WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.879 Okay, I'd like to return for a little while this morning before the baptisms to the psalm 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:07.440 that Jenny read. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:13.359 We are doing, for those of you who are visiting today, we've been doing a series on the psalms 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.559 of the Old Testament, the songs in the Old Testament, the hymns of the Old Testament, 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:19.039 and poems of the Old Testament. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:24.039 And we've been looking at them as part of God's Word, part of His message to us today. 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:29.359 And the book of Psalms in the Old Testament is split into five separate books. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:33.920 And so we've just been taking two from each of these books and looking at them and seeing 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:37.000 what message they have for them. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.399 This is a great poem, it's a great song, and it's a great prayer. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:44.480 I've entitled this hymn in a great prayer because that's exactly what it is. 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:50.439 And we find that the Psalms are seeped in the bigger picture of who God is and what 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:52.840 God is doing, His purpose. 00:00:52.840 --> 00:01:01.440 And it also really expresses tremendously powerfully some of our longings as human beings, some 00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:04.719 of our fears, some of our doubts. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:08.000 They're searingly honest in what they say. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.359 And we recognize they don't sugarcoat the faith that we have, but they're absolutely 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:16.159 honest. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:23.879 And in a while, towards the end of the baptisms, we're going to be singing the Old Testament 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:27.759 priestly blessing, the Aaronic blessing. 00:01:27.759 --> 00:01:33.359 Maybe we can get that first slide up, which gives us that blessing from numbers. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.439 We have the first slide up? 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:37.439 Yep. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.239 Okay, the priestly blessing. 00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:43.039 The Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron and his sons, this is how we are to bless the Israelites. 00:01:43.039 --> 00:01:45.879 Say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:48.599 The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.079 The Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace. 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:56.560 And we're going to sing that as a congregation to the babies that will be baptized. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:03.159 And that great blessing encapsulates what we know as Christians in our lives, the blessing 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:07.199 of God and also for something we pray for our children. 00:02:07.199 --> 00:02:11.120 And it's something we long for, for those who are not Christians, that they will also 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:13.079 enjoy the blessing of God. 00:02:13.079 --> 00:02:15.159 So the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:16.960 Okay, that's fine. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:24.240 That's a massive concept, the whole idea of the blessing of God. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:29.599 It's a huge, big, important concept in the Bible. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:34.000 And we've looked at it actually before in a couple of the Psalms, because really blessing, 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.479 the word blessing is just a word for happiness. 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:41.199 And we've looked at where true happiness comes from. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:45.319 And the Bible is telling us all the time, and Jesus is telling us all the time that true 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:54.719 happiness comes from God, that we never truly find it fully or permanently anywhere or with 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.679 anyone else except with God. 00:02:57.679 --> 00:03:00.839 That's really what His challenge and His claim is. 00:03:00.839 --> 00:03:06.319 At best the happiness is, if that's a word that we enjoy, our shadows in a sense that 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:15.199 push us towards true happiness, and maybe sometimes even convict us towards our Creator 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:20.639 in search for more, in search for more permanent happiness. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:27.519 And sometimes as we question why there isn't happiness and why we're struggling with unhappiness, 00:03:27.519 --> 00:03:34.439 and the word of God drives us towards finding a shelter in Him for happiness in our lives 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:42.079 from the shelter, shelter from the storms of life, from the guilt within, and also tragically 00:03:42.079 --> 00:03:44.520 from the finality of death. 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:49.879 Because the happiness of God, the true happiness, the blessing of God, which we will pronounce 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:56.879 on all our children today, is deep, a deep-rooted piece that is found knowing and trusting in 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:57.879 Jesus Christ. 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:03.039 It's that all is well in our lives when we have put our trust in Jesus. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:10.280 And it is an elusive happiness if we are searching for it without God. 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:16.519 And this blessing, which is mentioned a lot, it bookends the psalm. 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:22.800 It starts and it finishes the psalm, so you get shout for joy all the earth, sing to joy 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:26.759 all the earth, give glory to His glorious name. 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:27.759 Oh, sorry. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:30.759 Read, read the wrong psalm. 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:33.480 It's 100,000, that's not what I was saying. 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:36.480 66, by the way, we'll maybe do that another week. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.480 So sorry, Psalm 67. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:41.000 I was just checking to see if you're all awake here. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.000 May God be gracious to us and bless us, make His face to shine upon us. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.279 So that's a reflection of that psalm. 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:53.079 And then the last verse is, God bless us, let all the ends of the earth fear Him. 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:58.079 That's fine, you put that slide up again, that you just put up. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:04:59.079 That's a good one. 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:00.079 Yeah. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:01.079 That's fine, the first one. 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:03.680 It's a really evocative opening line. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:08.800 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:10.879 And then it says, say la. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:12.719 So that's a word in the psalm as well. 00:05:12.719 --> 00:05:16.120 And nobody really knows what that means. 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:20.719 It's probably a technical term or a musical term, which says, take a break. 00:05:20.719 --> 00:05:24.240 Now you think, very strange that you take a break right at the beginning of the psalm. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.399 But I think it's saying something so important that it says, right, let's just stop and pause 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.279 there for a moment. 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:35.079 It's recalling, as I said earlier, the Aaronic blessing that we'll be singing in a minute. 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:40.959 And that blessing, that Aaronic blessing is mentioned in very clearly and distinctly 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.239 in four other psalms in the book of Psalms. 00:05:44.239 --> 00:05:49.759 And the whole idea of blessing is explicit in at least a third of the psalms that we 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:50.759 sing. 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:54.599 It would have been very familiar to the Old Testament people of God. 00:05:54.600 --> 00:06:00.640 They understood the idea of true happiness coming from trusting and following their God. 00:06:00.640 --> 00:06:03.879 It was very much that Aaronic blessing was very much the chorus of their lives. 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:05.439 Have you got a chorus for your life? 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:09.439 Have you got something that you would keep coming back to as something that was significant 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:10.439 and important? 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:14.720 Well, the blessing of God, that whole idea would have been the chorus of the Old Testament 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:16.560 people of God. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:22.240 And the central themes of that blessing are really what God wants us to know. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:27.360 And all people come to know, and for us as Christians, if we are Christians here today, 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:32.840 to understand more and more for ourselves and also obviously for our children. 00:06:32.840 --> 00:06:38.120 Because if I went around the church today and asked, you know, your definition of happiness, 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:39.960 happiness is, what is happiness? 00:06:39.960 --> 00:06:45.280 I'm sure we'd find all kinds of, millions of different definitions if we went throughout 00:06:45.280 --> 00:06:49.639 the nation and ask people what they think happiness is, where they would find their 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:51.759 happiness. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:07:00.519 Because Christians, what we believe is that we experience true happiness when we appreciate 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:03.599 at least two things that are in the Psalm. 00:07:03.599 --> 00:07:04.599 There's a lot more. 00:07:04.599 --> 00:07:09.839 But there's at least two things in the Psalm that help us to think about God's blessing 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:12.639 and it's something that we want for our children as well. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.519 The first is God's strong hand. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:20.839 Okay, may God be gracious to us and bless us, make His face to shine upon us. 00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:24.959 And then it goes on to speak about His saving power among the nations. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:29.959 Now the Old Testament people have understood what that meant in its historic context, that 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:32.399 God was their redeemer. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:37.000 God had taken them physically from slavery in the land of Egypt and set them in their 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:43.719 own land and wanted them to be the nation that would worship Him and be a light to the 00:07:43.719 --> 00:07:45.959 whole of the world. 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:50.399 And of course, we know that didn't really happen. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.719 They turned away from their God. 00:07:52.719 --> 00:08:00.000 But it does also point forward to the great revelation of God in Jesus, Jesus with a really 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:01.959 strong hand. 00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:07.719 The one who has done for us what we couldn't do for ourselves, what we are powerless spiritually 00:08:07.719 --> 00:08:12.039 to make ourselves right with God, to be in a good relationship with God because of our 00:08:12.039 --> 00:08:13.039 sin. 00:08:13.039 --> 00:08:18.079 Jesus comes into the world in order to be our Savior. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:22.959 And every inch of what the Bible speaks about and every inch of this universe and every 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:29.359 moment in history and every part of God's revelation reveals His purpose and His plan 00:08:29.359 --> 00:08:37.000 to rescue us from darkness and from unhappiness and from despair and from lostness and from 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:42.799 the brutality of death and even His just judgment against us to give us hope and life and love 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.120 because of His great love for us in Christ. 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:52.480 To give us the strength of character and heart and mind to whatever is thrown at us because 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:59.720 He loves us and because He went to the cross to defeat all the evil and the darkness and 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:06.519 the unhappiness that destroys life that we know it so often because He wanted to gift 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.080 us what we couldn't do for ourselves. 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:11.399 So it's that love of a father, isn't it? 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:12.399 Love of a parent. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:17.159 The parents will come up to them, they know all about it and we all know as parents who 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:19.480 are parents here that you would do anything. 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:20.919 You would go to the ends of there. 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:23.679 You would die for your children because of your great love. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:24.679 It changes everything. 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:27.399 Spoke to a new parent at a wedding. 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:29.120 I'm going to mention this wedding again. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:33.959 Yes, on Friday, just a new baby and they just, I said, how are you getting on? 00:09:33.959 --> 00:09:36.480 Just a big strong man, a muscly man. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.960 He said, oh yeah, it changes everything. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:41.000 Do anything for that child. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.080 You know, big strong, hard fisherman. 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:48.879 And yet his whole life has changed because of this tiny little child, the love of a parent 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:50.720 that drives them forward. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.799 And it's the love of God that's driven us to say, you know, to deal with the unhappiness 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.000 and the sinner lives by sending his own son. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:05.000 And so we teach our children and we recognize that God is strong and that Jesus is strong. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:06.000 We're teaching our kids, aren't we? 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:12.000 We're going to teach our kids that Jesus isn't a weakling, that true strength and true love 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.000 go together. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:14.440 He's our warrior king. 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:18.159 He's our great hero, hero of all heroes. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:20.080 And he's strong and he's mighty. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:23.440 That same wedding I was doing was my nephew's wedding and he was very nervous before the 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:24.440 wedding. 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:28.279 There had been a lot of difficult things in the family over the last 18 months. 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:35.240 And in fact, some of you here know in the congregation that you've been praying for his 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:40.639 nephew, Callum, who had E. Coli and then had a stroke, a two-year-old who was in hospital 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:41.639 in Glasgow. 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:44.240 In the congregation here, he'd been praying for Callum and he is making a recovery now, 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.200 which is amazing, a miracle because he very nearly died. 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:53.200 But this was his uncle that was getting married and he was very, very afraid that he was going 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:58.039 to be terribly emotional in this service and then in the speeches. 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:01.799 He did pretty well in the service, but he was a nervous and emotional wreck in the speeches 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.879 when he spoke about Callum and he spoke about other losses they'd had in their family. 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:11.120 But I just took him aside before the service and those in the congregation will know exactly 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.120 that I had the authority to say this. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:20.159 Took him aside and I held him by the arm and I said, real men cry, Mark. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.479 Real men cry. 00:11:22.479 --> 00:11:24.559 And that's so true, isn't it? 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:26.439 It's not a mark of weakness. 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:36.200 It is a mark of sensitivity and grace and the knowledge that emotion and relying on 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:43.120 God and being able to be moved is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.800 And Jesus Himself was the greatest evidence of that. 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:47.400 He loved us enough. 00:11:47.400 --> 00:11:54.680 He was moved enough on our behalf and he was honest enough with us to go to the cross. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:12:02.239 And His great loving and His great grace to be our big, strong, Savior and protector 00:12:02.239 --> 00:12:03.759 in our lives. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:12.359 So we recognize one thing here is God's strong hand in salvation for us and which we teach 00:12:12.359 --> 00:12:13.359 ourselves. 00:12:13.359 --> 00:12:19.199 The other thing we see, among other things probably in this Psalm, again in verse 1 is 00:12:19.199 --> 00:12:23.240 God's shining face. 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:27.440 God be gracious to us, bless us, make His face to shine upon us. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.440 And that's an image we have there. 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:31.440 It's symbolic. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:39.480 It's a picture of the character of God and of His light and of His face turned towards 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.279 us and goes on to speak about His guidance leading us. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:48.720 And that is a really strong picture of what it is to put our trust in God and to believe 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:50.320 in Him and to love Him. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.520 It's the idea of the whole favor of a renewed relationship. 00:12:54.520 --> 00:13:02.080 It's that our back is not turned towards God, but we are facing Him and His face, His light, 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:05.000 His truth is shining into our lives. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.560 And there's a living relationship, spiritual one. 00:13:09.560 --> 00:13:14.760 We're not physically face to face, but it's speaking of a spiritual relationship. 00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:16.440 You know how important that is, isn't it? 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:21.160 You found over these last 18 months how difficult it is to relate to one another properly with 00:13:21.160 --> 00:13:24.680 masks on because you can't see the whole of someone's face. 00:13:24.680 --> 00:13:34.280 You miss out all kinds of characteristics and physical indications of happiness or 00:13:34.280 --> 00:13:36.760 sadness or whatever it might be. 00:13:36.760 --> 00:13:37.760 We miss that. 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:40.520 We struggle with that face to face contact. 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:49.199 And that's, I guess, where the word actually hypocrite came from. 00:13:49.199 --> 00:13:58.639 The hypocrite was the mask that the Greek, those who played in plays, would wear to cover 00:13:58.639 --> 00:13:59.639 their faces. 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:01.720 And it was to cover their real identity. 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:06.360 That's where we get the idea of being a hypocrite where you're not showing your real self. 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:10.759 And so the whole picture here is of being honest and open in a relationship with God 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:16.000 and with His light shining into our lives, His truth shining into our lives. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.240 An amazing place where we come face to face with God. 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:24.560 In Jesus Christ, the search for that true happiness is over, although the journey has 00:14:24.560 --> 00:14:28.080 just begun, but the search is over. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:34.200 And we find that we are at peace and in relationship with our God, with our Maker, that face to 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:36.879 face relationship. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:42.640 And we can only enjoy that light when we come to face up to the darkness that sometimes 00:14:42.640 --> 00:14:44.480 we recognize is in our own hearts. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:45.879 You know how that could be very difficult? 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:49.720 You know, if you've been in a dark place for a while and you come out into the light, 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:56.280 it just pierces our eyes and we can't face it till we get used to it. 00:14:56.280 --> 00:15:02.879 And the piercing truth of God's holiness can make us recoil and turn away from it. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:05.000 We can't deal with that. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:14.080 It's too demanding until we see the light of the world Jesus Christ plunged into darkness 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:15.960 on the cross in our place. 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:17.480 You know, that's why He says that. 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:22.240 And that's what happened physically again to help us understand that when He was on 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:28.519 the cross at midday, 12 o'clock, the sun is at its highest, we're told in the Gospels 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:34.399 that darkness came upon the whole land between 12 o'clock and 3 in the afternoon. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:39.360 Because it was God symbolically speaking to us about Christ walking into our darkness 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:44.919 to die in our place so that we can know His light. 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:50.960 So that is an incredible friendship God's shining face in our experience and in our 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:51.960 lives. 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:52.960 It's a place of peace. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:58.120 It's a place where as Christians we pray, where we learn, where we grow in love, where 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:00.560 we worship, where we serve, where we're forgiven. 00:16:00.560 --> 00:16:01.720 Isn't that great? 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:05.720 Every day as many times as we need, we're forgiven because the price has been paid for 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:06.720 our sins. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:11.639 We're constantly changing where we have a whole new life every day with Him, even in 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:12.799 the darkest of times. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:19.759 We know that He doesn't ever let go of us because He loves us, even when we don't understand 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.039 that to life and death. 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:26.200 Friendship like no other that transforms us from the inside out. 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:30.759 And so with our kids, we don't only tell them and we don't want them to know that Jesus 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:40.520 is strong and kind, but also that Jesus and God are our best friends. 00:16:40.520 --> 00:16:45.280 The parents will say, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 00:16:45.280 --> 00:16:49.759 They will know, and the parents today are going to bring up their kids so that they 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.960 will know that Jesus is not a stranger in the house. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:17:00.920 He's not an ogre, that He's not a magic genie, that He's not a cartoon character, but He fills 00:17:00.920 --> 00:17:08.960 the lives of the home with great joy and love in their responses, in their reactions, in 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:09.960 their choices. 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:14.759 That He's the one who they will go to for help, that He is holy, that He's gracious, 00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:21.559 that He's gentle, and that they will find the home a safe and a good place to learn 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:24.359 and grow in their knowledge of Jesus. 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:26.200 So that, Sam speaks about these two things. 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.879 I'm nearly finished. 00:17:29.879 --> 00:17:34.319 And the message of the gospel is that this God is for us all. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:36.000 He's universally relevant. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.759 In verse 4 we've got that great prophetic truth, let the nations be glad and sing for 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:44.679 joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. 00:17:44.679 --> 00:17:49.960 And this whole idea that the gospel was to go out, which we see in the New Testament, 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:55.400 when Jesus died and rose again and gave the great commission to go out into all the world 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:57.480 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:17:57.480 --> 00:17:59.680 It's not a Jewish religion. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:01.039 It's not a Western religion. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:03.519 It's not an Old Testament religion. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:05.160 It's not a national religion. 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:08.000 It's not a God channel religion. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.200 This prophetic reality of the Sam is reminding us that if you are a human being, if you laugh, 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:19.039 if you cry, if you make moral judgments, if you relate to other people, if you love, 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:24.680 if you hate, if you fail, if you succeed, if you grow young or grow old, if you get ill 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:31.960 and recover, if you're born and if you die, you're an image bearer of this living God. 00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:37.559 The image is broken by our own sin and an image broken that leaves us accountable to 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:44.279 Him and in great need as we consider His justice and holiness because we can never match up 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:50.279 to His perfections to be in relationship with Him unless that barrier between us and Him 00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:51.279 is dealt with. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:57.920 But He comes to provide that in Jesus Christ and He offers His great love and that's where 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:59.759 we find it, the foot of the cross. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.399 The parents here and all of us seek to be Christians that always go to the foot of the 00:19:04.399 --> 00:19:11.759 cross to find our hope and our future and our relationship with God. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:16.000 That brings us to a place of praise in our lives. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.960 It's an amazing thing. 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:23.319 This little chorus that is repeated twice in verse 3 and 5, let the people praise you, 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:25.079 oh God, let all the people praise you. 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:30.240 The same word is repeated again, let the people praise you, God, let the people praise you. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:35.559 We are able to praise and sometimes we're even able to praise through our tears and 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:40.279 through our darkness because we know that these things do not have ultimately the victory 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:41.279 in our lives. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:51.319 So, it's universally relevant and as Christians we are called to burn bright in the same way 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:57.839 as we reflect the shining face of God towards us. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.799 And that blessing that we mentioned at the beginning, the irony blessing that we'll be 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:04.920 singing in a little while, that was given to the priests in the Old Testament, the ones 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:10.000 who represented the people before God, they had special access to God and they were to 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.039 make that blessing and give it to the people. 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:20.079 But interestingly, they were to do that so that the people would then shine. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:24.500 They would reflect God that, you know, may your face shine upon us, that your way may 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:27.880 be known on earth and your saving power known through it. 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:29.839 So they were to be a people who were to shine. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:33.319 Can we have that next text up, Exodus 19? 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:40.039 That's when Moses speaks to the people and he calls them as the sentence in verse 40, 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:42.639 he says, You yourselves have seen what I did in Egypt. 00:20:42.639 --> 00:20:45.519 God says, How I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:49.679 Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you'll be a treasured 00:20:49.679 --> 00:20:50.679 possession. 00:20:50.679 --> 00:20:54.559 Although the whole earth is mine, you will be from me, a kingdom of priests and a holy 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:55.559 nation. 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:59.519 So, not only were the priests to deliver the blessing, but the whole nation of Israel 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:06.079 were supposed to kind of like be priests to the rest of the world and shine for God and 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:07.319 reveal who he was. 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:11.799 But really the story of the Old Testament is a story that they failed miserably. 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:15.480 A lot of the time they went back to idols and they ignored God and they went their own 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:17.879 way. 00:21:17.879 --> 00:21:23.879 But then Christ comes and Christ comes to be the once for all great high priest. 00:21:23.879 --> 00:21:27.639 Can we have that next text up? 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:31.800 Or were told in Hebrews, since we have a great high priest who has ascended to heaven, Jesus 00:21:31.800 --> 00:21:35.000 the Son of God, let us hold firmly the faith we profess for. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.000 We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.360 has been tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin. 00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:49.480 So we approach God through Jesus as we trust in Jesus and we can see and be in relationship 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:50.960 with God. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:56.960 And you know, the interesting thing is that as we trust in him as Christians, we are to 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:01.880 make known his love and his light to the world around us. 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:05.039 The last couple of verses there. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:09.319 So in the New Testament, this whole concept of priesthood is explained. 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:13.519 He says, Christians, you are a chosen people, you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:18.720 God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:19.880 into his wonderful light. 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:21.200 You see the connection? 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:25.160 That it's the same spiritual truth that's being spoken of. 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:29.519 And then in 2 Corinthians there, we are to reflect him. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:34.519 We don't preach ourselves, but we preach Christ as your servants for Jesus' sake. 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:40.160 For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, made his light to shine in our hearts. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:46.200 You see, so it's symbolic, it's been spoken of here, to give the light or the truth of 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:50.640 the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.400 So it's all intertwined. 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:54.400 It's all fusing together. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:01.440 As we come to know Jesus, we know God and we are therefore to reflect his love, his 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:05.920 compassion, his justice, his care for people, his truth. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:12.080 And our story of how he's transformed us from the inside out, we're to share that. 00:23:12.080 --> 00:23:16.920 We're to share that because it's the most important thing in our lives and because we 00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:24.720 have been turned upside down by his love and by his incredible compassion. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:30.759 And so the parents today will be seeking to do that first and foremost to their own children 00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:34.320 that they will take vows on behalf of. 00:23:34.320 --> 00:23:43.000 And our lives are to be those that declare that Jesus Christ is our friend and has transformed 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:47.039 us from the inside out with his light and with his truth. 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:56.880 Now I read a really challenging phrase, a little statement this week that made me think 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.680 for us if we're Christians here today. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:07.519 If Christianity were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict us? 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:14.160 So we're called to be those who reflect the love and grace and commitment and truth and 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.119 beauty of Jesus Christ. 00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:22.680 We're called to live by a different light and by the truth and the grace that has transformed 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:25.319 our lives. 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:31.839 So in baptism, and with this I close, we recognize that baptism is a sacrament. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:36.720 It's a command for every new believer, repent and be baptized. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:37.880 We recognize that. 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:40.160 It's given to us in the New Testament. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.920 It's a public declaration, isn't it? 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:48.720 It's a sign of what Jesus has already done, that washing, a way of sins and of the things 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:55.519 that separate us from him and from one another and makes us right with God because of what 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:57.319 Jesus has done in our place. 00:24:57.319 --> 00:25:03.559 And it speaks of our union with Him and of the reality of the living water that then kind 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:07.200 of symbolically it comes from our lives. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:12.200 The price has been paid that we believe that, we trust that, put our faith in Him. 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:16.799 We recognize it as something that people who have never been baptized who come to faith 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:19.079 get done, they get baptized. 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:23.960 But also we believe through the covenant, the Abrahamic covenant that is followed into 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:30.720 the New Testament that for believing parents, the sign of the covenant is one that's also 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:35.360 to be given to their children on the basis of their own faith and of the promises they 00:25:35.360 --> 00:25:38.319 believe are applicable to their own children. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:45.160 The special privileges have been born and brought up in a home where the parents are 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:46.920 Christians. 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:52.440 The privileges have been shown Christ, knowing the truth and being encouraged to put their 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:54.400 own faith in Jesus. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:26:00.960 As I mentioned baptism last week, that Jesus moves from the home into the heart of each 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:03.680 child as they come to recognize Him as Lord. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.200 It's not a, it doesn't save them. 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:09.200 Baptism is just a symbol, doesn't save anybody. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:15.920 It's a sign of the promises of God and what God has done and what God promises to do in 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.000 faithfulness to His covenant. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:23.759 And we are all part of that because we take a vow as a congregation as well because we're 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:24.759 part of God's family. 00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:31.359 We all have a role to play as we've seen before in the upbringing of our children together 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:38.799 in God's family as a community to be a witness to them and also to the city and the world 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:39.799 around us. 00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:43.160 And we need great grace to do that. 00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:45.319 Let's pray. 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:48.759 Father God, we ask and pray that You would help us, that You would guide us, that You 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:53.960 would teach us, that You would show us Your way, that You would lead us in Your truth, 00:26:53.960 --> 00:27:00.799 that Your name would be honored in this baptism, in these baptisms and that Christ would be 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:04.559 given all the praise and all the glory. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:10.879 And we do pray as we invite the family, the parents to come forward shortly, that You'd 00:27:10.879 --> 00:27:16.960 bless them, that You'd watch over them, the Armstrong's, the Carter's, the Matheson's, 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:25.360 the Oliver's, all of us as families, all of us as individuals, all of us with our families, 00:27:25.360 --> 00:27:30.640 here or wherever they may be with our siblings, those that we love, those who are close to 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:40.120 us and those who we share deep and powerful realities. 00:27:40.120 --> 00:27:45.079 We pray that Jesus would have the honor and the praise and all that we do as we outwork 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:48.519 this baptism, sacrament of baptism together. 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:50.879 We ask it in Jesus' precious name. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:18.880 Amen.