WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.640 We've sung quite a bit tonight because the theme of our sermon tonight is The Lord is 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.800 My Strength and My Song, which Lewis read for us. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.519 Thank you Lewis for leading the first part of the service for us tonight. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:23.320 And we do know that song is always really important for us. 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:32.039 I think both sometimes joyfully we sing, but also I think sometimes when we're sad we 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:33.039 sing as well. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:40.039 And singing has that great significance for us in both these emotional states for us. 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:42.039 It's a place where we learn a lot. 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:49.880 It's a great place to memorise truth, which is why so much of the Bible's in poetic 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.079 form for us so we can memorise it. 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:59.359 There are many memorable events in my life I remember or are triggered by song. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:03.759 I think of one funeral that I did. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.920 Some of my memories are sad ones, but there's also happy ones you'll be glad to know. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:09.840 A member doing a funeral of a young... 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:11.359 I actually didn't do the funeral. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:19.200 I was a ten-year-old, a young lad who had been killed in a car crash near the area where 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:21.280 I was the minister. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.960 And it was a huge funeral and there was lots and lots of teenagers, there were lots and 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:28.960 lots of young people because he was in school. 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:33.240 And it was very moving, very emotional service. 00:01:33.240 --> 00:01:39.879 But we sung hymns and the minister spoke. 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:43.280 But right at the end they sang... 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:49.760 Well, they didn't sing, they played a pop song just as the family were leaving. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.760 And it was that song which all the young people knew really well. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:59.000 That was the one that completely set them off emotionally and where they all broke 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:00.000 down. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.520 They kind of held it together up to that point, but it was the song that they associated 00:02:03.520 --> 00:02:04.800 with it they knew about. 00:02:04.800 --> 00:02:07.000 It wasn't a hymn, it wasn't a... 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.719 Because very few of them were kids who went to church. 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:10.719 So it was... 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.480 But the song was tremendously powerful. 00:02:13.480 --> 00:02:18.240 We'd see it at weddings, there's anthems that we'll sing at dances, at gatherings, singing 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.760 so important. 00:02:20.760 --> 00:02:26.000 There's one song for me particularly, now you'll be delighted to know this song that 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.080 is powerful to me is a Dolly Parton song. 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:30.080 Okay, just... 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:33.640 And it's called In the Sweet, By and By. 00:02:33.640 --> 00:02:38.360 But every time I hear it and there's a beautiful version of that song with an Irish gallic 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:40.960 singer who sings a verse of it in Gallic. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:46.920 And every time I hear that song, I think of my dad because it was being played just when 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:54.759 my dad died and there's that whole theme of very kind of meeting on that golden shore. 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:55.879 And that... 00:02:55.879 --> 00:03:00.279 Every time you hear that song, it brings back these emotions because song is so tremendously 00:03:00.279 --> 00:03:04.759 powerful and it comes from music, comes from God, praise comes from God. 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:09.199 I think we sometimes underplay that aspect and importance of it. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:10.199 Song is the language... 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:11.279 In many ways, the language of heaven. 00:03:11.279 --> 00:03:13.119 The angels, we've seen that, haven't we? 00:03:13.119 --> 00:03:15.759 The angels sing in Isaiah 6. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:19.280 The seraphim are singing around the throne of God. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.879 They're praising God. 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:28.239 Creation itself, in that beautiful poetic language of Psalm 96, we're seeing the trees 00:03:28.239 --> 00:03:30.919 sing for joy and they clap their hands. 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:36.959 And this great picture of creation singing, the beautiful songs of birds that we hear 00:03:36.959 --> 00:03:37.959 around us. 00:03:37.959 --> 00:03:40.719 It is just so much from the heart of God. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:42.599 Remember, someone preached here not long ago. 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:43.840 Well, so we've got to go. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:50.599 It might even be Corey preaching about creation, that God sung creation into... 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:51.599 Was that right? 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:52.599 Was that you, Corey? 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:55.360 I think it was, yeah. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:59.719 And there's that whole emphasis of music and praise. 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:06.280 And here we come to the end of a section with regard to the first 12 chapters of Isaiah 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.480 as one section and it finishes with a song. 00:04:09.480 --> 00:04:11.000 It finishes with praise. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:12.199 And it's been quite hard, hasn't it? 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:17.120 The first 12 chapters has been one or two highlights, but there's been a lot of judgment. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:18.599 There's been a lot of heaviness. 00:04:18.599 --> 00:04:24.439 There's been quite a lot of darkness as God speaks about how His own people have rejected 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:28.759 Him and turned their backs and they will be found wanting because of that. 00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:34.800 And even the enemies of God who He uses, the Assyrians, for example, will come under God's 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:35.959 judgment. 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:41.120 But here we find at the end of that a song of hope, great song of hope. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:45.879 And I've heard someone describe it like it's a warm, sunny day at the end of a week of 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:46.879 thunderstorms. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.840 And that's kind of what we've got, a break in the message that God is bringing. 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:57.840 And it's a beautiful song that we're going to just think about for a few minutes, not 00:04:57.840 --> 00:04:58.840 for long this evening. 00:04:58.840 --> 00:05:07.280 But it's a tremendously encouraging song, the theme of which continues to be our song 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:14.919 as believers and continues to be the theme of our praise as we worship God. 00:05:14.919 --> 00:05:23.959 Because really what we have here is, it's a song that becomes progressive through Scripture. 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:35.239 As Scripture is unfolded, we find the song becomes more and more clear and unfolded as 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.879 we see God at work among His people. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:46.120 The unfolding truth of Scripture brings the same message of hope through the song. 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:53.439 We're told that, I will say, you will say, in that day I will give thanks to you, O Lord, 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.960 for although you were angry with me, you're anger turned away that you might comfort me. 00:05:56.960 --> 00:06:01.000 And it speaks about this day, in that day. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:09.160 The day in the Bible is not just used as a 24-hour period, but it's used as an event, 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:15.319 an event in God's revelation when God comes and God speaks to His people. 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:25.120 Usually in the context of rescue and salvation, when God comes, it even hints towards, this 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:29.120 may not be speaking about the day of the Lord specifically, but it does hint towards this 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:38.079 whole recognition of a day when God acts powerfully and God intervenes among His people, where 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:44.759 the day of the Lord is often a day of judgment and cataclysm and sacrifice and salvation. 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:51.439 It all kind of comes together in a melting pot of God acting on behalf of His people 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:56.120 as it unfolds a day of rescue and a day of salvation. 00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:02.759 And it takes... a song takes the concept of a memorable day, and we all need memorable 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:04.840 days and we all have memorable days. 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:09.399 And it takes that concept and it applies it to the sovereign work of God, both in our 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:15.040 lives but also through redemptive history, which is tremendously important. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:18.879 We all have days that we look back to. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:22.560 I hope we all have days that we look forward to as well. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.000 And we think of that. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:30.279 And this song is reminding us of a day that's very important for every believer, a day of 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:32.040 rescue and salvation. 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:36.879 And it's progressive in the sense that we see it... 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.000 We see the thread of this song right through Scripture. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:41.000 So you've got... 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:46.480 And they're all related to God's work and God's rescue. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:52.240 You've got the song of Moses, which is very similar to the song, at least in some of the 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:58.280 other theme, and in Deuteronomy 32 we have that song of Moses. 00:07:58.280 --> 00:08:06.840 In fact, if you flick back to the last chapter and verse 16, we're reminded of the rescue 00:08:06.840 --> 00:08:11.680 that Moses sung the song about, there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.079 that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:17.920 Egypt. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:26.040 And that rescue for God's people was praised and was sung about by Moses in his great song. 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:32.840 And then we have this song here, which is prophetic of another rescue that will happen. 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:37.759 Because you remember, up to this point, God is speaking about the fact that the people 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:41.879 of God who have turned their backs on them will be taken out of the promised land and 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:45.720 will be taken into captivity in Babylon. 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:50.720 A remnant will return from Babylon and will return to Jerusalem. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:52.879 And it's prophesied that. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:00.160 And the song reflects that day and says, in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord. 00:09:00.160 --> 00:09:08.639 And Nehemiah chapter 9 and 10 speaks about that when the people come back from captivity 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:09.639 to Jerusalem. 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:13.759 We're told that then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the law, and 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:19.600 the Levites who were instructing the people said to them, this day is holy to the Lord, 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.600 your God. 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:24.679 Don't mourn and weep for all the people have been weeping as they listened to the words 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:25.679 of the law. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:32.960 Nehemiah said, go, enjoy choice food and sweet drinks and send some of those to those who 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:34.319 have nothing prepared. 00:09:34.319 --> 00:09:36.439 This day is holy to the Lord. 00:09:36.439 --> 00:09:40.919 Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:47.879 And this song here is pointing forward to that other rescue of the people from Babylon, 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:52.759 another captivity like Egypt, where they come back into the promised land and where they 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:57.519 sing praises to God for His salvation. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:07.679 And it's just a reminder also of the prophetic voice of God speaking forward. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:12.519 We have in the previous chapter seen the remnants returning and the root coming out 00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:18.359 of the stump and the seed pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah to Emmanuel, 00:10:18.359 --> 00:10:22.279 Jesus Christ, the child who would come. 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:28.719 And so we know this song also speaks forward and speaks into and describes the salvation 00:10:28.719 --> 00:10:36.639 that would come from the Messiah, that would come from Jesus Christ, the song of the redeemed. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:41.879 And I'm going to read another little section from Scripture because it's very applicable 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:47.439 in links to all the Romans chapter 15 where Paul is speaking to the people of God and 00:10:47.439 --> 00:10:51.879 he says, for I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:58.000 truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and moreover that the Gentiles 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.000 might glorify God for His mercy. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:05.120 As it is written, therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, I will sing the praises 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:13.200 of your name, again it says, rejoice you Gentiles with His people and again praise the Lord, 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:20.879 owe you Gentiles, let all the peoples extol Him and again, here we go, as Isaiah says, 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:25.840 the root of Jesse, which we looked at last week speaking about Jesus, will spring up 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:31.919 one who will arise to rule over the nations in Him the Gentiles will hope, may the God 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:36.199 of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. 00:11:36.199 --> 00:11:44.479 So there's this linking of the old messianic call and song that is sung here through to 00:11:44.479 --> 00:11:50.759 the song that believers and Gentiles sing that is spoken about in the song. 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:56.480 And so there's a progression within the song throughout Scripture which takes us right 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:02.480 through to something that hasn't happened yet to the future, to Revelation and to the 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.920 new heavens and the new earth. 00:12:04.920 --> 00:12:10.800 In verse 15, verse 3 of Revelation 15, they held harps given to them by God, sang the 00:12:10.800 --> 00:12:18.320 song of God's servant Moses and of the Lamb, great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:22.000 almighty, just and true are ways, king of the nations. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:27.240 So we find there's a, the song's thread goes right through Scripture and the words of this 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:36.159 song here in Isaiah 12 are the foundational words that apply to God's great act of rescue 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:38.639 and salvation for all of us. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:45.039 And I think that's hugely significant and encouraging as we see this song. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:53.279 So the theme of the song is twofold, it's individual and it's also corporate. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:56.759 The first couple of verses are in the first person. 00:12:56.759 --> 00:13:00.240 You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:03.039 with me, you're angry, it's turned away that you might come for me. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:07.639 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:13.639 For the Lord God is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation. 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:18.159 So you've got these first two verses that are extremely personal. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:23.759 And that's important for us to remember as Christ's and as Christians that we have a 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:25.879 personal song to sing. 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:30.279 We have a theme that we can praise God with in our lives. 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:35.439 And there's something tremendously individualistic about our faith, even though we'll speak 00:13:35.439 --> 00:13:40.360 a little bit later on about the corporate nature of our faith as well. 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:48.000 And in that song that we sing, there's a recognition of God's just anger against us. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:54.159 Just as this song speaks of a revelation of God to the people in the Old Testament and 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:59.200 to individuals, I will give thanks for though you were angry with me, your anger was turned 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.000 away. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:08.560 And it's an ongoing part of our testimony of our song that we recognize that God's purity 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:14.719 is on a completely different level to ours and that we have no way of making ourselves 00:14:14.719 --> 00:14:15.839 right with Him. 00:14:15.839 --> 00:14:23.759 And by nature, He is justly angry with the way that we treat Him and that we reject Him 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:25.359 and that we think of sin. 00:14:25.359 --> 00:14:30.879 We shrug our shoulders at sin and say, well, what's the big deal? 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:34.359 We're not being judged, we're not being killed by God. 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:40.320 We'll never die in the same way that Satan spoke to Adam and Eve at the very beginning. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:44.000 We may be spending our lives comparing ourselves with others and thinking we're not quite so 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:52.320 bad, the greatest lie of Satan all the time, that God can't possibly be angry with me in 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.240 my sinful nature. 00:14:55.240 --> 00:15:00.600 Until possibly, we ourselves are rejected by others. 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:06.519 So possibly others turn their backs on us in a way that we feel is very unjustifiable 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:13.639 or people are thankless when we are committed and sacrificial towards them or unloving. 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:21.440 And we sense within us a welling up of anger against being so unjustly treated and their 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:24.200 backs turning against us. 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:31.200 We begin in a tiny, tiny, tiny little way to glimpse the wrath of the Creator God who 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:36.680 alone is worthy of our worship, the primacy of our love and our devotion as we have the 00:15:36.680 --> 00:15:39.280 audacity just to push Him off the throne. 00:15:39.280 --> 00:15:41.560 Off you go, God. 00:15:41.560 --> 00:15:44.400 I'll be the one who makes the decisions. 00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:52.320 Be like having a loving earthly father who we steal from his bank account without letting 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.320 him know. 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:59.480 When we see Him, we punch Him in the face and when He comes to our house, we lock Him 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:00.480 out. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.320 And we can feel the injustice of that human level. 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:12.720 How much more is God just in His wrath against us and we see that as believers. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:18.720 We recognize it, but we thank Him and praise Him and sing a song because His anger has 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:20.720 turned away. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.000 Your anger has turned away. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.200 The price has been paid. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:26.200 It's atoned for. 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:28.000 You know, the day of atonement spoke. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.720 The sacrifices spoke. 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:34.120 They pointed forward to the one who would come Himself, Jesus Christ, and who would redeem 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:35.120 Him. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:41.440 They escaped the redemption from Israel, from Egypt, the blood and the lentils, the captivity 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:47.039 that the chains are broken, all of it speaking of God's mercy. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.240 God's anger being turned away because He atoned. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.919 He provided the sacrifice. 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:54.680 He provided salvation and hope. 00:16:54.680 --> 00:17:00.000 You know, going right back to Abram, Ephraim and Isaac and all these pictures that point 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.639 forward to the coming of Jesus. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.120 And so we praise Him tonight. 00:17:04.120 --> 00:17:10.000 We praise Him and sing songs of praise because we can look back and see what Jesus has done 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:16.000 and understand the day of atonement and understand the price that was paid and understand that 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:21.559 we are unworthy to receive His mercy, but we praise Him because the offer of His mercy 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:24.720 is full and free and we've received it as a gift. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:30.799 So we praise Him for the life that we now have with Him. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:33.079 And we sing our song. 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:40.200 You know, we have a song that we sing to Him, and the Lord is our strength and our salvation, 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:41.559 and we are no longer afraid. 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:45.400 The Lord God is my strength and my song. 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:46.400 What's your song? 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:48.680 What song do you sing? 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:54.440 What's the words of your song as you sing spiritually? 00:17:54.440 --> 00:18:02.400 We find here that the Lord is referred to seven times throughout this short song, the 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:12.120 Lord with the small capitals, the redeeming Lord, the Messiah God is the Holy One. 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:20.039 And the song is highlighting the relational aspect of our walk with God. 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.719 We are in relationship with my Lord. 00:18:22.719 --> 00:18:28.439 My song is that we know the living God ourselves. 00:18:28.439 --> 00:18:30.799 And we find great comfort from Him. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.599 Your angriest turned away that you might comfort me. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:39.759 And we're comforted tonight as Christians because if you're a believer this evening, 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:44.000 death has lost its sting. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:50.559 God is no longer angry with us and can never be angry with us in a judgmental way because 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:56.960 that anger has been poured out on His own beloved Son, and death has lost its sting. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.200 Lewis mentioned some of the older people here. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.879 I hope you weren't referring to me, Lewis. 00:19:02.879 --> 00:19:05.680 You probably were, among others. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:11.000 Not as we get older, death gets closer, but we take great comfort in knowing that it's 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:13.360 lost its sting. 00:19:13.360 --> 00:19:17.920 Some of our loved ones die and we lose them. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:22.360 But for them, if they're Christ, death has lost its sting and there's great comfort in 00:19:22.360 --> 00:19:25.200 us and we can sing that song. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:27.000 Fear has gone from us. 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:28.720 I will trust and not be afraid. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:34.400 It's a relationship we're called to, a relationship of trust we're called to that enables us not 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.519 to be afraid. 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:41.960 Fear has got so much fear in our lives, so much there might be this evening that you're 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:50.320 afraid of, and yet we're called to be reminded that ultimate fear is taken from us because 00:19:50.320 --> 00:19:56.560 we are loved and redeemed and cared for by the living God who is our Savior. 00:19:56.560 --> 00:20:03.640 I'll say it again, 365, do not fears in the Bible one for every day. 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:08.120 Because He knows that as our natural inclination. 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:10.240 And there's also great joy. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:15.440 With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:23.120 And this is where the song begins to transition from the first person to the second person 00:20:23.120 --> 00:20:25.040 plural. 00:20:25.040 --> 00:20:30.880 But there's that joy in our lives, deep seated gladness, celebration. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:37.480 I think too often we say, ah yes, there's joy in the Christian life, but you don't need 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:38.480 to show it. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:40.120 It's very deep down. 00:20:40.120 --> 00:20:47.040 Well, you know, I don't think that's necessarily true at all. 00:20:47.040 --> 00:20:50.400 We know that our joy as Christians isn't circumstantial. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:55.320 We certainly know it's not slapstick and trivial, but I do think it should still be something 00:20:55.319 --> 00:21:02.119 that is displayed in our life, the character of our life, the demeanor of our life is one 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:07.519 of joy because it comes from hope and it comes from something that's real in our lives. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:14.919 So we shouldn't be misery, guts and negative about life and about where we're going because 00:21:14.919 --> 00:21:23.119 joy, deep seated joy despite our circumstances should be what sets us apart as well as unlimited 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:26.399 satisfaction. 00:21:26.399 --> 00:21:30.159 We draw well from the water from the well of salvation. 00:21:30.159 --> 00:21:36.279 It's that nourishment, that discipleship model that we see from Jeremiah, isn't it, 00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:38.959 that the root, the tree beside the... 00:21:38.959 --> 00:21:45.119 It doesn't matter what the heat comes upon them, what it's like in life, what the drought 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:52.239 is like because the roots are gaining great energy in life from the water, the living 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:54.640 water that flows beside it. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:57.880 And that's our song. 00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:04.359 That's where we find our satisfaction is coming from a relationship with Jesus Christ, the 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:12.240 help and the perspective, the peace, the stability, the endurance comes from that prayer life 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:13.240 that we have in Christ. 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:14.640 And we sing about that. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:20.839 We sing about it because it reminds us of who we are and the relationship we should have 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:23.599 in an ongoing way with Jesus. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:25.199 That's our experience. 00:22:25.199 --> 00:22:27.559 And we sing about it to remind ourselves of that. 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:31.599 You think of the woman of Samaria and Jesus offering the water of life to her and never 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:34.399 thirst again. 00:22:34.399 --> 00:22:36.480 Is that our experience? 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:39.240 It's a challenge for us sometimes, isn't it? 00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:45.839 You finding that hard to pray, spending time with God, just work on it again, go back to 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:47.159 Him. 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:51.840 Keep going back to Him when you're dissatisfied or when you're fearful or when you're not 00:22:51.840 --> 00:22:54.840 joyful in your walk, just go back to Him. 00:22:54.840 --> 00:23:00.600 Just ask Him, please let me sing this song again. 00:23:00.600 --> 00:23:03.980 Help me to sing again the song of your salvation. 00:23:03.980 --> 00:23:09.600 So there's that individual and very briefly, honestly, there's the corporate as it moves 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:19.079 from I to you and it's you, second person, plural really from verse 3 onwards. 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:25.839 And that's just a reminder that the second half of the song is a call to the people of 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:26.839 God together. 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:31.159 Give thanks to the Lord, call in His name, make known His deeds among the people, proclaim 00:23:31.159 --> 00:23:33.279 His name as exalted. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.639 Sing praise to the Lord for He's done gloriously. 00:23:35.639 --> 00:23:37.279 Let this be known in all there. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:41.920 Shout and sing for joy, oh inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:43.079 One of Israel. 00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:47.399 So there's this song that we recognize is corporate. 00:23:47.399 --> 00:23:53.559 You know, great to sing in the bath, great to sing in the shower, but it's not just a 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:56.359 private song that we sing spiritually. 00:23:56.359 --> 00:23:58.200 It's not just a song on their own. 00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:03.399 However great it is to sing on their own, it's even better to sing in a big company 00:24:03.399 --> 00:24:05.399 of people, isn't it? 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:13.680 Or church, stadium, what a buzz you get from singing with 50,000, 60,000 people. 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:19.400 And there's an element in which praise has always been intended for that, the hosts of 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:22.880 heaven singing praise to the living God. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:27.120 And the song that you share as an individual Christian tonight when you make the effort 00:24:27.120 --> 00:24:31.600 to come and worship corporately with God's people, as you come because you want to, part 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:38.719 of it is to share the same experiences you have with others who also have that. 00:24:38.719 --> 00:24:41.879 And it's a great encouragement to be built up in that way. 00:24:41.879 --> 00:24:48.279 We're reflecting that we share the same values, that we have the same Father who has died on 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:52.199 the same cross and has paid the price for our sins. 00:24:52.199 --> 00:24:56.679 And there's something tremendously powerful about corporate praise that we're called to 00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:02.960 be involved in, something greatly encouraging about thanking God together, calling on His 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:03.960 name. 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:12.720 So when we pray, praise, when we sing in church, it's a spiritual act of unity that is encouraging 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:14.720 to one another. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:17.080 We are building one another up. 00:25:17.080 --> 00:25:20.320 We are reminding ourselves we belong to His kingdom. 00:25:20.320 --> 00:25:25.080 We're thinking so much of what He has done for us. 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:31.519 I think it's important never to relegate the significance of the gospel community and praise 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:33.639 as part of that. 00:25:33.639 --> 00:25:40.599 It's easy to find fault, isn't it, with the church group, the church family. 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:41.599 It's easy to stay away. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:48.119 It's easy to blame, to institutionalize, to make excuses, to avoid involvement in it because 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:49.119 of the cost. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:55.679 It's easy to recoil from and yet it's, it were called to praise together and be an encouragement 00:25:55.679 --> 00:25:56.679 to one another. 00:25:56.679 --> 00:26:04.479 I was, we were at Friends last night and I took a book away with me from Friends House 00:26:04.479 --> 00:26:09.839 and it's a Bonhoeffer book which I meant to take in and read a quote from it because it 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:14.279 was brilliant and it's, he's just speaking about the importance of community, gospel 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:21.359 community and he was writing of course in the shadow of Nazi Germany and all the horrors 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:25.680 of what was going to happen and what's happening there and he talked about the fact that gospel 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:33.240 community is not easy, it's not light but it's hugely significant and important for 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:38.839 expressing praise and for developing unity and for understanding who we are in Jesus 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:39.839 Christ. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:47.359 So there's that, there's that unity of song and for us as it was for the Old Testament 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:54.679 people who sung this song and for us again it points forward to a not yet of fulfillment. 00:26:54.679 --> 00:26:57.639 We look forward to the revelation story. 00:26:57.639 --> 00:27:01.839 We look forward to the new heavens and the new earth within dwells righteousness and 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:08.519 when we sing and when we praise and when we gather together we're doing in shadow with 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:13.000 all our failings what we look forward to in perfection. 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:17.920 So Sunday's a great day for that because it reminds us of what lies ahead when we will 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:23.240 gather without failing, without tears, without soda, without sin, without failing, without 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:30.920 parting, without separation and where all of redeemed humanity will sing a sweet song 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:38.720 of praise in perfect harmony to the glory of God and a righteous society. 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:42.880 We're not going to be sitting in white gear plucking on the harps and in the clouds, 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:48.400 it's not always going to be like, it's going to be a song, a society of song, a society 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:53.880 of working song, a society of serving song, a society of harmonious song and praise and 00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:58.320 beauty to the living God, a righteous society. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:05.279 And when we sing this song of praise to God here, we remind ourselves, or sorry, we remind 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:10.399 the nations among us, make known his deeds among the people, proclaim that his name is 00:28:10.399 --> 00:28:11.399 exalted. 00:28:11.399 --> 00:28:19.119 The song we sing is a song of confidence in our God that we proclaim to the world. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:25.119 So there's an evangelistic element to our community life as a church and to our worship 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:29.319 to even the doors being open on a Sunday and for people being able to come in. 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:36.399 But not just that, our whole lives as worship together as we seek by our lives to... 00:28:36.399 --> 00:28:41.959 The song of our lives is to make him known, is to make his beauty known and to share that 00:28:41.959 --> 00:28:43.239 joyous message. 00:28:43.239 --> 00:28:45.719 Our lives shouldn't... 00:28:45.719 --> 00:28:49.959 The song that we sing shouldn't be a dirge. 00:28:49.959 --> 00:28:54.879 It shouldn't make people look at us and say, pfft, whatever they've got, I don't want any 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:56.200 of it. 00:28:56.200 --> 00:29:02.400 It should be a song of joy and celebration, not a dirge. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:08.600 And we are called to bring the conversation and the lives of those around us, around to 00:29:08.600 --> 00:29:11.280 the hope that is in our lives. 00:29:11.280 --> 00:29:12.800 We see that again and again, do we? 00:29:12.800 --> 00:29:18.840 The reason for the hope, and this is a song of hope, of purpose, our relationship with 00:29:18.840 --> 00:29:23.440 our Creator, accountability to the living God and through Jesus Christ. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:28.360 It's not just a lifestyle choice, good enough for me, but it's not of interest to anyone 00:29:28.360 --> 00:29:30.559 else. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.440 We are reuniting strangers to their father when we tell people about Jesus. 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:44.480 And God calls His remnant people, you and I, to sing that song in the world in which 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:45.480 we live. 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:46.480 Let's pray. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:55.720 Father, God help us to sing your song with joy and with solemnity, with celebration. 00:29:55.720 --> 00:29:59.559 May it not be a cheap song that we sing. 00:29:59.559 --> 00:30:04.120 May it not be words that trip off our lips but don't reach into our hearts or don't come 00:30:04.120 --> 00:30:07.120 from our hearts. 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:18.079 You know the beauty and the power of a song that is molded and created and the words are 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:20.479 written by someone from the heart. 00:30:20.479 --> 00:30:24.919 Well, each of us has that song as believers. 00:30:24.919 --> 00:30:27.959 We're not singing someone else's song. 00:30:27.959 --> 00:30:34.079 We're reminding the world and reminding our fellow believers and reminding ourselves that 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.439 our song is individual, that Jesus has saved us. 00:30:38.439 --> 00:30:44.799 We have much to sing about, much to praise Him and much to do in praise together. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:48.960 So we thank you for this song and we pray that you would bless us this week. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:56.919 Remind us as we looked at your Word this morning of listening with a view to allowing our hearts 00:30:56.919 --> 00:30:58.119 to be molded by you. 00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:01.519 Holy Spirit, please speak into our hearts and lives, we ask. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:04.680 And go before us together and individually. 00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:33.680 In Jesus' name, amen.