WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.679 There we go. Thanks, Jeff. Well, good morning, Church of the Advent. It's a joy to worship 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:11.939 with you this morning. As Jeff said, my name is Jacob, and I've had the privilege of being 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:17.480 in the same pastoral residency cohort as Jeff. We started pretty much the same day on August 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:24.560 1st of last year. Jeff and I have met several times over this past year, the two of us and 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:31.059 also with other friends, to pray for our churches, pray for God's work in and through us in our 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:36.899 midst. And it's been a real joy to get to know Jeff and to celebrate the unity that we have 00:00:36.899 --> 00:00:43.739 in Christ across our churches. By being here today with you this morning, I think it's a 00:00:43.739 --> 00:00:50.060 way of embodying this pilgrimage that we're on together as God's people, journeying to 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:56.600 our heavenly city, our true home. So would you start with me in our time going into God's 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:05.579 word by praying. Heavenly Father, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:13.140 wisdom. Show us who you are, seated on the throne of heaven. Show us who we are. Even 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:19.180 in our sojourn here on earth and the frailty of our bodies, show us our future hope in Christ 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:27.980 and his coming kingdom, in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 00:01:27.980 --> 00:01:33.140 106, the Psalm that we just read. It's pretty much right in the middle of your Bible. As you 00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:40.240 can open right up and turn to left or to the right, you'll find Psalm 106. As you turn there, 00:01:40.300 --> 00:01:46.260 let me tell you a little bit about myself, a little bit of my story. So a name like Jacob 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:51.960 Rodriguez, you can probably guess that there's some kind of Hispanic heritage in my story, 00:01:52.020 --> 00:01:57.840 and there certainly is. I'm Mexican-American. All of my grandparents were born in northern 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:05.580 Mexico or southern Texas, and they started this sojourn, this pilgrimage in my family's 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:10.759 story. They moved up to the Chicago area. My parents, the first generation to go to college, 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:16.959 then moved to the Detroit area where I was born. I went to college back in the Chicago area and then 00:02:16.959 --> 00:02:22.120 sojourned all the way to Ethiopia where I met my British wife. And then we lived in England for 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:28.099 three years and now have come to Washington, D.C. So when people ask me, Jacob, where are you from? 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:37.019 I usually say, I don't know. I have this experience of a sojourn, almost like a third culture kid, 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:41.719 but for me, I'm reaching my fourth or fifth culture by now. And there's this question that 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:47.000 I think many people who are in D.C. can relate to. Just talking to Tim this morning, asking, 00:02:47.320 --> 00:02:53.219 do you feel like you're from D.C.? You're from Kansas, but been in D.C. for, I think, over two 00:02:53.219 --> 00:03:00.920 decades or so. There's this search for the place called home. A search where we can say, not only where 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:06.839 I've lived for several or many years, but a place where my fathers were from, or my father's fathers 00:03:06.839 --> 00:03:14.539 were from, a place where my people are from. As I search for this identity in my own story, it can be 00:03:14.539 --> 00:03:19.439 kind of humorous at times, depending on where I am. If I'm with my grandparents, I might start to 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:32.099 be talking to me, and then all of a sudden, people think I'm speaking in tongues. Or if I'm with my 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:37.259 British wife and her family, I might start accidentally sounding like I'm in a BBC documentary 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:44.020 or something like that. Or sometimes, even as I've been back here in the States, when I go down to the 00:03:44.020 --> 00:03:48.419 south, some people might think that I'm making fun of them because I accidentally start talking with a 00:03:48.419 --> 00:03:59.299 drawl, too. But in this search for identity, for a place called home, I have found myself resonating so 00:03:59.299 --> 00:04:09.560 deeply with the psalmist here in Psalm 106, looking for that experience of being brought from the place 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:18.240 of dislocation back to the fullness of the promises of God, being placed in the land where 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:27.240 God had called them and commissioned them to be fruitful and multiply. This feeling of dislocation 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:36.120 is heard in the heartbeat of Israel in many of the psalms. Here we are in Psalm 106. It's placed 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:43.180 intentionally at a particular location in the whole book of Psalms. Psalms is made up of 150 songs, 00:04:43.180 --> 00:04:52.360 and each of these songs is part of five blocks, five books of Psalms. 150 Psalms, five major sections 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:59.879 in the Psalms. And these five sections of the Psalms kind of mirror the five books of Torah, Genesis, 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:07.860 Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It's almost a new Torah that is sung by God's people to God, 00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:14.720 and also sung to God's people to rehearse the promises of God that were given to them in those 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:22.120 first five books, the books of Moses. And as we get to our psalm, Psalm 106, if you flip all the way 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:27.879 down to the end of the chapter, verse 48, in your Bibles or study Bibles, you'll probably see that 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:34.960 right beneath it is these, in big letters, book five, which means our psalm, Psalm 106, is at the end of 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:45.819 book four. Book four within these five-part structure of Psalms is a book where Israel dives deep 00:05:45.819 --> 00:05:53.199 into the question of exile. They have the added dimension that they know that they have been sent 00:05:53.199 --> 00:06:00.819 into Babylon. They have been sent away from the land of promise because of their own sin. And so the only 00:06:00.819 --> 00:06:07.599 hope they have is to go back to the promises of God, the promises that said that even after you go 00:06:07.599 --> 00:06:13.719 into exile, I'm going to bring you back into the land that I promised to your forefathers because of 00:06:13.719 --> 00:06:21.319 my covenant and because of the love and the commitment I have to you through that covenant 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:28.680 promise. It's a promise that we see implied right there in verse one. Praise the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:42.079 Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. God's steadfast love, his covenant promise 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:52.680 that he will never break, that he will always go back to, that endures forever, that he will always love 00:06:52.680 --> 00:07:02.139 his people. Now, this steadfast love was established firmly through the major event of God's salvation 00:07:02.139 --> 00:07:08.980 that he brought about for his people, the event of the Exodus that we read a few moments ago from Exodus 00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:20.879 chapter 14. This amazing action of God to bring his people out of slavery in Egypt through the waters of the Red 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:29.800 Sea. It was that archetypal event that will shape the story of God's people all the way through and into being 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:37.540 into the fulfillment that Jesus brings later on in the New Testament. Now, this story of Israel going through the 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:48.300 Red Sea can almost, in fact, it is described as a baptism. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 talks about how the 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:54.840 forefathers were baptized into Moses' forefathers were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 00:07:55.180 --> 00:08:01.480 This image of going into the waters symbolizing death and coming out of the water symbolizing life, 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:08.100 new life that God had bought for his people when he redeemed them out of Egypt and was bringing them 00:08:08.100 --> 00:08:15.800 into the desert toward the promised land. And when we look at the structure of this psalm, 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:21.680 the heartbeat of the psalmist and the direction in which he's taking us as the readers or the singers 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:32.060 of this psalm, we can see one major theme that he's encouraging us to do. To paraphrase Martin Luther, 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:40.279 it is to remember your baptism. He's telling Israel here by singing about their baptism through the Red Sea, 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:46.500 he's telling Israel to remember their baptism in the waters of the Red Sea. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.379 And to remember this baptism for three reasons that we'll go through quickly here. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.559 Because your baptism shows you, first of all, to whom you belong. 00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:02.459 Secondly, it shows you what God has done to save you. 00:09:02.460 --> 00:09:11.019 And thirdly, it places your individual story into the larger story of God's redemption for his people. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:12.759 Let's look at the first of these. 00:09:13.340 --> 00:09:16.300 Your baptism shows you to whom you belong. 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:20.700 Back in verse one, the psalmist talks about this great God, 00:09:21.660 --> 00:09:26.280 the Lord who is good, whose steadfast love endures forever, 00:09:26.680 --> 00:09:29.420 who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord. 00:09:29.419 --> 00:09:34.599 This is a God who creates, a God who saves. 00:09:34.699 --> 00:09:37.299 That word, mighty deeds of God in the Old Testament, 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:42.500 refers to the miraculous act of God to create in the first place, 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.179 and the miraculous act of God to save, 00:09:46.079 --> 00:09:51.159 and almost have a new creation in founding his people by saving them from Egypt. 00:09:51.939 --> 00:09:54.679 This is the God who is being praised in this psalm. 00:09:55.019 --> 00:09:56.819 Look at what the psalmist says in verse three. 00:09:56.820 --> 00:09:59.720 Verse four, rather. 00:10:00.160 --> 00:10:04.879 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.780 He's speaking of his own people here, the people of the Lord. 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:14.820 They're called, in verse five, God's chosen ones. 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.580 They are called God's nation. 00:10:19.100 --> 00:10:22.720 And finally, they are called God's inheritance, 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.100 his treasured possession. 00:10:27.040 --> 00:10:30.240 This is something that I think we should meditate on regularly. 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.940 If you're like me and you've ever struggled with negative self-talk, 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:39.200 sometimes it's helpful for me to take a, like a three-by-five card, 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:39.960 put it in my pocket, 00:10:40.060 --> 00:10:42.580 and if I have constant negative self-talk, 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:46.660 try to keep track of how many times am I saying these things to myself, 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:48.959 and as many times as I say those things to myself, 00:10:49.219 --> 00:10:52.839 I say a truth about God to counter the negative self-talk 00:10:52.839 --> 00:10:54.279 and remind myself, 00:10:55.439 --> 00:10:58.159 I belong to God. 00:10:59.219 --> 00:11:00.699 Meditate on that for a bit. 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:02.519 You belong to God. 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:03.839 You are his inheritance, 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.600 the thing that he is looking forward to, 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:09.319 to enjoy for all eternity, 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:12.199 his treasured possession. 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:15.620 You are valuable to God. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.240 Now, even though we belong to God, 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:26.420 even though this is a truth about all those who are the people of God, 00:11:26.800 --> 00:11:31.780 the psalmist has a realistic depiction of those who follow God 00:11:31.780 --> 00:11:36.240 and those who are prone to forget his goodness. 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:37.180 Look at verse seven. 00:11:38.400 --> 00:11:40.000 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.059 they did not consider your wondrous works. 00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:46.639 They did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, 00:11:46.700 --> 00:11:49.000 but they rebelled by the sea, 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:50.919 at the Red Sea. 00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:53.500 So this brings us to the next point 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:56.179 of what remembering our baptism does for us. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:00.179 It shows us what God has done to save us. 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:05.700 I think it's quite profound that the psalmist here, 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:10.000 even though he is one who clearly acknowledges the faithfulness of God, 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.460 and he is one who, out of anybody in Israel, 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:17.000 he is one who has his heart in the right place looking toward God, 00:12:17.480 --> 00:12:23.800 even he has this honest, real declaration to God 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:28.920 of identifying himself with those who have sinned 00:12:28.920 --> 00:12:30.180 and committed iniquity. 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:30.900 Verse six. 00:12:30.899 --> 00:12:33.720 We and our fathers both have sinned. 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:35.480 We've committed iniquity. 00:12:35.579 --> 00:12:37.500 We have done wickedness, 00:12:37.579 --> 00:12:38.600 and we have forgotten. 00:12:38.939 --> 00:12:41.600 We have not considered the wondrous works 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.399 or remembered the abundance of your steadfast love. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.079 So he's situating the great salvation of God 00:12:49.079 --> 00:12:52.340 that he wrought by bringing Israel through the waters. 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:55.360 Within the context of Israel's own sin, 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:57.720 their undeserved nature, 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:00.300 the place where they were, 00:13:00.540 --> 00:13:03.740 where not one ounce of the grace or glory or love of God 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:05.820 that was poured over them did they deserve. 00:13:07.060 --> 00:13:11.519 Even to the point after God showed them all ten signs of the plagues, 00:13:12.620 --> 00:13:14.519 and they were delivered out of Egypt, 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:15.720 they get to the Red Sea, 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:16.639 and what do they do? 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:17.960 They question God and say, 00:13:18.040 --> 00:13:20.300 let us go back and serve Egypt. 00:13:21.259 --> 00:13:22.639 And what that actually means, 00:13:22.680 --> 00:13:24.480 it's really a shorthand for saying, 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:28.080 we're better off serving the gods of Egypt. 00:13:28.740 --> 00:13:30.639 Yahweh did all of this work to show 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.539 that he was greater and stronger than the gods of Egypt 00:13:33.539 --> 00:13:35.180 ten times over, 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.480 and now we still don't have the faith to trust him. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:45.920 Yet God doesn't treat them as their sins deserve 00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:49.659 when they reject him at the shores of the Red Sea. 00:13:49.659 --> 00:13:52.219 Rather, in verse 8, 00:13:52.319 --> 00:13:55.879 he saved them for his name's sake, 00:13:56.319 --> 00:13:58.839 that he might make known his mighty power. 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:02.299 You see, he had made a covenant with them 00:14:02.299 --> 00:14:04.019 that he would not break. 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:07.559 Knowing that Israel would break that covenant again and again, 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:13.480 Yahweh, the Lord, would be faithful to his promise to them. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:15.819 As it says in verse 1, 00:14:15.860 --> 00:14:18.399 and again at the end of our chapter here, 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:23.559 his steadfast love endures forever. 00:14:23.939 --> 00:14:26.159 He acts on behalf of his name, 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.100 the name that he connected to Israel 00:14:29.100 --> 00:14:31.399 through the covenant that he made with them 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:33.860 to say that he will never break it. 00:14:34.139 --> 00:14:35.720 He will save his people. 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:37.679 His love abounds for them, 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:40.879 even to the worst, quote unquote, of sinners. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:43.000 And look at how he saves them. 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:44.139 Verse 9, 00:14:44.139 --> 00:15:02.620 What God is doing here, 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:04.860 as described by the psalmist, 00:15:04.860 --> 00:15:10.039 it's using language that brings the reader back 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:12.700 to the imagery of creation. 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:16.399 When the depths were there, 00:15:16.680 --> 00:15:19.039 the Spirit of God was hovering over the depths, 00:15:19.539 --> 00:15:21.600 and God speaks into these depths 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.200 and creates out of nothing 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:27.120 through the waters that were there. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.679 Now Yahweh here at the Red Sea, 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:32.560 by the word of his power, 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:35.460 he's bringing Israel through the depths, 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:39.060 and he is creating a new people 00:15:39.060 --> 00:15:41.259 and calling them his own. 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:43.259 This gives the imagery of the new creation 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:45.100 that we'll see developed further 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:46.340 into the New Testament 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:48.860 in the ministry of Jesus and his followers. 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:52.960 He redeemed them from the power of the enemy. 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:56.879 He purchased them in exchange for them. 00:15:58.180 --> 00:16:02.039 What he did was showing the image of the Lamb 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:02.860 being slaughtered 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.600 so that his people could be bought, 00:16:06.460 --> 00:16:08.960 and he called them his own. 00:16:09.139 --> 00:16:10.919 Now this great act of salvation, 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.940 this exodus as the people were being brought out of Egypt 00:16:13.940 --> 00:16:15.420 through the Red Sea, 00:16:15.419 --> 00:16:20.699 It was a great event that Israel needed to recall, 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:22.679 to rehearse in their acts of worship, 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:28.719 but it was pointing toward a greater salvation. 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:31.899 Israel in exile was looking back 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:33.719 towards the original exodus, 00:16:34.199 --> 00:16:36.819 but they were also looking forward in hope 00:16:36.819 --> 00:16:38.879 toward a new exodus, 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:43.219 a new baptism that would be irreversible. 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:48.220 We as Christians who see the fruits 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:50.920 of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection 00:16:50.920 --> 00:16:53.300 can see that this baptism 00:16:53.300 --> 00:16:56.399 to which the exodus was pointing forward 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:58.840 was the death and resurrection of Jesus 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:02.360 because Jesus reenacted this very story of Israel 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:04.900 by passing through the Jordan River. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.640 In Matthew 3, he says that it was necessary 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:09.740 for him to come and be baptized by John 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:11.579 to fulfill all righteousness. 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:15.339 In other words, to pave the way for God's people, 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:20.500 that they might have perfect relationship with God, 00:17:20.619 --> 00:17:23.779 that his perfect life might represent them 00:17:23.779 --> 00:17:26.000 to open the gateway for all of us 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.240 to have fellowship with the holy God. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:31.039 And the literal waters of baptism 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.279 practiced in the church to this very day 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.399 seal those same promises for God's people. 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:41.820 Now, for those who are struggling 00:17:41.820 --> 00:17:45.460 with their own sense of identity or dislocation, 00:17:45.820 --> 00:17:48.320 or for those who, like the psalmist here, 00:17:48.380 --> 00:17:50.740 are recalling the ways that they have failed 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:53.660 or that our people, God's people, have failed 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:58.160 and need reassurance that God is truly for us, 00:17:58.220 --> 00:18:01.519 he has not forsaken us, that we belong to him, 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:06.460 we are encouraged to remember our baptism, 00:18:06.460 --> 00:18:12.339 sealed by water, representing God's act of saving us 00:18:12.339 --> 00:18:14.879 and calling us his own. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.400 Now, this brings us to the final point here. 00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:23.039 When we see, when we look back, 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:27.599 and we remember what God has done to save us, 00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:30.519 it situates our own story, 00:18:31.139 --> 00:18:33.220 whatever you might be going through at the moment, 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:37.359 it situates that story within the larger story 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.819 of God's redemption. 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:42.920 Look at what the psalmist says back in verse four. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:48.180 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.700 Help me when you save them. 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:56.259 There is a kind of hope here. 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:58.319 There is a forward looking. 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:00.600 He knows there's gonna be a time 00:19:00.600 --> 00:19:03.480 when God saves his people. 00:19:04.460 --> 00:19:05.680 In verse five, he says, 00:19:06.080 --> 00:19:09.259 that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, 00:19:09.660 --> 00:19:13.480 that I may glory with your inheritance. 00:19:14.620 --> 00:19:16.740 The inheritance is that which you know 00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:19.319 certainly you will receive 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:23.519 and that you will rejoice and enjoy in perpetuity. 00:19:23.639 --> 00:19:24.859 Like, it will never go away. 00:19:25.859 --> 00:19:28.799 And our human inheritances might go away 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:30.059 if the stock market crashes, 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:31.819 if inflation continues. 00:19:32.179 --> 00:19:34.439 Any inheritance that we might think we might have, 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:37.039 it's kind of fragile. 00:19:38.639 --> 00:19:41.299 But God's own inheritance 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:43.700 will never perish, spoil, or faint. 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:49.299 God's own inheritance is sure and certain. 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:54.940 And so God knows that he will not lose his own. 00:19:54.940 --> 00:20:00.740 They are firmly established in relationship with him. 00:20:00.740 --> 00:20:04.960 The larger story to which this points 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.960 is God gathering his people 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.900 from all of the places where they have been scattered 00:20:11.900 --> 00:20:15.000 and bringing them together as one flock, 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:16.519 as one people, 00:20:16.839 --> 00:20:20.859 forever to enjoy fellowship with him. 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:23.359 And on behalf of that promise, 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:24.719 based on that promise, 00:20:25.219 --> 00:20:26.559 the psalmist cries out, 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:28.799 I'm going to skip all the way ahead to verse 47. 00:20:29.959 --> 00:20:32.339 Kind of give us a little foreshadowing 00:20:32.339 --> 00:20:33.139 of what's going to happen here. 00:20:33.199 --> 00:20:33.500 He says, 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:34.919 Save us, O Lord our God, 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:37.079 and gather us from among the nations 00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:40.000 that we may give thanks to your holy name 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.000 and glory. 00:20:43.139 --> 00:20:46.219 And this is something that God is doing. 00:20:46.220 --> 00:20:47.640 God has done, 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:50.440 initiated to the death of the resurrection of his son, 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:52.299 and something that will be completed 00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:54.279 on the final day when Jesus' return 00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:56.180 is accomplished. 00:20:56.779 --> 00:20:59.640 And all of God's people are drawn together 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:01.120 and become one. 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.000 Now, this larger story, 00:21:05.140 --> 00:21:06.600 when Israel remembers it, 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:09.140 remembers her baptism, 00:21:10.100 --> 00:21:12.279 remembers the God of faithfulness, 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:13.740 of covenant love, 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.000 to whom she belongs, 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:19.180 what God has done to save her 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:20.160 when she remembers that, 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:22.200 and when she remembers the larger story 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:24.819 of the promise that God made to her. 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:29.120 It moves her to songs of praise. 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:30.240 In verse 12, 00:21:30.860 --> 00:21:32.579 Then they believed his words, 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:35.380 and they sang his praise. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:37.799 Now, there's two different levels of singing 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:38.880 in this passage. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:41.299 It's the psalmist remembering 00:21:41.299 --> 00:21:44.120 when Israel was singing 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:47.079 at the other side of the Red Sea, 00:21:47.659 --> 00:21:50.719 but he's also singing about Israel singing, 00:21:50.859 --> 00:21:54.619 and he's writing from a place probably of exile. 00:21:55.339 --> 00:21:58.759 He's able to sing of this great salvation of God 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:01.699 even when the promises are not fulfilled 00:22:01.699 --> 00:22:03.359 before his eyes. 00:22:03.539 --> 00:22:06.519 He's singing in faith. 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:11.279 This is a call to remember our baptism, 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:13.279 even though it's hard work, 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:15.680 even though sometimes our doubts 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:17.720 and our anxieties in our hearts 00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:20.000 might feel insurmountable. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:22.420 Perhaps you're like me, 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:24.819 and the feelings of dislocation 00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:26.619 after all of my long sojourning 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:30.519 brings me to a place of hunger pangs, 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:32.920 longing for a place on this earth 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:34.799 that I can call my home. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.339 Sometimes I feel like my heart 00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:38.960 is pulled in so many directions. 00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:41.659 At any given day, 00:22:41.859 --> 00:22:43.599 there's a blessing that I can receive. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:44.720 I look at my WhatsApp, 00:22:44.919 --> 00:22:46.339 and I get encouragements 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:49.859 from brothers who are still serving in Ethiopia. 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:51.279 Even just yesterday, 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:52.899 I heard an amazing testimony 00:22:52.899 --> 00:22:56.639 of an imam in the Horn of Africa, 00:22:56.859 --> 00:22:58.940 so a leader of a powerful mosque, 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:00.799 who came to Christ 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:04.220 and shared about his dream 00:23:04.220 --> 00:23:05.599 that he saw of Jesus, 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:06.759 dressed in white, 00:23:07.099 --> 00:23:08.419 calling him my son 00:23:08.419 --> 00:23:10.319 and bringing him towards himself. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:13.460 And the story is quite amazing, 00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:14.879 and this particular Muslim leader, 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:16.619 who's just now come to Christ, 00:23:16.879 --> 00:23:20.460 is still in a place of secrecy 00:23:20.460 --> 00:23:21.799 because he knows the persecution 00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:22.839 that he will face 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:25.359 if it's revealed what he has done. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.299 encouraging, powerful story 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:29.779 that I hear checking my WhatsApp. 00:23:30.939 --> 00:23:32.539 But there's also messages 00:23:32.539 --> 00:23:33.279 that I get 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.799 from dear friends 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:37.879 who have had serious accidents, 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:39.279 one who is still in the hospital 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:40.559 that I've been praying for, 00:23:41.399 --> 00:23:43.159 longing for him to be healed, 00:23:43.559 --> 00:23:44.799 and they still don't know 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:46.619 if he can have his life-saving surgery. 00:23:47.719 --> 00:23:48.939 And so my heart is torn 00:23:48.939 --> 00:23:50.339 in several directions 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:52.419 in the continent of Europe, 00:23:52.619 --> 00:23:53.519 here in the States, 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:54.879 and in the Horn of Africa. 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:57.039 And my own experience 00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:57.779 longs for this 00:23:57.779 --> 00:23:58.920 to be put back together 00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:00.900 in a place that I can call home. 00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:02.579 Perhaps you're like me 00:24:02.579 --> 00:24:04.500 and have those similar experiences. 00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:06.940 Dear brothers and sisters, 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:08.119 if that's your story, 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.859 remember the words of God 00:24:11.859 --> 00:24:12.619 who says to you 00:24:12.619 --> 00:24:13.759 that he will take you 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:14.680 from the nations 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:15.460 and gather you 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:16.440 from all the countries 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:18.220 and bring you into your own land, 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:19.819 sprinkling you with clean water 00:24:19.819 --> 00:24:21.559 and making you clean. 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.200 That's a quote from Ezekiel 36. 00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:28.659 Or perhaps you are afflicted 00:24:28.659 --> 00:24:30.240 by that nagging feeling 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:31.519 in the back of your mind 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.980 that surely God can't love you. 00:24:35.819 --> 00:24:38.019 Surely God can't love me. 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:40.379 I can say that he loves his people 00:24:40.379 --> 00:24:41.879 in this kind of vague, 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:43.559 you know, sense of 00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:45.700 he loves the people of God in general, 00:24:45.819 --> 00:24:47.819 but maybe he's actually thinking 00:24:47.819 --> 00:24:49.240 about the person sitting to my left 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:50.519 or the person sitting to my right. 00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:52.819 But if he actually saw me 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:54.940 and everything that I've done 00:24:54.940 --> 00:24:55.579 and thought, 00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:58.519 would he really love me? 00:25:01.099 --> 00:25:05.319 Now, in this time in which we live 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:07.799 when Roe versus Wade 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:09.759 has recently been overturned, 00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:12.839 there are probably many 00:25:12.839 --> 00:25:14.559 in the churches here in America 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.960 who, with abortion being part 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:17.899 of their story, 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:19.659 part of their past 00:25:19.659 --> 00:25:21.379 and the trauma and the shame 00:25:21.379 --> 00:25:22.919 that has lied buried in their hearts, 00:25:23.220 --> 00:25:24.879 perhaps is resurfacing. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:27.000 Perhaps, if that's your story, 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:27.599 you're wondering, 00:25:27.779 --> 00:25:29.759 can God really love me? 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.399 My friend, believe God's word. 00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:35.720 He says to you this morning, 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:38.279 my steadfast love endures forever. 00:25:38.659 --> 00:25:39.859 You belong to me. 00:25:39.919 --> 00:25:40.899 I have rescued you, 00:25:40.899 --> 00:25:41.819 redeemed you, 00:25:41.819 --> 00:25:44.220 and made you my own. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:45.500 You belong. 00:25:48.259 --> 00:25:51.139 Maybe you've had a clear trajectory, though. 00:25:51.299 --> 00:25:52.460 Maybe your story's different, 00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:53.679 and you've had a clear trajectory 00:25:53.679 --> 00:25:54.939 from Sunday school 00:25:54.939 --> 00:25:56.039 to full-time ministry 00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:57.500 or to Christian charity work. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:25:58.519 You're doing everything 00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:00.299 that you know you need to do for God, 00:26:00.419 --> 00:26:01.960 but you have this nagging feeling 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:03.259 that no matter all the things 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:03.799 that you do, 00:26:03.859 --> 00:26:04.839 you're never doing enough, 00:26:04.899 --> 00:26:06.519 and God isn't fully pleased 00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:07.579 with your work 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:09.759 at the end of each day. 00:26:10.139 --> 00:26:10.980 I've been there. 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:13.859 And I have to remind myself 00:26:13.859 --> 00:26:15.700 to believe God's word to me. 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:17.939 His steadfast love endures forever. 00:26:18.439 --> 00:26:19.419 I belong to him. 00:26:19.740 --> 00:26:20.700 He's rescued me, 00:26:21.099 --> 00:26:21.740 redeemed me, 00:26:21.899 --> 00:26:23.159 and made me his own. 00:26:24.639 --> 00:26:26.339 In your experience of exile, 00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:28.700 remember your baptism. 00:26:30.179 --> 00:26:31.859 Remember that you belong to Christ. 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:34.000 Remember that he saved you 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:35.000 by those waters 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.639 through his death and resurrection. 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:40.080 and united to him. 00:26:40.580 --> 00:26:41.860 You can have the confidence 00:26:41.860 --> 00:26:43.340 that your sins are forgiven. 00:26:44.320 --> 00:26:46.220 God really does love you, 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.460 and he has prepared 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:51.520 a home for you in glory. 00:26:52.520 --> 00:26:53.560 In the name of the Father, 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:54.240 and of the Son, 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:55.720 and of the Holy Spirit. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:56.520 Amen. 00:26:56.520 --> 00:26:56.620 Amen. 00:26:56.620 --> 00:26:56.640 Amen. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:56.700 Amen. 00:26:56.700 --> 00:26:56.720 Amen. 00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:56.759 Amen. 00:26:56.759 --> 00:26:56.780 Amen. 00:26:56.780 --> 00:26:56.820 Amen. 00:26:56.820 --> 00:26:56.860 Amen. 00:26:56.860 --> 00:26:58.759 Amen. 00:26:58.759 --> 00:26:58.780 Amen. 00:26:58.780 --> 00:26:58.820 Amen. 00:26:58.820 --> 00:27:00.820 Amen. 00:27:00.820 --> 00:27:00.860 Amen. 00:27:00.860 --> 00:27:00.880 Amen. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:00.900 Amen. 00:27:00.900 --> 00:27:02.820 Amen. 00:27:02.820 --> 00:27:02.880 Amen. 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:02.900 Amen. 00:27:02.900 --> 00:27:04.880 Amen. 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:04.920 Amen. 00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:04.960 Amen.