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 --> 00:00:20.780 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.780 --> 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. 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:22.960 Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, you say things to us that go against our grain, and you say 00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:29.480 things to us that go against the grain of our culture. But we know, Father, that even though 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:35.120 we might be reluctant to think about it, that these are words that are true, words that we desperately 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:42.439 need, words that are good for us to hear and learn and mark and inwardly digest and live out of. 00:01:43.100 --> 00:01:48.700 So we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would do a gentle but powerful work in our lives this morning, 00:01:49.180 --> 00:01:54.460 and that in light of the gospel of Christ, that your word would come deeply into our hearts, 00:01:54.840 --> 00:02:00.060 and that it would form us. And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:02.700 Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:14.659 It's good to be back after four weeks of holidays. I'm looking forward to listening to Steve's sermons. 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:20.379 I've heard he did a really, really excellent job. So this week, I actually just started my first day 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:25.580 of work back officially on Friday, but every day, it was sort of how I work it to try to get most of my 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:31.120 holidays in. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, every day, I went in and did a bit of sermon work 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:35.960 in preparation. And I think it was on either the first or the second day, I bumped into somebody 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:41.520 that's a friend of mine that I haven't seen for quite a while. And he launched into this long 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:50.420 diatribe rant about, I guess what provoked it is he had, for the very first time in a couple of years, 00:02:50.419 --> 00:02:56.500 driven down King Edward Avenue, and just saw what you see when you drive down King Edward Avenue 00:02:56.500 --> 00:03:02.639 nowadays, right by Ottawa Little Theatre in St. Albans and the Shepherds. He'd been a volunteer 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:10.119 at the Shepherds for quite a few years. And it just launched him onto this rant about how things in 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:19.659 our country are just falling apart. And, you know, I'm listening to him, I had been starting to study, 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:27.460 obviously, Psalm 75. And I know that actually, Psalm 75 spoke to his rant. And I didn't know what to say, 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:33.099 I just listened. And afterwards, I was thinking, you know, sometimes, when we're dealing with people, 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:37.879 it's not about what we say, but about the fact that we listen. That's maybe all that I had to do that 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:41.060 time. It wouldn't have been very helpful if I'd actually said, oh, you know, actually, 00:03:41.060 --> 00:03:47.120 Psalm 75 speaks to that concern. But Psalm 75 actually does really speak to that concern. And 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:53.180 in an age where it's easily to be outraged, which is part of what our age is, it's an increasingly 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:59.719 an age of outrage, and an age where many people, for contradictory reasons on opposite ends of the 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:05.639 political spectrum, think that things are falling apart. The message of Psalm 75 is an important one for 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:11.619 us to hear. And so I invite you to turn in your Bibles with me to Psalm 75. And we're going to 00:04:11.619 --> 00:04:17.479 look at it. We took a break from going to the Psalms with Steve doing his sermon series on the 00:04:17.479 --> 00:04:22.779 difference between real Christianity and progressive Christianity. And now we're back to the Psalms for a 00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:29.419 couple of weeks. And then we're going to go back into the book of Acts. So it's Psalm 75. And let's look 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:37.420 and see what it is that it speaks to in an age of outrage. And here's how it goes. Actually, it's... 00:04:38.020 --> 00:04:42.480 Anyway, let's get... Let's go into... It begins with the postscript, which I don't think is up on the 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:48.220 screen, which I'll have to remember to keep putting up there because the postscript isn't something which 00:04:48.220 --> 00:04:57.120 is added. It's not added by the editors. It's actually part of the Bible. And it says to the 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:03.740 choir master, according to, do not destroy. In other words, that's the tune. This was originally meant to 00:05:03.740 --> 00:05:10.540 be sung in Hebrew. And it had a... It would have had a tune, do not destroy. And it's a Psalm of Asaph, 00:05:10.640 --> 00:05:17.280 a song. And Asaph, we would call him the Jono of King David's time, or the Deborah of King David's 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.859 time, the sort of the worship leader, the song leader. And this is something that he wrote. 00:05:21.059 --> 00:05:27.979 And here's how it goes. Verse one. We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks, for your name is near. 00:05:28.339 --> 00:05:35.759 We recount your wondrous deeds. Now, just sort of pause. First of all, when it says your name is 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:42.519 near, that's sort of an odd way of speaking. It's sort of like a figure of speech. And it means that 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:51.180 God's name being near means it's near their lips. It's almost as if, you know, if... I know they're 00:05:51.180 --> 00:05:56.740 very old-fashioned, but, you know, some people, they still use business cards, you know. And if I was to 00:05:56.740 --> 00:06:03.459 give somebody my business card, and on the back of it, I was to write my private mobile number, and in a sense, 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:09.399 I'm giving them not only my name, but I'm giving them the permission to give me a call, to be in contact with me. 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:15.560 It's my private thing. And so this is the same type of image with name. It's God saying, this is me. 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:21.959 I'm close to you. I want to speak to you. You can speak to me. And at the same time, it reveals a 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:26.839 little bit of his character and his person. So it begins, we give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks, 00:06:26.919 --> 00:06:32.799 for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. And it's actually really important to notice, 00:06:33.099 --> 00:06:36.899 because there's very important psychological advice in this one little verse. 00:06:36.899 --> 00:06:44.500 It doesn't tell me to be thankful. And that's good, because frankly, I don't always feel thankful. 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:50.639 And as we all know, telling somebody to feel something, that always works, right? No, never 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:54.699 works. You know, you should feel this. I don't feel that. You know, you wake up, you feel crappy. 00:06:55.319 --> 00:07:00.579 And so it's not saying you should feel thankful. What it's telling you to do is something that you can do, 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:07.579 even if you feel crappy, which is to give thanks, to recount the wonderful things that God has done. 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:16.439 And if you think about it for a second, that's actually one of the main aspects of a church service, 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:21.319 is in a church service, we give thanks, and we remember the things that God has done. We're going 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:26.659 to be celebrating the Lord's Supper a little bit. And we remember what Jesus said. And that's an 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:33.200 important part of the church service. So on one level, this all begins very, very simple and 00:07:33.200 --> 00:07:39.840 uncontroversial. And actually, to tell you the truth, you know, probably one of the things that 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:48.640 we need to curb the outrage that we might feel at different times, you know, you get something in 00:07:48.640 --> 00:07:54.600 Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or Twitter or X, I guess they call it now, and just fuels your outrage. 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.700 Maybe one of the things we need at that point in time is just to pause and give some thanks, 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:04.120 to try to dial down some of the outrage which the world wants to form within us. 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:09.720 But it goes from this to talking about something which is profoundly controversial in Canada. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:21.160 And I'm very Canadian. One of the Sundays that we were on holidays, we were at a church. 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:29.700 And, you know, it was in many ways, it was a very, very Canadian sermon. It was really a sermon on the 00:08:29.700 --> 00:08:35.759 power of positive thinking. And the thing about that sermon was at the end of that sermon, like, 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:41.060 nobody gets convicted of sin. They don't say anything that goes against the grain politically 00:08:41.060 --> 00:08:46.480 or culturally or anything like that. It's just a, you know, do this, feel good type of sermon. And part 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:53.360 of me wishes that I would just do feel good, you know, those types of sermons. But it's going to 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:59.500 talk about something now which is a bit, a couple of things which are actually quite controversial and 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:05.639 go against the grain of our culture. But this is what God speaks to us and we really need to hear it. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:11.779 And so I don't pick texts like this. In fact, towards the end of the sermon, you'll see why I picked this 00:09:11.779 --> 00:09:20.259 psalm to read today. I picked it because it helps us to understand Jesus and see how wonderful he is, 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:26.299 actually, and what he's actually done for us. But to get there, we need to look at some things 00:09:26.299 --> 00:09:32.159 which are a bit controversial. So what happens? Verses two to five, the way this psalm is set up is 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:39.480 Asaph says something, and then God says something. That's verses two to five. And then verses six to nine, 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:45.240 Asaph says something. And then verse 10, the last verse is God having the final word. So what is it 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:52.019 that God says? Look at verse two. I'm going to read two to five and then we'll circle back and look at it. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:10:01.220 At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity. When the earth totters and all its inhabitants, 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:10.220 it is I who keep steady its pillars, say la. I say to the boastful, do not boast. And to the wicked, 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:17.240 do not lift up your horn. Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with haughty neck. 00:10:18.259 --> 00:10:22.279 Now here's the first thing. Verse two, if you go back to it. At the set time that I appoint, 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:28.220 I will judge with equity. Now here's a problem with this Bible translation. I checked it at the eight 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:39.320 o'clock service. This Bible translation is from 2002. Actually 2001. It's from 2001. And so what's 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:45.060 happened is that word equity isn't the right word for today because equity doesn't mean now what it 00:10:45.060 --> 00:10:52.240 meant in 2001. In fact, what the Bible talks about is the opposite of what Canadians mean by equity today. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:58.639 So if you go to any of the DEI statements at the University of Ottawa, McGill, University of Toronto, 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:04.360 they'll tell you that they're practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion. And you'll define what equity 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:11.779 means. And what they mean by equity is the opposite of what the psalm means by equity. What they mean by 00:11:11.779 --> 00:11:18.220 equity is basically equity of results. So basically what they're saying is we're going to treat people 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:23.279 differently. We're going to treat them by different standards. We're going to give them different number of 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:30.100 resources or withhold resources to get the results that we desire. And that's what people mean by equity today. 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:37.180 That is not what the text means by equity. What the text means by equity is that God is actually the complete 00:11:37.180 --> 00:11:47.580 opposite, that God treats everybody the same. Doesn't have any favorites. Doesn't give anybody a pass and not a pass to 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:54.280 other people. He doesn't treat Jews one way by one standard and Amorites or Philistines or Canadians or 00:11:54.280 --> 00:11:59.700 something like that in a different manner. He treats everybody exactly the same by the same standards. 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:05.820 And that's what it's saying. So it's saying we give thanks to you, O God. We give you, sorry, at the set time 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:12.840 that I appoint, I will judge with equity. He's going to judge everybody by the same standard. There's not going to be 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:19.139 any differential treatment in terms of the standards by which he judges. And note that there's this claim 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:29.180 that when he says it's going to happen, he will judge every human being and nobody can escape it. 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:32.500 One of Canada's most favorite topics. 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:40.299 I don't want to make fun of it. It's, in fact, the whole psalm is going to return to this, the fact 00:12:40.299 --> 00:12:47.740 that God judges, God judges, God judges, God will judge, and it's inescapable. This summer, one of the 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:51.919 things that we did on our holidays is we went to Camp Iowa. And I don't know how many of you have been to 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:57.899 Camp Iowa. It's a really nice camp. But if you go to Camp Iowa, Camp Iowa is sort of near Westport. 00:12:57.899 --> 00:13:02.939 In fact, if you're going there from Ottawa, you go through Westport to get to Camp Iowa. And about, 00:13:02.939 --> 00:13:09.179 I don't know, half a kilometer, three quarters of a kilometer before you leave the paved road to go 00:13:09.179 --> 00:13:14.879 into unpaved roads to get to the camp. You know, there's one of those road signs that has a sharp 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:20.579 arrow and says you have to slow down. And in fact, in this one, it says 20. And in this, so, okay, 00:13:20.579 --> 00:13:25.240 I'm a fast driver. A lot of those arrow things, you know, you have to take the sharp turn. I know they're 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:30.060 not that sharp for me. I probably go a little bit over what they recommend. That may be sometimes 00:13:30.060 --> 00:13:35.539 way over what they recommend. But this time, when it says slow down to 20, you really need to slow 00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:42.820 down to 20. Because you're going straight, and all of a sudden, you do a tight, basically a tight U-turn. 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:48.299 You're going like this, and you go almost immediately to a sharp U-turn, and then almost to another 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:54.539 complete U-turn the opposite direction. And if you don't slow down to 20, or maybe even less, 00:13:55.319 --> 00:14:00.699 you're going to get into trouble. And the fact is that if the people who live there, the province 00:14:00.699 --> 00:14:06.259 of Ontario, the city, if they didn't put up a guardrail and that type of sign, they wouldn't 00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:12.099 be very loving to us, because I would go right into the river. And so would you. Like, you need that 00:14:12.099 --> 00:14:16.879 sign to warn you that you've got to really slow down. In fact, in this case, you've got to do a U-turn. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.080 And so that's how we have to understand when God says things like this about his judgment. He 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:28.820 doesn't just, I mean, it's really one of two things. If this is not true, then the text is cruel. 00:14:30.340 --> 00:14:36.139 It's cruel to tell people of something that's going to happen that's bad if it's never going to happen. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:42.600 It would be cruel, you know? But on the other hand, if it's actually going to happen, it's the most 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:49.159 loving thing in the world you can do to warn people, you need to do a U-turn because God is 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:53.940 actually going to judge. And he's not going to say, he's not going to give you a pass because you're a 00:14:53.940 --> 00:14:58.440 Canadian. He's not going to give you a pass because you sat in a church service. He's not going to give 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:03.060 you a pass because you think you're a good person. He's going to judge you by these standards. And as 00:15:03.060 --> 00:15:07.860 you're going to see, it means that unless, well, we'll see what the rest of the psalm says. 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:13.560 But it's a very, very stark warning that he's going to judge. But here's the other thing about 00:15:13.560 --> 00:15:19.159 it. Look at verse 3. When the earth totters and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:29.240 pillars. Now, here's part of the thing that I could have said to my friend. It's part of the Christian 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:37.200 hope. Christians should be realists. Like, we should be able to look at what goes on in King Edward. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:41.180 And many of the things that are going on in the city, that there are, in fact, lots of things in 00:15:41.180 --> 00:15:46.340 this city that are broken or that seem to be falling apart. And we should be realistic about 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:51.160 that. We shouldn't be seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. But at the same time, 00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:56.860 for we as Christians, there should be at least more than a little bit of Christian hope as we look at 00:15:56.860 --> 00:16:02.280 things. Because what this text is saying is that there's always going to be a limit to how much God 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:08.139 allows things or for how long God will allow things to go completely off the rails. That there is a 00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:15.139 measure of common grace that God extends to the human race in terms of trying to limit the results of 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:21.419 human evil. And obviously, there can be times of great tragedy. You know, we think of, you know, the 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:30.419 Holodore in Ukraine and other times like that, the slavery, chattel slavery in the U.S. South for many decades. 00:16:30.419 --> 00:16:39.559 And they can go on for a while. But we can look at it knowing that no evildoer ultimately gets away 00:16:39.559 --> 00:16:46.039 with what they do, that there is a God who will judge. That means that right and wrong and justice 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:53.059 and injustice still matters. And also that there is a God who uses his common grace to try to restrain 00:16:53.059 --> 00:16:58.899 it. And on one hand, that's a profound hope. It's also a profound challenge for a Christian, by the way, 00:16:58.899 --> 00:17:03.059 because it's this text isn't telling us this. So it says, okay, well, it's all right. God's just going 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:07.220 to get rid of all the really terrible people in the province, in the country, in the world, and in the 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:12.440 city. And he's going to hold things together. So I'm just going to go to my man cave and just gorge 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:17.900 myself on sports and all sorts of poutine and stuff like that. And let the world just, you know, God's 00:17:17.900 --> 00:17:22.119 going to handle the world. No, no. See, the powerful thing for us who end up calling ourselves 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:28.500 followers of Christ is that this is an incentive to confront evil, because God's not going to give 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:35.939 any evil a pass. And it's an incentive to try to be salt and light in our culture, to try to fix the 00:17:35.939 --> 00:17:41.459 broken things so that they work better. Why? Because when we do that, we're working in the same direction 00:17:41.459 --> 00:17:45.419 as to what God's trying to do. It's the same thing. It's worth a while for a Christian to be a doctor. 00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:51.660 Why? Because God heals. Right? And so that's actually a profound encouragement to us. 00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:57.720 And it was some of that that I wished I could say to my friend. But afterwards, as I said, 00:17:57.740 --> 00:18:01.080 it probably was the thing that he really needed at that point in time was just somebody who would 00:18:01.080 --> 00:18:10.580 listen to him and not accuse him of being politically incorrect or anything like that. But it's a profound 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:17.740 hope. And now after, so the first thing that God does when he speaks is that he reveals this. He's 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:24.619 going to judge. He's a God of grace is introduced with this idea of common grace that he does hold 00:18:24.619 --> 00:18:30.419 things together. And now there's a warning to those of us who do evil. Look at what he says in verses 00:18:30.419 --> 00:18:36.839 four and five. I say to the boastful, do not boast. And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:47.220 Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with a haughty neck. That's a weird phrase, eh? An arrogant 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:57.500 neck, an insolent neck, a prideful neck. And so the horn here is an image of dignity. And it's an image 00:18:57.500 --> 00:19:06.819 of power. And so what he's saying is there is a way to be human that God's will be able to 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:18.359 to have to have too great a concern about your own dignity. It goes beyond your own dignity to 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:22.980 thinking that you're far better than other people, that the rules don't apply to you, 00:19:23.899 --> 00:19:28.899 that what God has to say about how God calls you to live does not apply to you. Thank you very much. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:34.059 You can have that opinion, God, but thank you. I actually don't think what you say matters. I'm 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:41.019 to do what I want, that are full of, whether it's out public in terms of promoting themselves, 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:46.399 or just inwardly in terms of the way that you have a sense of superiority, even while you're 00:19:46.399 --> 00:19:51.359 silent, and you can have that superior smirk on your face, even if you don't say anything in a 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:56.139 meeting, and that God sees all of these things, and he warns that these things are the types of 00:19:56.139 --> 00:20:01.119 things that he's going to judge. And we might think that this describes other people, but it 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:06.559 doesn't describe us, but it describes the people we see on King Edward Avenue, and the people we see 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:11.439 on the other side of King Edward Avenue, who live in the expensive houses, and live in the expensive 00:20:11.439 --> 00:20:18.379 condos. It describes anybody who's far from God. And we might not think it applies to us, but it does 00:20:18.379 --> 00:20:22.819 apply to us if all of a sudden we were to be confronted with what God says about sex. 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:30.059 I mean, we just entered Pride Week this week. I mean, it's Pride Week. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:34.219 And they're proud about everything that God says is wrong. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:40.659 Okay, you talked about that. Let's get more personal. 00:20:43.019 --> 00:20:47.739 God's Word says you need to be financially generous to the point of actually having it hurt you. 00:20:48.500 --> 00:20:52.839 That you need to be financially generous in such a way that it might mean that rather than getting 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:57.679 a new car every 10 years, you're going to have to get a new car every 15 years, or a new car every 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:01.620 five years, you're going to have to get it seven or eight years, because in fact you're financially 00:21:01.620 --> 00:21:06.220 generous. And then you think, well, why on earth would God say anything about my money? My money is 00:21:06.220 --> 00:21:11.060 my money. How dare he say something about my money? How dare he say something about my time, 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:17.580 that I should be part of a small group or come to worship on a Sunday morning? My time is my time. 00:21:17.579 --> 00:21:24.240 Like, see, if all of a sudden we could confront it about money or about how you deal with, or forgiveness, 00:21:25.139 --> 00:21:30.799 that God calls us to forgive that other person. Well, God has no right to say something like that. 00:21:30.859 --> 00:21:35.539 He doesn't know my husband. He doesn't know my wife. He doesn't know my boss. He doesn't know my kids. 00:21:35.679 --> 00:21:38.079 And that's just the wrong... No. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.960 Well, that's what's being described. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:51.259 And we might all nod because of just the crowd that we are when I mention the Pride Week, but we 00:21:51.259 --> 00:22:00.500 don't nod when we mention money or generosity or forgiveness or a whole range of other aspects, 00:22:00.879 --> 00:22:06.539 compassion to the poor, which is an important biblical virtue and practice. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:15.099 But it all reveals a heart which is boastful, a neck which does not want to acknowledge God, 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:18.759 that doesn't want to bend to him, that doesn't want to receive his yoke. 00:22:20.379 --> 00:22:27.179 And those of us who are described by this, we're warned. We're warned. 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:32.659 Now, actually, you know, it's really funny. Pascal, Blaise Pascal, a Christian philosopher, 00:22:32.659 --> 00:22:37.619 has this wonderful section in some of his writings that just really tries to tweak us 00:22:37.619 --> 00:22:45.479 because it's very easy for those of us who are smart or powerful, who have high positions, 00:22:45.479 --> 00:22:50.139 and even those who don't but are trying to work towards it. And there's many, many people, 00:22:50.139 --> 00:22:54.799 and they can sit down and they can think they understand economics, and then a couple of minutes 00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:00.500 later they can display how they know things about biology in the cells, at the cell, and then they'll 00:23:00.500 --> 00:23:05.279 talk about politics, and then they'll talk about culture, and then they'll talk about astronomy, 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:10.639 and then they'll talk about relationships, and they just think they can encompass everything. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:15.500 They can encompass, they have this type of mind, and this type of will, and this type of education 00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:20.779 that can encompass this knowledge, and we're great, and we think that these are all things 00:23:20.779 --> 00:23:25.059 that we've accomplished, and we can be filled with our own greatness, and all of these things 00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:33.059 which we can do and rule and how things should be set up, and we die because we receive a microscopic virus. 00:23:33.059 --> 00:23:46.179 We're in the midst of our thinking about how great we are. 00:23:46.179 --> 00:23:51.859 We can't concentrate because a two-year-old is making a noise in the other room. 00:23:51.859 --> 00:23:57.139 And we never stop to think, really? 00:23:57.139 --> 00:24:04.500 Am I really so godlike with my knowledge and power that a microscopic virus will kill me, 00:24:04.500 --> 00:24:09.379 or that the sound of a two-year-old will upset me, and I can't even think or... 00:24:09.379 --> 00:24:12.740 Like, we don't even puzzle about that. We just get mad. 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:16.500 We have a haughty neck. We boast. 00:24:16.500 --> 00:24:27.140 But now grace comes back in a very, very unusual way. 00:24:27.140 --> 00:24:35.539 Asaph, in verses 6 to 9, talk about this journey of grace, and it's a bit of a mystery and a riddle 00:24:35.539 --> 00:24:43.220 that only Christ will have to make clear. Look what happens, verse 6. So Asaph speaks in verse 1, 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:49.860 God speaks, verses 2 to 5, and then from 6 to 9, Asaph speaks, and then verse 10 is God having the final word. 00:24:49.860 --> 00:24:53.700 And here's... Look what he says in verse 6. It's a warning now to the boastful. 00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:58.740 If your heart's maybe been pricked by this, he said, well, you know, maybe that is me, you know? 00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:02.819 Maybe... I wonder why I've never thought about the fact that I think my... 00:25:02.819 --> 00:25:08.500 I can encompass everything with almost godlike powers, you know, microscopic virus will kill me. 00:25:08.500 --> 00:25:16.099 Verse 6, For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up. 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:24.099 But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:29.220 Now, it's that's a, you know, it's not that complicated to understand that. It's just saying, 00:25:29.220 --> 00:25:34.099 well, listen, uh, George, if you're now looking for something to deal with this, you can go all the way to the east, 00:25:34.099 --> 00:25:37.939 you can go all the way to the west, you can go to the wilderness, people who claimed have had mystical 00:25:37.939 --> 00:25:41.619 experiences, but if you go to other people and all that, you're just going to meet other people 00:25:41.619 --> 00:25:46.099 who have the same exact problem with you as you do, and that's... You're not going to actually get a 00:25:46.099 --> 00:25:49.859 solution from them. You can get some insights and all, but you're not going to actually get anything 00:25:49.859 --> 00:25:58.419 from them. And that, in fact, the reason is that it's God who executes judgment, and he puts down 00:25:58.420 --> 00:26:03.220 and lifts up. And by putting down here, it doesn't mean like putting you down, like, you know, calling 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:09.380 you a name or something like that. It's actually a sort of a... It's an image of ruin. 00:26:15.620 --> 00:26:22.019 I mean, none of us wants to see if... Not if, when I die, if I die before Jesus returns 00:26:22.019 --> 00:26:33.940 and you see me unembalmed, just left out in the wild for a month, you see a ruined being at the end of the month. 00:26:37.139 --> 00:26:41.700 I might have been strong at one point in time. I believe it or not, I didn't always have hair 00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:53.299 this color. It used to be dark. But God puts down. And then this very wonderful issue, 00:26:53.779 --> 00:26:57.220 image of redemption and salvation, God lifts up. 00:26:59.940 --> 00:27:03.860 And then we have this very pregnant phrase in verse 8. 00:27:05.460 --> 00:27:10.900 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, 00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:21.140 well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. 00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:27.140 Now, this is an image of God's judgment. 00:27:28.900 --> 00:27:35.620 And it's an image which is also found in Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Lamentations. 00:27:35.619 --> 00:27:40.500 And, well actually, you know, here, before I say anything about it, 00:27:43.939 --> 00:27:50.899 most of us maybe don't notice this, but all four Gospels refer to a cup just before Jesus dies on the 00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:57.220 cross. If you look at Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all three of them recount that after Jesus is instituted 00:27:57.220 --> 00:28:05.220 the Lord's Supper, they go out to a place to pray, and Jesus goes off by himself, and all three of the 00:28:05.220 --> 00:28:14.259 Gospel writers record part of what Jesus says to the Father. If you look it up, I'll just give you one of 00:28:14.259 --> 00:28:21.140 them. It's Luke 22, verse 42. You'll hear what he says. And all of them basically record the same thing. 00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:26.740 Luke 22, verse 42. And in Luke 22, verse 42, Jesus says this, 00:28:29.140 --> 00:28:38.259 Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. 00:28:39.780 --> 00:28:45.780 And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this. And this takes place just shortly before the soldiers 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:51.379 come and arrest Jesus. And of course, then he's tried, he's whipped, he's crucified, he dies on a 00:28:51.379 --> 00:28:57.940 cross. John records something that happens after this, after Jesus is captured by the soldiers. 00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:04.660 So he doesn't have that particular incident, but even after the soldiers come, in John chapter 18, 00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:12.259 verse 11, we have this, the soldiers come, Peter takes out a sword, he's going to fight the soldiers off, 00:29:12.259 --> 00:29:23.220 and Jesus says to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father 00:29:23.700 --> 00:29:30.259 has given me? So Jesus prays this prayer that God says no to. Jesus says, could you take this cup from 00:29:30.259 --> 00:29:37.619 me? And God says no to Jesus. Jesus heard, the Father heard Jesus' prayer, he just said no. 00:29:37.619 --> 00:29:47.459 Jesus doesn't sin in asking the cup to be taken away. But God doesn't take the cup away. And now as 00:29:47.459 --> 00:29:55.539 the soldiers have come and his going to the cross has begun, Jesus says to Peter, shall I not drink the 00:29:55.539 --> 00:30:03.539 cup that the Father has given me? And that is the cup, if we go back to Psalm 75, verse 8, that's the cup 00:30:03.539 --> 00:30:11.539 that's being referred to here. And so what is the cup? Those of you who have a love for fantasy novels 00:30:12.339 --> 00:30:19.139 have an advantage over the rest of us when it comes to this image. And if you like fantasy novels or 00:30:19.139 --> 00:30:27.299 fantasy movies, you can easily picture up the some type of, there's often some type of, you know, 00:30:28.019 --> 00:30:33.619 image of blackness and evil and power going into a cup. And this is a sort of a twisted, 00:30:33.619 --> 00:30:38.500 a slight version of that. And it's as if every time George does something wrong, 00:30:39.379 --> 00:30:44.180 God takes that in all of its evil and he takes a little bit out of it. It's still within me, 00:30:44.180 --> 00:30:49.859 but he takes a little bit about it and he puts it in a cup. And not only the things that I do that 00:30:49.859 --> 00:30:54.500 are wrong, but the things I should do that I didn't do, that's also wrong. He takes it out, 00:30:54.500 --> 00:30:59.619 he puts it in a cup. It begins from the time I can make moral choices. And so you can just imagine 00:30:59.619 --> 00:31:04.980 by the time you get to my age, which is a little bit like I'm past the teenager years and the early 00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:10.339 twenties, I have a long, I have decades worth of stuff that's gone into that cup. 00:31:11.779 --> 00:31:19.140 And it's gotten really concentrated. And it's not just that, it's also that what goes into the cup, 00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:25.460 and this is what makes it a cup of judgment, is that we actually experience 00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:35.220 the revulsion, how toxic my wrongdoing. I will experience in a sense, or in that cup is the 00:31:36.100 --> 00:31:44.980 me experiencing how toxic and revolting my wrongdoing is in all of its fullness. 00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:49.380 Those of you who have read the book, The Silver Chair and the Narnia Chronicles, 00:31:50.500 --> 00:31:56.099 there's a very powerful scene. This isn't a spoiler alert, but there's a scene late in the book or 00:31:56.099 --> 00:32:02.980 middle of the book or something like that, where Puddleglum, one of the characters, he's eaten a meal, 00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:10.099 and then he realizes that the meat that he ate came from a talking animal. And in the Narnia world, 00:32:10.099 --> 00:32:14.980 there's like dumb beasts, like the cows and dogs and all that we have around us. But there's also, 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:22.419 in a sense, animals which talk, which are persons. And he realizes that because he has done things 00:32:22.419 --> 00:32:27.939 against what Aslan has desired, he has, in a sense, experienced this punishment, and he actually eats 00:32:27.939 --> 00:32:33.939 a talking beast. So it would be the exact same thing as if I was to eat something, and then afterwards, 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:38.580 I realized that the person, I ate another, I ate a human being. 00:32:41.059 --> 00:32:45.700 That that hamburger that I had that I thought was sort of tasty was actually, the person who made it for 00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:53.140 me was a very evil person. And in the story with Puddleglum is like retching, just as we would retch 00:32:53.140 --> 00:32:59.140 if we thought that we'd actually eaten another human being. And what goes into the cup is that God's clarity, 00:32:59.140 --> 00:33:15.780 God's judgment. And so verse 8 says, for the hand of the Lord, in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup 00:33:15.780 --> 00:33:22.100 with foaming wine well mixed. And he pours it out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drink 00:33:22.099 --> 00:33:30.099 it down to its dregs. You know, quite a few years ago, I had a person that I'd share the gospel with 00:33:30.099 --> 00:33:34.659 quite a few times. And then one day he asked me, do you think I'm going to hell out of the blue? 00:33:37.219 --> 00:33:43.219 And I gave a bit of an answer, probably not as good an answer as I wish I could have given, but I did 00:33:43.219 --> 00:33:51.059 give a bit of an answer. It would have been wrong for me to say no, by the way. But what I really should 00:33:51.059 --> 00:34:03.619 have said is this. Actually, could you put the point up, Claire? Jesus drank the cup of wrath 00:34:03.619 --> 00:34:10.340 that you deserve, and in its place offers you the cup of the new covenant as a pure gift of grace. 00:34:11.219 --> 00:34:16.420 See, this is the powerful, if you think about it, it's really interesting that in all of the gospels, 00:34:16.420 --> 00:34:20.820 the three gospels, not because John's gospel doesn't recount the institution of the Lord's 00:34:20.820 --> 00:34:26.980 Supper, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, before Jesus goes to the garden, and before he's going to be crucified, 00:34:26.980 --> 00:34:33.860 he institutes the Lord's Supper, and he says that this cup is a new covenant in my blood which is 00:34:33.860 --> 00:34:40.260 offered for people who put their trust in him. And so in the whole flow of the gospel, we have this 00:34:40.260 --> 00:34:47.460 profound image, the cup of God's judgment and wrath that I deserve. When I see Jesus dying on the cross, 00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:53.860 what I am seeing is Jesus taking the cup that I deserve to drink, and he drinks it for me. 00:34:54.420 --> 00:35:01.140 And he doesn't just drink it for me, and then I just have to go. He, before that, he offers me this cup of 00:35:01.139 --> 00:35:08.500 the cup of the Lord's Supper, a cup saying, I have, I have, what I am about to do, I'm going to drink the 00:35:08.500 --> 00:35:13.940 cup that you deserve, and because of that, I can offer you this cup of the new covenant. You can come 00:35:13.940 --> 00:35:20.659 into a new relationship with me. You can come into a new relationship with your creator, and it's a 00:35:20.659 --> 00:35:26.019 relationship of peace. You're reconciled to him. Your guilt has been dealt with. The punishment that you 00:35:26.019 --> 00:35:32.019 deserve, it's been dealt with. I'm going to drink that cup for you so that you can enter into this 00:35:32.019 --> 00:35:38.820 new covenant where I, you can drink this new covenant. I drink your cup. I give you mine. 00:35:40.099 --> 00:35:41.699 Who wouldn't want to take that deal? 00:35:47.940 --> 00:35:54.579 See, that's what's so wonderful about Jesus. You see, what I guess I should have said to that person is, 00:35:54.579 --> 00:36:02.019 you know what? You and I have a cup that we need to drink, and the only thing that separates you and me 00:36:03.699 --> 00:36:11.380 is that God's Holy Spirit has led me to the point where I'll accept that Jesus drinks that cup that I 00:36:11.380 --> 00:36:17.219 deserve to drink, and in its stead, I will accept this cup of the new covenant. 00:36:17.219 --> 00:36:24.579 And I should have said, you have that cup, and he'd like to drink yours for you too, and offer you the 00:36:24.579 --> 00:36:33.379 new cup. Would you do it? And I was too tongue-tied and too caught by surprise to say it. I still pray for 00:36:33.379 --> 00:36:35.379 the person, by the way. 00:36:35.380 --> 00:36:43.300 And that's why in verse 9, you see, so this whole psalm isn't about that there's somehow wicked 00:36:43.300 --> 00:36:47.780 people and righteous people, and that I'm somehow more righteous than other people. No, no, no, no. 00:36:48.019 --> 00:36:54.820 My cup is very foul, and it would have unmade me to have drunk it. And look at what verse 9. 00:36:55.380 --> 00:37:00.260 But I will declare it forever. I will sing praises to the God of Jacob, right? It begins with saying, 00:37:00.260 --> 00:37:04.260 I'm going to recount what you've done. I'm going to give you thanks. And now it says, I'm going to sing 00:37:04.260 --> 00:37:09.220 praises to the God of Jacob. That's the God of the covenant. And then God has the final word. All the 00:37:09.220 --> 00:37:14.820 horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. See, that's the 00:37:14.820 --> 00:37:19.460 wonderful thing. The horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. In other words, you know, I, in a sense, 00:37:19.460 --> 00:37:24.340 have a proper type of power. I have a proper type of dignity. And it isn't as if when I give my life 00:37:24.340 --> 00:37:30.100 to Christ that all of a sudden I'm going to become a doormat. No! What happens is when I enter into 00:37:30.099 --> 00:37:35.619 this new relationship with Christ, he starts to restore to me a proper dignity. He helps me to 00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:41.299 understand my proper power under him. He starts to put into my heart the things that I can do and 00:37:41.299 --> 00:37:45.619 look around it. Maybe you're in the civil service and you can do something about some, sorry, some of 00:37:45.619 --> 00:37:50.819 the legislation. Maybe he's put you in business and you can do something about fair, sort of fair 00:37:50.819 --> 00:37:54.900 employment or full employment. You know, maybe he's made you in a neighbor and you can do something 00:37:54.900 --> 00:37:59.940 about trying to keep your street clean or, or, or, or being a person who can be a listening ear. But he, 00:37:59.940 --> 00:38:05.059 he gives you power, he gives you a type of dignity. He doesn't remove you and make you a doormat. 00:38:05.059 --> 00:38:09.300 But he, the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. 00:38:11.539 --> 00:38:13.059 That's the promise of the gospel. 00:38:16.579 --> 00:38:17.940 I'm going to ask you all to stand. 00:38:17.940 --> 00:38:29.380 And I'm going to, I'm going to read a prayer. And don't put it up on the screen yet, Claire. I'm 00:38:29.380 --> 00:38:33.220 going to read a prayer. I have to find it first. Sorry about that. 00:38:33.219 --> 00:38:42.899 This is a, it's called, those of you who have been Anglicans for a long time, it's called the prayer of 00:38:42.899 --> 00:38:48.739 general thanksgiving. And I'm going to invite you to pray it with me. And I'm going to read it before 00:38:48.739 --> 00:38:53.619 you so you don't start to pray it and then come up upon something you don't like. And for some of us, 00:38:53.619 --> 00:38:59.139 this, this song, this general thanksgiving powerfully captures the message of this thing, that it's good for 00:38:59.139 --> 00:39:05.460 my soul to recount what Jesus has done for me and other things that God has done for me. It is good 00:39:05.460 --> 00:39:13.379 for my soul to give thanks for what God has done. It is good for my soul to praise him. And, and so 00:39:14.179 --> 00:39:21.139 I'm going to invite us in a moment to pray this prayer with me. And for some of us, this is just 00:39:21.139 --> 00:39:27.379 something that we just really want to do. For some of us, you know, maybe we've been gotten weighed down 00:39:27.380 --> 00:39:31.220 by the world or we've wandered far from God, or we've started to doubt whether we should be 00:39:31.220 --> 00:39:37.220 Christians. And this can, in a sense, be a recommitment to Christ. And, and for some who've 00:39:37.220 --> 00:39:44.579 never given their lives to Christ, this can be your conversion prayer. You're giving yourself to Christ. 00:39:47.140 --> 00:39:52.180 And I'll read it and then we'll pray it together. And it goes like this. It's a many, many, many, many, 00:39:52.179 --> 00:40:01.059 many centuries old prayer, deeply biblical. Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, your unworthy 00:40:01.059 --> 00:40:08.179 servants, do give you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and 00:40:08.179 --> 00:40:15.699 to all people. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. 00:40:15.699 --> 00:40:25.059 But above all, for your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:40:25.699 --> 00:40:32.819 for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. By the way, the means of grace, that means like Bible 00:40:32.819 --> 00:40:39.699 reading, it means the Lord's Supper, it means small groups, it means church, it means Christian books, 00:40:39.699 --> 00:40:45.699 it means the Lord's Supper, it means the Lord's Supper, it means the Lord's Supper, it means the Lord's Supper. 00:40:45.699 --> 00:40:53.139 Give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, 00:40:54.019 --> 00:41:02.739 and that we show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves 00:41:02.739 --> 00:41:09.539 to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days, 00:41:10.179 --> 00:41:15.219 through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory world 00:41:15.219 --> 00:41:20.979 without end. Amen. For some, this can be a recommitment. For some, it's just so glad I have a chance to say 00:41:20.979 --> 00:41:27.699 it, and for some it can be your conversion prayer. And so would you pray it with me now? Together. 00:41:27.699 --> 00:41:36.899 Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, your unworthy servants, do give you most humble and 00:41:36.899 --> 00:41:44.739 hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people. We bless you for 00:41:44.739 --> 00:41:52.980 our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your inestimable love 00:41:52.980 --> 00:42:00.179 in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace and for the hope of 00:42:00.179 --> 00:42:07.860 glory. And we beseech you, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be 00:42:07.860 --> 00:42:15.139 unfeignedly thankful, and that we show forth your praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, 00:42:15.139 --> 00:42:21.460 our hearts may be unfeigned by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness 00:42:21.460 --> 00:42:29.619 and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all 00:42:29.619 --> 00:42:37.299 honor and glory world without end. Amen. Father, we ask that this prayer that we've just prayed 00:42:37.299 --> 00:42:43.539 together, that it would be a prayer that we would grow into, that we would, Father, be mindful of what your 00:42:43.539 --> 00:42:49.300 Son has done for us, that we would be mindful that he has called us into this new covenant, that we 00:42:49.300 --> 00:42:55.619 would remember that he will never let us go, that it is in fact good for our souls that we give thanks 00:42:55.619 --> 00:43:02.099 and praise and recount what you have done. And Father, we ask that you would put your yoke, your gentle 00:43:02.099 --> 00:43:08.259 yoke upon our necks, that we might truly learn from you. And all these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.