WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.800 Alright, so we are doing a series on anxiety, and in this series we're talking about God 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:15.720 and anxiety. 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:24.640 And I put those things together, God and anxiety, because we're talking about God and how God 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:30.039 speaks to the issues of the psyche, the soul. 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:35.480 So God doing theology, thinking about what God says about himself according to his own 00:00:35.480 --> 00:00:41.760 revelation and asking how does that matter for the issues that human beings face in their 00:00:41.760 --> 00:00:44.359 psychology, what's going on in their soul. 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:49.280 And one of the big problems that we all face, and that many of us face more acutely than 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:52.040 others is the issue of anxiety. 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:55.879 And so we're talking about the problems of the inner life, specifically what the Bible 00:00:55.879 --> 00:01:01.519 calls the heart, which is the seat of our intellect, will and emotions. 00:01:01.519 --> 00:01:06.760 The Bible uses the word heart, we've said every week, to describe all of what we are. 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:12.159 It describes the totality of our being, the core of our self, where our self-consciousness 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:13.400 is seated. 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:18.400 When we talk about, when we say the word I, and we're aware of ourselves, we're revealing 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.400 our heart. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.440 That's what we really are at the bottom of everything. 00:01:24.440 --> 00:01:33.080 And so the Bible tells us that the heart can be wounded, depraved, is depraved, anxious, 00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:41.160 hopeful, sorrowful, yet rejoicing, down but not out, cast down but not destroyed. 00:01:41.160 --> 00:01:45.160 The heart can be in all sorts of conditions. 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:53.439 The state of the soul can be joyful while the circumstances on the outside are destructive 00:01:53.439 --> 00:02:00.280 in every way, or your circumstances can be amazing and yet the soul be entirely cast 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:01.920 down. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:08.120 And so the heart is susceptible to all sorts of conditions, the Bible tells us. 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.120 And one of the most significant of our age is anxiety. 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:17.920 And we mentioned the first couple of weeks that W. H. Auden is a famous poet that wrote 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:23.120 an epic poem in 1947 called The Age of Anxiety. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:30.080 It opens up with four people sitting in a bar in New York City trying to drink away their 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:33.000 post-war time sorrows. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:39.400 And the real legacy of that poem is not the poem itself, but the fact that almost every 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:45.039 sociologist, every psychologist, every theologian, whoever it might be that's thought about the 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.200 issue has said Auden was right. 00:02:47.200 --> 00:02:50.560 The 20th and 21st century is the age of anxiety. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:55.080 People are more anxious now than ever and we looked at statistics for that in our second 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:56.680 week and I won't rehearse those today. 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:03.040 But what we're doing tonight is exploring once more what it means to be lifted up in 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:10.479 heart, meaning to have a heart that's buoyant even when your circumstances are troubling, 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.439 to have a heart that can stand above the water line even when everything in your life is 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.560 trying to pull you down below the water line. 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:24.519 And so we said a couple times already that 1 John 3 is an important text, God is greater 00:03:24.519 --> 00:03:27.019 than your heart, the Bible tells you. 00:03:27.019 --> 00:03:31.879 God is greater than your heart, meaning God knows your heart, knows you better than you 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:33.560 know yourself. 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:37.719 And so one of the things we're doing here is praying, the prayer that I've mentioned 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:39.879 a couple of times from St. Augustine. 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:43.960 Augustine prays a prayer and it's a little bit complicated to just hear it for the first 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:53.840 time, but it's this, oh God, may I know you, may I know you God, that I might know me even 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.120 as I am known by you. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:04.759 Augustine, God, may I so seek your face, may I so know you, may I so dwell in communion 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:10.120 with you and know your attributes and be able to commune with you in a meaningful, powerful 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:17.840 way that I know who I am in the light of what you say about me so that I could even know 00:04:17.840 --> 00:04:20.360 myself as God knows me. 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:25.199 Could I turn and see myself in the way that God sees me? 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:30.240 And in that way, we can actually get down to what's going on in the depths of our heart 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:35.319 and see the smoke that's burning in the little temples in the midst of our hearts and know 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:38.079 what really is driving our anxiety. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:42.159 We have to know ourselves in the light of God to be able to find that out, to be able 00:04:42.159 --> 00:04:45.319 to really penetrate down and find our idols. 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:54.039 Now we've said every week that anxiety is a type of fear and it's a type of bad fear. 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:57.319 There are good fears and fear is an emotion. 00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:59.280 There are good fears. 00:04:59.280 --> 00:05:04.120 The fear of God is good, the fear of the Lord, or the fear that protects you when you need 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:07.920 to be protected from something that's trying to threaten you or kill you. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:13.480 That's good fear, but there's also bad fears and there's all sorts of types of bad fears 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.520 and anxiety is one of those. 00:05:16.520 --> 00:05:20.160 Anxiety is a subset, a type of bad fear. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:24.920 And that's why fear not is the most common command in all of the Bible. 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:27.160 It's the command that gets repeated more than any other command. 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:31.640 Fear not because there are so many different bad fears that we can face. 00:05:31.640 --> 00:05:34.040 And so anxiety is not like good fear. 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:37.080 Good fear is short lived. 00:05:37.080 --> 00:05:44.600 It strikes your autonomic nervous system and you react in good moments of good fear. 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:49.360 You save yourself, you flee, you fight, you do what you need to do to survive. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:57.759 But in bad fear, anxiety, you're dealing rather with a lingering fearfulness that lasts many, 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.840 many days over and over and over again. 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:02.240 It keeps coming up. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:11.560 And anxiety is a specific fear that's targeted at hypothetical circumstances that don't exist, 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:19.000 that could exist in your future, but are unlikely, particularly with the object of fear directed 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:25.879 to losses, losing things that you love, losing things that you have not yet gained, never 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:30.839 becoming what you want to be or losing that which you have become. 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:38.120 So it's fearing hypothetical losses that may or may not exist in the future and letting 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:43.360 those fears become fearfulness or angst in the heart. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:48.680 That is like a constant daily drizzle on the heart. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:55.360 And it does similar things to the body that immediate fear does to the body. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:00.400 Immediate fear triggers adrenaline in your nervous system to react. 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:02.960 And anxiety does that too. 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:07.920 And that's why anxiety can be so bad for the body because it does something over long 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:11.280 periods of time that the body's not meant to do. 00:07:11.280 --> 00:07:16.600 And so oftentimes we have physical symptoms before we ever even know we're actually anxious. 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:21.240 We know we're anxious because of the physical symptoms that are manifest in the midst of 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.240 the anxiety. 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:28.680 So four things that we've said so far. 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:34.920 What we're doing, what I've been doing is offering theological habits. 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:40.400 I'm calling them for a peaceful heart, meaning there's all sorts of physiological answers 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:41.400 for anxiety. 00:07:41.400 --> 00:07:45.560 There's all sorts of counseling issues that need to be talked through. 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:47.800 There's all sorts of reasons a person might be anxious. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:53.720 But all I can do, because I don't have any ability to talk about the other domains at 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:59.399 all, is to say that the Bible also offers some theological helps, helps that are given 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:01.680 to us by God. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.720 And each of these are habits, they're spiritual habits. 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:10.040 So they work well when they're performed daily. 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:12.439 And this is what we've said so far. 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:19.759 Whenever fear, fearfulness begins, anxiety creeps into your life. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.879 Talk to your heart about God. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.000 Do theology to your heart immediately. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:32.200 Tell your heart the domain of fearfulness, who the God you serve is. 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:36.799 And specifically it's talk to your heart about the lilies of the field and about the birds 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:37.799 of the air. 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:42.000 And this is what Jesus says in Matthew 6, meaning you've got to tell your heart how powerful 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:47.479 and in control your God is and how much he cares and how much he's upholding the world 00:08:47.479 --> 00:08:49.679 by the word of his power at every moment. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:54.039 And how you're in the image of God and so he cares for you so much more than the birds 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:55.039 and the lilies. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:56.039 So that's the first thing. 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:57.039 Talk to your heart about God. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.159 Secondly, pray your fears. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:04.079 So not only do you have to talk to the heart, but you've got to lift the heart up. 00:09:04.079 --> 00:09:05.199 You've got to pray your fears. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:10.840 As soon as fear creeps in, you've got to pray and lift up your fears before the Lord. 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:15.879 Thirdly, as you make plans in your daily life, and of course you have to do this, as you 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:21.560 make a one day plan, a week plan, a year plan, a five year plan, James 4 says you better 00:09:21.560 --> 00:09:23.480 say Lord willing. 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:28.360 Meaning you've got to be God conscious of your plans. 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:32.080 Meaning that you've got to say, I will only do what I hope. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.280 I'll only become what I hope. 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.039 I'll only do this even today if the Lord wills. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.319 The Lord is in control of my life. 00:09:39.319 --> 00:09:45.439 And so I'm giving my plans to God knowing that it's probably going to be the case that 00:09:45.439 --> 00:09:48.199 what I've planned is not going to happen exactly. 00:09:48.199 --> 00:09:52.559 So we're called to be God conscious in the way we make plans to say Lord willing. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:53.559 That's three. 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:56.319 And four is focus on today. 00:09:56.319 --> 00:09:59.720 There's a repetitive theme throughout the New Testament. 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:01.519 Matthew 6 is very clear. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:03.559 Don't worry about tomorrow. 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:07.159 Tomorrow will have trouble of its own focus on today. 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:09.159 Today is the day that exists. 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:12.639 Tomorrow doesn't exist and yesterday no longer exists at all. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.399 All that exists is right now, today. 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:21.319 And so yes, you have to make plans, but don't let the future become the enemy of the present. 00:10:21.319 --> 00:10:23.719 Meaning today is the day to be obedient to the Lord. 00:10:23.719 --> 00:10:26.759 Today is the day to repent of your sins. 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:30.399 Today is the day to commune with the living God. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:32.279 Today is the day to love God and love neighbor. 00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:34.879 Today is the day for action. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:37.159 And so there has to be a real focus on today. 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:41.399 Now I'm going to give you the last one tonight and we're going to do something a little different 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:42.399 next time. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:49.639 And the last one is to come back to Matthew 6, but to consider actually again Psalm 27. 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:53.839 And at the very end of Matthew 6, we're told instead of being anxious, I mentioned this 00:10:53.839 --> 00:10:59.679 last time, instead of being anxious, seek first the kingdom of God. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:06.079 So in order to not be anxious, we have to seek the kingdom of God first. 00:11:06.079 --> 00:11:11.359 And we said last week that that really means that we have to make sure we don't love something 00:11:11.359 --> 00:11:15.039 in this world more than God and His kingdom. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:20.399 But let's get more specific because there's something very specific in Psalm 27 about 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.199 what it means to seek first the kingdom of God. 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:32.400 But if you have a Bible, come there with me and if not, then just listen. 00:11:32.400 --> 00:11:34.520 Excuse me, sorry. 00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:36.640 So I'm going to read Psalm 27 one more time for us. 00:11:36.640 --> 00:11:38.879 The Psalm of David. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:42.400 The Lord is my light and my salvation. 00:11:42.400 --> 00:11:43.840 Whom shall I fear? 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.120 The Lord is the stronghold of my life. 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:48.280 Of whom shall I be afraid? 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:53.399 The evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes. 00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:55.519 It is they who stumble and fall. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.919 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.659 Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 00:12:02.659 --> 00:12:06.879 One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:12.000 of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:13.439 in His temple. 00:12:13.439 --> 00:12:16.439 For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble. 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:19.280 He will conceal me under the cover of His tent. 00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:21.840 He will lift me high upon a rock. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.760 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. 00:12:25.760 --> 00:12:29.520 And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. 00:12:29.520 --> 00:12:32.480 I will sing and make melody to the Lord. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:36.640 Heer, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. 00:12:36.640 --> 00:12:38.520 You have said, Seek my face. 00:12:38.520 --> 00:12:42.520 My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek. 00:12:42.520 --> 00:12:44.040 Hide not your face from me. 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:46.639 Hide not your servant away in anger. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.919 O you who have been my help. 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:49.919 Cast me not off. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:50.919 Forsake me not. 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:53.079 O God of my salvation. 00:12:53.079 --> 00:12:57.559 For my Father and my Mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:00.959 Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path. 00:13:00.959 --> 00:13:05.639 Because of my enemies, give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.039 have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:15.000 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord and the land of the living. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:16.000 Wait for the Lord. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:19.480 Be strong and let your heart take courage. 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:21.199 Wait for the Lord. 00:13:21.199 --> 00:13:27.079 Now we said last time that David here is listing all of these potential losses in his life. 00:13:27.079 --> 00:13:32.079 And we know that actually because of some of the ambiguity of the way the Hebrew text 00:13:32.079 --> 00:13:39.000 is translated, he's saying, if or when in the future my enemy rises up against me. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.840 Or, if my Father and Mother forsake me. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.759 He's talking about hypotheticals. 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:51.639 And we see David very actively, as God's Word, struggling with anxiety. 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:54.759 And the beginnings of the moments of fearfulness rising up. 00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:55.919 And so we saw what he did last time. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:57.600 We said he prayed. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.440 He immediately feared Godward. 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:01.960 He turned his worries Godward. 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:06.879 There's another big emphasis in the midst of that prayer that makes sense of what it means 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.000 to seek first the kingdom of God. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.000 Okay. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.840 And he says it in verse four very clearly. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.679 One thing that I asked of the Lord that I will chase after, I'll seek after, that I 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:22.720 may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:24.480 Why? 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:30.360 To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire into his temple. 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:38.440 Now we know here that he is talking about the temple, the tabernacle, the temple, yes. 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:41.480 But he's also talking about more than that. 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:45.399 Because he's not only saying that I could enter into the temple of God and gaze upon 00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:47.240 the beauty of the Lord all the days of my life. 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:54.440 But at the very end he says that I might see the face of God in the land of the living. 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:58.440 And there he's talking about life after death. 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:05.600 And so he's saying, Lord, my greatest prayer in the midst of my fear is that I could see 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.600 your face. 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:16.920 And the answer to anxiety, I think, the ultimate answer that the Bible gives is the beatific 00:15:16.920 --> 00:15:18.760 vision. 00:15:18.760 --> 00:15:26.120 Now I used the more weighty theological term there, the beatific vision. 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:27.640 What is that? 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:35.840 That's what Christians have called throughout century and century the hope of seeing, vision, 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.480 actually seeing the living God. 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:44.840 And it's beatific because it's blessed or beautiful. 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:50.319 And David very clearly throughout Psalm 27 over and over again says in the midst of his 00:15:50.319 --> 00:15:56.519 fearfulness, the great joy that I have in the midst of my anxiety is that I might see the 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:58.360 face of God. 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:02.360 And then he prays, Lord, help me to seek your face. 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:08.759 Help me then to desire that your face would be the thing that I want to see more than 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:10.199 anything else. 00:16:10.199 --> 00:16:13.960 And even more than that, that I could see that face in the land of the living. 00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:14.960 All right? 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:20.799 Now, you probably weren't thinking that the question, are you struggling with anxiety? 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.879 The answer is beatific vision. 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:25.600 But it is. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.000 And that's exactly what the Lord gives us, I think, in this passage. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.440 And I think that's what Jesus is saying ultimately, seek first the kingdom of God. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:37.800 In other words, seek first the king of the kingdom. 00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:40.840 And everything else will be put in its place. 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:44.360 But the ultimate answer to anxiety is the vision of God. 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:50.759 Now, the problem, let me flesh this out, the problem with the vision of God is that we're 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:58.439 told very clearly, multiple times in Scripture, that nobody can see God and live. 00:16:58.439 --> 00:17:06.359 And so the Israelites desire to see God at Sinai, and even Moses, God's greatest servant 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:08.079 wants to see God. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:09.079 And what does God say? 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:13.640 He says, well, I'll put you in the rock and you can, I'll pass by and you can catch a 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:15.240 glimpse. 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.920 But not even Moses could see the face of God and live. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.200 And that's because God is holy and we are sinners. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:28.800 And for sinners to stand in the presence of the holy God and to see God as he is, to behold 00:17:28.800 --> 00:17:32.560 him is to be judged. 00:17:32.560 --> 00:17:33.720 That's what our sin does. 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:39.800 It puts us at enmity and breaks communion, deep abiding communion with the living God. 00:17:39.800 --> 00:17:45.039 We're told in the New Testament, he dwells in Timothy, an inapproachable light. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:48.840 His light is that which is inapproachable for a human. 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:51.839 We cannot get close to it. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:59.519 And then in the New Testament, you start to hear things like this, 1 John 3, Dear friends, 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:06.759 what we shall become has not been made known. 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:12.599 But what we do know is this, we shall see him as he is. 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:14.000 Now what's the difference? 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:17.359 We're told all throughout the Old Testament and in some ways this is the great tension 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:24.879 of the Old Testament that Garden of Eden, we were made to commune with God in such a 00:18:24.879 --> 00:18:29.000 way that we walk with God and see him. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.839 And yet the entirety of the rest of the Old Testament is telling us over and over again 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.559 that no one could see God and live, that he dwells in an inapproachable light and not 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:42.039 even his greatest servant, Moses, could come and approach him face to face. 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:46.639 And then the New Testament opens up this horizon that says, here's the promise, you shall see 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.800 him as he is. 00:18:49.800 --> 00:18:56.520 And of course, that which stands between the two is the incarnation, is that God became 00:18:56.520 --> 00:19:03.640 man, is that we do see the living God in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:10.240 And we see the living God hung upon the cross, dying in our place, judged for us, for those 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.840 who were meant to walk in the Garden of God with God hand in hand. 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:17.759 Jesus Christ has opened up the Garden to us. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:23.679 He has removed the cherub that's guarding the gate of East, and pushing us East of Eden 00:19:23.679 --> 00:19:30.240 by the work of the cross so that we are enabled to see the living God by the power of the 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:33.799 cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:39.000 You see why anxiety and the vision of God are related. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:44.679 And it's this, you see why David's praying that he would not only get to see God, but 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.440 want to see God. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:57.000 And that's because we are scared, we are fearful to the degree that the things we desire most 00:19:57.000 --> 00:19:59.519 can die. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:08.240 We're afraid our fears correspond, they're proportionate with the degree that that which 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:12.960 we desire can be lost, can die. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:18.840 And if everything that you love the most can ultimately be lost, then it's going to make 00:20:18.840 --> 00:20:19.840 you scared. 00:20:19.840 --> 00:20:23.799 It's going to make you fearful all the time. 00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:31.319 And when we say instead in prayer, Lord, I want to see your beauty in the land of the 00:20:31.319 --> 00:20:34.680 living more than anything else. 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:42.680 In other words, the prayer is God, will you make yourself the greatest desire of my heart? 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:48.080 And that which you truly desire most can never be lost. 00:20:48.080 --> 00:20:51.039 And everything else is then put in its place. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:58.279 Seek first the King and his face and everything else will be added to you in its proportionate 00:20:58.279 --> 00:20:59.279 way. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:06.000 It will be put in its place. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:10.320 So as we come to a close. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:18.399 The theological habit today is to fight to desire God more than anything else. 00:21:18.399 --> 00:21:24.159 And I just want to say something about that briefly and more generally. 00:21:24.159 --> 00:21:31.039 And that's this Christianity offers all sorts of benefits. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:36.119 Intellectual benefits, historical benefits, emotional benefits, physical benefits. 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:41.959 I think that Christianity's power is endless because it's true. 00:21:41.959 --> 00:21:45.919 And one of the ways of talking about those benefits today is we often talk about the 00:21:45.919 --> 00:21:49.239 therapeutic benefits of Christianity, right? 00:21:49.239 --> 00:21:53.959 And Christianity does offer immense therapeutic benefits and people are often quite attracted 00:21:53.959 --> 00:21:58.079 to Jesus because of the hope of those therapeutic benefits. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.359 What are therapeutic benefits? 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:01.919 They're things like this. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:07.960 Jesus Christ offers you a way of dealing with the internal guilt that you may face over 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:10.360 past sins in your life. 00:22:10.360 --> 00:22:16.240 And Christianity comes and says, Jesus, if God is willing to forgive you for everything 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:20.840 you've ever done because of the cross, then you've got to be willing to forgive yourself 00:22:20.840 --> 00:22:25.240 because you can't set up a standard that's higher than the cross of Jesus Christ for 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:26.240 forgiveness. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:27.240 Right? 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.200 That's a therapeutic benefit. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:34.720 You are objectively forgiven at the cross, therefore you've got to let go of the guilt 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:36.279 of your past life, right? 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:39.080 Or another therapeutic benefit would be something like this. 00:22:39.080 --> 00:22:44.240 Jesus Christ gives you an identity that cannot be shaken in the midst of a world that tells 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:48.039 you to constantly rebuild your identity. 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.720 The Bible ultimately says, no, if you believe on the cross, you are in Christ and that's 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:52.960 who you are. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.680 And that is sure and founded. 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:59.759 And so subjectively, therapeutically, you've got to rest in that. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:05.080 You've got to cast your identity upon Him, founded in Him, or a third, final, one of 00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:07.519 the great ones. 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:14.960 Christianity builds a community unlike any other and can really care for anybody that's 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:17.320 lonely out in the world. 00:23:17.320 --> 00:23:22.039 Jesus Christ offers you a path out of loneliness through the church, through the community 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:23.039 that's founded, right? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:25.480 Amazing therapeutic benefits. 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:31.319 And they're often a person's first step into the world of Christianity. 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:40.799 However, Christianity primarily, not at the expense of the therapeutic, but right along 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:47.359 with it, before it, foundationally, in order to give the therapeutic, Christianity offers 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:50.359 God. 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.919 That's the true point of it all. 00:23:53.919 --> 00:24:01.079 Jesus Christ came into the world to give us God, to reconcile humans to the living God, 00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:05.519 so that we could commune ultimately with the maker that we were made for. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:06.519 That's really the point. 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:13.039 And so even, even, even saying the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of sins, you can't 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:19.399 see God without the forgiveness of sins, but the forgiveness of sins is not the point. 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.240 Jesus came to forgive us our sins at the cross so that we could get to God, so that he could 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:25.640 reconcile us to God. 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:31.920 And so God, communion with God, relationship with God, seeing God is the end-all be-all 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:35.400 of our religion, of Christianity, of the work of Jesus Christ. 00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:41.280 And it really, that means that it has to be the greatest hope and help of fighting the 00:24:41.280 --> 00:24:43.440 problems of anxiety in our life. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.320 Now, I'll just close with this. 00:24:47.320 --> 00:24:49.320 How do you do it? 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:53.240 Ultimately, Jesus has to combat. 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:55.000 So you can't do it. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:57.639 The return of Christ is cataclysmic. 00:24:57.639 --> 00:25:00.319 It's an entry into the world that we can't bring about. 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:03.159 We will see the face of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:25:03.159 --> 00:25:09.480 We celebrated the Lord's Supper on Sunday to remember the future promise that we will 00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:11.519 die in with him one day. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:14.159 But now we've got to do what David does. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:21.360 And that's first, we've got to pray what David prayed and say, Lord, I long to seek 00:25:21.360 --> 00:25:23.360 your face. 00:25:23.360 --> 00:25:30.279 Give me the presence of the Holy Spirit and help me to want you more than I want the things 00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:33.120 that I'm afraid of losing. 00:25:33.120 --> 00:25:35.120 And it has to be a theological habit. 00:25:35.120 --> 00:25:38.720 It has to be a daily prayer. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:45.759 Living in desire for God himself is really the secret of the Christian life. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:53.440 Secondly, we've got to meditate on God as we read Scripture. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:59.720 Meaning, our Scripture reading can't be information gathering. 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:05.120 So morning Scripture or evening Scripture, whenever it may be, is different actually 00:26:05.120 --> 00:26:07.120 than a Bible study. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:14.679 So I'll say something, let me be controversial maybe and say, don't do a Bible study in your 00:26:14.679 --> 00:26:16.039 morning readings. 00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:19.519 Don't do a Bible study in your evening readings. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.359 Leave Bible study for Bible study time. 00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:23.959 The church can schedule that. 00:26:23.959 --> 00:26:32.119 But in Scripture reading, don't gather bits of information as much as commune with God. 00:26:32.119 --> 00:26:39.119 So use Scripture actually to meditate on God throughout your reading. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.759 Read and pray simultaneously. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:47.959 And as you read and something's unveiled before you about God, pray it to God. 00:26:47.959 --> 00:26:55.199 And so try to work on focusing your reading Godward the entire time rather than as information 00:26:55.199 --> 00:27:00.359 or Bible study, as information gathering exclusively. 00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:01.759 Last thing is this. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:09.359 In verse 13, David pulls it all together and he says, I believe I shall look upon the goodness 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:15.799 of the Lord where in the land of the living. 00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:22.559 I believe, he's doing theology here, I believe I will look at the goodness of the face of 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.240 God in the land of the living. 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:29.599 And that means David here is talking about the resurrection. 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:36.519 And from the very beginning of the series, we've said that anxiety really exists because 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:44.159 we read the fact of non-being, death, the end of the road backwards into every little 00:27:44.159 --> 00:27:46.719 loss that we have in life. 00:27:46.719 --> 00:27:51.639 Every little loss that we experience is like a little death that's preparing the way for 00:27:51.639 --> 00:27:54.839 our death ultimately. 00:27:54.839 --> 00:28:01.919 But David comes, Jesus Christ, the greater David, David's great son who we're looking 00:28:01.919 --> 00:28:03.240 at on Sunday evenings right now. 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:10.039 He comes and he says that, this is the last word, he says the cross, the cross is God's 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:19.319 pronouncement that he would not leave you in the midst of your sin, ultimately forsaken 00:28:19.319 --> 00:28:22.480 and unable to approach him. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.200 He would not leave you in that state. 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:30.000 When you look at the cross, that's what he says, I love you and I will not leave you 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.000 outside of the Garden of Eden. 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:39.960 And then in the resurrection, he turns and says that there is a way out of angst absolutely 00:28:39.960 --> 00:28:47.880 and a way out of anxiety forever because death is the originator of all anxieties. 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:56.120 So the resurrection says to us that because death is dying in the Son of God, anxiety 00:28:56.120 --> 00:28:57.960 will die with it. 00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:04.560 You will, if you believe tonight, you will see the face of God one day in the land of 00:29:04.560 --> 00:29:07.840 the living, in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:29:07.840 --> 00:29:14.080 And the degree to which we can desire that more than anything else, we will be able to 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:18.879 really push back against our daily fearfulness. 00:29:18.879 --> 00:29:19.879 Let's pray together. 00:29:19.879 --> 00:29:28.919 Father, we ask now that you would make your face the great desire of our hearts. 00:29:28.919 --> 00:29:34.319 And you tell us Lord, in the erotic benediction, we say, may the Lord make his face to shine 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.919 now on you and us. 00:29:36.919 --> 00:29:40.559 And so we say that benediction as a prayer. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:47.960 Would you turn your countenance to us, your face, Lord, that we might see you in glimpses 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:54.079 even now and that we might long for the hope of the coming of Jesus all the more. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:56.079 And we pray this in Jesus' name. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:12.079 Amen.