WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.640 So this evening we're going to spend a little while looking at Sam 73 and then we'll move 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:11.000 on to celebrate the Lord's Supper together. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.800 It's a great Sam. 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:19.160 They're all great Sam's, but this is especially great Sam. 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:28.800 And it's great because it's so very, very real to us, and it's a really self-reflective 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:29.800 Sam. 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:33.320 And self-reflection is a good thing. 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:38.079 I guess we can be too introverted and always looking just at ourselves, and of course we're 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:46.719 encouraged to do that, but then to look to Christ and to our faith and our Savior. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:51.719 But I think spiritually it's a great practice and it's something that's very important for 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:58.200 us to do spiritually is to be self-reflective and to consider where we are with the living 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:01.119 God and the condition of our hearts. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:07.680 I think the worst thing in the world is to be spiritually mindless and to be kind of 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:15.400 blind to our own hearts and to our own need, and just to be treading water spiritually. 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:17.080 So very easy to do that today. 00:01:17.080 --> 00:01:24.200 We've got many, many different distractions that will encourage us to be spiritually 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:30.600 mindless, to fill our minds and to fill our thoughts with everything other than our relationship 00:01:30.600 --> 00:01:32.320 with Jesus Christ. 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:41.160 We can be in a thoughtless, sightless treadmill, which is a challenging place to be spiritually. 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:46.079 And when we stop thinking, we immediately drift. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:49.439 It's like switching off the engine in a motorboat. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:54.719 We immediately drift when we stop using our minds, we just start drifting, and we can 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.400 drift further, very imperceptibly. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:02.519 We can drift further from the living God and from our relationship of love with Him. 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:05.759 This is a great thing to be self-examining. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:11.560 It's a great thing to think about our lives, to think about our progress in Christ, to 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:18.360 consider how we've developed in our faith over a period of time, to consider even if 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:23.480 we've regressed rather than progressed, I think sometimes that is the challenge, and 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:25.280 maybe for us as we get older. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:31.719 I certainly find that's a great challenge for me, that as we get older, we can regress, 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.080 we can shrug our shoulders, because, you know, I know this. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:36.280 I've been here before, I've done it. 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:43.320 We can lose our passion, and we can lose the urgency of knowing and living in presence 00:02:43.320 --> 00:02:46.640 of the living God. 00:02:46.640 --> 00:02:54.800 We're tempted only to see two feet in front of our noses and to lose our spiritual perspective 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.920 with the busyness of life or with all kinds of different things. 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:05.439 Now the great thing about this Psalm is that God knows that, God already knows that. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:09.679 He knows the danger of drifting that we have in our lives, and He's given us this 00:03:09.679 --> 00:03:17.359 Psalm to help us to understand that and to move from that position. 00:03:17.359 --> 00:03:21.359 He always, as our Lord and Savior, we know that. 00:03:21.359 --> 00:03:22.679 He wants to help. 00:03:22.679 --> 00:03:28.359 He reaches out to help us in our need, and yet so often we just try and hide. 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:30.200 We try and hide from Him. 00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:31.760 We try and do our own thing. 00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:36.240 We try and fix it by religion, by our effort. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:41.280 But He wants us to come to Him and confess our need and to take our struggles to Him 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:48.840 as the Psalmist did here, and learn from the process that we can share with ourselves in 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:52.880 terms of our experience sharing with the Psalmist. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:58.599 So we see that the Psalm, it kind of is a progression, and the first part of the Psalm, 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:06.799 really, after He makes His introductory comment, which is the summary of the Psalm, truly God 00:04:06.799 --> 00:04:09.079 is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:04:09.079 --> 00:04:15.199 He then goes on to express and explain His own situation or what had happened to Him. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:21.680 He's giving us a biography, an autobiography of what has happened in His spiritual life. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.519 He was drifting from God. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:26.480 Now, this is Asaph. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:35.280 This is a man of spiritual character, David's musical director, someone of spiritual significance. 00:04:35.280 --> 00:04:41.199 We would maybe call him a worship leader today, not in our context, but in many contexts it 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:43.000 would be regarded as such. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.759 Say, the deep, mature faith, you only need to look at some of the other Psalms he wrote, 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:51.719 the Psalm 50 or Psalm 73, right through to 83, he was a man of deep conviction, a man 00:04:51.719 --> 00:04:54.560 of genuine and deep faith. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:59.879 And yet, this mature believer experienced spiritual drift. 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:02.599 And the Psalm is really honest. 00:05:02.599 --> 00:05:07.920 This great leader shows and expresses, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:14.920 it's given to us, poor Asaph, as exposed in front of the Christian world for centuries 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:19.199 as to his own heart, but that is God's way, isn't it? 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.319 He's honest and he's vulnerable. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:28.759 And that honesty and that vulnerability is a very important reality for us to remember 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:34.360 and to consider in our Christian lives, especially I see here to leaders or to elders or to ministers 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:43.680 or to training ministers who maybe feel they need to be stoic and strong all the time and 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:50.680 put on a face that everything's well, unhealthy, put on the hypocrites face as Tori was reminding 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:52.240 us this morning. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:59.000 This honesty from a spiritual leader is important that we develop and show and reveal in our 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:00.000 lives. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:02.560 And he goes on to explain. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:07.399 He talks really in that big first section, verses 2 to 12, about the prosperity of the 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:08.399 wicked. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:10.040 He looks at people that aren't believers. 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:14.879 He looks at people that don't belong to the God of Israel, who haven't been rescued and 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:23.879 come under the wing of this sovereign Lord, and he sees them as just having a great time 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:25.120 without having faith. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:29.800 And he really caricatures their lives in many ways. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:34.400 He's comparing himself with them, saying, they've got things much better than I have. 00:06:34.400 --> 00:06:39.920 But he's exaggerating how good their lives are. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:43.000 It's because of the way he's feeling. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.160 He's thinking, look at them. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:45.160 They've got a great... 00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:47.040 Everything's going perfectly for them. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.040 It's that whole... 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:50.000 This is not a biblical phrase, but it's a true phrase. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.200 The grass is greener and he's seen the grass being greener on the other side. 00:06:53.200 --> 00:06:55.200 He's seen everything that they're doing is great. 00:06:55.200 --> 00:06:57.520 And it's a great struggle for me. 00:06:57.520 --> 00:06:59.000 They seem to have no struggles. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:00.840 They're tremendously healthy. 00:07:00.840 --> 00:07:06.720 They're proud, they're confident, they're carefree, they're wealthy. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.520 You know, everything, they've got pride as a necklace. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:11.799 They'll be violent and nothing happens because of it. 00:07:11.799 --> 00:07:14.759 They scoff and malice. 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:17.519 They shake their fists towards heaven. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.039 They set their mouths against the heavens. 00:07:19.039 --> 00:07:21.199 Their tongues strut through the earth. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:25.199 They say, well, and you know, God doesn't know. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.159 God isn't interested. 00:07:27.159 --> 00:07:30.279 And they seem to thrive. 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:31.560 They're thriving. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:32.560 Life is great. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:35.000 Oh, what's the point of being a believer? 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:36.639 Their life is fantastic. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:38.639 Mine's rubbish. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:44.120 And it's a struggle for them because he then compares that with his life and with what he 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:52.680 sees equally through difficult lens and an imbalanced lens as he does in verses 13 to 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:53.680 16. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.039 He says, I've in vain have kept my hands clean. 00:07:57.039 --> 00:07:58.279 In vain have washed. 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:00.199 In vain have done these religious rituals. 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:01.719 In vain have followed God. 00:08:01.719 --> 00:08:04.680 I've been faithful to his religious observance. 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:06.839 I've sought to live the way of faith. 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:09.479 But it feels like that life is grim. 00:08:09.479 --> 00:08:11.199 It's like green medicine. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.959 Suppose it's good for you, but tastes awful. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:16.959 It's miserable. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:17.959 It's oppressive. 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:26.159 And he doesn't seem to have much joy as he recognizes and thinks of this. 00:08:26.159 --> 00:08:28.599 And so is faith wavered. 00:08:28.599 --> 00:08:31.159 Jesus, faith wavered. 00:08:31.159 --> 00:08:33.759 He's a great religious leader. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:38.960 But as for me, he says almost as a summary of all of that he's been saying, my feet had 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:40.840 almost slipped. 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:45.480 My steps had nearly, my feet had almost stumbled. 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.960 My steps had nearly slipped. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:53.480 Tremendously honest about what he is experiencing. 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:56.360 He'd almost lost his foundation. 00:08:56.360 --> 00:08:58.559 He'd become embittered. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:08:59.919 He was envious. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:02.439 He was covetous of a carefree life. 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:05.680 He's plunged into spiritual darkness. 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:06.680 And he's almost slipped. 00:09:06.680 --> 00:09:07.680 He's almost gone. 00:09:07.680 --> 00:09:12.400 He's almost away from his relationship with the living God and his salvation. 00:09:12.400 --> 00:09:14.280 That's his testimony. 00:09:14.280 --> 00:09:17.600 And you know, that honesty is good. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:23.680 He's not glorying in it as we'll go on to see, but it's an honest reflection of how he was 00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:24.680 feeling. 00:09:24.680 --> 00:09:29.640 And there's a reminder, as we remind this morning, we're not the finished articles. 00:09:29.640 --> 00:09:31.000 We haven't all got it together. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:34.440 I know we come at church and we pretend we've all got it together. 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:39.440 And we don't like to give the impression that we're struggling or we're battling. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:44.480 But that's where discipleship and being honest with one another is so significant and so 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:48.960 important, his faith wavered. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:56.480 But then he shares a really encouraging experience in verses 17 to 20. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:01.159 When I thought about how to understand this, it all seemed to me a weary some task. 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:02.159 That's how he felt. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.000 Maybe you feel that this evening. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.120 Your Christian faith is a weary some task. 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:11.720 Then he goes on to say, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned that 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:12.720 end. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.120 So he did the right thing. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:16.120 That's what he did. 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:17.399 He did the right thing. 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.440 He went into the presence of God. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:25.800 He made his way back into that place in the Old Testament, which was the symbol and the 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:30.799 reality of God's presence, the temple, the sanctuary, the place where the people of God 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:37.199 met with their God in the Old Testament, where there was the priests, brought their sacrifices 00:10:37.199 --> 00:10:41.159 to the living God, where there was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:49.159 And he goes to that place because it symbolizes and it reminds him of who his God is, the 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:57.199 God who is among the people, the God who is the redeeming, the saving God who has taken 00:10:57.199 --> 00:10:59.399 his people out of slavery. 00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:02.559 And he knows that that's the place to go. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:04.199 Isn't that great? 00:11:04.199 --> 00:11:10.000 That's good for us this evening because it's reminding us that the place we take our complaints, 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.679 it legitimizes our complaints before the living God. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:19.039 It legitimizes us crying out to God in our weakness and in our struggles and our battles, 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:26.000 but to go to God with it, to break the silence, to change the line of vision and to focus, 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.559 not to focus on the comparative realities around us, but to see God's perspective, 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:39.319 to see what He sees and to understand what He wants us to do. 00:11:39.319 --> 00:11:46.399 We go not to a building, not to a physical temple, but we remind ourselves that when 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:52.559 Christ died on the cross, which we will be remembering shortly, that as He did so, the 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:57.879 curtain was ripped from the Holy of Holies from top to bottom so that our access is also 00:11:57.879 --> 00:12:04.159 to God, into His nearer presence through Jesus' the way, Jesus' the stairway, Jesus' 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.639 the door, Jesus' our way into God's nearer presence. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:13.240 And we remind ourselves that it's because of what Christ has done and as we trust in 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:19.120 Christ, we go to the living God, we go to our Father and we take to Him all our needs 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:25.039 and all our weaknesses and fears and inabilities and paralysis or whatever it might be. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:29.039 And maybe this evening you need to take that walk. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:33.080 Maybe you need to take that walk this evening. 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:38.560 Maybe you've been procrastinating, staying away from God, doing the religious ritual 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:45.399 stuff but not doing your business with the living God and taking that walk and taking 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:48.159 your complaints and taking your struggles. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:50.479 No one else can do it for you. 00:12:50.479 --> 00:12:52.000 It's the one thing you must do in your own. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.759 Just as we remind ourselves in the supper that a person next to you can't eat it on 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:57.759 your behalf. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:02.799 You can't eat someone else's meal. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:07.799 Well, you can, but I'll not do them any good. 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:12.479 You know, we all need to eat food to be nourished ourselves and we all need to go into Christ's 00:13:12.479 --> 00:13:13.479 presence. 00:13:13.479 --> 00:13:17.839 We have the access to God the Father through the Holy of Holies and that's what we're 00:13:17.839 --> 00:13:19.559 called to do. 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:24.799 Church will only take us fellowship communion, only takes us so far. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:30.479 There must be that communality but there's also that individuality and as we do so, we 00:13:30.479 --> 00:13:36.079 also will see a different reality because that is exactly what Asaph saw in the Sam 00:13:36.079 --> 00:13:37.079 East. 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:43.320 He reminded himself that things were not quite as they seem and he learns about the lost, 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:47.040 he learns about himself and he learns about God. 00:13:47.040 --> 00:13:50.040 He learns about the lost, he says, I went into the sanctuary and then I discerned the 00:13:50.040 --> 00:13:57.759 end and he recognizes, he uses the same picture, the same illustration, he recognizes not him 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:02.520 that's on slippery ground, it's those who are not believers that are on slippery ground 00:14:02.520 --> 00:14:05.720 and he says, truly you've set them in slippery places. 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:10.519 And there's that, he comes to that place as a difficult reality for us, a difficult truth 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:17.120 but we can only see it through the prism of the cross because the cross is where we see 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:21.279 God's justice and His love, the reality of judgment. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:28.800 God is both just and right and the standard of judgment is not comparative, it's not looking 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:32.840 at other people and how their lives are going or what their lives are doing. 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:39.080 It's a recognition that before a holy God we all stumble and we all fall, none of us, 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:42.320 none of us can say, all of us would be in slippery ground, all of us are on slippery 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.560 ground before this pure and holy God. 00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:51.480 That's why Jesus came to be our Redeemer and to be our Savior. 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:57.120 No matter how comparatively good we may feel that we are, no matter how successful, how 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:04.799 healthy, how rich, how proud we might be in life, there's this recognition that people 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:15.360 are under God's judgment unless they come to Christ who has been judged on their behalf 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:18.759 and who has taken the punishment and the wrath of God. 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:25.560 And we recognize that God has absolutely the right to say, depart from me, I never knew 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:30.639 you. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:39.319 But we can know acceptance and belonging because He was, the Son was forsaken on the cross 00:15:39.319 --> 00:15:43.479 so that we wouldn't be forsaken and that we would trust in Him. 00:15:43.479 --> 00:15:48.079 And that's the reality that we remember when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:56.360 So there's a lost world, however successful and however popular, however rich people are, 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:01.480 there's a spiritual need that it's only by faith, as we're saying to children, we can 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.639 see and know and understand. 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:09.480 So He learned about their end, but He learned also about Himself, really interesting, what 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:14.680 He says here in verse 22 and 23, 21 and 22, He says, when my soul was embittered, when 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:20.120 I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant, I was like a beast before you. 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:25.000 So He saw that His problem, His own problem was a heart problem. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:31.399 It was a problem with His own heart before the living God and that He had moved from 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:38.719 trusting in God to being overly concerned with the circumstances around Him and the 00:16:38.719 --> 00:16:41.719 lives of people around Him. 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:45.160 And He needed to recognize that He was living. 00:16:45.160 --> 00:16:52.720 He'd moved towards living without a sense of being God's or being made in God's image. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:17:02.440 It was almost like He reverted to being, or not reverted, but acted as if He didn't have 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:08.839 a soul, that He was just part of the natural world, you know, like a human animal. 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:09.839 I was brutish and ignorant. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:13.439 I was like a beast towards you, just like an animal. 00:17:13.439 --> 00:17:15.480 He lost sight that He was made in God's image. 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:20.119 He lost sight that He was beautiful because of that. 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:24.480 He lost sight of the salvation that had been given to Him and it's easy for us to do the 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:30.159 same thing and to just feel that we're just part of this natural creation. 00:17:30.159 --> 00:17:34.319 We're just like everything else and we're all just battling away without any sense of 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:36.759 purpose or direction. 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:45.680 If we lose sight of who God is and if we allow bitterness into our soul. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:51.160 About Himself and then also about God in verses 23 to 28. 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:54.799 And it's a really beautiful phrase that He uses in verse 22. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:18:01.160 You would expect Him to say, nevertheless, I am continually with you, or you would expect 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:03.160 Him to say, you are continually with me. 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:09.320 But it's interesting, He doesn't, He says, I am continually with you, I'm safe with you. 00:18:09.320 --> 00:18:12.840 And then He goes on to say, you hold me by my right hand. 00:18:12.840 --> 00:18:13.840 That's a great picture. 00:18:13.840 --> 00:18:20.600 Isaiah, we've used it often here, don't be afraid, put your trust in the Lord, I will 00:18:20.600 --> 00:18:26.320 hold you with my righteous right hand, the hand of His power, the hand of His action, 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:30.759 that He holds us and He protects us and He loves us. 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:38.119 It's that great picture, isn't it, of a fatherly figure, big hand holding on to small hand 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:39.119 of a child. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:44.079 I've told you this story before, but it's just come to mind. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:53.400 So, small boy, Glenelg in the West Highlands, my dad decided to take me for a walk one night 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:58.200 over the hill to the other side to let our fern. 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:04.840 And after tea, a dinner for our American brothers. 00:19:04.840 --> 00:19:10.480 After evening meal, because it's light till midnight in the Highlands. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.480 And we started off and went, it was great. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:14.680 I had wee legs as a wee boy. 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:18.160 I was only four foot eleven when I left school. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.160 That's another story. 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:22.720 So, as we, and He was big and strong, big hands. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:27.680 And as we're getting towards the top of the hill, the mist came down as it does. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:30.400 And we couldn't see anything. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:34.960 And I was very glad holding on to His big right hand. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:41.840 And for Him to lead me, what He didn't tell me was that He was lost too. 00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:45.080 But I didn't know that and I didn't worry about that. 00:19:45.080 --> 00:19:48.400 He had grown up there, so He kind of did know the way home. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:51.680 But He was quite nervous as well. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.240 But it's great, isn't it, that God's never lost. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:59.000 And when He holds us by His right hand, He will guide us and He's always leading us. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:03.640 Even in your darkest moments as a believer, He's leading you to something infinitely better. 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:10.400 He's leading you somewhere where He has made unbelievable provision for you that we will 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:11.680 enjoy forever. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:20.039 And He is the one who's, isn't it great, He goes on to use the illustration of the heart 00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:21.920 again in verse 26. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.640 God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever. 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:31.440 When I ignored you, my heart was pricked in my heart and I was just like a wild animal. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:36.160 But when I came back and I recognized who God was and His love and His grace and His 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:42.759 forgiveness for me, then He recognized that God was His portion forever. 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:50.840 And that's a great testimony for us also to recognize who God is in Christ that we've 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:55.720 come to, and we know more and see more than they saff ever could see because of what Jesus 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:57.279 has done. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.639 And we rejoice in that. 00:20:59.639 --> 00:21:05.240 And we need to remember that He holds us in His righteous right hand and we're always 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:06.240 with Him. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:08.639 It's not about our feelings. 00:21:08.639 --> 00:21:11.159 Feelings are important, but it's not about how we feel. 00:21:11.159 --> 00:21:16.079 If we feel close, He's always there with us when we've entrusted our lives and He will 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.639 guide us and He will receive us into glory. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:25.400 I just finished very briefly with Asaph's own powerful testimony coming from that. 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:32.160 So you've got a progression throughout this, both of teaching and of experimental reality 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:33.640 in his life. 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:42.360 And again in these verses 23 to 28, he's experiencing his own and sharing his own testimony of renewed 00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:43.360 intimacy. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:50.439 You know, he knows that God's holding his right hand and we can know that Emmanuel with 00:21:50.439 --> 00:21:53.799 us. 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:55.439 There's nothing for it. 00:21:55.439 --> 00:21:56.439 There's... 00:21:56.439 --> 00:21:59.059 So this evening, there's no... 00:21:59.059 --> 00:22:03.039 If you're struggling, there's no alternative for you as a Christian but to turn back to 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:04.039 God. 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:08.359 And it's something that we need to do daily. 00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.119 So we never move beyond the gospel. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:13.959 We never move beyond repentance. 00:22:13.959 --> 00:22:19.479 We never move beyond that walk where we're going back continually confessing and renewing 00:22:19.479 --> 00:22:28.039 and gaining strength in our hearts from the living God and knowing Him as our portion. 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:33.959 That's what enables our faith to move from head knowledge to that place that we all long 00:22:33.959 --> 00:22:36.239 for, His felt presence. 00:22:36.239 --> 00:22:39.839 That's what we all long for, His felt presence in our lives. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:44.959 So renewed intimacy is really important and He shares that. 00:22:44.959 --> 00:22:54.599 Also that renewed perspective where He recognizes that His desire is for the living God. 00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:59.240 That's the new perspective He has on what is happening fills His heart with His desire. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:02.359 Nothing on earth that I desire beside you. 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:03.359 Everything. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:04.359 Everything. 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:10.479 His love is being, His emotional life, His mind and His will has come to recognize that 00:23:10.479 --> 00:23:15.919 this perspective of the living God is the one that gives Him peace and belonging and 00:23:15.919 --> 00:23:17.559 forgiveness and hope. 00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:26.479 Remember, this is a public poem, public hymn that is given to us for our own perspective. 00:23:26.479 --> 00:23:28.679 And He then gives us shared experience. 00:23:28.679 --> 00:23:30.839 It's public. 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:35.679 And so He says, verse 1, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, 00:23:35.679 --> 00:23:41.720 those who recognize that they need redemption and forgiveness and come for forgiveness 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:45.959 through the Savior, through the living God that we know in Christ. 00:23:45.959 --> 00:23:53.839 And also at the end, He speaks about, but as for me, it is good to be near God. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:58.599 I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:03.519 So out of the heart, everything flows. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:08.759 This is a, this is a psalm about somebody who's exposed His heart, His bitterness and 00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:13.240 His struggles and how He's dealt with that and how God has renewed His heart and been 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:15.039 His strength. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:23.279 And it's important to share that experience for Him. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:28.159 God has given Him that inspiration to share that. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:35.680 And we recognize the importance of that shared testimony and shared experience. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:39.480 It's good, He says, to be near God. 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:41.080 It's good. 00:24:41.080 --> 00:24:42.080 He's my refuge. 00:24:42.080 --> 00:24:44.600 He's often of all the answers. 00:24:44.600 --> 00:24:49.279 I suspect He went on to have lots of questions and doubts like us all. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:54.440 But the key was always going back, always going back to His God and to His Savior and to get 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:56.600 that perspective. 00:24:56.599 --> 00:25:02.480 How much more do we have reason to do that through our knowledge of the Redeemer? 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:07.599 And it's good then to share that testimony, to tell others of the battles, the journey, 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:11.519 the struggles and the answers that come from the living God. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:18.759 If you're not getting answers from the living God, then keep going back to Him and keep looking 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.799 for answers and keep listening for what He's saying. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:31.519 Because I guarantee it that as we live the gospel, we will have missional hearts. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:33.019 We just... 00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:38.480 The gospel is what we need for our discipleship and the gospel is what we need for our mission. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:45.359 And the more the gospel is impacting on our lives, the more it will enable us to recognize 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:51.759 that we are part of His kingdom that will bring in the harvest as we share that. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:58.960 It's the launchpad always moving our own hearts towards Him as the launchpad for mission. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:06.079 And you will be the harvesters as you know Christ working in your own heart and sharing 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:12.000 that with others, not just within the... not only within the church context, but also in 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.640 the world in which we live something very real that's happening in our lives that we 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:17.640 share with others. 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:19.319 I mean, let's pray. 00:26:19.319 --> 00:26:26.359 Father God, we pray that you would bless us as we think about this great inspired, holy 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:36.159 spirit inspired Sam, which takes us on a journey, reminds us that faith in Christ is very different 00:26:36.159 --> 00:26:45.960 from religion and that we need to be real in our own lives with you, but also share 00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:52.440 that reality with others and disabuse them, especially those who are not Christians, disabuse 00:26:52.440 --> 00:27:00.559 them of the notion that Christians either have it all together or are morally superior 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:06.200 or are self-righteous or judgmental because that couldn't be further from the truth of 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:09.279 what we are as believers. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:16.759 And may that then be a great starting point for us Lord, teaches us to make that a great 00:27:16.759 --> 00:27:26.559 starting point for us to share our faith and to share how that misconception is very far 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:35.359 from the truth, to be honest about our own need and to point people to our righteous judge 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:45.159 for whom they fall miserably short, but also to a glorious loving and righteous Savior. 00:27:45.159 --> 00:27:55.639 And may we point people to the cross where justice and mercy meet and kiss mutually. 00:27:55.639 --> 00:27:58.559 May that be our own experience and may be one we share. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:00.839 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:10.839 Amen.