37.960 And sin either seeks to imitate the joy that we have in relationship with God or it eliminates 00:06:37.960 --> 00:06:40.480 it altogether. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.759 Misery, unhappiness, depression, sadness. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:51.759 And the intention either way when we leave God out of the picture is to keep God out 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:57.120 of the picture, is to keep your distance from God who's the author of joy. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:04.240 So every joy we seek away from God or every sadness that we experience away from God seeks 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:10.120 to distance God from our experience, from the Satan who's the author of lies. 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:13.039 So can I just look at this, Sam, for a minute this morning. 00:07:13.039 --> 00:07:14.039 Sam 4. 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:17.600 The interesting thing is David starts off absolutely struggling, okay? 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:19.680 That's how he starts off. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:24.319 Answer me when I call, oh God of my righteous, you've given me relief when I was in distress, 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.280 be gracious to me and hear my prayer. 00:07:26.280 --> 00:07:29.360 He cries out to God, that's what He does. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:34.560 He's not happy, He's not joyful, He's in distress and He's pleading for mercy. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.680 Whatever else He's experiencing in life, He can't stand in His relationship with God, 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:42.560 He can't stand divine silence. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.800 And there's a real passion here in His prayer. 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:52.959 There's a real energy and a real reality about His relationship with God here in prayer. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:59.759 You know, be gracious to me and hear my prayer and answer me when I call. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:03.040 This is not perfunctory to use that word. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:04.480 It's not just going through the motions. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:06.480 It's not ritualistic. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:13.680 This is someone who desperately is looking for God's conversation and God's communication 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:14.680 in his life. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:20.840 And I think that's a great thing to seek to mimic in our lives that same kind of spiritual 00:08:20.840 --> 00:08:23.000 intensity in our prayers. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:27.640 That we, you know, if the great C.S. Lewis quote, which I'm going to get wrong because 00:08:27.640 --> 00:08:31.960 I haven't written it down, but it's something along the lines of, I don't pray, I don't 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:36.679 pray because it's nicer because it's ritualistic, I pray because I have to. 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:41.199 I pray because I'm in absolute need every day of prayer. 00:08:41.199 --> 00:08:43.879 That's very broadly paraphrased. 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:50.639 But there's this great need in His relationship with God, David here, for answers. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:55.919 He needs God to, He's calling on God because He needs to hear and needs to know that God 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:59.559 cares and God is interested in His life. 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:03.559 And that's significant for us, and with all our battles and struggles and difficulties 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:08.959 and reflection over the last year, take it into the presence of God as we pray. 00:09:08.959 --> 00:09:10.639 And pray through these things. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:15.239 Pray through our battles and struggles, not to some kind of genie, not to some kind of 00:09:15.239 --> 00:09:19.119 Santa Claus figure, but to the living and true God. 00:09:19.119 --> 00:09:28.439 David's faith and reputation seem to be being questioned in the Psalm in verses 2 and 3. 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:33.440 Well, man, how long it turns from speaking to God to kind of speaking as it were to the 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.800 people around Him, whoever they are. 00:09:35.800 --> 00:09:37.960 How long shall my honour be turned into shame? 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:42.560 How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:46.720 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly from the Lord, hears when I call to Him. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:53.720 Now, we don't know the situation here, but obviously His character has been called into 00:09:53.720 --> 00:10:00.160 question, His honour has been questioned here, and lies seem to be being told about Him, 00:10:00.160 --> 00:10:04.440 whether it's in His position as King, have other people rejected Him, maybe it's when 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:09.759 Absalom seeks to take over His Son, His beloved Son, seeks to usurp Him from the throne and 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:14.560 get rid of Him, whether it's idolatry and people are worshiping idols instead of worshiping 00:10:14.560 --> 00:10:15.560 the living God. 00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:20.120 But whatever they seem to be listening to lies about Him and maybe about His Lordship 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:26.279 and His kingship and the Lord Jesus, the Lord God over Him. 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:32.799 And that can also be for us a different level of real challenge in our own spiritual lives, 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:37.279 that when our faith is challenged in the same way that David's relationship and faith and 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:42.960 character has been challenged, and maybe you sense that and feel that in your life as we 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:49.879 go into the end of the year, maybe being challenged by those around you who are maybe selling 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:55.600 you something that is much more attractive apparently on the surface, much easier to 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:02.559 follow, much easier to live by rather than the living God and by faith in Jesus Christ, 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:08.480 who are teasing us sometimes with delusions of lasting happiness and joy by following 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:12.639 the crowd or by putting other things before Christ in our lives. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:18.440 Or maybe it's fellow believers who we once loved and trusted, who have turned our backs 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.680 on us or who themselves have turned their backs on Jesus and who are following another 00:11:22.680 --> 00:11:27.480 way that is not life or joy at all. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:33.480 And the challenges we feel against our own lives and against our own faith and our walk 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:35.120 of faith. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:42.120 And these challenges and these questions are very real for us in our Christian life. 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:47.920 And what's significant and important is David's advice to them and to us is very good in verses 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:53.639 4 and 5, be angry and do not sin, ponder in your own hearts, in your own beds and be silent, 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:57.039 offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:02.000 It's great that because what he's doing is he's taking his own situation and the fact 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:06.759 that he's been challenged and he's not sure what's going on and he's not aware of why 00:12:06.759 --> 00:12:08.399 these things are happening. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:15.959 And he's kind of angry about what's happening and he feels injustice about what's happening. 00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:20.560 And yet he says kind of in a soliloquy to himself but to all who will listen and by 00:12:20.560 --> 00:12:24.680 the Spirit of God does, be angry, do not sin, ponder in your hearts, in your beds, offer 00:12:24.680 --> 00:12:26.400 right sacrifices to the Lord. 00:12:26.400 --> 00:12:33.360 Deal, he says, there may be right reasons for feeling that we've been dealt a bad blow. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:38.320 We may feel great injustice welling up in him, it might be a national level, it might 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:44.360 be a very personal level that we've been treated and we might be rightly justly angry and frustrated 00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:49.720 by other people's behavior or other people's lies or what is happening in the world around 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:50.720 us. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:58.279 And he says, take that anger, don't sin, think about these things individually and before 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:03.279 the living God but most of all look into your own heart and your own motives. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:08.519 And that's the great challenge for us is that we always are wanting things to change around 00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:09.519 us. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:16.039 Many times that's justly so, we feel a sense of injustice and we feel a sense of things 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.879 not being fair to us personally or maybe to the world around us. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:25.319 But ultimately what's so significant is not the circumstances we have but the way that 00:13:25.319 --> 00:13:29.960 we deal with them before the living God and David saying, God is saying through him, look 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:35.720 deep into your own heart and into your own motives and into your own thing and make sure 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:40.680 that in your heart and your life, my heart and my life, we're offering right sacrifices 00:13:40.680 --> 00:13:46.000 and putting our trust in the Lord that we're seeking mercy and we're wanting to renew our 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.160 heart before God. 00:13:47.160 --> 00:13:52.840 In other words, we're recognizing what he's done for us and the great sacrifice of Jesus 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:59.440 for us and that ultimately Jesus will put all injustices right. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:01.180 He will right all the wrongs. 00:14:01.180 --> 00:14:03.800 We don't need that weight in our shoulders. 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:09.240 We don't need everyone around us to be perfect and to be treating us in the right way. 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:11.240 We don't need everything to be... 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.719 And I'm not saying by that... 00:14:13.719 --> 00:14:19.120 By that I'm not saying it doesn't matter and I'm not saying to be careless and happy, 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:20.120 go lucky. 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:24.939 I don't mean that at all but I mean that we recognize our own guilt and need before the 00:14:24.939 --> 00:14:25.939 living God. 00:14:25.939 --> 00:14:31.879 We're grateful to him for his sacrifice and we recognize that we're not God. 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:34.120 We can't put all injustice right. 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:37.840 We can't right all the wrongs but he will do. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.279 He will return and he will put all injustice to bed. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:47.000 He will deal with it in a right and in a good and in a perfect way and we trust in him when 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:48.399 we don't understand. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.799 We trust in him when we don't know. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:54.120 We trust in him when we would want things to be different. 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:55.720 That's what trust's about. 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:58.720 It's easy to trust when everything's going well. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:04.240 It's easy to trust when everything is brilliant for us. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:10.240 It's much harder to trust when we feel all these injustices or we feel God isn't dealing 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:15.399 with us fairly or others aren't dealing with us fairly or we're being the subject of abuse 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:20.440 or lies or vain words from others. 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:27.920 So as advice to whoever he pens this to and to us is good, hugely significant for us. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.959 In our self-reflection, don't bear the weight of guilt. 00:15:31.959 --> 00:15:36.439 Don't think we put the world to rights but go back to the living God and His grace and 00:15:36.439 --> 00:15:44.439 His goodness and His generosity and trust in His sovereign justice and love and mercy. 00:15:44.439 --> 00:15:47.639 And He knows therefore we're true prosperity lies. 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:52.839 Verses 6 and 7, there are many who say, who will show us any good? 00:15:52.839 --> 00:15:54.799 Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:58.359 You have put more joy in my heart than they when they're... 00:15:58.359 --> 00:16:00.599 I'm really struggling with a sentence, by the way. 00:16:00.599 --> 00:16:04.240 It's a badly constructed sentence in English. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:13.639 So the translators note, they than they have when their grain and wine abound. 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:17.639 In peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:23.519 So He knows where His true prosperity lies and He recognized that people around Him, 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:26.240 for whatever reason, will say, well, who's going to show us any good? 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.840 You know, who's going to show us the right way? 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:34.639 Because they were searching in all kinds of places for goodness and joy and happiness 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:43.399 and vitality, but they were searching in all the wrong places. 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:50.360 They were really looking away from maybe David as God's representative and King and from 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:53.879 David's God who was their God, who was their covenant God. 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:56.080 And they were looking in the darkness. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:58.560 They were looking away from the light of His face. 00:16:58.560 --> 00:17:00.600 They were looking away. 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:05.200 And they couldn't find any good and they couldn't find any prosperity and joy. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:11.480 And they were maybe looking to false gods around them, which we know happened continually 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:13.799 among the people of the Old Testament. 00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:20.839 They were looking maybe for peace and safety away from the living God or for satisfaction 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:29.399 and abundance, that reference to grain and wine, abounding, referring to the whole kind 00:17:29.399 --> 00:17:33.000 of material prosperity that sometimes people would look for, maybe away from the living 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:34.159 God. 00:17:34.159 --> 00:17:38.559 And they were looking for joy and satisfaction and peace in all of these different things, 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:41.559 in all of these different areas. 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:45.440 Away from the living God. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.599 And that's not much different from the world in which we live, is it? 00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:50.839 It's not really that different, is it? 00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:53.200 Circumstances, cultures, very different. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:58.480 But people, and all the people that we know and love, and sometimes ourselves, we're looking 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:06.000 for joy and peace and prosperity spiritually and, well, maybe not spiritually, but maybe 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:13.480 materially in other ways, away from the light, away from the living God. 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:18.000 People are looking for meaning and for love and for permanence in all the wrong places 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.799 if they're turned away from God. 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:23.519 It may seem that that's where these things lie. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:30.240 But David and God, and as believers, we recognize that unless we are back in relationship with 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:36.240 our Creator God through Jesus Christ, from whom sin separates us, and the idolatry that 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:44.880 we often engage in, in putting other things first, usually ourselves, if the truth be 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:45.880 told. 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:55.599 And we lose that channel of love and grace and wholeness and joy that He brings into 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:56.599 our lives. 00:18:56.599 --> 00:19:05.279 So, the gospel of Jesus Christ in our final application is the gospel that David knew 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:10.240 about in the Old Testament, and that is progressively revealed until Jesus. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:11.919 And then we have the New Testament teaching. 00:19:11.919 --> 00:19:18.319 The gospel offers real joy and prosperity in relationship with Him. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:26.679 Jesus in John 8.12 says, I am the light of the world, and that reminds me, it reminds 00:19:26.679 --> 00:19:34.480 us of verse 6 where David also recognizes that light as a picture of truth and of honesty 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:41.639 and of integrity and love, lift up the light of your face upon His own Lord. 00:19:41.639 --> 00:19:46.599 And Jesus comes as the light of the world and says, you know, I am the light of the 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:54.559 world, you will always be in spiritual darkness and all the consequences of that, including 00:19:54.559 --> 00:20:01.359 death and separation from Him eternally, unless we wrestle with Jesus Christ and recognize 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:06.279 His claims in our lives and put our trust in Him, as David put your trust in the Lord, 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:08.639 the covenant saving God. 00:20:08.639 --> 00:20:12.679 He gives meaning, direction, identity, and hope. 00:20:12.679 --> 00:20:15.519 He is the light of the world. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:21.759 That is who is coming, and He as the light of the world, we know at Calvary that we were 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:26.720 singing about, was plunged into darkness. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:34.799 Literally midday, when the sun is at its brightest in Jerusalem, the world went dark for three 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:37.200 hours as He suffered on the cross. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:42.759 And that was literally speaking of a metaphorically also and spiritually of the darkness that 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:52.200 He went through as He takes the wrath and takes the just punishment of God on Himself 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:57.480 as our substitute, what is due to us, so that we can live in the light. 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:02.920 That's the gospel message, so we can be reconciled to Him, so we can know relationship with Him, 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:08.879 and so that we can wake up in the morning and say, answer when I call, oh God of my righteousness. 00:21:08.879 --> 00:21:10.119 Speak to me. 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:13.279 You've given me relief, you're my redeemer, my Lord. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:17.039 It's a living relationship we have. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:26.439 You know, we'd have service here last Friday for my mum who passed away, and a lot of people 00:21:26.439 --> 00:21:32.439 commented who are maybe not Christians or who didn't know her. 00:21:32.439 --> 00:21:34.679 It wasn't a perfunctory service. 00:21:34.679 --> 00:21:35.879 It wasn't just going through the motion. 00:21:35.879 --> 00:21:37.519 It wasn't just a religious service. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:42.639 But a living relationship was very evident in all that was spoken about her. 00:21:42.639 --> 00:21:45.279 And people noticed that. 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:50.639 People noticed that about your life and my life as Christians, that we're not religious. 00:21:50.639 --> 00:21:51.960 We're not just going through the motions. 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:57.079 We have a living relationship, especially when things are difficult, with a living God in 00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:04.119 whom we trust, who gives us hope and a future, and who transforms our experiences. 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:10.079 We're reconciled to our Creator who knows us better than we know ourselves, who was plunged 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:14.159 into darkness so that we could be in light. 00:22:14.159 --> 00:22:19.559 So that we can live, as David says here, face to face with Him. 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:22.679 Okay, living in the light of your face upon us, oh Lord. 00:22:22.679 --> 00:22:26.239 Now that's a picture, I know, because we can't see Jesus. 00:22:26.239 --> 00:22:27.239 We've known that, don't we? 00:22:27.239 --> 00:22:28.239 We can't see Him. 00:22:28.239 --> 00:22:29.239 He's in heaven. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:34.599 It's a picture of spiritual intimacy. 00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:40.279 Now if you're a visitor here today and I've not met you before, and I came and went right 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:47.920 face to face with you, eyeball to eyeball, nose to nose, you'd think it was a bit creepy, 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:48.920 you know? 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:53.160 If not a bit creepy, it would certainly be a bit awkward to do that. 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:58.720 Because we generally don't do that with people we don't know, particularly in our culture. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:01.079 And it would feel a bit odd and strange. 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:08.759 However, when I lie in bed with Katrina, I can look at her in the face, face to face, 00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:10.160 eye to eye. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:11.600 And we can talk face to face. 00:23:11.600 --> 00:23:17.200 Or with someone that you know very well, you can look at them in face to face, eyeball 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:18.759 to eyeball. 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:25.799 Because that is a picture of honesty and openness and integrity and being unashamed of each 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:30.000 other's faces in each other's company. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:35.079 But if you've got something, if you're guilty before that person, if you've done something 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:41.359 wrong, if I'd slept with another woman, I couldn't look Katrina eyeball to eyeball, 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:43.200 face to face. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:44.200 And you know that. 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:50.799 You know you can't look someone in the eye if there's something that is unrecognisable 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.519 in your relationship with them. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:58.400 If you've cheated them, or if you've lied about them, or if something you have done 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:02.440 is not right, you know that. 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:06.279 And that's what David's speaking about in a relationship with God. 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:09.359 He's saying, we need that honesty. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:12.400 We need that integrity. 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:13.839 That's what he's doing at the beginning of the Psalm. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:18.039 He's crying out to the living God because he knows God knows his heart. 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:24.399 And he knows God knows exactly his confusion and his struggles. 00:24:24.399 --> 00:24:31.119 And he's talking to him with that level of integrity, sharing his doubts and his fears 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:34.240 and asking for rescue. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:38.440 And we need the same relationship with the living God. 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:41.960 Set aside all the fancy words, eh? 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:48.000 And cry out to the living God in honesty, in your relationship with Him. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.680 Share your fears and your doubts and your struggles and your battles. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:59.079 Take it to Him because that's the only place you will end up finding heart joy when you 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:03.920 learn not to bear these burdens and continue in that guilt yourself. 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.200 But that's where deep-seated joy comes from. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.920 David can go and say, you've put more joy in my heart than they which who are rich and 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:18.279 doing great, and in peace I will lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:19.279 in safety. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:25.000 There's a brilliant testimony there, tremendous testimony of someone who's wrestled through 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:31.600 difficulties and battles and struggles and come to this place of great, deep-seated joy. 00:25:31.600 --> 00:25:36.160 And that's the deep-seated joy that Jesus Christ offers us and that you and I know if 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:41.800 we are Christians, to greater or lesser degrees as we are committed to Him. 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:47.599 It's life joy from knowing your Maker who has gone to the extent of sending His beloved 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:52.079 Son to the cross to put the wrongs right in our lives. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:55.639 You know, so that our joy doesn't need to be found in random sexual encounters that 00:25:55.639 --> 00:25:57.480 are devoid of soul. 00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:02.480 We don't need to be found in drinking too much to cover up for the emptiness in our 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:05.799 soul and give you that guilty short-term pleasure. 00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:12.119 It's not the joy that comes from abandoning your faith in order just to have friends, 00:26:12.119 --> 00:26:16.359 but finding only abject loneliness when you turn in for the night alone. 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:18.480 It's none of these things. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:24.680 It's the joy of wrestling with and knowing the love of the living God, knowing that you 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:31.440 are loved more than you could ever dream of, that you are forgiven, that you are safe in 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:37.360 absolute terms, whatever circumstances, and I'm not, I please don't think I'm trivializing 00:26:37.360 --> 00:26:40.519 anyone's circumstances. 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:47.120 It's knowing that He has our back, that we have His identity, past, present and future, 00:26:47.120 --> 00:26:50.160 that we are safe in Him. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:27:00.240 We should and can be much more joyful in our Christian life, celebratory, glad and positive, 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:06.640 even in the battle, even in the struggles, and even in our losses. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:12.920 It's knowing that Christ through His Word is, as David says in verse 1, my righteousness. 00:27:12.920 --> 00:27:18.680 Does anybody else really matter in our lives than being able to say that Christ is my righteousness, 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:27.599 that I'm right with God who one day I will face and who will decree my eternal destination 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.719 because of what Jesus has done, not because of anything in my soul. 00:27:30.719 --> 00:27:37.799 It's a great call, it's a great name to be able to call God, isn't it? 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:44.879 My righteousness, it's my hope and my righteousness, and as we cry out to Him, we come round to 00:27:44.879 --> 00:27:45.879 joy. 00:27:45.879 --> 00:27:49.759 That's really, in a sense, what the psalmist is reminding us. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:56.639 It's coming round to joy, it's not slapstick, we don't flick our fingers, we say, wee, I'm 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.040 joyful, it's not like that. 00:27:59.040 --> 00:28:03.440 And it's not that kind of joy anyway, which can be just irritating and annoying, especially 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:05.240 for people who are battling and struggling. 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:15.640 But it's a deep seated inner peace, an ability to sleep, to know protection and safety, content 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:18.960 with what we have or what we don't have. 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:21.280 And it's heart joy. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:28.720 And it's because we look into our own hearts as He says in verse 6, silent in a sense before 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:32.079 the living God and we trust in Him. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:38.319 It's a really great foundation for both reflection and for looking forward to the new day. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:47.399 It enables us, I think, to move from struggling to singing as we wrestle with God in prayer. 00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:52.160 And that's, is that often the way for us? 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:59.120 It comes through the scars being healed, first sometimes being exposed and then healed by 00:28:59.120 --> 00:29:04.200 His grace and knowing that He will never leave us or forsake us. 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:11.800 So as we reflect on our lives in 2019 and look forward to 2020, may it be that we, whatever 00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:17.799 else you do, can I just say whatever else you do in 2020 of God allows and grants you 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:22.680 time next year, don't neglect prayer. 00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:28.559 Whatever else you do, you can neglect your garden, I don't mind. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:34.159 You can neglect lots of things, but please don't neglect your prayer life with the living 00:29:34.159 --> 00:29:35.159 God. 00:29:35.159 --> 00:29:39.599 If you're not a Christian, can I ask you just to wrestle with God in prayer? 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:47.679 I've never spoken to Him before, but just wrestle with Him verbally and tell Him that 00:29:47.679 --> 00:29:50.799 you don't believe, tell Him you don't understand, tell Him you would love to understand but 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:51.799 you can't. 00:29:51.799 --> 00:29:56.519 But just keep speaking to Him because He's more real than any of us are here, absolutely 00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:57.639 more real. 00:29:57.639 --> 00:30:00.240 And don't neglect prayer. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:06.759 We spend lots of time thinking about the lovely relationships we're going to want in 2020. 00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:12.839 Whatever, that might be family, friends, whatever level. 00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:17.319 Make Jesus your fundamental and basic relationship that you develop through prayer. 00:30:17.319 --> 00:30:21.359 He's the rock that alone enables us to dwell in safety. 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:25.960 He's your life, He's your joy for now and for eternity. 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:28.119 Whatever happens, that is the key. 00:30:28.119 --> 00:30:31.640 And this prayer is a great reminder that that's where we'll find our joy. 00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:36.200 We'll lots of people looking for joy in the next few days in lots of different ways. 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:45.519 Very often in Scotland it'll be through a bottle, but that isn't lasting joy. 00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:51.480 And we recognize and know in much deeper, more spiritual joy in knowing Jesus is the 00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:56.319 great vine, the great wine, the great celebratory King of Kings. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:02.559 So may we worship Him and enjoy Him and be joyful in 2020 as Christians, even when we're 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:03.559 battling. 00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:05.880 That's power of heads in prayer. 00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:12.560 May our God help us to rejoice in you and help us to love you and battle with you. 00:31:12.560 --> 00:31:22.640 We pray, Lord, that we would not give some kind of whitewashed view of Christianity, 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:31.440 which is trouble-free or a slapstick, simple happiness and joy and a trite and frustrating 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.840 and sometimes annoying way. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:41.319 But may it be evident from our lives, a deep-seated joy that like when it's so calm under the 00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:50.519 water, even when there's a huge storm on the surface of the water, there's that deep, silent 00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:52.480 peacefulness under the water. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:58.439 And may that be what people see in our Christian lives, whatever the circumstances, there's 00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:10.440 a solid, joyful, peace-filled, contented happiness that is also visible. 00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:18.320 Sometimes Lord, forgive us for being grumpy and unhappy and trying to persuade people 00:32:18.320 --> 00:32:24.720 that actually were joyful deep down inside, which probably just sounds hypocritical and 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:26.400 probably is. 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:33.840 So help us to both reflect that joy in a meaningful and sensitive way and in a celebratory way 00:32:33.840 --> 00:32:40.880 also and may it be full of integrity and genuineness because we have that walk with 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:44.200 you because of your grace and goodness to us. 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:50.200 So help us and guide us and protect us and love us and forgive us and renew us and help 00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:57.680 us to cry to you in the privacy of our own lives and hearts today. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:24.039 Thank you.