WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:07.759 --> 00:01:20.879 Amen. Just bow our heads in prayer. Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know each one of us 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:28.479 us so deeply and fully and completely. And we give you thanks and praise that knowing us so deeply and 00:01:28.479 --> 00:01:36.479 completely and fully that still you love us and that you forgive our sins. We ask, Father, that you 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:45.760 would open our hearts that we might have such a great trust in your Son and the forgiveness that 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:51.680 comes through faith in him, that we might be able to look at those things in our lives that are quite 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.600 wrong and deal with them. And so, Father, we ask that you would do this wonderful work in our lives. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:02.799 And we ask this in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:14.719 So, every human being, I think, has those 4 a.m. or 3 a.m. in the moment, night times, 00:02:14.959 --> 00:02:20.879 where you wake up, or maybe it's 4 a.m. and you've lain down and gotten up and lain down, 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:25.680 but you've never been able to fall asleep, or you wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:32.159 once you wake up, there's just things so troubling you that you can't fall back asleep. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:38.879 And everybody has them. And some of us, as we know, when we have those 4 o'clock in the morning 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:44.639 evenings, it doesn't just stay contained to the evening. It would be sort of nice if it did. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:51.279 It was just in the evening, and then you could get on with your life. But those 4 a.m. evenings, 00:02:51.279 --> 00:02:57.839 often we have 4 a.m. days, 4 a.m. weeks, 4 a.m. months, and some of us even 4 a.m. years, 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:06.719 where things that trouble us so deeply make it hard for us to walk or be confident. We just walk as 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:12.319 if we're really crushed and burdened. We're quiet. We're depressed. And everybody has it. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:20.079 The psalm that we're going to look at this morning addresses one of those types of reasons why we 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:27.919 have those 4 o'clock in the morning existences, nights, weeks, days, months, years. It doesn't 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:31.759 look at all of them, but it's going to look at one of the ones, which is quite an important one, 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:38.879 actually. And it's going to deal with it in a way which is at first a bit shocking. But once you get 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:45.519 over the shock, you realize that it's profoundly realistic and hopeful and beautiful and wise. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:52.479 So let's have a look. Jeremy read it. We're going in the Psalms this summer. So if you turn with me to 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:58.000 Psalm 130, that would be very helpful. It's really helpful if you look at the Bible yourself. The 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:03.120 scriptures will come off and on on the screen up above me. But there's something about looking at the 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:08.000 Bible yourself, which is important. And I'm old. I mean, I do my devotions on my phone. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:15.200 But there's still a place for paper and looking at the Bible on paper. And by looking at it yourself, 00:04:15.200 --> 00:04:20.800 you can look around to see if I'm, you know, quoting things out of context or skipping something. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.240 So if you would turn to 130, that would be great. And here's how it begins. It begins like this. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:32.960 Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. I'm going to read 00:04:32.960 --> 00:04:38.319 the second verse in a moment. But like right off the bat, you get this idea that there's a person, 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.960 as soon as we see that, we have a sense that this isn't a good reason that they're in the depths, 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:48.720 especially this language of crying out to the Lord. And in fact, it's just going to be intensified 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.400 as verse 2 comes out. So I'll read verse 1 again. Out of the depths, 00:04:52.399 --> 00:05:00.079 I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:11.319 for mercy. And you can just see that even in the English, you can capture the shorter sentences and 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:20.039 phrases. This, I, I, I, I am calling out, Lord, and will you actually please listen? And I really need 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:26.920 mercy. And they're calling from their depths. And you get the sense of desperation. 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:34.000 Now, just before we go any further, like, I mean, this is part of going further. One of the things 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.960 that's just really important for us to remember all the time when we read the Psalms is that we 00:05:37.960 --> 00:05:44.379 as Christians believe that ultimately, I mean, God used human beings, but ultimately God is the author 00:05:44.379 --> 00:05:50.139 of this Psalm. So, you know, the Bible never tells us the whole process that has happened. 00:05:50.939 --> 00:05:54.459 You know, so we don't know, in this particular case, we don't even know who wrote the Psalm. 00:05:55.579 --> 00:06:00.379 But however it is that the person came to write this Psalm, God is the one who ultimately, when 00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:05.100 it was finished, said, yes, those are exactly the words I want to have written. And then he, 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:11.019 he was the one who made sure that it was recognized as being from him by originally the Jewish people, 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:17.259 and then the Christians. And he was the one who not only had it recognized, but also preserved, 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:22.299 so that we're able to read it today. So when we're reading this Psalm, we're reading something that God 00:06:22.299 --> 00:06:30.779 wrote for us. And in a very real sense, he wrote us a Psalm, he wrote for us a prayer to pray. 00:06:31.819 --> 00:06:39.259 And it's not just a prayer to pray, it could also be sung. When I've been in Africa a couple of times, 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:44.699 Africans often pray by singing. They sing and they pray at the same time. It's, you know, 00:06:44.699 --> 00:06:50.219 we don't do it very much. Charismatics do it, by the way. The whole room will burst into tongues and 00:06:50.219 --> 00:06:55.019 sort of sing their prayers at the same time. But we don't, we're not as familiar with doing it. But 00:06:55.019 --> 00:07:00.300 it's something that God wrote. And so the reason that's really important to remember is it means 00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:09.180 that God recognizes that we have 4am moments. And not only 4am moments, but 4am days, weeks, months, 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:19.259 years of deep distress. We, in the depths, and it leads us to deep distress and call out to God for 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:24.220 mercy and wondering whether he's listening. So it's a prayer that we can pray for ourselves. 00:07:24.780 --> 00:07:29.660 It can be the basis of a prayer that if you sat down with a prayer journal and you took each line 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:35.139 and then you added your own thoughts connected to that line. And it's at the same time, it's giving us 00:07:35.139 --> 00:07:40.500 permission to pray into those things. It's saying, it's not saying, George, if you have those 4am 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:45.699 moments, you are an absolute horrible, despicable person that God hates. It's not saying that at all. 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:51.060 It's saying, God knows that I have those 4am moments and he wants me to call out to him in prayer. 00:07:51.939 --> 00:07:57.219 In a sense, the God has answered the psalmist by saying, I definitely heard you. And that's why I led 00:07:57.219 --> 00:08:01.939 you to pray this prayer and write it down and had it preserved so that, you know, who knows, 00:08:01.939 --> 00:08:06.899 3,000 years later, there's a congregation, a place called Ottawa, and they're looking at it 00:08:06.899 --> 00:08:11.779 and being encouraged to pray it and to use it. And it teaches us about God at the same time. 00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:21.139 So it's very beautiful. Now, what could the 4am moment be? Because there can be lots of them. So 00:08:21.139 --> 00:08:27.220 for instance, just this past week, when I came back from work, one of the things I had to do when I came 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:33.060 back from work is have a difficult conversation where I had to confront somebody and point out, 00:08:33.060 --> 00:08:38.340 in a sense, it was both an exhortation, but it was a godly rebuke about what they'd been doing wrong, 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:43.940 and not just a one-off wrong, but a pattern of wrong and a pattern of wrong that they weren't seeing. 00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:51.940 And this is not something I'm good at. In fact, I'm bad at it. And so the night before I had to do 00:08:51.940 --> 00:08:59.620 this, I think I woke up like nine times. I'm just, you know, just be honest. It's not something 00:08:59.620 --> 00:09:06.260 I don't delight in doing this. It's hard for me to do it, but I had to do it. I had to step up. I had 00:09:06.260 --> 00:09:12.500 to step towards it and do it. So what's the 4am moment? Is it something like a difficult conversation? 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:19.860 Is it money troubles? Is it a job trouble? Is it a relationship trouble? What is the 4am moment 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:24.580 in this particular case that's driving the prayer? Well, that's what it's going to be. By the way, 00:09:24.580 --> 00:09:33.700 just a geek moment. The psalm is eight verses, and every verse has two lines, at least in the Hebrew. 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:42.019 And it's structured in such a way that there are couplets. So the first couplet has an idea, 00:09:42.019 --> 00:09:47.300 the second couplet's an idea, the third couplet an idea, fourth couplet an idea. End of nerd 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:53.379 moment back to the text. There's enough nerds here about language that you find that interesting, 00:09:53.379 --> 00:10:00.819 I know. So what is the 4am moment? Is it like me? I hadn't done anything wrong. I was just having to 00:10:00.819 --> 00:10:07.939 do something which really goes against my character. I'd much rather encourage you than to list all your 00:10:07.939 --> 00:10:13.139 sins to you. I wouldn't be sleepless if I said, I'm going to have a conversation with Jono, and I'm 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:17.059 going to tell him 20 things that's just wonderful about him. I wouldn't be sleepless over that. That's 00:10:17.059 --> 00:10:22.259 sort of more natural, something I would like to do. What's this 4am moment? Well, verses 3 and 4 tells you, 00:10:22.980 --> 00:10:30.980 if you, O Lord, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you, 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:39.620 there is forgiveness that you may be feared. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:47.139 who could stand? The implication there is that he's in his depths, or the psalmist, I shouldn't say he, 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:52.580 because it could have been a woman who wrote it. The person, the writer, the psalmist is in their depths, 00:10:53.220 --> 00:10:58.340 and they see something deep within themselves. They become aware of something deep within themselves, 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:04.759 and it causes them to almost like jump back from it and to call out to the Lord 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:12.039 for mercy. And what they've seen, and they realize that not only are they calling out to the Lord for 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:18.840 mercy, that what they've seen has been such a moral shock about themselves that they realize that it 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:24.720 should be punished. And if they were punished for it, they would not withstand God's judgment or the 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:31.139 judgment of other people. They would not stand. They would be unmade. And if you, O Lord, should mark 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:36.179 iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But, I'm going to talk about this more in a moment. By the way, 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:43.220 it's a big but. If I ever write a book, one of the books I might write is the big buts in the Bible. 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:49.620 And because there's a lot of big buts in the Bible. And this is a big but, by the way. But 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:53.240 with you, there is forgiveness that you may be feared. We'll return to that in a moment. 00:11:53.620 --> 00:12:00.080 So what they've gone down in their depths, they've seen there's a moral shock. And the moral shock 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:09.180 is around iniquity. There's three main words about sin or wrongdoing in the Old Testament. There's 00:12:09.180 --> 00:12:15.660 more than three, but there's three principal ones. And this particular one, iniquity, which our version 00:12:15.660 --> 00:12:20.800 of the Bible preserves, a lot of the versions will just say the same word sin for all of them, but this 00:12:20.800 --> 00:12:27.360 one preserves the original word. And what it's revealing is that there's something inside of me 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:36.539 which is a bit twisted, a bit perverse, a bit out of shape, out of alignment, but it's out of shape and 00:12:36.539 --> 00:12:44.320 perverse and twisted in a way that it's not just that I do wrong things out of that, but that there's 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:52.060 a pattern of wrong thingness out of that, and a deep-seated wrong thingness in that. 00:12:52.059 --> 00:13:00.039 And it's historic as well. It's been going on for a while. And so there's this moral shock 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:07.119 of the psalmist. Now, by the way, this is... I'm going to talk in a moment about how this is very 00:13:07.119 --> 00:13:11.859 counter... On one hand, this goes really against how our culture thinks of the depths, but on the other 00:13:11.859 --> 00:13:16.679 hand, it's something that our culture is very deeply aware of. So one of the things I like to do on my 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:20.959 holidays is read novels, and those of you who know me know it usually means there has to be a murder or 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:26.660 robbery or something like that. Those are the type of novels I like to read. And the last two novels 00:13:26.660 --> 00:13:32.500 I've read, and the one that I'm... If I don't fall asleep this afternoon, I'll finish today, all three 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:39.940 of them, and maybe more than that, the hero is caught with coming... Before the book begins, 00:13:40.860 --> 00:13:48.460 of them being aware of a moral... A thing about them that they did that was so wrong that it shocked them 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:55.639 and made them unable to function. In fact, in this current one, I think there's been four times now 00:13:55.639 --> 00:14:03.080 where the fellows considered suicide. Just because of this moral shock, he's a highly competent person 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:10.379 who does something and realizes that he's done something horrendous, and there's no forgiveness, 00:14:10.820 --> 00:14:16.740 there's just guilt, there's nowhere to go with it, and he realizes it's deeply connected to him. 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:21.759 It's even connected to his strengths, and there's nowhere to go to it, and this is not an unusual 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:29.120 theme in fiction and movies. The shock about what they've done. And that's what this is talking about. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:36.019 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Now, here's where, on one hand, 00:14:36.060 --> 00:14:40.779 our culture knows this. On the other hand, our culture doesn't really know this. Because generally, 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:45.360 when we say about in our culture, I'm going to go into my depths. Like, one of the ways to insult 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:51.740 the Canadian is to say, you're just very shallow. Every Canadian, even the shallowest, we want to 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:57.960 think we're deep. And if you want to flatter a shallow person, say you're very deep, you know? 00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:03.500 But, and most of us, we think that when we go deep, that what we're going to find, like, 00:15:03.539 --> 00:15:07.860 well, in fact, most religious, like, in one whole religious, several religious traditions, 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:13.360 to go deep is to discover, ultimately, that you're divine, that you're God, that the Atman, 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:19.740 connected to the Brahmin, which connects with God. You go deep to discover your God self. You go deep 00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:26.659 to discover the divine spark. Jordan Peterson, you go deep to discover the divine spark. You go deep 00:15:26.659 --> 00:15:33.180 to discover, I said, your God self, your goodness, your fundamental identity, which is fundamentally 00:15:33.180 --> 00:15:39.539 good, which you have to get out of your depths into this, into your life and your existence. And in 00:15:39.539 --> 00:15:45.719 our culture, and there's whole books about this, how you go deep and discover your fundamental purity 00:15:45.719 --> 00:15:51.879 and goodness and truth and other types of disciplines about you go deep so you can just 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:56.419 observe yourself from this neutral place and what's going on, and you can have this type of peace. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:05.199 And then when people go deep in our culture, they call out, look at me, or let me show you the way. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:11.900 Hey, I've gone deep, and this is my identity. This is my authority. This is my power. This is my God 00:16:11.900 --> 00:16:19.460 self. This is my, and on and on and on. And so our culture is caught between, on one hand, we can read 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:23.480 a book or watch a movie. Maybe we don't like those types of movies. Maybe we just want a rom-com or 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:27.040 something like that. That's fine. Everybody has different tastes in movies, books, and stuff. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:34.500 I make, you know, there's different tastes. But we also know that at one level in our bones, we know 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:42.299 that that sense that if we go into our depths, we're just going to discover our God self can't 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:49.099 be true. Do you know why we think that? It's a Canadian example. If Donald Trump said he did it, 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:56.000 how many of us would believe him? How many people would roll their eyes? Oh, there we go. Trump again. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:03.940 His God self touching the divine, part of God. We'd mock it. It would be all over the internet. 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:09.900 And if that's not a good example for you, pick the opposite, okay? Pick, if Mark Kearney said it, 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:15.019 how many people in the Conservative Party, how many people, bloggers, would be rolling their eyes? 00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:19.940 So why is it that we don't believe it? If we don't believe it for some people, there's other people 00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:25.980 who would say the same thing about you and me if we said that. You see, the Bible's not saying here, 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:34.279 we're going to see in a moment that it's the only thing about me, iniquity. But it is saying it is a 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:41.319 thing about me if I go into my depths. It's not the only thing, but it's a thing, and it's there. 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:51.500 And maybe we haven't gone deep enough to recognize it, but it's there. Now, where's the big but? Well, 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:56.539 the big but, I'll read verse 3 again, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:09.460 But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. In the original language, that word 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:15.799 forgiveness, in the original language, it comes up in such a way that it's obvious for the readers of 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:21.960 the original language, that that's the most important word in the whole psalm. So in some ways, if we were 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:28.119 to really translate this more literally, forgiveness should be bolded so that it jumps out at you. 00:18:28.639 --> 00:18:36.579 That's the thing they want you to take away. Forgiveness. Bolded. And so there's this sense 00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:40.659 of the psalmist that God, and we're going to, he's going to get into it more in a moment, 00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:46.960 why there is something like forgiveness. But here's where we get to see where the text, 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:53.140 on one hand, is saying if you go deep, so sometimes it's like nobody wants, generally speaking, we don't 00:18:53.140 --> 00:18:57.180 want to go deep to discover our iniquity. But sometimes just things happen, like it might be 00:18:57.180 --> 00:19:05.500 in a marriage, and around your 10th anniversary or something, you realize you were terrible those 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:11.700 first few years. Maybe it's with your kids or something in the past, and you get struck, it hits 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:20.039 you in the face, your iniquity. But so there's something there when you go deep, but it's not the 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:25.400 only thing. Why? Well, because there is forgiveness. And the words forgiveness and the words fear 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:33.839 are both relational words. There is a God who forgives at the most fundamental need. I mean, we need to be 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:40.079 forgiven by other human beings, but most of all, most fundamentally, we need to be forgiven by God. 00:19:40.679 --> 00:19:49.299 The forgiveness needs to be transcendent and divine, not just superficial and coming and going. And it 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:55.899 needs to be rooted in truth, and it needs to be rooted in justice, and it needs to flow out of mercy 00:19:55.899 --> 00:20:02.919 and grace. It needs to be something which is out of time and in time, like eternal and transcendent. And 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:09.580 that's what we desperately need. And it's relational, because it's ultimately against the God who is the 00:20:09.580 --> 00:20:15.700 creator of us, sustains us, is the finisher for all things, and sovereign over all things. And both 00:20:15.700 --> 00:20:21.759 forgiveness and fear are relational words. And I don't know, are you still familiar with 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:26.140 spire graphs? You know, those things that draw different, you know, so if you had a spire graph that did 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:31.240 circles, and you got a big piece of paper, and so maybe you did a whole pile of circles, maybe eight 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:35.080 circles, but you do them in some way, you know, some of the circles are inside other circles, but if you 00:20:35.080 --> 00:20:40.640 did them in such a way that all of them maybe had just one little tiny thumbnail part that all of them 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:47.240 intersected, and in that is the fear of God, that gives you a bit of sense, because the fear of God 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:50.780 in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, because it's a New Testament idea as well, 00:20:50.779 --> 00:20:58.240 it has all of these different fields and spheres that are connected to it. And in this particular 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:08.879 time, what it's emphasizing is the, well, you know what it's like? There's a story in the Gospels 00:21:08.879 --> 00:21:15.680 about Jesus. And in the story in the Gospel about Jesus, the disciples are rowing across the Sea of 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:20.480 Galilee, and he's asleep in the stern, and they wake him up because they're afraid that they're going to 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:25.799 sink, and he wakes him up, and there's all these waves, and there's all this storm, and he says one 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:36.339 word of command, and the wind stops, the waves stop, and it's calm. And they go, I mean, that's not 00:21:36.339 --> 00:21:42.180 literally what they say, but what, what, the, sometimes translated literally doesn't catch it. What 00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:50.660 should really be translated is, whoa, who on earth is this, talking about Jesus? Like, whoa, 00:21:51.440 --> 00:22:00.600 whoa, where'd that come from? How'd this guy do that? Whoa, who do we actually have in the boat? 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:08.699 Whoa. And that's the sense of, of the fear of the Lord, which is being communicated here, is a sense of, 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:19.980 whoa, he is going to see all my iniquity and forgive it? He can go deeper than my deepest depths 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:28.179 and see everything iniquity, and it can be forgiven? Whoa. And it's a relational word, and it's also 00:22:28.180 --> 00:22:33.259 ultimately a word that, and it can see from that expression, that example in the New Testament, 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:40.120 that the Jesus example, that it's connected to curiosity to know more, to realize that he's not 00:22:40.120 --> 00:22:47.360 like me. On one level, Jesus is so much like me. On another level, he is not like me. And it's 00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:54.120 connected to prayer, and it's connected to adoration and woe, and worship. It's like, whoa! That's what the 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:59.639 fear of here. So if you listen to it again, if you, oh Lord, should mark iniquities, oh Lord, 00:22:59.699 --> 00:23:04.559 who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be, whoa, feared. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:12.139 Now, where are they going to go? What's going to be the next thing? Well, if we were normal North 00:23:12.139 --> 00:23:17.719 Americans, I'd say, well, here's the five techniques in the trips, the five things that you need to do in 00:23:17.719 --> 00:23:22.559 this order, so you will experience all of these types of things. And by the way, here's my 1-800 number. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:30.399 Here's the QR code that takes you to my Wikipedia, you know, to my webpage, and we can process your 00:23:30.399 --> 00:23:35.639 money as you give them. That's come down the road, right? So, you know, maybe it's therapy, 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:39.899 maybe it's counseling, maybe it's spiritual direction, maybe it's you join my church, 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:44.940 maybe it's, you know, you buy my books. Like, what's going to be the next thing from that? Well, 00:23:45.099 --> 00:23:49.740 let's see what it says, verses five and six. And this will be a short time in the sermon, 00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:57.799 because it's talking about a virtue in the Bible, which I am not very good at. So I can't say much 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:06.940 about it. You can pray for me. What is it in five and six? I wait for the Lord. Why is this bad? 00:24:07.579 --> 00:24:13.180 I'm the type of guy, like, I was loading Google Maps the other day because I had to go somewhere, 00:24:13.180 --> 00:24:20.820 and it's like, like, seven seconds, it's not up. What's wrong with my phone? Seven seconds. 00:24:22.840 --> 00:24:31.100 I'm the type of person, I want patience right now. Dang it. So I'm not very good at this virtue, 00:24:31.360 --> 00:24:36.539 but it's a biblical virtue. Let's finish the rest of it. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, 00:24:36.820 --> 00:24:41.440 and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchman for the morning, 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:46.539 more than watchman for the morning. So they're waiting for the Lord. If you go just, you know, 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:51.960 notice here, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope, my soul waits for the Lord. 00:24:52.080 --> 00:24:58.460 So it's as if everything from the I that processes things to my soul, my very depths, and everything 00:24:58.460 --> 00:25:04.820 in between is waiting for the Lord. And it's waiting for a person. I'm waiting for a person. I'm waiting 00:25:04.820 --> 00:25:09.539 for a word from him, and I'm waiting for a word from him that's going to be a word of hope. 00:25:09.539 --> 00:25:18.659 At the end of the day, I'm waiting to hear forgiven, loved, forgiven. I wait for that. 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:27.680 A word that comes from him. My soul waits for it. Four times it said, I'll wait, I'll wait. And, 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:35.639 you know, our skeptical friends, God loved them, and even in our own flesh. I remember a couple of 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:42.200 months ago, I think I shared it in a sermon. I had been praying for something, and God said yes, 00:25:42.259 --> 00:25:46.759 and it, like, catches me by surprise. Oh, wait. Like, he actually answered it with a yes. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:54.300 I'm more used to him saying no, you know. I ask, obviously, for not things which are good. 00:25:54.600 --> 00:25:58.940 Either that or in heaven, I'll probably find out all these things I prayed for that God just said, 00:25:58.980 --> 00:26:02.980 no, no, that's not the right time for it. You need it 10 years later. And I forgot I prayed for it 10 00:26:02.980 --> 00:26:09.059 years earlier, right? So we'll find out a whole pile of those things in heaven, probably. He just said, 00:26:09.099 --> 00:26:12.779 no, no, I'm going to say yes, just not yet. Not right for George right now. I was going to say 00:26:12.779 --> 00:26:16.259 not yet. And then in heaven, I'll say, well, why didn't you remind me? He said, well, why didn't 00:26:16.259 --> 00:26:20.680 you remember? Anyway, I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word, I hope, my soul waits for 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:25.059 the Lord. And our skeptical friends would say, you know, George, if you're waiting for the Lord to do 00:26:25.059 --> 00:26:28.720 something, like, the Lord doesn't even exist. That's, like, the dumbest thing in the world to do. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:33.980 You know, there's a famous play from the 50s written by the absurdist existentialist called 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:41.240 Waiting for Godot, and it's bleak and empty, and that's you, George. But here's the thing which is 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:50.960 so wonderful about poetry. Poetry works on us at a deeper level. Look how it works on us. 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:55.880 I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word, I hope, my soul waits for the Lord. 00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:59.980 More than watchman for the morning, more than watchman for the morning. 00:27:00.800 --> 00:27:06.400 So on one hand, this is just a very simple point. If for some reason I had to be on guard duty 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:15.200 all night, or maybe, I don't know, maybe I'm waiting for, yeah, I'm on guard duty or something, 00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:23.360 and I'm waiting for the morning when my shift's over. But what's significant? The morning always comes. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:33.839 It is rock-solid, dependable. I mean, I hope that unless Jesus comes first, that I have another 25 to 30 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:41.159 years of life, you know? And let's say God does grant me another 30 years of life, and my last day 00:27:41.159 --> 00:27:47.799 when I breathe my last, because, you know, Jesus hasn't returned, is 30 years from now. It's the year 2056. 00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:54.740 And you know what I can tell you right now will happen the very next day after I die? 00:27:55.399 --> 00:27:57.379 The sun will rise. 00:27:59.220 --> 00:28:02.539 Waiting for the sun to rise is not something foolish. 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:06.200 It's reasonable. The sun rises. 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:14.700 And God is going to come with that. This is rock-solid about God. 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:20.019 By the way, I've come up with a little prayer. Maybe I'll write it up, and if you're curious, 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:26.860 I need some polishing. I had the idea last night, and so I haven't had a chance to polish it. 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:31.980 But it's a variation that I thought, you know, this is a little bit like waiting upon the Lord. 00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:36.640 It's a little bit like the serenity prayer. And then I realized it's different, so I wrote my own version. 00:28:38.059 --> 00:28:39.720 And here's what it is. 00:28:39.819 --> 00:28:44.559 Lord, give me the strength and motivation to get off my butt and do something. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:51.039 And give me the humility and patience to wait for you to direct and act. 00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:55.019 And, Lord, give me the wisdom to know the difference. 00:28:55.019 --> 00:29:00.799 I think there's a keeper in that, you know, because a lot of us, don't wait for the Lord anymore. 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:02.379 Get off your butt and act, right? 00:29:03.460 --> 00:29:05.220 And others, well, you know what? 00:29:05.420 --> 00:29:08.299 We should just be maybe praying about that and waiting for the Lord to act. 00:29:08.599 --> 00:29:09.660 And then we need to know the difference. 00:29:09.740 --> 00:29:10.339 Anyway, there you go. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:13.000 You know, I am North American. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:14.879 I am going to trademark this. 00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:17.519 There's going to be a 1-800 number and a QR code. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:20.900 Colorful prints, greeting cards. 00:29:20.900 --> 00:29:23.840 And that will fund my retirement. 00:29:24.019 --> 00:29:25.420 No, seriously, folks. 00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:29.900 So where do you go from this about waiting for the Lord? 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:31.460 And why is it reasonable? 00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:36.340 Like, just like waiting for the morning, why is it reasonable to wait for the Lord? 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:39.240 And why is it reasonable? 00:29:39.560 --> 00:29:43.480 He gives testimony in verses 7 to 8 as to why it's reasonable. 00:29:43.580 --> 00:29:45.160 Let's look at verse 7 to 8. 00:29:45.700 --> 00:29:47.980 For Israel, hope in the Lord. 00:29:47.980 --> 00:29:55.860 For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 00:29:56.460 --> 00:30:02.079 I think it's the old King James Version that says plenteous redemption, which is really cool, I think. 00:30:02.140 --> 00:30:03.000 It's a neat expression. 00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:04.279 Plenteous redemption. 00:30:06.120 --> 00:30:10.940 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.920 And in this case, Israel stands for God's faithful people, God's people calling out to him. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:17.779 O Israel, hope in the Lord, verse 7. 00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:21.300 For with the Lord there is steadfast love. 00:30:22.259 --> 00:30:24.120 It's better than unfailing love. 00:30:24.320 --> 00:30:26.539 It's better than unconditional love. 00:30:26.620 --> 00:30:28.120 This is steadfast love. 00:30:28.779 --> 00:30:32.180 And within it, it can also be translated as loyal love. 00:30:32.300 --> 00:30:33.740 It's a relational love. 00:30:33.820 --> 00:30:34.800 It's not indifference. 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:39.200 It's like a covenant, like a covenant between parents and children. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:42.680 You enter into a relationship with them for life when you have a child. 00:30:43.019 --> 00:30:47.980 And marriage, which is supposed to be for life, not always tragically, but supposed to be. 00:30:48.119 --> 00:30:50.779 And it's this type of steadfast love. 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:51.519 It's loyal. 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:52.419 It's committed. 00:30:52.940 --> 00:30:55.059 And with him is plentiful redemption. 00:30:55.059 --> 00:31:01.099 I was, I almost, I just really struck me about this on Friday, Jono, so I didn't want to email you. 00:31:01.179 --> 00:31:05.000 But there's this old hymn from the 1800s that has the line, 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:06.940 Grace that is greater than all my sin. 00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:08.460 Are we singing it? 00:31:09.059 --> 00:31:10.119 No, but you know the hymn. 00:31:10.159 --> 00:31:12.299 But I didn't want to call you on Friday and say we should sing it. 00:31:12.779 --> 00:31:16.220 Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all. 00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:16.899 Anyway, there you go. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:18.099 Don't have to hear me sing. 00:31:18.099 --> 00:31:25.279 But that's the idea behind this, is that there's this, you can wait and hope. 00:31:25.399 --> 00:31:25.599 Why? 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:27.959 Because we know who God is and who God is. 00:31:28.059 --> 00:31:31.000 God is the God of steadfast love, of loyal love. 00:31:31.419 --> 00:31:35.259 He is the one who is plentiful in redemption. 00:31:36.399 --> 00:31:41.119 And so the move that the psalmist makes, which is so important, 00:31:41.480 --> 00:31:47.719 is that it goes the opposite way from the way our culture forms us and our flesh forms us. 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:53.220 Is that it's of the nature of my flesh to minimize my sin. 00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:58.660 So one of the things I had to talk about with this person that I had to confront 00:31:58.660 --> 00:32:04.079 is I had to deal with the fact, and this, by the way, it's a whole other sermon topic. 00:32:04.660 --> 00:32:07.400 Virtually nobody ever apologizes anymore. 00:32:08.259 --> 00:32:11.860 I'm watching something right now as I'm exercising. 00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:13.420 I'm watching a British show. 00:32:13.860 --> 00:32:17.059 And, you know, the husband does something wrong. 00:32:17.059 --> 00:32:18.899 And he says, I'm really sorry I did that wrong. 00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:19.319 But! 00:32:21.159 --> 00:32:22.899 And those aren't big buts. 00:32:23.259 --> 00:32:27.940 Those are just weaselly, weasel word buts that really say, 00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:30.480 I have an excuse, so I actually didn't really do anything wrong. 00:32:31.319 --> 00:32:35.659 And so it's the way of the world and the flesh and the devil to minimize my sin. 00:32:35.660 --> 00:32:43.660 And when I minimize my sin, I minimize the wow about Christ and God and adoration. 00:32:45.660 --> 00:32:49.820 And the Bible says, no, no, no, we're not going to take you on a journey of minimizing. 00:32:50.019 --> 00:32:52.160 We're going to take you on a journey of going deep. 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:57.820 In a certain type of emotionally and beautifully secure way to go deep. 00:32:58.420 --> 00:33:01.300 And actually see the iniquity within you. 00:33:02.040 --> 00:33:06.000 It's exactly like this, another Jesus story in the Gospels. 00:33:06.100 --> 00:33:08.200 So there's a story of Jesus in the Gospels. 00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:13.980 And he's sitting down with a whole pile of highfalutin, proper, righteous type of people. 00:33:14.340 --> 00:33:16.340 And into the room comes a woman. 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:20.660 And they all know that she's lived a terrible, terrible life. 00:33:21.319 --> 00:33:23.340 And she comes up to Jesus. 00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:25.400 And not only does she touch his feet, 00:33:26.100 --> 00:33:28.380 she starts sobbing so much. 00:33:28.380 --> 00:33:33.680 And the tears are so big that the tears come down her face and fall on the feet of Jesus. 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:39.820 And she wipes the tears off his feet with her hair. 00:33:43.539 --> 00:33:47.440 And the mucky mucks all look and say, 00:33:47.700 --> 00:33:53.340 if Jesus was a real prophet, he'd know the type of woman touching him. 00:33:56.039 --> 00:33:57.920 And Jesus knows what they're thinking. 00:33:58.740 --> 00:34:01.980 And he says to one of them, he said, imagine there's two men, 00:34:01.980 --> 00:34:04.019 Andy and Bob. 00:34:05.059 --> 00:34:06.559 I mean, he doesn't say Andy and Bob. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:07.720 I'm retelling the story. 00:34:08.519 --> 00:34:13.000 And Andy owes Fred $5,000. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:17.559 And Bob owes Fred $5 million. 00:34:18.940 --> 00:34:23.400 And Fred decides to forgive the debt of both Andy and Bob. 00:34:24.659 --> 00:34:26.500 Who's going to love Fred more? 00:34:27.380 --> 00:34:30.019 And the guy says, obviously, Bob. 00:34:30.019 --> 00:34:34.940 And then he says, this woman, her sins are many. 00:34:36.380 --> 00:34:39.340 And because her sins are many and she knows she's been forgiven, 00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:42.059 her love is vastly more. 00:34:46.099 --> 00:34:47.599 And he tells her to go in peace. 00:34:47.659 --> 00:34:48.500 Her sins are forgiven. 00:34:48.500 --> 00:34:54.039 And the implication is, the mucky muck, his self-righteous, 00:34:54.460 --> 00:34:57.619 has just spent his whole life minimizing his sin, 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:00.360 not even recognizing his hard heart. 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:03.780 This woman sees the depth of her sin. 00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:07.940 And you see the depth of your sin, you go, whoa. 00:35:07.940 --> 00:35:18.039 Something even greater than having the storm stopped is to be forgiven of deep sin. 00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:20.659 I want to wrap it up. 00:35:21.340 --> 00:35:24.199 One of the things which is so neat about this, read verse 7 and 8 again, 00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:25.599 is, O Israel, hope in the Lord. 00:35:25.699 --> 00:35:28.860 For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:32.059 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. 00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:33.400 And the original language, 00:35:34.039 --> 00:35:41.779 this is actually looking forward to a time when there will be a once-for-all event in the future. 00:35:41.780 --> 00:35:42.100 Right? 00:35:42.820 --> 00:35:45.380 This psalm is written before Jesus. 00:35:45.780 --> 00:35:47.940 But this psalmist is looking forward. 00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:52.300 It's as if the psalmist has understood what a lot of the prophets have said, 00:35:52.380 --> 00:35:57.940 that obviously just having a bull or a goat sacrifice can't really put away all your sin, 00:35:57.980 --> 00:35:59.280 and you have to do it all the time. 00:35:59.660 --> 00:36:04.100 And there must be ultimately God doing something that will be done once for all 00:36:04.100 --> 00:36:05.840 that really takes away all iniquity. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:08.340 And there's this prediction about it. 00:36:08.340 --> 00:36:15.280 And that's the thing which they're looking forward to. 00:36:15.620 --> 00:36:20.039 They're looking forward to this time in the future when God will do this once-for-all thing 00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:22.539 that forgives all your sin. 00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:26.840 And we now are after the crucifixion of Jesus, 00:36:27.579 --> 00:36:29.300 the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, 00:36:30.140 --> 00:36:34.200 and we're looking at him knowing that he is God's once-for-all provision, 00:36:34.199 --> 00:36:37.599 that it's because of his sinless life, 00:36:38.019 --> 00:36:42.139 and when we put our faith into him so that we come into union with him, 00:36:42.899 --> 00:36:45.619 all of that iniquity, 00:36:45.739 --> 00:36:49.679 even if I have another moral moment of shock 00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:53.839 and I realize something that I might have done to my kids or my friends 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:58.840 or in school or something or just even last week that was deeply wrong, 00:36:58.980 --> 00:37:01.400 and it's wrong in a level which just shocks me, 00:37:02.220 --> 00:37:05.600 no matter what I might discover between now and my point of my death, 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:07.980 God saw all of them, 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:12.260 and his grace is deeper than all my sin. 00:37:12.340 --> 00:37:15.180 His forgiveness goes right to the very depths, 00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:17.460 everything from my surface to my depths. 00:37:17.460 --> 00:37:20.199 Christ dealt with it all, 00:37:20.420 --> 00:37:23.519 and when I put my faith and trust into him, 00:37:24.240 --> 00:37:28.519 my iniquity, my sin, my transgression are forgiven 00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:35.340 completely and utterly with nothing left out. 00:37:38.940 --> 00:37:41.679 So you see what this psalm is telling us, 00:37:41.800 --> 00:37:43.599 which is this is one of the many reasons 00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:46.940 why it is so beautiful to be a Christian. 00:37:48.099 --> 00:37:50.759 What better place of emotional security 00:37:50.759 --> 00:37:53.960 and beautiful security could there be 00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:57.019 to deal with the things in your life that are morally wrong 00:37:57.019 --> 00:38:02.360 than from the position of having been forgiven by Christ? 00:38:03.819 --> 00:38:06.819 I will say nothing to him that shocks him. 00:38:06.820 --> 00:38:13.900 Only in the gospel is there a place of emotional security, 00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:15.480 of beautiful security, 00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:17.760 to deal with the things that are wrong, 00:38:18.260 --> 00:38:19.900 that I can look at what I've done, 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:21.960 maybe, you know, to my wife or to my kids 00:38:21.960 --> 00:38:23.920 or to my co-workers or my congregation, 00:38:24.340 --> 00:38:27.980 and I can say, confident in the gospel, 00:38:28.760 --> 00:38:31.780 that that I did was wrong, 00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:33.820 and I don't say a but. 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:36.820 No excuse. 00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:38.500 And I can look at it. 00:38:38.940 --> 00:38:40.700 And I say, Lord, I wait for you. 00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:42.420 I hope in you. 00:38:45.740 --> 00:38:47.820 I'm in awe that you would forgive this. 00:38:49.120 --> 00:38:51.860 And help me now know, Lord, how to move on and live, 00:38:51.940 --> 00:38:54.100 how to deal with it so I don't sin as much 00:38:54.100 --> 00:38:55.620 or as often or ever again, 00:38:56.100 --> 00:38:57.600 how I amend my life, 00:38:58.059 --> 00:38:59.300 how I ask for forgiveness, 00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:01.160 how I seek reconciliation, 00:39:01.159 --> 00:39:05.699 how I start to have mental health, 00:39:05.839 --> 00:39:08.399 is to know that Christ has forgiven this. 00:39:08.839 --> 00:39:09.739 He knows it. 00:39:10.839 --> 00:39:12.539 I've been, and this whole thing, 00:39:12.659 --> 00:39:13.899 waiting for the word of hope, 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:14.719 that's the gospel, 00:39:14.839 --> 00:39:16.619 the good news that Christ has done it, 00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:18.599 that believe the gospel, 00:39:18.759 --> 00:39:20.519 that that actually starts to form me, 00:39:20.619 --> 00:39:22.399 that I have a place of emotionally 00:39:22.399 --> 00:39:24.259 and beautiful security, 00:39:24.259 --> 00:39:26.819 that I can deal with things in my life. 00:39:26.820 --> 00:39:30.200 And just in closing, the very final thing, 00:39:31.059 --> 00:39:32.840 if you haven't given your life to Christ, 00:39:32.900 --> 00:39:34.260 there's no better time than now. 00:39:35.620 --> 00:39:36.240 Jesus says, 00:39:36.500 --> 00:39:39.220 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, 00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:42.039 heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. 00:39:42.420 --> 00:39:46.019 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 00:39:46.100 --> 00:39:48.019 for I am gentle and humble of heart, 00:39:48.260 --> 00:39:50.880 and you will find rest for your soul, 00:39:51.380 --> 00:39:54.100 for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 00:39:54.099 --> 00:39:56.599 And there's no better time than to call out to him. 00:39:58.000 --> 00:39:58.539 And if you, 00:39:59.159 --> 00:40:01.119 and there's nothing in your life so bad 00:40:01.119 --> 00:40:03.119 that he will say no or turn you away, 00:40:03.319 --> 00:40:05.440 because he is the God of steadfast love. 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:07.679 I invite you to stand in closing. 00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:09.639 Please stand. 00:40:13.380 --> 00:40:14.659 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:23.619 Father, we give you thanks and praise 00:40:23.619 --> 00:40:25.839 that you sent Jesus. 00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:28.579 We give you thanks and praise, 00:40:28.880 --> 00:40:29.880 God, the Son of God, 00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:31.039 the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:40:31.139 --> 00:40:32.380 that you willingly came 00:40:32.380 --> 00:40:34.019 to be the Lamb of God 00:40:34.019 --> 00:40:35.599 who takes away the sin of the world, 00:40:35.819 --> 00:40:37.859 that once for all sacrifice alone 00:40:37.859 --> 00:40:40.460 that deals with the iniquity and sin 00:40:40.460 --> 00:40:42.059 and transgression in our lives, 00:40:42.119 --> 00:40:43.359 that we might know your pardon 00:40:43.359 --> 00:40:44.880 and your peace in your presence. 00:40:45.500 --> 00:40:47.139 We give you thanks and praise, 00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:48.420 Holy Spirit, 00:40:48.679 --> 00:40:50.839 that you moved and worked in lives 00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:52.660 to bring us to a faith in Christ 00:40:52.660 --> 00:40:54.400 and into union with Christ, 00:40:54.600 --> 00:40:56.920 that he now is in us 00:40:56.920 --> 00:40:58.360 and we are in him, 00:40:58.519 --> 00:40:59.460 you, Holy Spirit, 00:40:59.579 --> 00:41:01.640 in us and us in you. 00:41:02.440 --> 00:41:04.140 And we give you thanks and praise, 00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:05.519 Father, for this great work. 00:41:05.640 --> 00:41:06.680 We thank and praise you 00:41:06.680 --> 00:41:08.019 that you know us completely 00:41:08.019 --> 00:41:09.460 and utterly perfectly, 00:41:09.460 --> 00:41:11.920 and still you loved us 00:41:11.920 --> 00:41:13.220 and sent your Son, 00:41:13.900 --> 00:41:14.500 our Savior, 00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:15.639 to be our Savior. 00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:16.940 Thank you for forgiveness. 00:41:17.579 --> 00:41:19.800 Father, may these truths so form us 00:41:19.800 --> 00:41:22.340 that we might not only wait upon you 00:41:22.340 --> 00:41:23.000 in general 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:25.740 but and wait upon you 00:41:25.740 --> 00:41:27.800 in terms of dealing with amendment of life 00:41:27.800 --> 00:41:30.000 and waiting for you to act 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:30.679 and to help us 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:31.480 and to strengthen us 00:41:31.480 --> 00:41:32.280 and know your presence 00:41:32.280 --> 00:41:33.019 and your power. 00:41:33.340 --> 00:41:34.800 But, Father, 00:41:34.940 --> 00:41:36.300 may you work on us 00:41:36.300 --> 00:41:38.200 and may the gospel so form us 00:41:38.200 --> 00:41:39.760 that it shapes all of our lives, 00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:40.880 all of our relationships, 00:41:41.100 --> 00:41:42.180 how we see ourselves, 00:41:42.380 --> 00:41:43.320 how we see our past. 00:41:43.620 --> 00:41:45.080 May the gospel form us 00:41:45.080 --> 00:41:46.080 and we ask these things 00:41:46.080 --> 00:41:46.960 in Jesus' name. 00:41:47.620 --> 00:41:47.960 Amen.