WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.780 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.780 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:21.379 And let's bow our heads in prayer as we prepare to think about God's Word. Father, we ask that 00:01:21.379 --> 00:01:26.500 your Holy Spirit would continue to move in each one of us, that you would pour out the Holy Spirit 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:32.780 upon us with gentle but deep power, and that your Holy Spirit would bring your Word home to our heart. 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:40.620 Father, we desperately need your wisdom to live well in this life. And so, Father, help us be always 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:46.699 mindful of Jesus and what He's done for us on the cross. Help us to be prepared to confess Him as our 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:53.079 Savior and as our Savior and as our Lord. And Father, may your Word truly form us. We ask these 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:58.180 things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:01:58.180 --> 00:02:14.140 Some of you might know that Morris' mom passed away a couple of weeks ago. If you don't now, 00:02:14.140 --> 00:02:21.580 you do know that his mom passed away a couple of weeks ago. And when I got back, she died just before 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:25.960 I got back from holidays. And after I called them, and then when I got back from my holidays, 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:31.340 we had a bit of a chat. And, you know, one of the things that we talked about is there's increasing 00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:37.980 number of people in our culture who don't want to have a funeral when they die. And that's sort 00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:45.840 of fair enough. But the problem I said to Morris is that funerals, well, first of all, funerals 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:54.240 play a very important social role. It's in a sense a culturally designed means to help people connect 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:59.840 with the bereaved. In other words, you know, somebody, your neighbor, your friend, or whatever, 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.920 they've had a death in the family. It's very profound. And it's sort of a bit awkward. How do you talk to 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:09.939 them? Like, when do you talk to them? Like, it's just a bit awkward. And funerals are just a very 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:16.160 wonderful opportunity, amongst other things, for people to come and meet those who are left behind 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:23.180 and offer their condolences and maybe give them a hug or cry with them or share with them. And then 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:28.780 it's easier the next time you see them, because in a sense, you've broken the ice with it. 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:35.800 There are many Anglicans in Canada who believe that a funeral service is about praying for the dead, 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:40.819 but that's not the historic Anglican position. It's, in fact, not the position of the Book of Common 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:47.719 Prayer. And so an Anglican understanding of a funeral, actually, is that it really has three 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:55.879 purposes. It's to, I mean, apart from what I've just said, a social way to meet those who are 00:03:55.879 --> 00:04:01.620 grieving and be able to, in a sense, break the ice with them and express your love and support for 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:07.900 them. But it's really a time to remember Jesus, what he's accomplished for us on the cross. 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:14.700 It's a time to remember the deceased, and it's a time to pray for those who mourn. 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:20.899 That's fundamentally what a funeral is about. Now, I've been a minister a long time, and over the 00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:26.459 years, I've seen all sorts of talks and eulogies. I don't know if anybody here was at this funeral 00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:32.480 that happened. I probably did it about 15 years ago. The fellow who got to preach or speak at the 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:38.020 eulogy, he was both, during the service, he was another minister, actually. And it was quite a 00:04:38.020 --> 00:04:43.720 scandalous thing that he did, because he took 20 minutes, 25 minutes, to completely and utterly tear 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:51.580 down his dad in front of a packed room about how completely horrible, miserable, terrible man he was. 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:56.860 It was really quite shocking. But I think the only person here connected to our church who was at that 00:04:56.860 --> 00:05:01.199 was at our eight o'clock service. And as soon as I began to say there was a story with a very scandalous 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.080 talk, I could see her nodding, because it was so out of place to see such a talk like that at a funeral. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:14.620 Generally, at funerals, the opposite problem is there. People talk about the deceased in such a way that if 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:21.139 the person who's died is a guy, you'd think that Jesus had an identical twin brother, because this person 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:27.219 was so unbelievably perfect. Or if not, if it's a woman who's died, that it's his twin, Jesus' twin 00:05:27.219 --> 00:05:33.099 sister, that they're so completely perfect. But it's, you know, it should be neither of those types of 00:05:33.099 --> 00:05:38.519 things. The old Anglican way of talking about it, you remember the deceased, but mainly you talk about 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:44.659 Jesus. That's a great wisdom. But one of the big differences that's happened over the years 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:51.680 is, well, what you'd actually talk about during a funeral. Now, when I say over the years, I mean, 00:05:51.760 --> 00:05:57.760 you know, predating me. It's, I'm old, but I'm not that old that it would have been appropriate when I 00:05:57.760 --> 00:06:03.440 was ordained to have a sermon on God's last judgment, for instance, during a funeral service. I think if 00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:09.040 I was to do a service like that, there'd be lots of people complaining, including people from my own 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:14.160 congregation, that that's just not the appropriate time to talk about something like that. 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:22.720 But for older Christians, the sermon and the service, part of the purpose of it was to actually 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:32.879 think about death. Like to think about what death is and its significance, and to consider your own 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:42.760 mortality. It's very interesting. I was watching something on Apple TV this week, and in the show 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:48.659 that I was watching, a fellow committed suicide, and then later on the show, they showed part of the 00:06:48.659 --> 00:06:57.300 funeral service, and he was Jewish. And I'm listening, and I realized that the 20 seconds or so of the 00:06:57.300 --> 00:07:06.860 service that they showed in the fictional show was quoting Psalm 90, which is what we're about to look at. 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:12.580 I was really shocked, actually. For ancient Christians, Psalm 90 would have been a psalm that you would have 00:07:12.580 --> 00:07:19.420 looked at. And as you'll see why, it's because it's a meditation upon the meaning of death and how it should 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:25.960 change our lives to think about death. Now, these are considered to be very not the type of topics that 00:07:25.960 --> 00:07:31.220 you don't talk about in Canada anymore. Canadians don't like thinking about death or talking about death. 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:38.020 And probably if you were, they wouldn't even know where to begin. And part of that is because I think for many 00:07:38.020 --> 00:07:47.960 people outside of the Christian faith, well, there's no real hope when they talk about death. I don't think anybody 00:07:47.960 --> 00:07:54.100 really has hope that they'll go to a better place when they die, or have hope that they're in the wind and the 00:07:54.100 --> 00:08:00.160 stars or that they're looking down on people. We say that. People say that at funerals, but I don't think they really 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:10.480 believe it. And it's not something that really gives hope. So how does Psalm 90 guide us and challenge us 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:17.900 to meditate and think upon death? Well, let's look. If you have your Bibles, it's Psalm 90. And it's good 00:08:17.900 --> 00:08:23.480 to bring your own Bibles to church if you can. It's good to be able to, some people like to make notes in 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:28.300 them and everything like that. But it's also really helpful because I'd like you to check over what I'm 00:08:28.300 --> 00:08:32.539 saying. I'd like you to see whether I'm quoting something out of context or forgetting something 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:37.379 important or hiding something. That's a good thing if you can check that because I want to be faithful 00:08:37.379 --> 00:08:43.519 to what God's Word says. And here's, in fact, actually what we're going to see is actually the 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:49.899 Psalm begins a meditation upon death in a really quite astounding way. Let's look what it does. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:57.159 First, it begins by a prayer of Moses, the man of God. There's no reason not to believe that that's an 00:08:57.159 --> 00:09:02.919 accurate description. And so if this is the case, this Psalm was written some 3,400, 3,500 years ago. 00:09:03.319 --> 00:09:08.000 It's the only Psalm in the book of Psalms written by Moses. And here's how it begins. 00:09:08.779 --> 00:09:16.259 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:24.259 wherever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you were God. 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:35.000 Now, it's very interesting that the Psalm 90 begins its meditation upon death by a doxology. Now, 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:42.200 doxology is a fancy word that just means a short hymn of praise. It doesn't begin with science. It 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:47.759 doesn't begin with any type of shocking things. He's going to lead us in trying to think about what death 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:53.600 is and what it means and signifies. But it's very, very significant, I think, that he begins with praise. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:10:01.059 It's, in fact, very wise and very beautiful that he begins with something like this. Not the fact of human 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:06.559 death and planetary death and the second law of thermodynamics or the first law of thermodynamics and 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:11.779 what it means for the universe. He begins with God. He begins with God. 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:18.980 Lord, you have been our dwelling place, verse 1, in all generations. Before the mountains were brought 00:10:18.980 --> 00:10:24.360 forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you were God. 00:10:25.779 --> 00:10:31.860 Now, the word dwelling place, if you are looking at different Bible translations, you'll see lots of 00:10:31.860 --> 00:10:36.860 different words that might be used there. And it really means everything that we in our heart of 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:42.620 hearts think that home should be. I know many of us have had homes which weren't places of peace. I 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:47.580 know many people can't wait to leave their homes. And many, and some of us, that might be the case. You 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:52.620 just could not wait to get out of the house and be away from your parent or your parents or your 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:58.060 guardians or the foster home or wherever it is that you were. But we all have this same basic idea of what 00:10:58.060 --> 00:11:04.060 a home should be. That a home should be where you're safe. It should be where you're secure. It's where 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:11.019 you can, in a sense, let your hair down. It's where you are fed and where you can flourish. 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:17.179 And all of those ideas are captured in the original word, which is translated here in the psalm 00:11:17.179 --> 00:11:22.619 as dwelling place. Lord, you have been our dwelling place, our home, our refuge, our sanctuary 00:11:23.899 --> 00:11:31.179 in all generations. And it's very interesting that it says in all generations. That means it's including us. 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:37.819 That even though this psalm was written 34, 3500 years ago, in a sense, prophetically, 00:11:37.819 --> 00:11:43.099 Moses is looking down the corridors of time. And it's not that he literally sees a small group of 00:11:43.099 --> 00:11:49.500 Christians in the city of Ottawa in the year 2024 gathered. But he's saying, listen, this has been 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:55.179 from the generations before me. It's my generation. It's the generations to come. In all generations, 00:11:55.179 --> 00:12:04.059 from generation to generation to generation, human beings have only one true home, one true dwelling 00:12:04.059 --> 00:12:13.979 place, one true place of safety and refuge. And that is in God. And then it's very interesting. Some of us, 00:12:14.859 --> 00:12:20.299 I mean, there's a guy who comes to the congregation, and I think he thinks and dreams in numbers. He has a 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:25.500 master's degree in math, and he loves abstractions. And some of us are like that. And that's great. 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:29.819 If you have that type of mind that you just think in numbers and abstractions and praise God, 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:36.139 and I hope you're in computer science or in engineering or something like that, where you can really flourish. 00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:42.699 We want people to do that. So the planes work and bridges work and computers work and all that stuff. 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:49.580 But for many of us, you know, I could say that God's omnipresent and omnipotent. And for many people, 00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:57.180 that's just like right over the head. It doesn't mean anything whatsoever. It's completely and utterly lost. 00:12:57.180 --> 00:13:05.580 But notice how the psalm talks about it. It brings really home something about the ancientness and the majesty 00:13:05.580 --> 00:13:13.180 and the solidity and the strength of God. And look what it says in verse 2. Before the mountains were 00:13:13.180 --> 00:13:20.460 brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth or the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 00:13:23.660 --> 00:13:29.580 Not this time I was in Vancouver. The last time I was in Vancouver, it rained the whole time. The time 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:35.740 before that I was there for some meetings and it had been rainy throughout the day. And I walked down 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:40.060 this street because the meetings were over at like four o'clock in the afternoon or something, 4 30. 00:13:40.060 --> 00:13:46.379 And as I walked down the street, I turn right because I have to start to go north to get home. And as I 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:54.620 turn the corner, the Rockies are there. And if you've never been to Vancouver, you just can't appreciate it. 00:13:54.620 --> 00:14:04.700 They're just there. It was sunny. The sun is on them. They just look huge and beautiful and majestic 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:14.060 and solid. And you understand why so much of the imagery in the Bible talks about mountains. 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:19.899 And that's how the Bible here talks about it. Rather than just saying God's always existed, it said, 00:14:19.899 --> 00:14:23.259 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, 00:14:23.259 --> 00:14:31.819 from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. I am not everlasting, but my true home is in the 00:14:31.819 --> 00:14:32.860 everlasting God. 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:46.860 And now, with that as the beginning, he begins to have us think about death. What is death and what does 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:55.259 it mean? And he's going to talk about that in verses 3 to 10. And well, here's how it goes. Let's read it, 00:14:55.259 --> 00:15:02.060 and then we'll circle back, and I'll comment about it. Verse 3, You return man, man and woman, obviously, 00:15:02.060 --> 00:15:09.259 it's a collective phrase there. You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man, literally, 00:15:09.259 --> 00:15:14.779 return, O children of Adam. For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, 00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:23.819 or as a watch in the night. You sweep them, that's human beings, away as with a flood. They are like a 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:41.340 dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed, in the 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:49.900 evening it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger, by your wrath we are dismayed. 00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:59.500 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days 00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:11.019 pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:17.980 by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. 00:16:17.980 --> 00:16:25.180 The image there is if you're at a campfire and you see the sparks that go up into the sky and they 00:16:25.180 --> 00:16:29.580 just fly away. That's the imagery. They just fly away. They vanish. 00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:39.659 Verse 11, and that's how it ends at verse 10. So like there's a couple of things about this. 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:49.019 Remember, this is after the psalmist has had a time of praise. And the basic message, as you can see, 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:57.179 is that human beings are frail. We are mortal, which means we will die. And that we are touched in every 00:16:57.179 --> 00:17:04.859 aspect of our lives by evil. Now, first of all, every single thing that he says in verses 3 to 10 00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:07.980 are scientifically and historically true. 00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:15.419 Like these are uncomfortable things and Canadians don't like to hear about it, but there's nothing 00:17:15.419 --> 00:17:21.339 in there that's not scientifically true. Every human being does die. Every human being does age. 00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:28.939 Even the strongest, the richest person can be felled by microscopic viruses. 00:17:31.179 --> 00:17:37.419 Even the strongest will get old and lose their strength, lose their mind. There's nothing in here 00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:42.139 which isn't scientifically and historically true. I think I talked about it last week. 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:50.139 Human beings aren't naturally good. If you give one stuffed animal to two kids, they'll fight over it. 00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:57.419 And you won't be surprised that they fight over it. Because we know that's what kids do. 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:03.980 They have to be taught to show to share. It's not just something that they naturally get. 00:18:05.659 --> 00:18:11.899 So everything in it is on one level scientifically true, but it's actually not using scientific language. 00:18:13.179 --> 00:18:14.699 And that's where we have hope. 00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:16.860 It's not just something that we have hope. 00:18:16.860 --> 00:18:19.259 You see, if you look at verse 5, for instance, 00:18:20.299 --> 00:18:24.059 you sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream. 00:18:24.059 --> 00:18:31.099 If you just say you die, where do you go with that? You have no hope. 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:38.379 But if rather than saying you die, you say, God sweeps us away like a flood and a dream. 00:18:39.579 --> 00:18:40.459 Now there's hope. 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:47.500 I can't do anything about the first or second law of thermodynamics. 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:51.019 Nothing. 00:18:51.019 --> 00:19:00.539 But if the first and second law of thermodynamics are not the only truth, and there is a God, 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:01.980 I can call out to him. 00:19:01.980 --> 00:19:04.460 There is hope. 00:19:07.099 --> 00:19:07.900 There is hope. 00:19:10.539 --> 00:19:14.299 Now, some of you are puzzled over this language. I want to spend a few minutes on it. 00:19:14.299 --> 00:19:18.700 You return man to dust or Adam to dust and say, return, O children of Adam. 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:20.620 Like, what's going on here? 00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:29.500 And what's really going on here is that you, he, the psalmist Moses is opening the door. 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:34.539 And of course, when Moses wrote this, he didn't know the next parts of God's big story. 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:37.180 He only knew the first three parts of God's big story. 00:19:38.140 --> 00:19:40.940 But he's telling us God's big story. 00:19:41.980 --> 00:19:44.539 And all the way through this, by the way, I'm interpreting this as a Christian, 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:47.980 as a follower of Jesus, not as a rabbi. Not that there's anything wrong with rabbis. 00:19:47.980 --> 00:19:51.259 But I'm not a rabbi. I don't have to just end with Malachi chapter 4. 00:19:51.259 --> 00:19:57.099 I can end with Revelation chapter 22. I can go right from Genesis 1 to Revelation chapter 22, 00:19:57.099 --> 00:20:00.539 because God is the God of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. 00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:05.980 But Moses here is telling us God's big story. And God's big story is that the triune God, 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:12.299 the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God, he, God, created all things out of nothing. 00:20:12.859 --> 00:20:17.579 Out of nothing. And when he created all things out of nothing, he created it. And it says in the 00:20:17.579 --> 00:20:22.939 text, you go back and read Genesis chapter 1, it's good. It's very good. It's good. God made everything 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:28.059 good. And right from the very beginning, God made human beings to be mortal. He made us to be 00:20:28.059 --> 00:20:32.380 creatures. He didn't make us that we would have infinite minds, that we would be omniscient, 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:36.700 that we would be omnipotent. We were always going to be creators. We had to be created by God. In a 00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:42.940 sense, we were always going to be mortal. But, or finite. 00:20:46.140 --> 00:20:49.180 But he didn't create death. 00:20:53.420 --> 00:20:55.019 You see, to say that I'm finite, 00:20:57.100 --> 00:21:03.420 it means that I'm going to come to an end. But if the infinite holds me forever, 00:21:03.420 --> 00:21:07.500 the finite George can live forever. 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:16.860 If in fact I'm dwelling in the triune God, even though I have a beginning and in principle I have 00:21:16.860 --> 00:21:26.620 an end, if the everlasting God in whom I dwell holds me, I will have no end. 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:32.939 Like that's such a wise thought. And so where did evil and death come? And here's where, 00:21:32.939 --> 00:21:37.819 here's where Christianity and the Bible is so, I mean this whole big story, and by the way, I, 00:21:37.819 --> 00:21:43.899 we believe, I believe that this is not just a story. It's the true story of the universe. It's the true 00:21:43.899 --> 00:21:48.539 story of reality. And why do I believe that? Amongst other things, of course, it's wise, it's insightful, 00:21:48.539 --> 00:21:55.259 it's beautiful, it's powerful, and all of that. But most importantly, it's because Jesus believed it, 00:21:55.259 --> 00:22:01.579 he taught it, he's the key, the cornerstone of the whole picture, and by his death and resurrection, 00:22:01.579 --> 00:22:07.740 he vindicated it. Listen, if he rose from the dead, what he says is true. End of the story. 00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:14.539 It might make me uncomfortable sometimes, but it's literally the end of the story. He rose from the 00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:19.980 dead. He said all these things. He rose from the dead. We should believe him. It vindicates him. And so 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:24.940 this great big story is this, that God makes everything good. He creates Adam and Eve. In a 00:22:24.940 --> 00:22:31.420 sense, this entire universe, all of the galaxies, it's to be our home. If we're going to be in the 00:22:31.420 --> 00:22:38.620 everlasting God, that means there's a, there's lots of time to explore every aspect of the entire 00:22:38.620 --> 00:22:43.980 universe. We, you know, build machines and travel and do all of those types of things and figure them 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:48.539 all out. There's endless time for us to use our creativity and our imagination and all of that 00:22:48.539 --> 00:22:53.579 type of stuff, all in harmony with God. But human beings decide they want to rebel against God, 00:22:54.220 --> 00:22:58.860 and they want to be like God. And we all know that I want to be like God. It ultimately means I don't 00:22:58.860 --> 00:23:07.259 want to just be like God. I want to have God under me. And so Adam and Eve rebel against God, 00:23:07.259 --> 00:23:19.980 and then God, and that's what's called sin. And then God, well, God judges it. But he judges it, 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:26.460 though, in a way that's also a type of severe mercy. And he judges it in a way that it will be a clue for 00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:33.900 human beings that if they think about death, they might call out to God for mercy and for help. 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:41.340 And he says, you know, you think you can be God? 00:23:45.180 --> 00:23:46.620 You forget that you're dust. 00:23:49.819 --> 00:23:55.660 Like, what an irony, eh? Human beings thinking that we are God, yet really we are dust. 00:23:56.860 --> 00:24:01.340 If we're buried without any type of embalming things, eventually all of our mortal remains 00:24:01.340 --> 00:24:15.019 just mix with the earth, fertilizer, eventually. And so God says you've only, it's only by being held 00:24:15.019 --> 00:24:22.299 by me that you live, and you've cut yourself off from me. You will return to dust. But even as he does 00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:27.259 that, if you go back and you read Genesis 3, even as that, in a sense, sentence is pronounced upon God, 00:24:27.259 --> 00:24:31.019 and by the way, isn't it profoundly true? Don't we have a sense that there's something about death 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:36.619 that feels like a judgment? And if it's only a scientific statement, then that's just something 00:24:36.619 --> 00:24:40.859 that doesn't even, what makes no sense there would be like a judgment. Like, why would we feel something 00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:45.819 wrong about something which is so, in a sense, natural and part of the evolutionary process, if that's all 00:24:45.819 --> 00:24:51.740 there is to the story. But God promises that there will be a deliverer, that death will not be the 00:24:51.740 --> 00:24:57.019 final word. And so, in a sense, how's God's big story? God's big story is he makes all things good. 00:24:57.019 --> 00:25:02.779 Human beings bring death into the world by their sin and rebellion. And then there's this long period 00:25:02.779 --> 00:25:09.259 that begins with Genesis 3 and goes until Matthew 1-1, and it's a period of promise that God is going to 00:25:09.259 --> 00:25:15.099 send a deliverer. And then the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that's the fourth chapter of 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:21.420 the story. It's all about God keeping his promise. And then chapters after the death and resurrection 00:25:21.420 --> 00:25:25.980 of Jesus, I'll talk about that in a moment, as Ascension and Pentecost, we're now living in that period, 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:31.019 which is the already not yet. The fact that if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you can be 00:25:31.019 --> 00:25:35.500 reconciled to God. And in a sense, eternal life is now in you, but we still are waiting for the 00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:40.539 consummation of all things. And so, we live in this in-between time, this already not yet. And then 00:25:40.539 --> 00:25:45.579 the end will come when Jesus returns, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And we will dwell 00:25:45.579 --> 00:25:52.700 there with resurrected bodies at peace with God. And it will literally, by our own affections and emotions 00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:58.700 and body and in sight and in mind and in every way, we will know that our dwelling place and refuge 00:25:58.700 --> 00:26:09.900 is in the everlasting God. But, you see, in the Christian story, the true story, 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:15.819 the story of the true reality, death, is a symptom. 00:26:18.779 --> 00:26:23.980 For secular people, it's the great evil, of course, because secular, ultimately, when you die, 00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:28.140 that's it, you're completely over it. It's the great evil. And it's one of the reasons why it's 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:32.779 not something you want to talk about in polite company. But for Christians, it's a symptom. 00:26:34.299 --> 00:26:38.860 And so, we would say that even if you could use, you know, all sorts of scientific techniques, 00:26:38.860 --> 00:26:43.339 and you could extend life and extend life and extend life, and if you want to ignore the wisdom 00:26:43.339 --> 00:26:49.420 of earlier ages that see that if you have all this endless period of time, you become crazy like the 00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:57.180 gods and goddesses of paganism, which is just filled with chaos and pillaging and incest and murder and 00:26:57.180 --> 00:27:04.220 jealousy, or the older myths of Frankenstein and not Frankenstein, of the vampires and zombies and 00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:08.380 all of these creatures that don't die, none of them are things that you'd actually want to actually do. 00:27:08.380 --> 00:27:13.100 But somehow or another, if we forget about all of that wisdom and just think that we can extend and 00:27:13.100 --> 00:27:17.259 extend and extend and extend life, but even then, that is completely and utterly doomed. It can never work 00:27:17.259 --> 00:27:22.940 for a while, but all you're doing, it's like if a person has serious cancer and you just keep giving 00:27:22.940 --> 00:27:29.819 them ibuprofen to deal with the pain. You're not actually dealing with the cause. The cancer has to 00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:37.019 be healed. And that's our sin. And that's, you see, the power of the gospel. That in the gospel, you have 00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:44.140 the perfect man. You have, in a sense, the second Adam. You have Jesus who comes into our life, 00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:50.700 into the human race. And he lives a life that we should live, but never could. And he never sins. 00:27:50.700 --> 00:27:54.780 And he's in unbroken communion with God. And he does all of those things that human beings were 00:27:54.780 --> 00:27:59.500 eventually meant to do. And he does this not for himself, but for us. And in his death upon the 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:04.620 cross, I talked about it last week in terms of the image of the cup, but just a very, very simple 00:28:04.620 --> 00:28:10.540 substitution and exchange. He offers to trade places with me so that what I deserve will come on him and what 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:17.259 he deserves given to me and what I deserve is. And he dies on the cross. He deals with the justice that 00:28:17.259 --> 00:28:23.019 should properly come to me. And he takes all of that into himself. And he dies that death, 00:28:23.019 --> 00:28:26.539 experiences that for me. And then he rises from the dead 00:28:29.659 --> 00:28:31.980 out of God's mercy and love and compassion. 00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:39.660 And so we see in Jesus on the cross that not only is death defeated, but that which causes death 00:28:39.660 --> 00:28:44.059 has been dealt with, with justice and mercy. 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:52.220 And that's what he's pointing to throughout this whole psalm. 00:28:52.220 --> 00:29:01.740 So after there's this meditation, this is what life is like, folks. He said, that's why you meet, 00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:07.339 it makes this connection between, you know, you, God's anger and our death. It's, it's all connected 00:29:07.339 --> 00:29:12.539 to this whole big story that, that we have done all of these wrong things. Death comes into our, into, 00:29:12.539 --> 00:29:17.339 into reality because we have done wrong things. Now, Moses, of course, 00:29:17.339 --> 00:29:21.819 the first thing that he's going to do is that he's going to do, that he's going to do. And he's going 00:29:21.819 --> 00:29:25.179 to do that. And he says, that there will be one who will kill the serpent, 00:29:27.339 --> 00:29:31.740 that God will send a deliverer, that he will send a prophet greater than him. 00:29:32.619 --> 00:29:36.299 He doesn't know how that's going to work out. He just knows that that's what God has promised. 00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:40.379 In the meantime, he understands that death is a symptom. 00:29:42.220 --> 00:29:47.259 And that might say that scientifically all men die, but that leads you nowhere. But if you say that 00:29:47.259 --> 00:29:51.339 God sweeps us away, then there is a God that we call out to for mercy. 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:57.500 So how's that going to look? Well, the whole psalm changes in verses 11 and 12. 00:29:58.379 --> 00:30:03.740 Look what it says. Now, 11 is complicated to translate from the original language into Hebrew. 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:09.339 I'll, I'll read it, 11 and 12, and I'll just tell you basically what it means. Verse 11. And, and by the 00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:13.579 way, if you go back later on, you look at lots of different Bible translations, you'll see that they're, 00:30:13.579 --> 00:30:18.539 the English is trying to capture something which is hard to translate from the original language into 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:23.659 English. But it goes like this, who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to 00:30:23.659 --> 00:30:29.819 the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Well, verse 11, 00:30:29.819 --> 00:30:36.699 that's, verse 11 and 12, it's, it's the hinge of the whole, the whole psalm. And, uh, but basically that 00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:43.740 means is if we were actually to see God face to face, mountains give us a bit of an image of the 00:30:43.740 --> 00:30:53.100 majesty of God, the solidity of God, the power of God, the beauty of God. And if we were to actually 00:30:53.100 --> 00:31:00.460 see him face to face, we would realize the seriousness of our condition and we would know the depth of the 00:31:00.460 --> 00:31:07.420 reverence which he deserves. That's basically what it's communicating. And then verse 12 is this 00:31:07.420 --> 00:31:14.779 beginning of the request. Verse 12 again. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of 00:31:14.779 --> 00:31:23.819 wisdom. Now teach us to number our days doesn't just mean, um, I think on my birthday, uh, my birthday's in 00:31:23.819 --> 00:31:29.659 August, early August. My, my, some of my grandkids asked me thinking they were witty, how, how many days 00:31:29.659 --> 00:31:38.139 old are you, Papa? I think I actually figured it out. I said, just, just give me a, give me 15 minutes 00:31:38.139 --> 00:31:43.819 and a pad and I'll figure it out. And I told them and they go, whoa, are you ever old? You know, um, 00:31:44.539 --> 00:31:51.500 just the other day I was in Costco and there was a, uh, a, a, a dad walking along pushing two twins 00:31:51.500 --> 00:32:00.619 and his t-shirt said, I'm, uh, my age is, my age is. And underneath it he had 1600 square, um, the square 00:32:00.619 --> 00:32:08.059 root of 1600. I thought he's probably an engineer. Square root of 1600. If you don't know, that's 40. 00:32:08.059 --> 00:32:13.019 But rather than just saying I'm 40, the square root of 160. That's sort of, that's sort of a neat t-shirt, 00:32:13.019 --> 00:32:18.059 I thought. So it's not just telling us to number our days that what's the idea behind this is, um, 00:32:18.059 --> 00:32:24.940 teach us to, to think about our days, to plan our days, to consider what we do, to consider what we 00:32:24.940 --> 00:32:30.460 do each day and order each day properly, and to think about each day in light of the days that are 00:32:30.460 --> 00:32:36.220 to come and to have in a sense a proper sense of how to organize your life. That's what it's 00:32:36.220 --> 00:32:40.940 telling us to do. It's say, God, help us in light of all of these things, the doxology, then the 00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:46.299 meditation upon what it means to, to, to be mortal and frail and, and, and have evil touch every aspect of us. 00:32:46.299 --> 00:32:51.500 And he says, Father, we need you to teach us to think about our, each day and all of our days, 00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:56.619 and to think about them, evaluate them correctly. And then it's leading us up to the big request, 00:32:56.619 --> 00:32:59.899 which is the second part of verse 12, that we may get a heart of wisdom. 00:33:01.019 --> 00:33:06.059 And in the original language, it's really cool. And you get it there in the English. But what he's 00:33:06.059 --> 00:33:10.700 really just saying is the heart is the very, very center of who we are, the very, very core of who we 00:33:10.700 --> 00:33:15.580 are. In a sense for the Bible, where does the mind, where does our thinking come from? Our thinking 00:33:15.580 --> 00:33:20.140 comes from our heart. Where do our affections come from? Where does our will, you know, where does our, 00:33:20.140 --> 00:33:25.420 our desires, all of those things all come from a certain key part. It's not as if, you know, we have 00:33:25.420 --> 00:33:30.620 a mind thinking these things and a heart thinking these things and they're, you know, the, the brain and 00:33:30.620 --> 00:33:34.940 the, the heart are, you know, they're separated by all those inches. It's, it's, no, there's one thing, 00:33:34.940 --> 00:33:39.259 one place at the very center of who we are that should be a unity, but it's often very, 00:33:39.259 --> 00:33:43.180 very fractured. And it's where everything comes from. And, and the Psalm is saying, 00:33:44.380 --> 00:33:46.860 God, could you put your wisdom, 00:33:48.940 --> 00:33:57.259 put your wisdom right in the center of where I am. And for the Bible, wisdom is a type of skill. 00:33:57.259 --> 00:34:05.980 skill. It's a skill that you're able to live a life skillfully at peace with the triune God, 00:34:05.980 --> 00:34:13.500 at peace with creation. You can live in this world with the skill of wisdom that will help you to live 00:34:13.500 --> 00:34:21.260 a moral life, a just life, a good life, a life that flourishes, and a life that is beautiful. That's 00:34:21.260 --> 00:34:25.739 what you're, that's what you're praying for when you ask that for to be wise, biblically speaking. 00:34:25.739 --> 00:34:31.739 Lord, help my life to be beautiful. Help my life to do, to do things that bring in beauty, 00:34:31.739 --> 00:34:37.659 that bring in justice, that, that flourish, that thrive, that bless, that are, are at peace with you 00:34:37.659 --> 00:34:42.139 and at peace with the created order. And so that's what he's saying in light of all of this human 00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:47.019 frailty. Father, help us to number our days right. How are we going to do that? Well, Father, I can only 00:34:47.019 --> 00:34:54.379 do that if you put, if you, you put your wisdom at the very center of who I am. 00:34:55.739 --> 00:35:04.779 And then, and then he prays out of that perception. And how he prays is very beautiful. Look at how he 00:35:04.779 --> 00:35:08.699 prays out of it in verse 13. By the way, you know, people say, well, what, you know, okay, George, you 00:35:08.699 --> 00:35:14.299 didn't give us any applications or all that. No, no. If you're trying to look for applications, there's no 00:35:14.299 --> 00:35:21.819 better application than to pray verse 12. Like, pray that every morning when you wake up, or verses 13 to 16. 00:35:21.820 --> 00:35:27.539 Like, why should I add something when the Bible's so profound? Don't listen to my stupid stuff. Like, look at the 00:35:27.539 --> 00:35:35.960 Bible, you know? And, and how does he pray? Return, O Lord, verse 13. How long? Have pity. In other words, turn to me. 00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:44.220 Look at me. How long? How long do I have to wait, Father, for, how long do I have to wait? 00:35:44.219 --> 00:35:50.319 Moses, of course, can pray this. Some of us pray this in our emotions because we're, we're struggling 00:35:50.319 --> 00:35:55.519 with depression, and we don't realize that God already loves us. But then he says, have compassion, 00:35:55.799 --> 00:36:02.059 verse 13. Have compassion on your servants. And notice they're not saying, I'm not, don't, don't have 00:36:02.059 --> 00:36:08.519 compassion on me because I want to be a God. I want to be, I want to, I want to be in your house. I want 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:14.179 you to be my king. I want you to be my master and have compassion on me. And listen to the beauty of 00:36:14.179 --> 00:36:20.420 verses 14 and 15. You know, you're looking for something to do to take away from this, and, and 00:36:20.420 --> 00:36:25.639 it's so astounding that that which is about a meditation upon death leads us to this prayer. 00:36:25.860 --> 00:36:32.360 When you meditate upon death, led by Psalm 90 in context of the doxology, you pray, 00:36:32.360 --> 00:36:39.380 satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. Isn't that a beautiful thing to pray? 00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:48.480 Father, could you satisfy me every morning with your steadfast love? That we may rejoice and be 00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:54.320 glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and as for many years as we 00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:58.840 have seen evil. And this is the wonderful thing about the Bible. It's a wonderful thing about God. It's 00:36:58.840 --> 00:37:03.700 the thing which is so beautiful, is that here Moses, 3,500 years ago, he's praying, you know, 00:37:04.059 --> 00:37:10.039 help us to just be, help us to be glad for as many days as we have a hard time. But God gives more. 00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:15.780 Like, Moses prays these things, and he doesn't realize that God is going to deal with this by 00:37:15.780 --> 00:37:22.100 sending God, the Son of God, to redeem human beings. And if you go and you take this, and then now you go 00:37:22.100 --> 00:37:28.640 meditate upon 2 Corinthians, the end of chapter 4, Moses and the people before Jesus, 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:33.679 we're just praying that you give us some happy days. And God says, I love you so much, I'm going 00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:39.000 to give you way more than what you're asking. The end of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, God says he's 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:51.659 preparing for his people an eternal weight of glory. Way more. And then verse 16 and 17, let your work be 00:37:51.659 --> 00:37:58.559 shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the beauty, the favor, you see a little 00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:04.400 note there, a better way to translate is, let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:11.619 the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. You see, when it says, let your 00:38:11.619 --> 00:38:16.340 work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children, it's saying, listen, week by week, 00:38:16.579 --> 00:38:21.980 friends, brothers and sisters, let's gather around the church, let's remember, Steve's going to be 00:38:21.980 --> 00:38:26.539 leading us in communion, and Steve's going to be, in a sense, causing us to remember what the greatest 00:38:26.539 --> 00:38:31.420 work that God has done, which is Jesus' death upon the cross for us. And it's not just that, it's why 00:38:31.420 --> 00:38:35.800 you read the Bible, it's why you have family devotions, it's why you have small groups, it's why you have 00:38:35.800 --> 00:38:42.300 friends, where you remember what God did to deliver the people of Israel, you remember Pentecost and the 00:38:42.300 --> 00:38:48.019 coming of the Holy Spirit, and you remember Jesus calming the storm, you remember God's mighty acts 00:38:48.019 --> 00:38:53.259 to save us, and you also maybe remember spectacular moments where God has answered your prayers, and you 00:38:53.260 --> 00:38:58.280 share with each other, and that's what you live out. But at the heart of it is, let the favor of the 00:38:58.280 --> 00:39:04.080 Lord be upon us. You see, here's the wonderful image of the whole psalm. He asks, on one hand, for the 00:39:04.080 --> 00:39:09.220 wisdoms, God's very wisdom to come to his heart, the center of who he is, and he asks for the beauty 00:39:09.220 --> 00:39:15.640 of the Lord to descend upon him and to come into him. And of course, for us who are Christians, you can see 00:39:15.640 --> 00:39:21.860 the image of the Holy Spirit there, but it's also just grace, and it's a way to discuss and understand 00:39:21.860 --> 00:39:29.900 what it is that Jesus has done for us on the cross. That on one hand, it was bloody, and there's 00:39:29.900 --> 00:39:34.760 excrement, and all that type of stuff, and it was horrible, but on the other hand, it's the most 00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:43.039 beautiful thing that's ever happened in the entire world. All we know are powerful people who send other 00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:49.260 people to die for them. And all of the ancient world, and even today, and the gods and goddesses 00:39:49.260 --> 00:39:54.000 that's practiced in India, and throughout all of Southeast Asia, and much of the world, it's always 00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:59.940 gods who cause others to die. And here we have the most profound and beautiful story in the world of a 00:39:59.940 --> 00:40:10.260 god who does not send others to die, but dies that others may live. And you know wisdom, right, about being able to do things? It doesn't lead us into despair. Like, if you think about death, you just end up, well, what's the point of doing anything? Now, our meditation of the world is not going to do anything. 00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:17.700 And you know wisdom, right, about being able to do things? It doesn't lead us into despair. Like, if you think about death, you just end up, well, what's the point of doing anything? 00:40:18.040 --> 00:40:29.000 Now, our meditation upon death has led us to this point in Psalm 90, where we're asking God for the skill to live beautifully, and justly, and well, and flourishing, and making a difference 00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:33.900 for others. Let that be at the very center of who we are as we're reconciled to him. 00:40:36.119 --> 00:40:37.440 And so we're led to say, 00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:41.199 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 00:40:41.719 --> 00:40:46.280 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting 00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:47.360 to everlasting, 00:40:48.380 --> 00:40:49.059 you are God. 00:40:54.460 --> 00:40:57.079 Brothers and sisters, it's important to remember this, 00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:01.360 and if you don't know where you are with Christ, and this is tugging at your heart, 00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:03.099 call out to him right now for mercy, 00:41:03.679 --> 00:41:04.920 and he will give you more. 00:41:05.480 --> 00:41:06.599 He will give you Jesus. 00:41:07.159 --> 00:41:08.179 He will give you more. 00:41:08.579 --> 00:41:09.259 Let's stand. 00:41:24.579 --> 00:41:25.719 Father, we ask that 00:41:25.719 --> 00:41:28.799 this psalm would deeply form us, 00:41:29.439 --> 00:41:31.359 that you would help us to meditate upon it. 00:41:31.439 --> 00:41:33.239 Father, maybe you've put it into some of our hearts, 00:41:33.299 --> 00:41:35.339 that we should memorize parts of this psalm. 00:41:36.059 --> 00:41:37.219 For some of us, Father, 00:41:37.319 --> 00:41:39.359 maybe there's parts of this psalm 00:41:39.359 --> 00:41:40.739 that we'd want to put on our mirror, 00:41:42.019 --> 00:41:44.139 so that when we look at ourselves in the mirror, 00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:45.319 we're also reminded 00:41:45.899 --> 00:41:47.599 of some of these profound truths. 00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:49.399 We ask, Father, 00:41:49.459 --> 00:41:51.759 that you help us to pray this over each other, 00:41:52.739 --> 00:41:54.239 and pray it over our days. 00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:56.259 And we ask, Father, 00:41:56.259 --> 00:42:01.019 that you would help us to so remember what Jesus has done for us on the cross, 00:42:01.079 --> 00:42:04.439 and be so grateful for his presence in our lives, 00:42:05.399 --> 00:42:07.479 in each of our lives. 00:42:07.699 --> 00:42:12.699 Father, that you would give us that ability to number our days, 00:42:12.699 --> 00:42:15.099 and that you would give us more and more wisdom. 00:42:17.099 --> 00:42:18.960 That mindful of the fact that we sin, 00:42:19.019 --> 00:42:22.699 and some of us have very serious secret sins of which we have to repent. 00:42:22.799 --> 00:42:24.399 And Father, for those of us who have that, 00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:27.179 we ask that you would help us to seriously repent, 00:42:27.379 --> 00:42:29.119 to bring that secret sin, 00:42:29.279 --> 00:42:30.460 sin out into the light, 00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:31.899 where you can deal with it, 00:42:31.900 --> 00:42:33.500 and it can be repented of. 00:42:33.559 --> 00:42:33.920 But Father, 00:42:33.980 --> 00:42:36.420 we ask that you help us to grow within us, 00:42:36.500 --> 00:42:37.980 that both that penitent heart, 00:42:38.059 --> 00:42:39.340 that you are our master, 00:42:39.480 --> 00:42:40.000 our savior, 00:42:40.240 --> 00:42:45.000 but that you would grant us a life that is characterized by a wisdom that comes from you. 00:42:45.059 --> 00:42:46.059 Not a wisdom of the world, 00:42:46.160 --> 00:42:47.680 not a Canadian wisdom, 00:42:47.780 --> 00:42:49.500 but a wisdom that comes from your word. 00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:51.420 And that we would live out of that. 00:42:51.639 --> 00:42:52.900 And that we would know it's wise. 00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:55.280 We would be unashamed of it, 00:42:55.639 --> 00:42:56.559 and rejoice in it. 00:42:57.139 --> 00:42:57.920 Humbly rejoice. 00:42:57.920 --> 00:42:58.720 And so, Father, 00:42:58.760 --> 00:43:00.579 we ask that you would make us wise, 00:43:01.220 --> 00:43:02.500 as your word teaches. 00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:04.860 We ask these things in the name of Jesus, 00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:06.680 and all God's people said, 00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:07.880 Amen.