WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.400 we're going to think about this idea that God is self-sufficient. But first of all, what does it 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:14.439 mean when we talk about somebody being self-sufficient? Well, we think about the role 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:22.539 of a parent. One of the goals, I guess, of parenting is to see children mature into adulthood 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:28.940 so that our children can grow in independence, that they're able to stand on their own two feet. 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:35.240 So we talk about that as being self-sufficient. It's used of people if they are financially 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:41.120 secure, dependent on no one else, maybe if they've got the resources required for a particular task, 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:48.700 or if they're able to get on without help. That person is described as self-sufficient. Of course, 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.880 when we say that, we're not saying that person has no lack whatsoever. We're not saying that they need 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:01.060 nothing and need no one else. When we apply self-sufficient to people, it's always a relative 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:09.719 term compared to God when it's absolute. And the fact is in the Bible, we discover from the earliest 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:19.060 pages that we were in fact created to be dependent. We were created to rely on others to provide for us. 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:26.840 So in Genesis 1 and 2, we discover most fundamentally that we are created by God in the image of God, 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:33.640 and it's God who provides all the conditions for human flourishing. Without him, we would not have 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:38.920 life. We would not have the food that we need. God says, I give you every tree and every plant 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:47.960 for food. And we also discover when God made Adam, God said, it's not good for man to be alone. 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:55.960 Understanding that Adam needed a helper, someone alongside him. So part of God's provision for us 00:01:55.960 --> 00:02:03.180 as dependent people is to provide a community for us. And that's a really good thing to remind 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:11.099 ourselves of that we need our creator every day and every moment. And we also need others around us. 00:02:11.099 --> 00:02:19.360 We're not entirely self-sufficient or independent. But by contrast, God is self-sufficient, and that's an 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:28.219 absolute term. So we discover in the Bible that he is our creator, but we know too that he is uncreated. 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:36.539 He has no beginning or ending. He didn't rely on somebody to create him. He is the sustainer of all things, 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:48.500 but is himself eternally self-sustaining. He is the God who provides for us, but he needs nothing from us. 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:57.400 And so we have this picture of God as absolutely self-sufficient. And that's one of the realities 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:03.319 that comes out in Psalm 50. So let's spend a little bit of time thinking together why it's 00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:11.560 good news that, to use Jen Wilkins' words, our God is self-sufficient, needed by all, and needful of 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:17.400 nothing. Why is that good for our worship and our lives of faith? Why is that good news for us as we 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:27.120 seek to care for others? So let's look together at Psalm 50 as we are introduced to the self-sufficient 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:35.340 God. And right from verse 1, we are meeting God here, and we have the fullest naming of God 00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:44.580 in all of the 150 Psalms. So he's described, first of all, as the mighty one. Here is the reminder that 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:52.900 God is the almighty creator. Here we are talking about the God who is the king of heaven, and he is God. 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:59.719 He is Lord over humanity. He is Lord over all of the people. And he is the Lord, and that's a 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:08.700 capitalized Lord, reminding us that he's the covenant God over his people Israel. So here we are being 00:04:08.700 --> 00:04:14.700 presented right from the beginning with a God who is not a small God, but rather is a vast God who has 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:24.000 Lord over his Lord. He is the almighty maker and sustainer of heaven and earth being introduced to us. 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:34.219 And then in the verse 1 to verse 6, we have a scene before him. So verse 1, the mighty one God, the Lord, 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:43.319 speaks and summons the earth. Verse 4, he summons the heavens above and the earth that he may judge. 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:51.759 So here is all of the heavens and all of the earth, as it were, summoned into God's courtroom. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:05:00.539 Here is God the judge, and the world and the heavens are in the courtroom. And we might naturally, 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:06.839 if we've read the Bible, we might expect this to be a time when God will judge the enemies of Israel, 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:13.399 Israel perhaps. But what we discovered is this is a judgment in verse 4 that focuses particularly 00:05:13.399 --> 00:05:21.839 on his people Israel. He summons the heavens above and the earth that he may judge his people. And 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:30.199 then he says in verse 5, gather to me my consecrated ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. So 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:37.620 if this is the courtroom, then all eyes are turning to see how God is going to deal with Israel, this 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:47.300 consecrated, this set apart, this holy people, God's covenant people. What is he going to say to them? 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:52.639 And in verse 7, we discover that God has something against the people. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:06:01.879 Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you. And he has that right, 00:06:01.979 --> 00:06:09.180 because I am God, your God. And in the rest of the psalm, we see God speaking to two different types 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:17.120 of people within the nation of Israel. In verses 7 to 15, we could call them religious Israel. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:24.180 And God has something against them because they have a false picture of the God that they worship. 00:06:26.139 --> 00:06:31.840 And we'll think about that in a few moments. And so in their case, God wants to bring truth to them, 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:38.160 to bring them to a point of repentance, to a point where they acknowledge who God really is. 00:06:38.840 --> 00:06:46.360 And then in verse 16 to verse 21, he speaks again, this time we could say to non-religious Israel or to 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:54.780 hypocritical Israel, perhaps, because we see that they are occasionally going through the motions of worship. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:00.920 But at the same time as they're doing that, verse 17, for example, you hate my instruction 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:06.960 and cast my words behind you. And they're engaging in all kinds of wickedness. When you see a thief, 00:07:06.960 --> 00:07:13.000 you join with him. You throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil. And significantly, 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:20.639 in verse 21, it says, you thought I was altogether like you. Again, they seem to have a very small view of God. 00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:27.259 As it were, they've taken God down to their level. And so in his grace and in his mercy, 00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:33.680 God wants to bring his people back to the covenant to remember that relationship that they'd entered into 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:42.220 so that they might be called back to faithful worship once again. And part of that will be 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:49.460 showing to this first group, in particular, this religious group, what God is truly like. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:57.120 So let's go back to that first group. Let's go back to religious Israel. And let's hear what God has 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:03.259 to say as he testifies against them. In verse 8, he says, 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:08.300 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:13.240 So they're not being rebuked because they're failing to bring the sacrifices. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:20.019 They're always there. This is a very religious and very devout group of people. 00:08:20.019 --> 00:08:26.399 So there's no shortage of sacrifice happening. So what's the problem? 00:08:27.939 --> 00:08:35.879 The problem, as we discover, is the heart behind their sacrificing. The problem is their 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:43.600 misunderstanding of God. We'll look in a moment at verses 9 to 14. And what becomes clear is that 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:50.460 they have the idea that God is dependent on them, that God is somehow needy and deficient, 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:59.200 and their worship is going to fill God up. And so what they are doing is they are engaging in rituals 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:08.700 when what God desires is actually relationship. And so what God does is he makes his self-sufficiency 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:20.540 very, very clear to them. So in verse 9, I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens. 00:09:21.540 --> 00:09:28.580 Same thing, quite simply, I don't need your sacrifices. I'm not lacking something until you show up 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:36.240 at the altar. Verse 10, for every animal of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:40.080 I know every bird in the mountains and the creatures of the field are mine. 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:48.379 What's this point there? Here is God saying, it all belongs to me anyway. Those gifts that you're 00:09:48.379 --> 00:09:57.500 giving, thinking I am lacking, you need to understand that it all belongs to me. And then verse 12 and 13, 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:04.180 if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh 00:10:04.179 --> 00:10:13.079 of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Again, God is saying, I have no lack. And even if I did, 00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:19.299 he's saying to the people, you wouldn't be able to satisfy. So he's making very clear to them the 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:27.959 difference between God as self-sufficient and those who worship him as those who ought to depend on him. 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:36.540 So here we have an answer to that false view of God that would say that God created people because he 00:10:36.540 --> 00:10:43.920 was lonely or because he needed something. That was the idea that Israel had there. They thought they 00:10:43.920 --> 00:10:50.240 were serving a needy God by their sacrifices. But of course, the reality that we find in the Bible 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:58.399 is that God is his father and son and spirit and he has eternally lived in a perfect community of love 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:05.779 and joy and relationship before the world ever was, there was perfect love. God didn't lack anything 00:11:05.779 --> 00:11:12.480 before the world was made and he doesn't lack anything when the world is made. So God does not say 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:26.019 to people, you complete me. God doesn't have a people-shaped hole in his heart. But we should humbly say that of God. 00:11:26.680 --> 00:11:37.340 God, you complete me. I am incomplete. I am lacking without you. So we do not worship because God needs it. 00:11:37.340 --> 00:11:48.740 In his mercy, he gives us the opportunity to worship him and he is pleased with our worship, but he doesn't need it. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:59.759 The self-sufficient God does not need us, but in his kindness, he has determined that we would be meaningful to him. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:10.379 Some of my favorite words in the Old Testament are from the prophet Zephaniah in chapter 3 and verse 17. 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:11.500 It says, 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:25.179 The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with loud singing. 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:31.879 This is a God who doesn't need us, but still chooses to delight in us as his children. 00:12:33.079 --> 00:12:40.299 In a sense, this is key to understanding our personal significance, to know that we matter to this God. 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:50.059 But here we are presented with the self-sufficient God. Now, what implications for ourselves can we draw from these truths? 00:12:50.059 --> 00:12:56.759 First of all, we need to say it is good news that God does not need us. 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:02.079 Because it means God is not limited in any way whatsoever. 00:13:03.119 --> 00:13:10.119 When we think about ourselves, we can find ourselves being controlled by our needs and by our limits. 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:16.039 Think again about children, how often they have to say whether they like it or not, 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:19.519 Mum, Dad, I need you. I need help with this. 00:13:20.099 --> 00:13:24.819 There's any number of things that we can't do until we grow and develop. 00:13:24.939 --> 00:13:27.839 But that is never true of God. 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:30.539 There is no lack. There is no development there. 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:36.379 We find ourselves, too, as people often needing instruction or needing direction. 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:38.579 You need to do this first and then that. 00:13:38.699 --> 00:13:41.179 You need to speak to this person. You need to go there first. 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:49.459 But God never lacks the wisdom or the strength or the direction to act in perfect ways in all that he does. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:58.000 We discover, too, that sometimes our needs as people will drive us negatively. 00:13:58.219 --> 00:14:05.139 We can become so focused on them to the detriment of other people and other things. 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:11.799 We can think about the power of addictions in a person's life that reflects that. 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:14.759 But God, remember, has no lack. 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:19.159 Therefore, he has no negative driving forces. 00:14:22.179 --> 00:14:28.259 And again, when we give help to someone, quite often the response might be, 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:29.620 I owe you one. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:31.960 There's that idea of reciprocating. 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:34.680 But God never needs anyone to help him out. 00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:38.879 Therefore, God is never in our debt. 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:42.340 Because God is self-sufficient. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:47.040 That's good news for us. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:50.120 It's also good news that God does not need us. 00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:54.019 Because if God did need us, we think about ourselves honestly, 00:14:54.160 --> 00:14:55.700 we discover that we would let him down. 00:14:56.860 --> 00:15:01.560 If you look at verse 12, there seems to be an implication there. 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:05.919 If I were hungry, I would not tell you. 00:15:07.099 --> 00:15:16.419 Seems to be suggesting that Israel's track record does not imply here are a trustworthy and faithful people. 00:15:16.419 --> 00:15:23.919 And when we're honest with ourselves, both in human terms and before God, 00:15:24.019 --> 00:15:29.899 we are prone at times to be foolish, to be faithless, and to be disobedient. 00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:40.699 So if we needed to provide for what God was lacking, that would be too heavy a burden for us. 00:15:41.319 --> 00:15:43.299 We would disappoint him. 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:49.379 If his plans for salvation throughout history depended on people, 00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:53.679 then those plans would certainly fail. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:16:01.719 But instead, we rest and we trust in his perfection and in his perfect plan. 00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:06.679 Again, in God's kindness as a father, 00:16:07.459 --> 00:16:12.919 he uses his people in order to carry out his work in the world, 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.719 but he doesn't need to. 00:16:15.379 --> 00:16:17.439 It doesn't make him dependent on us. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:24.720 In his kindness, we can bring him joy. 00:16:25.420 --> 00:16:29.500 We can enjoy his glory, but that doesn't fill God up. 00:16:30.140 --> 00:16:33.680 He has no lack when we worship. 00:16:35.580 --> 00:16:39.820 So there's good news for us that God does not need us. 00:16:39.820 --> 00:16:45.680 The flip side of that is it's good news that we need God. 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:53.960 Because we discover in the Bible a God who is big enough to meet all of our needs. 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:59.300 Sometimes we can place our hopes in another person and we can be disappointed. 00:17:00.520 --> 00:17:03.400 They thought they could carry out what they intended, 00:17:03.560 --> 00:17:07.460 but found that they didn't have the resources or the time or the wisdom to do it. 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:09.920 That's never the case with God. 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:16.240 As we say in Genesis 1 and 2, it's clear from the beginning we're made to need God 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.340 and to need one another. 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:21.980 And Psalm 50 reminds us this is the God we need. 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:27.319 That all that we have comes from this all-sufficient, self-sufficient God 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:30.980 who in love and kindness provides for his creation. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.660 He says to Israel, 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:36.880 Remember, I am the God who has infinite resources. 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:41.480 And that's a great reason for us to trust him. 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:48.519 This is a God who delights to share generously in order to meet the needs of his people. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:54.279 So when we invite other people to know God or to trust in God, 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:57.600 this is the God who we are inviting them to know. 00:17:57.819 --> 00:18:01.880 A God who is big enough for them, just as we find that he's big enough for us. 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:10.420 And part of that care is that God uses people in our lives to provide for us. 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:12.720 So he places us in families. 00:18:13.020 --> 00:18:14.560 He places us in friendships. 00:18:14.760 --> 00:18:19.820 He places us in churches as part of the way for us to have our needs met 00:18:19.820 --> 00:18:24.040 and part of the way for others to have their needs met. 00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:28.839 So our care as we seek to serve the Lord Jesus, 00:18:29.259 --> 00:18:36.680 we are representing God's arms and legs in the world as we seek to care for others. 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:42.440 So we have a God who is big enough to meet all of our needs. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:50.420 And it's good news that we need this God because it means also that we can be honest about our needs. 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:55.100 Some cultures, the tendency, and ours included, 00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:58.720 the tendency is to put on a brave faith, 00:18:59.539 --> 00:19:01.279 to pretend like everything's okay, 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:05.200 that the idea of showing weakness is weakness. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:10.380 And when we have that attitude kind of ingrained in us, 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.539 we can bring that both towards people and towards God. 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:20.600 So perhaps there might lead to a lack of prayer. 00:19:21.259 --> 00:19:22.600 You know, I can sort this. 00:19:22.700 --> 00:19:24.440 I can do this by myself. 00:19:24.580 --> 00:19:26.700 I'm supposed to stand on my own two feet, 00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:29.059 so I'm not going to invite God into this situation. 00:19:29.059 --> 00:19:32.779 If we have that kind of attitude, 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:36.079 it can cause us to pull away from community 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:41.480 because we don't want others to discover that we don't have everything all together, 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.259 that we can't always look after the things that we need, 00:19:45.339 --> 00:19:46.799 but we'd rather hide that away. 00:19:46.879 --> 00:19:49.980 And so we pull away from community. 00:19:49.980 --> 00:19:53.860 It can also lead to us having a real lack of rest 00:19:53.860 --> 00:19:57.839 because we're so busy trying to be truly self-sufficient 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.740 when God is the only absolutely self-sufficient one, 00:20:00.940 --> 00:20:05.000 and he always made us to be dependent on him and on others. 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:09.480 And so one of the things that this reminds us of as people 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:12.740 is that we are to be honest about our needs, 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:17.000 that we need God and the help and the care that he provides. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.140 What we see positively in this section 00:20:21.140 --> 00:20:25.220 is the kind of response God wants from his people. 00:20:25.339 --> 00:20:27.599 Look with me at verses 14 and 15. 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:31.000 Having criticized them for their worship, 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:33.440 which is based on a misunderstanding, 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:35.980 he says, this is how you should worship. 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:37.839 This is how you should live before me. 00:20:38.900 --> 00:20:43.400 So verse 14, sacrifice thank offerings to God. 00:20:43.980 --> 00:20:45.359 And again, verse 23, 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:49.619 he who sacrifices thank offerings honors me. 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.399 So very simply here is an invitation to us 00:20:53.399 --> 00:20:58.279 to be thankful to the God who provides for us, 00:20:58.639 --> 00:21:01.879 to recognize that he is the giver 00:21:01.879 --> 00:21:04.019 and we are the receivers, 00:21:04.659 --> 00:21:06.639 not the other way around. 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:10.139 He says in verse 14 also, 00:21:10.679 --> 00:21:14.179 fulfill your vows to the most high. 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:18.759 Remember, God is speaking to the covenant people of Israel. 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:23.279 So here is a call to us to live in covenant relationship 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:26.740 where we depend on God, 00:21:27.460 --> 00:21:31.799 where we live under him in obedience to him, 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:35.620 and also where we can give up the lie of self-sufficiency, 00:21:36.140 --> 00:21:40.460 where we have the proper creator-creature relationship, 00:21:40.460 --> 00:21:44.460 where we know how much we need him in our lives. 00:21:44.460 --> 00:21:46.680 And tied up with that, verse 15, 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.559 call upon me in the day of trouble. 00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:55.640 Here is an invitation to us to humbly pray 00:21:55.640 --> 00:21:57.579 in the needs that we have, 00:21:57.940 --> 00:21:59.600 to the God who has no need 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:02.139 and the God of infinite provision. 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:08.959 Prayer reminds us that we are dependent on God. 00:22:10.299 --> 00:22:13.459 Prayer gives us that opportunity to be open with God 00:22:13.459 --> 00:22:15.659 about our weakness, about our need, 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:17.199 about our temptations. 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:20.939 And rather than hiding that away 00:22:20.939 --> 00:22:23.059 and pretending like we've got it all covered, 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:25.700 here we're told it's truly human, 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:31.179 it is strength to properly respond to our limitations. 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:35.220 And what does God say of himself? 00:22:35.379 --> 00:22:36.159 Verse 15, 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:40.559 I will deliver you and you will honour me. 00:22:40.899 --> 00:22:43.559 And then again in verse, end of verse 23, 00:22:44.059 --> 00:22:48.399 I will show him the salvation of God. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:53.460 Here is this great provision that God makes for us 00:22:53.460 --> 00:22:55.440 in his loving grace. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.300 He provides for our salvation, 00:22:59.340 --> 00:23:00.880 saves us from our sin, 00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:04.940 saves us so that we might know and love him. 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:08.960 And after all, wasn't this the whole point of the sacrifices? 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:11.380 The sacrifices that they are offering, 00:23:11.540 --> 00:23:13.980 thinking that they are serving a needy God, 00:23:14.220 --> 00:23:15.759 were intended to say to them, 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:17.759 you have a sin problem 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.019 and only God can meet that need of forgiveness. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.680 That these sacrifices were ultimately pointing forward 00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:26.180 to Jesus, 00:23:26.879 --> 00:23:28.879 the true and the perfect sacrifice, 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:32.000 the one who would be the Lamb of God 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:35.680 who takes away the sin of the world. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:40.740 And so the great good news of this psalm 00:23:40.740 --> 00:23:42.119 is that God saves. 00:23:42.220 --> 00:23:43.660 The great news of the Bible 00:23:43.660 --> 00:23:48.720 is that Jesus comes to meet our deepest need. 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:53.160 When we think about the coming of Jesus into our world, 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.480 we are met with miracle and mystery 00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:58.900 of the eternal Son of God 00:23:58.900 --> 00:24:02.320 becoming truly human. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.180 That he embraces the limits of being human. 00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:13.100 He understands what it is to depend on others. 00:24:13.100 --> 00:24:17.560 He suffers hunger and thirst and loneliness. 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:23.060 He depends on others for friendship and for his physical needs. 00:24:23.059 --> 00:24:24.879 So we have on the one side, 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:30.819 Jesus who is limited in his true humanity. 00:24:31.399 --> 00:24:32.740 But then at the same time, 00:24:32.899 --> 00:24:34.079 we get the miracles. 00:24:34.179 --> 00:24:36.119 And the miracles are like windows 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:40.359 showing us and catching us glimpses of Jesus 00:24:40.359 --> 00:24:42.779 as the self-sufficient God 00:24:42.779 --> 00:24:45.000 who is able to provide for us 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:46.700 in all of our deep needs. 00:24:46.700 --> 00:24:50.460 So for example, in Mark chapter 2, 00:24:51.100 --> 00:24:54.920 Jesus meets with a paralyzed man 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.660 who is brought to him on his bed. 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:00.000 He's unable to walk. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:02.360 And Jesus, before he does anything 00:25:02.360 --> 00:25:03.819 for the man's physical needs, 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:04.420 says to him, 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:06.480 Son, your sins are forgiven. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:08.480 And then to show that he has authority 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:09.400 to forgive sins, 00:25:09.740 --> 00:25:11.240 he makes the man walk. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:13.580 In John chapter 6, 00:25:13.579 --> 00:25:17.079 we discover Jesus providing physically 00:25:17.079 --> 00:25:20.099 for a vast crowd when he feeds the 5,000. 00:25:20.579 --> 00:25:24.059 And then he describes himself as the bread of life. 00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:26.179 The one who if we come to him 00:25:26.179 --> 00:25:26.879 and if we feed him, 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:29.359 we'll never be hungry. 00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:32.179 And then in John chapter 11, 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:35.059 his friend Lazarus is raised from the dead. 00:25:35.539 --> 00:25:37.480 And Jesus speaks to Martha saying, 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.319 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:46.059 So here we discover Jesus meeting physical needs, 00:25:46.439 --> 00:25:47.460 but at the same time, 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:50.099 pointing very clearly forward to the fact 00:25:50.099 --> 00:25:53.899 that he meets our deep spiritual needs, 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.099 which of course is what we see at the cross. 00:25:59.379 --> 00:26:02.159 Jesus dies to deal with our sin, 00:26:02.659 --> 00:26:04.119 to bring us peace, 00:26:04.579 --> 00:26:08.099 to give us eternal life. 00:26:08.099 --> 00:26:11.419 He is the one who has that ultimate, 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:14.359 infinite provision for our worship, 00:26:14.819 --> 00:26:15.839 for our faith, 00:26:16.439 --> 00:26:18.480 and for our witness. 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:21.079 Let's pray together.