WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.799 Okay, for a short time together, we're going to look back at SAM47, which is the third, 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:11.480 I think, of our series in the book of SAMs. 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.000 And I'm going to start by doing something really terrible, something awful. 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:20.800 But I think having been here for 20 years or so, I think we share enough honesty and 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.879 trust together for me to be able to say this. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.400 Because I don't say it to yourself, I say it to myself as well. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:35.199 The first thing is a rebuke, and I do absolutely give it to myself. 00:00:35.199 --> 00:00:41.519 I think we value spiritual sung praise too little. 00:00:41.519 --> 00:00:43.039 I don't think we value it enough. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.159 I don't think it's important enough to us. 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:51.679 Because it is tremendously important biblically and to God. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:55.439 Melody, music, poetry and song. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:57.480 Absolutely captures, doesn't it, our humanity? 00:00:57.479 --> 00:00:59.000 It's our soul language. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:05.399 We use it in every aspect of our lives to express joy and suffering. 00:01:05.399 --> 00:01:07.359 It reflects our culture. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:11.719 And it also reflects, of course, the fact that we're made in God's image. 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:17.239 That beautiful, my favorite verse in the whole Bible is F and I, 317, that God, the Lord 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:19.719 rejoices over us with singing. 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:24.439 It's an amazing picture of God's character. 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:27.280 And heaven itself will be full of singing. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:31.399 Music comes from the very creative heart of God. 00:01:31.399 --> 00:01:37.000 And we see all around us its power, don't we, and its influence to move, to inspire, 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.879 to unify us all together. 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:45.000 You know, whenever you sing in a massive crowd, a great group, whether it's a concert or a 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.640 sports occasion, it can be spine-tingling, can it? 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:55.439 Just the unity that we feel with everyone else singing the same words to the same songs 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.719 or when we listen to a choir. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:03.280 Or when you hear a song, maybe you haven't heard for years, it can just trigger a memory, 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.879 a place, a person, a time. 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:10.920 Or you can, having not sung it for a long time, remember every single word. 00:02:10.920 --> 00:02:13.080 Isn't that ridiculous? 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:16.520 Bob Dylan brought up an album in the 80s called Infidels and one of the songs in it was called 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:18.560 Sweet Heart Like You. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.120 And it was playing the other day in the car. 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:27.400 It came on, I hadn't heard it for 20 years, and I could sing every single verse. 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:32.200 Every word of that song hadn't been in my mind up until that point. 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:36.040 We see the power of it with dementia sufferers who they can remember things and they can 00:02:36.040 --> 00:02:40.439 sing things and they can recall words that are so important. 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:41.600 It expresses our heart. 00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:44.600 I want to give an illustration of that from this week. 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:50.359 Adele, the singer, brought out her album, 30, and the... 00:02:50.359 --> 00:02:57.439 It's not the title track, but the single, I guess, from it is called Easy on Me. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:00.799 And it's really just a story about her divorce. 00:03:00.799 --> 00:03:02.680 It's her telling her story and just... 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:04.840 Really justifying her life decisions. 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:06.560 It's real. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:07.560 For many, it's powerful. 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:14.199 I find it hugely sad and slightly hopeless and a bit self-absorbed. 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:19.079 But on YouTube, there's almost 100 million views of that song. 00:03:19.079 --> 00:03:22.799 100 million views of that song. 00:03:22.799 --> 00:03:30.319 Take David Attenborough's video on YouTube about COP26, the People's Advocate. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:36.560 COP26, 5,800 views. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:43.039 Or Greta Thunberg's blah, blah, blah speech that she made to the Youth Climate Summit on 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:48.079 that hugely significant theme of environmental chaos. 00:03:48.079 --> 00:03:50.719 350,000 views. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:55.039 Or Joe Biden's inauguration speech, 2.5 million views. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:02.840 But Adele's song had 100 million hits on YouTube, which says something about our world. 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:08.239 And it says a lot about the power of song and the power of music. 00:04:08.239 --> 00:04:12.919 And yet it's easy for us, I think, for us to underestimate that and to underestimate 00:04:12.919 --> 00:04:15.399 what we do probably sometimes in our tradition. 00:04:15.399 --> 00:04:19.759 We see it as the warm-up act to the sermon, the things we need to get through till the 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.479 sermon starts. 00:04:21.479 --> 00:04:22.479 It can be heartless. 00:04:22.479 --> 00:04:23.860 It can be routine. 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:25.839 It can be thoughtless for us. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:28.560 And I'm as gilly of that as anyone else. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:32.879 And yet it's an integral part of our worship. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:34.159 It is part of the package. 00:04:34.159 --> 00:04:35.919 It's part of our obedience. 00:04:35.919 --> 00:04:42.480 It's part of our comfort, part of our inspiration, part of what we are and who we are as we 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.520 worship before God. 00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:48.960 And the Psalms, the Psalm here that's entitled, A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. 00:04:48.960 --> 00:04:55.200 And the word there for Psalm is Mismore, which just means a poem sung to a melody, usually 00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:56.200 with instruments. 00:04:56.200 --> 00:05:02.720 And the Sons of Korah, who are mentioned here, they were professional musicians, professional 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:03.720 songwriters. 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:12.460 They wrote 11 of the Psalms in this particular book too, from Psalm 41 to Psalm 72. 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:16.560 And they were writing at the time of David being the king in Israel, kind of the high 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:22.000 point of the Israelite relationship with God. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:29.159 But their Psalms seem to express many personal fears and experiences of God's people. 00:05:29.159 --> 00:05:30.159 It's heart music. 00:05:30.159 --> 00:05:31.159 There's joy. 00:05:31.159 --> 00:05:32.159 There's tears. 00:05:32.159 --> 00:05:33.159 There's praise. 00:05:33.159 --> 00:05:35.399 And there's worship. 00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:39.079 And this Psalm, it revolves around praise. 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:44.079 Verse 6 is really the critical verse of the Psalm. 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:50.240 And then four times in that short verse, we're told, it says, sing praises to God. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:51.759 Sing praises. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:53.959 Sing praises to our king. 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:55.399 Sing praises. 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:58.319 And then the next verse for God is the king of all the earth. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.560 Sing praises with a Psalm. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:05.240 And interestingly, that second verse, now I never know why those that translate the Bible 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:06.240 do this. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:11.280 But the second Psalm, and it has got a note, it says one beside it, which says, maskill, 00:06:11.280 --> 00:06:13.480 which means it's a different word. 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:17.840 So it's not the same word, although they're both, the introductory word, Sam, is also 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:22.560 used, the same word is used to translate two different words. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:29.199 And maskill seems to just mean something like, whatever you're going to sing, sing with understanding, 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.280 sing with knowledge. 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:37.439 Sing with a truth narrative of praise. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.759 In other words, when you're praising, you've got to have a narrative behind it. 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:42.359 You've got to have truth behind it. 00:06:42.359 --> 00:06:43.799 You've got to know why you're singing. 00:06:43.799 --> 00:06:47.199 And I hope that that's what we'll think about a little bit. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:53.559 Because my second challenge, my first was that kind of guarded, guarded rebuke faced 00:06:53.559 --> 00:06:55.119 towards myself. 00:06:55.119 --> 00:06:58.439 The second is a great challenge, isn't it? 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:02.879 Which is just simply what is the narrative that holds your life in mind? 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:06.399 Because that's what drives us the narrative of our life. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:09.199 That's what is the lens that you look through life with? 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.319 What is the motivation that drives your life? 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:17.839 You know, as Christians, our hope and prayer is that God and God's story is the narrative 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:21.920 behind which our life is driven. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:24.639 But I think sometimes we also sideline that, don't we? 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:32.240 But it can be lots of things, it can be just survival, it can be fear, it can be pleasure, 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:37.000 it can be uncertainty, powerlessness, you know, in the world in which we live, you know, that 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:45.479 narrative of fear where everything seems to be out with our control and greed is driving 00:07:45.479 --> 00:07:51.360 political decision making, the geopolitical power struggles. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:58.759 Lots of things, economic, environmental, may be driving the narrative behind our lives, 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:01.759 or it may be things that are much more personal. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:07.319 But I want to remind us today of the different narrative that's spoken of in the Psalms and 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:12.439 in the Bible itself, because the Psalms are part, obviously, of God's revealed, ongoing 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:14.080 revealed word. 00:08:14.080 --> 00:08:19.720 And we need, I think, and singing and praise is a great way of reminding ourselves that 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:25.320 there's more than just this material world in which we live, which we sink into from 00:08:25.320 --> 00:08:34.160 day to day when we go out from here on a Monday morning, an unseen world, but real God. 00:08:34.160 --> 00:08:36.279 And He is the narrative. 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:39.040 And He is to be the narrative of our lives as Christians. 00:08:39.040 --> 00:08:44.360 And the challenge is, if you're not a Christian, whether you'll consider making God the narrative 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:50.720 of your life, He's a personal, just, loving and powerful sovereign ruler. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:58.600 And His Word, the Bible, progressively reveals Him as a Creator, from whom humanity that 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:00.919 we are included in rebelled. 00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:08.000 There's a rescue that begins and is seen in the Old Testament, which anticipates a much 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:14.759 greater New Testament rescue with the promise of the final destruction of evil in a new 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:21.600 home for those who've trusted Jesus and have taken Him as the narrative of their life, 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:25.080 as their Lord and God, their friend and the Savior. 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:31.360 And this Psalms speaks into this Old Testament context, this Old Testament rescue, where 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:38.399 God rescued His people, the Israelites from Egypt, from slavery, brought them into their 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:46.759 own land, made a covenant with them, lived with them, was among them in the city of Jerusalem 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:52.639 and in the nation with the temple at the center of that and the ark of the covenant at the 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:54.560 center of the temple. 00:09:54.560 --> 00:09:59.840 And He was on the enthroned cherubim in the ark of the covenant. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.759 And so there's a reason for praise. 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:09.680 And I'm going to take that truth and just apply it into our New Testament context. 00:10:09.680 --> 00:10:14.200 Because in verse 3 of this Psalm, it's a Psalm of praise, clapping hands, shouting to 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:21.960 the loud songs of joy, verse recognition, verse 2, that the Lord the most high is to 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.759 be feared, a great king over all the earth. 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:30.439 And then verse 7 repeats that for God is the king of the earth saying praises with a Psalm. 00:10:30.439 --> 00:10:36.000 And that Old Testament picture, the great king that's spoken of there, that would have 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:40.319 meant a lot to people in the ancient Near East because the great king, and it's spoken 00:10:40.319 --> 00:10:46.840 of in maybe 1st, 2nd, Kings 18 about the Assyrian king, it's just the inscription of absolute 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:49.480 great power and authority. 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:55.240 I'm not sure what a modern day comparison would be to the great ancient Near Eastern 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:58.639 kings who had absolute power and absolute authority. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.519 I'm not sure. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:06.960 But the psalmist uses that to speak about who God is. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:11.159 He's greater and more magnificent than anything that they can imagine. 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.720 He created everything. 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.519 And we are made in His image. 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:24.480 And yet very often we ascribe glory to ourselves, to nature, to the universe, to other people. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:32.399 And yet, and yet, He is the great king, the sovereign king who is before all the great 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:37.960 nations, who has seen over the centuries the rise and fall of all the great kingdoms, whether 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:46.639 it's Egyptian or Babylonian or Assyrian or Roman or beyond into the superpowers of today. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.080 He's seen them rise and he's seen them fall. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:55.720 And all the powers and all the philosophies, he's infinitely greater and infinitely more 00:11:55.720 --> 00:12:01.560 powerful than anything that sometimes becomes the narrative of our lives. 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:09.119 He's holy and perfect, creator and judge, glorious beyond comprehension. 00:12:09.119 --> 00:12:10.719 He is to be feared. 00:12:10.719 --> 00:12:15.079 That's something we struggle with. 00:12:15.079 --> 00:12:20.719 We find it much easier to stick up our fingers at God than to fear Him, to turn our backs 00:12:20.719 --> 00:12:27.519 on God, to wrestle against God, to think He's just small and insignificant, puny, a figment 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:28.519 of our imagination. 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:34.720 And it's unimportant, and yet He's revealed here and throughout His work as the unseen, 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.399 but yet amazingly powerful king of all the earth. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:45.279 And verse 8 says, He is the God who reigns over the nations who sits on His holy throne. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:51.840 He's a sovereign king who's seated, and that's just speaking of His sovereign control and 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:59.120 power over the universe with purpose and love and justice and grace. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.800 Now that's a challenge for us. 00:13:01.800 --> 00:13:06.280 If we are thinking people at all, I think that should be a challenge for us. 00:13:06.280 --> 00:13:12.600 And it should live, it should rise within us deep questions when we see the struggles 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:19.600 that we face, the darkness, the evil, the hatred, the brutality, when children die and 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:24.120 are starved or are raped or are brutalized. 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:26.600 We say, well, God is sovereign king. 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:27.759 God is all powerful. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:30.759 Why doesn't He, why doesn't He act on these things? 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.320 Why is there such darkness? 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:38.279 And if we are living as Christians, you will have been asked that question by many who 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:39.800 are not Christians. 00:13:39.800 --> 00:13:44.360 And maybe as a Christian, you ask that and wrestle with it because it seems what you 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:51.600 see and what is spoken of here in this Psalm don't match. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:57.560 Now we can't trivialize these questions with easy, trite and glib answers. 00:13:57.560 --> 00:14:02.279 And we often can't give direct answers because we recognize mystery. 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:07.240 But what we do recognize, and I'll go on to explain a little bit, is that that is a good 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.120 recognition that our world is broken. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:12.120 There is evil. 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:13.120 It is serious. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.519 It's not just outside ourselves. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.399 It's not just in society. 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:18.879 It's not just in the world around us. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.320 It's in our own hearts. 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:24.320 And it's something we wrestle and struggle with. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:26.440 We can ignore. 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:27.639 We can blame God. 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:29.919 We can reject Him. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:36.200 But if we do so, we need to find a narrative that will deal with these issues comprehensively 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:40.960 and satisfactorily in our lives. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:46.360 It's easy to create and to find the issues and to find the problems. 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:50.200 But it's not so easy to provide a hopeful and meaningful answer. 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:53.400 But we find that in the gospel. 00:14:53.400 --> 00:15:00.960 That's why we have much reason to be singing, to praise, to be joyful and to rejoice as 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:06.360 He says, clap your hands, all peoples, shout to God with loud shouts of joy. 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:07.560 Why? 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:13.559 Because in the midst of that enthronement and power and glory, the same God descended 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:16.799 into our chaos in love. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:21.559 In verse 3 and 4 it says, He subdued peoples under us, nations under our feet. 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:24.559 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom He loves. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:30.959 And that's just speaking about God who came to redeem that Old Testament people from the 00:15:30.959 --> 00:15:32.639 slavery in Egypt. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:38.600 And that picture is a microcosm of His greater work in salvation. 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:46.360 It's preparing us to understand His greater work in salvation and coming of Jesus. 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:51.039 He rescued that Old Testament people, chose them, He put them in their own land. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:56.000 He gave them a city that was on a hill and He dwelt with them. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.759 You know that word, tabernacled with them. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:02.879 He was with them in that hill, in that temple. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:11.519 And He shared His glory with them, whether it was in the cloud that is spoken of, I think, 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.559 I think I've maybe got a reference to that. 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:18.120 Yeah, in Leviticus 16 the Lord said to Moses, Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:22.200 whenever he chooses into the most holy place that was in the temple, behind the curtain, 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:26.799 in front of the atonement cover of the ark or else he would die, for I will appear in 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:28.599 the cloud over the atonement cover. 00:16:28.599 --> 00:16:34.439 So there's this Old Testament picture of the God in the holy of holies who came and lived 00:16:34.439 --> 00:16:43.639 among the people, and in the presence of this cloud as it were, and the ark of the covenant 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:49.879 was the representation of Him being among His people in that Old Testament picture. 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:54.919 But it's also a prophetic picture because it speaks about the Christ who were told came 00:16:54.919 --> 00:17:03.879 and tabernacled among us, who came and went to the atonement seat itself on the cross, 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:09.920 who took on human flesh, who lived and spoke into this darkness, who healed, who touched, 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:18.519 who loved, who wept, who taught, who walked into betrayal, brutality, temptation and death 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:21.039 in order to defeat what we see. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:28.359 Now evils are very real issue, and sin and brokenness and hurt and ugliness in our own 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:32.039 hearts is a very real issue. 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:34.480 But God didn't stay distant from it. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:42.559 He didn't simply judge it, but He came to deal with it and judged it on Himself in our 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:48.799 place, in His perfection and His glory, to offer us a way of forgiveness, belonging and 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:49.799 hope. 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:51.000 That's the reason for praise. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:52.000 It's not easy. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:53.000 I don't have all the answers. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:54.839 None of us do have all the answers. 00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:58.119 We throw up our questions to God. 00:17:58.119 --> 00:17:59.119 Why? 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.279 All the time. 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:01.799 Even Jesus did it on the cross. 00:18:01.799 --> 00:18:06.960 But it's a reason for praise that He doesn't stay distant and disinterested and leave us 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:12.079 lost, but He descended in love to offer us His grace and His forgiveness. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:14.359 He also ascended in power. 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:16.759 Do you talk about that? 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:17.759 No, the death. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.759 The life, the death. 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:22.359 The resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:27.119 I was at the CU, the Edinburgh University CU on Monday night and they asked me to speak 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:30.440 from Acts 1 to 11 and it speaks about the ascension. 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:34.480 It really made me think about it in a way that I hadn't before. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.440 Because in verse 5 it says that He came among them. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:43.480 Then He says, God has gone up with a shout, or God has ascended with a shout, the Lord 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:45.039 with the shout of a trumpet. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:48.680 Now, we know that the sons of Korah, when they're talking about that, they're thinking 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:54.640 about maybe a picture of taking up the Ark of the Covenant, taking it up to Jerusalem 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:59.360 and they sung and they praised and they had trumpets, or maybe talking, thinking about 00:18:59.360 --> 00:19:03.120 the cloud that represented God going up, ascending. 00:19:03.120 --> 00:19:08.720 And that was what they were praising, recognizing this God who was powerful and yet who was 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.000 among them. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:14.039 But there is also a greater fulfillment, isn't there? 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:19.399 There's a greater fulfillment of this going up, this ascension, just as there's a greater 00:19:19.399 --> 00:19:21.399 fulfillment of this descending. 00:19:21.399 --> 00:19:25.799 Jesus said to them, it's not for you to know the times or the dates that Father has sent 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:27.920 by His own authority, but you will receive power. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:31.879 When the Holy Spirit comes in you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and 00:19:31.879 --> 00:19:33.079 all the earth. 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:39.960 And that is speaking shortly before His ascension and then Ephesians 4 says, He who descended 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:45.680 is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:47.160 universe. 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:54.120 Christ ascension is actually really important because it's reminding us of His enthronement 00:19:54.120 --> 00:19:58.880 having won the victory over death and evil and the grave. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:05.640 I think we're so material, we're so physical, we're so immediate, we like things that we 00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:12.400 can see and touch and feel that we really struggle with the idea of the spiritual and 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:17.520 what we can't see and what we can't feel and touch. 00:20:17.520 --> 00:20:22.840 And yet, isn't it great that the very heart of heaven, this place we don't really understand 00:20:22.840 --> 00:20:33.280 or can't get a grasp of, is the physical resurrected ascended body Jesus Christ in human flesh, 00:20:33.280 --> 00:20:34.720 glorified certainly. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:40.519 But nonetheless, this representative of humanity, of you and I, is right there in the midst 00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:41.519 of heaven. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.519 There's lots of thoughts about that, isn't there? 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:45.880 Heaven must be a place, it must be so. 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:54.039 But He's on the throne as the representative of saved humanity, as the God who enthroned 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:59.920 in power over life and over death, who's defeated our death and the power of evil and will destroy 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.480 it when He returns. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:09.960 At the center of God's existence, this God who is Spirit, this God who is eternal and 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:19.000 infinite is a physical resurrected Jesus with imprints of nails in His hands and in His 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.000 feet. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:26.680 Christ our Savior, our friend, our Lord, our God, our judge, the one who forgives us, the 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:29.240 one who redeems us, the one who loves us. 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:37.960 His arms remain outstretched, and Acts speaks about that and encourages us to spread that 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:40.759 gospel to the whole world. 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:43.400 I'm going to come out of that. 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:51.079 His arms remain outstretched for us as the hope, not just for ourselves, but for all 00:21:51.079 --> 00:21:54.039 the nations, that great gospel invitation. 00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:58.319 And we are called to share that love and that truth. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:04.279 And if you're not a Christian, you're called to repent and believe in this resurrected, 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:10.039 ascended, glorious Savior that the Psalm in its Old Testament context, speaking about 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:14.119 the Old Testament shadows, is pointing towards. 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:19.839 And He's this resurrected, ascended Savior who holds a definite future. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:25.000 The Prince of the People's gather as the peoples of the God of Abram, for the shield of the 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.319 earth belongs to God, He is highly exalted. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:31.599 And earlier it speaks about all the nations coming to Him. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:35.440 And that is still ultimately to be fulfilled. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:41.039 We had a glimpse of it today in welcoming new members from all over the world, that it's 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:47.440 not anymore just a Middle Eastern nationalistic religion. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:48.440 It never was intended to be. 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:58.360 It was always intended to be a, we are children of Abram, and ultimately one day every eye 00:22:58.360 --> 00:23:04.440 will see Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, either in worship 00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:11.440 or in worship and love and salvation, or in a declaration and recognition that He alone 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:12.640 is the way. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:18.640 And their judgment is fair and just. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:27.800 Without His rescue, you and I have no hope beyond the pitiful few years that pass, only 00:23:27.800 --> 00:23:34.640 the reality of judgment either from God or there's nothing. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.440 That's really the only two alternatives, isn't it? 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:44.799 So as believers, with this Old Testament truth and this Old Testament command, we have much 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:52.759 reason to praise that God is an incredible God, that all His revelation is of compassion, 00:23:52.759 --> 00:24:01.480 of love, of justice, and of taking that difficult reality of perfect justice, which leaves us 00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:07.519 condemned and dealing with it Himself on the cross so that we might be forgiven and saved. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:14.599 A love for us that will never let us go. 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:20.440 And I think we can learn a great deal from this Psalm about the importance of just praising 00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:28.279 Him through song for who He does, for who He is, clapping trumpets, four times making 00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:32.799 music, praising God, singing praises, shouting, singing. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:37.359 They are a much more expressive nation than we are. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:42.920 But isn't it great that we can do that and not feel, oh, that's just a bit uncomfortable. 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:49.639 It's this recognition that praise together is so important. 00:24:49.639 --> 00:24:57.799 It inspires, it unites, it is a public declaration, it is belonging, it is encouraging, it is 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:08.839 encouragement, it is goosebumps, it is comfort and grief, it is praise and happiness. 00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:18.119 We are a people of joy and our songs should reflect the narrative of our lives and as 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:24.399 Christians the narrative of our life should be reflected in our praise and in our worship 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:31.880 as we gather together in our public worship together as well as singing at other times 00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:35.720 in the shower or the bath or whatever else it is you sing, which is also a great thing 00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:36.720 to do. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:44.400 But we praise Him and glorify Him as people together and let us do that. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:49.600 Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to Him be the glory 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:55.240 both now and to the day of eternity and all God's people say amen.