WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 So just for a few moments this morning, we're going to look back at Psalm 73, which if you 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:12.560 have a few Bible with you, it's on page 485 and 486. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:14.120 Psalms are really great, aren't they? 00:00:14.120 --> 00:00:16.800 They're absolutely amazing. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:21.760 And this is a very self-reflective Psalm. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.120 And that's always a good thing. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:27.060 And I guess at this time of year, whether it's the end of the year or whether it's the beginning 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:34.379 of a new year, there's a good practice to be self-reflective, to think about our own relationship 00:00:34.379 --> 00:00:39.179 with God and to think about where we're going and where we've come from and where we're 00:00:39.179 --> 00:00:44.320 hoping to be in our lives, but also obviously spiritually. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:52.200 I think the worst thing in the world is to be spiritually mindless, is to be just thoughtless 00:00:52.200 --> 00:01:05.299 about who we are on a kind of thoughtless treadmill of non-thinking, of non-activity, 00:01:05.299 --> 00:01:07.540 brain and soul and mind. 00:01:07.540 --> 00:01:15.520 No self-examination, no consideration of progress or regress, no real sense of God or the complexity 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:20.300 of the world in which we live or the condition of our hearts. 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:22.180 Nobody else can really do that. 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:27.540 Nobody else can reflect on the condition of our hearts except ourselves in relation to 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:28.660 God. 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:35.220 And so I've entitled this sermon, The Danger of Drifting, because that's really what the 00:01:35.220 --> 00:01:39.620 Psalm is to speaking about here in the Psalm. 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:43.880 And the great thing about that, the great thing about this Psalm is, and the great thing 00:01:43.880 --> 00:01:49.540 if that's the case in your life or if it's the case in my life today, the great thing 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:52.740 is that God knows anyway. 00:01:52.740 --> 00:01:55.700 God knows we don't need to hide anything from Him. 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:58.620 We don't need to have any pretense. 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:05.740 And this is a great Psalm because it reminds us of that and it legitimizes facing up to 00:02:05.740 --> 00:02:09.819 that and dealing with it and moving on from it because the Psalm is given to us as part 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:10.819 of God's Word. 00:02:10.819 --> 00:02:12.939 He wants to help us. 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:15.100 He wants us to move on. 00:02:15.100 --> 00:02:16.100 It's astonishing. 00:02:16.099 --> 00:02:21.379 And right from the very beginning, our tendency has always been to hide from God. 00:02:21.379 --> 00:02:24.419 It's always been to run away from Him. 00:02:24.419 --> 00:02:33.419 Whenever either we experience His holiness or we feel our own unholiness, lack of holiness, 00:02:33.419 --> 00:02:35.579 we run and hide. 00:02:35.579 --> 00:02:43.099 And yet what He wants from us is simply to recognize that He knows and He wants to deal 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:46.219 with us because He loves us as our Father. 00:02:46.219 --> 00:02:51.539 And so as we go into a new year, and I'm not a great one for resolutions because they never 00:02:51.539 --> 00:02:59.180 last past the third for me, but let's make a resolution just in our lives if we haven't 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:02.659 done so, just to be honest with God. 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:09.539 You know, to get rid of the pretense, the faffing about in His presence. 00:03:09.539 --> 00:03:16.900 Be honest before this God who knows our every thought, whose Word is a mirror, the Scriptures, 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:24.780 a mirror into our own soul and enable us to deal with ourselves before Him. 00:03:24.780 --> 00:03:32.419 So we see, can we just do a quick character study of Asaph in this Psalm, who speaks very 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:36.219 strongly about drifting from God. 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:47.300 He's drifting from God, really the first verse is just a declaration of His conclusion, 00:03:47.300 --> 00:03:49.900 really truly God is good to Israel, to those who are put in heart. 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:58.759 But then He plunges into an exposition, an explanation of the fact that He had drifted 00:03:58.759 --> 00:03:59.759 from His God. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.740 Now, can we just think about that for a moment? 00:04:02.740 --> 00:04:05.219 This is Asaph. 00:04:05.219 --> 00:04:09.979 This is a real solid, strong, mature believer that we have here. 00:04:09.979 --> 00:04:14.620 He's probably the worship leader in David's Jerusalem and the temple of God. 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:20.019 As a deep, mature faith, he's written many of the Psalm 50, Psalm 73 to 83 have been 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:21.519 written by Asaph. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.699 You know, he's one of the penwriters of Scripture. 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:31.459 There's just no kind of spiritual tear away here. 00:04:31.459 --> 00:04:39.099 This is a real man of God, a real godly man, yet he experienced spiritual drift in his 00:04:39.099 --> 00:04:41.379 mature Christian living. 00:04:41.379 --> 00:04:50.459 And what we have here is a declaration of his absolute honesty before our set and vulnerability 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:52.179 both before God and us. 00:04:52.179 --> 00:04:56.659 Remember, he's penning this, this becomes part of Scripture. 00:04:56.660 --> 00:05:03.420 And it's an astonishingly vulnerable and honest account of where he was spiritually. 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:07.980 And I think in our Christianity today, and maybe particularly in our tradition, and I 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:11.660 know we've got friends and lots of people here today from different churches and different 00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:16.900 traditions, in our own traditions, maybe we are poor at that accountability. 00:05:16.900 --> 00:05:22.620 We're poor at that vulnerability, especially as men, especially particularly maybe as leaders 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:24.220 and ministers. 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:28.340 There's a stoicism about our religion often. 00:05:28.340 --> 00:05:33.180 We feel we need to be strong, and we feel it's a sign of weakness to be vulnerable and 00:05:33.180 --> 00:05:39.860 to declare a limited faith and a limited understanding. 00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:49.500 This is a great medicinal passage against that kind of thinking as we move through it. 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:57.060 It's hugely important that we recognize how unhealthy it can be to just put on a face 00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:02.300 in our Christianity, to put on a face in our faith and to give everyone the impression 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:06.980 that all is well when it clearly may not be. 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:11.339 It's important that we have people that we can be accountable to, speak to, be vulnerable 00:06:11.339 --> 00:06:12.339 among. 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:17.379 He is Asaph, and he is vulnerable in front of the whole Christian world and in front 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:24.219 of all the believers in the Old Testament, as well as before his God. 00:06:24.219 --> 00:06:32.259 And we see that his big problem is that he thinks his faith is kind of a waste of time. 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:34.579 Because he's looking at those who aren't believers. 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:37.060 He speaks about the prosperity of the wicked. 00:06:37.060 --> 00:06:42.300 I was envious of the wicked or the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:44.219 They have no pangs unto death. 00:06:44.219 --> 00:06:46.779 Their bodies are fat and sleek and so on. 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:50.939 Get through to verse 12, really. 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:58.859 He just plunges forth with this description of people who aren't believers and what a 00:06:58.859 --> 00:07:00.899 great life they have. 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:07.099 It's almost like he caricatures people who don't believe and he molds it all into one 00:07:07.099 --> 00:07:14.939 kind of archetypal figure of atheism or unbelief and compares himself with them. 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:20.100 He says, their life is so good and mine's so rubbish and the grass is so much greener 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:21.100 where they live. 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:23.259 I don't understand why that's the case. 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:24.980 I've kept my heart pure in vain. 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:26.660 It's a waste of time. 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:32.939 And it's funny as we read it because it's a really exaggerated, exaggerated, I can't 00:07:32.939 --> 00:07:35.259 believe there was anyone like that in Asaph's time. 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:40.459 I don't believe there was anyone who actually lived like that, who was fat and sleek and 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:41.939 didn't have any troubles at all. 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:47.339 But he's exaggerating the whole picture because he's so angry about it. 00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:49.540 They're confident, carefree, proud. 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:51.579 They stick their finger up at God. 00:07:51.579 --> 00:07:52.579 They're wealthy. 00:07:52.579 --> 00:07:57.379 They're unjust, but nothing happens to them. 00:07:57.379 --> 00:08:00.899 They set themselves up against God, but they just seem to thrive. 00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:08.139 And so there's this great envy, he's green with envy at those who don't believe. 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:13.699 This exaggerated caricature that he is painting here. 00:08:13.699 --> 00:08:16.819 And he then compares that to his own life as a believer. 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:20.060 You know, in the deep down he's thinking, I should be blessed. 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:21.379 My life should be great. 00:08:21.379 --> 00:08:25.180 Everything should be good because I've trusted in God and I've done what God commands. 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:30.939 In verse 13 he speaks about, I've kept my hands clean and I've washed my hands in innocence. 00:08:30.939 --> 00:08:34.819 But all day long I've been stricken and rebuked every morning. 00:08:34.819 --> 00:08:36.460 He feels under the judgment of God. 00:08:36.460 --> 00:08:38.740 He feels that things aren't going well for him. 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:43.060 He doesn't feel that warmth and that love of God's presence in his life. 00:08:43.060 --> 00:08:48.180 He's been faithful to his religious observance and he's sought to live the way of faith. 00:08:48.180 --> 00:08:52.220 But he feels like, it's like, you know what it is when you're not well and you have to, 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:57.820 I always, sorry, I always used to bring out the old illustrations of the New Year because 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:00.060 they're the best ones. 00:09:00.060 --> 00:09:02.900 So you know, it's just like taking medicine, isn't it? 00:09:02.899 --> 00:09:06.659 You know, you take medicine because you know it's going to make it, you better but it tastes 00:09:06.659 --> 00:09:07.659 horrible. 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:12.139 It's not nice, it's this green, gungy fluid that you've got to slug down and you've got 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:13.740 to just take it. 00:09:13.740 --> 00:09:16.379 Take the medicine becomes a phrase in our vocabulary. 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:20.500 You've got to take the medicine. 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:24.539 And that's how Asaph is feeling about his religion, about his faith. 00:09:24.539 --> 00:09:29.579 It's like taking the medicine, it seems, everything's grim. 00:09:29.579 --> 00:09:31.980 There's an oppression about what he's feeling, not much joy. 00:09:31.980 --> 00:09:34.180 That's a real battle for him. 00:09:34.180 --> 00:09:39.139 This worship leader, this leader of praise, praise and joy. 00:09:39.139 --> 00:09:41.139 It doesn't seem to be much praise and joy. 00:09:41.139 --> 00:09:45.220 It's so much so that his faith wavered. 00:09:45.220 --> 00:09:51.060 Go back to the kind of summary again of that section, verse 2, but as for me, my feet had 00:09:51.060 --> 00:09:56.139 almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 00:09:56.139 --> 00:10:01.539 That's a hugely honest confession, isn't it? 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:06.939 I'm the leader of the praise but my feet had almost slipped. 00:10:06.939 --> 00:10:11.419 I almost lost my foundation, almost lost my faith. 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:18.860 I spoke to someone last night who said, I was born a Christian home, an evangelical 00:10:18.860 --> 00:10:26.500 home and I still believe but I've fallen out with a church and I will go. 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:34.340 And that's maybe the kind of thing that Asaph was feeling here, but even deeper. 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:37.820 It wasn't just a church he'd fallen out with, it was God himself. 00:10:37.820 --> 00:10:43.779 His feet had almost embittered, he was envious, he was covetous of a carefree life. 00:10:43.779 --> 00:10:45.580 And that's right, isn't it? 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:50.340 I don't believe his life is carefree, isn't it, compared with ours? 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:51.980 We ventured a battle when we became free. 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:56.580 Did you think it was all going to be sweet, smelling roses coming to Christ? 00:10:56.580 --> 00:10:58.180 Within this battle, aren't we? 00:10:58.180 --> 00:11:05.340 And he sees that, but he's plunged into darkness and this is his testimony. 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:07.860 And again, can I just bring it forward a little bit? 00:11:07.860 --> 00:11:09.259 I would love that. 00:11:09.259 --> 00:11:13.620 I would love to see more of these kind of testimonies shared and maybe from the front 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:18.220 as well and given in our lives that we share a testimony which says, well, look, we're not 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:19.220 the finished article. 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:25.420 Actually, I'm really struggling and I'm not quite at the right place, but with the recognition 00:11:25.420 --> 00:11:28.779 of the way forward, I'm not saying that we stop there because the psalm doesn't stop 00:11:28.779 --> 00:11:30.980 there and the Asaph doesn't stop there. 00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:35.980 But that honesty which says, there's been a time, and I'm going through a time, or I've 00:11:35.980 --> 00:11:39.660 been through a time where I'm at the edge of the cliff, I'm at the precipice and I've 00:11:39.660 --> 00:11:42.820 almost fallen. 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:51.340 So we see his condition which is that he had drifted from God and his feet had almost slipped. 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:56.620 But then in his testimony, he goes on to give a really encouraging experience shared in 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.020 verses 17 to 20. 00:11:59.020 --> 00:12:04.860 He says, this is, when I thought how to understand it, it seemed a weary some task. 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:06.900 He didn't know what to do. 00:12:06.900 --> 00:12:08.980 He just didn't know how to cope with it. 00:12:08.980 --> 00:12:13.779 He said, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their end. 00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:15.180 So maybe he's been comparative. 00:12:15.180 --> 00:12:23.659 He's looking at the life of the celebratory reluctant, happy atheist, not reluctant, happy 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:25.139 atheist. 00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:30.180 And he's coveting what they have until he comes into the sanctuary of God. 00:12:30.180 --> 00:12:31.860 So what he does, what does he do? 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:33.740 It's really informative for us. 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:42.379 He goes back into the sanctuary of God, that place where he prepares the music for. 00:12:42.379 --> 00:12:48.019 And that is the place really, particularly in the Old Testament economy, where the people 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:51.060 of God would meet with God. 00:12:51.060 --> 00:12:52.060 That is where God dwelt. 00:12:52.060 --> 00:12:54.060 That was his dwelling place. 00:12:54.060 --> 00:12:55.700 That was where his Emmanuel was. 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:58.180 It was in the Holy of Holies. 00:12:58.180 --> 00:13:00.779 It was where his presence was symbolized. 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:02.019 That's where they went to worship. 00:13:02.019 --> 00:13:06.419 That's where the temple and the sanctuary and the tabernacle was so important to them 00:13:06.419 --> 00:13:09.659 because it symbolized the presence of God. 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:21.579 And he takes that complaint and that cry into God's presence. 00:13:21.579 --> 00:13:25.659 And that enables him to see things differently. 00:13:25.659 --> 00:13:29.819 He's broken his silence, his grumbling, coveting silence. 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:34.460 And he's able then to change his line of vision. 00:13:34.460 --> 00:13:36.740 He changes his focus of comparison. 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:39.580 Now, just think about it. 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:42.300 You and I compare all the time. 00:13:42.300 --> 00:13:44.940 And we often do it in our Christian lives as well. 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:49.140 We spend a lot of time horizontally comparing. 00:13:49.140 --> 00:13:52.220 And what's happening here is that he's moving from that horizontal comparison. 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:53.220 I'm better than them. 00:13:53.220 --> 00:13:54.220 I'm worse than them. 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:55.220 Why isn't it like this? 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:56.220 Why can't it be? 00:13:56.220 --> 00:14:03.460 It's a vertical one where he goes into the presence of God, the sanctuary, and he sees 00:14:03.460 --> 00:14:06.019 God's perspective. 00:14:06.019 --> 00:14:09.580 It completely changes things for him. 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:10.580 He takes that walk. 00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:14.620 So he does something about his envy and covetousness. 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:20.300 He walks into the sanctuary, goes to the place where God is now. 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:27.339 I think maybe some of us, very probably all of us, and I absolutely include myself, think 00:14:27.339 --> 00:14:29.620 we should take that walk. 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:36.059 On January the first, 2019, anew, afresh, or if you've never taken it before, that's 00:14:36.059 --> 00:14:37.059 where we need to go. 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:38.579 That's where you need to go. 00:14:38.579 --> 00:14:40.139 Take that walk. 00:14:40.139 --> 00:14:43.019 Maybe you need to start that walk again. 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:44.459 Now, what is it for us? 00:14:44.459 --> 00:14:47.139 Do I mean walking up the Johnson Terrace into the St. Columbus features? 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:48.139 No, I don't mean that. 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:50.259 It's different, isn't it now? 00:14:50.259 --> 00:14:54.539 The church, the building, isn't the place where God's presence is. 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:58.340 God's presence, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 00:14:58.340 --> 00:15:06.340 Yes, the people together represent that also, but God is in our hearts because as believers, 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:09.500 He has come in the presence of His Holy Spirit into our hearts. 00:15:09.500 --> 00:15:12.500 And it simply means we take that walk into His presence again. 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:18.580 I mean, we take a walk into prayer and into fellowship with Him again. 00:15:18.580 --> 00:15:22.060 And maybe you need to do that. 00:15:22.060 --> 00:15:26.139 Maybe that's very important because nobody else can do it for you. 00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:30.900 It's like the Lord's Supper, which is a very personal and intimate thing which we eat and 00:15:30.900 --> 00:15:32.620 drink personally. 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:34.580 You can't eat and drink for somebody else. 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:36.940 It's a great illustration, isn't it? 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:39.060 You and I need to be in God's presence. 00:15:39.060 --> 00:15:46.700 It's the single most personal and yet the single most significant act we have to do in 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:47.700 our lives. 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:52.700 It's just the habit of going into the sanctuary, of going into His presence, of speaking to 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:58.420 Him, of praying with Him, of reading His Word. 00:15:58.420 --> 00:16:00.940 I'm a little bit shocked sometimes. 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:05.180 I'm getting old and decrepit. 00:16:05.180 --> 00:16:10.100 And I'm a great believer in habit. 00:16:10.100 --> 00:16:13.060 The older I get, the more I see the importance of habit. 00:16:13.059 --> 00:16:19.859 And I am forever grateful to my father and mother for building a spiritual, habitual behavior 00:16:19.859 --> 00:16:25.019 within me, often when I didn't feel like it and often when I still don't feel like it. 00:16:25.019 --> 00:16:30.139 But I am a little bit shocked at the younger generation today. 00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:33.219 This is going to sound like a grumpy old man. 00:16:33.219 --> 00:16:41.579 I don't think there's that same habitual relationship with God. 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:45.780 There may be other ways that we have much to learn from the younger generation, and I 00:16:45.780 --> 00:16:48.100 absolutely believe that. 00:16:48.100 --> 00:16:50.660 They're fantastic. 00:16:50.660 --> 00:16:57.980 But I think habitual relationship with all its routine and ordinariness is not that popular 00:16:57.980 --> 00:16:58.980 with people. 00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:06.620 I was trying to work out online yesterday if there's any kind of scientific evidence 00:17:06.620 --> 00:17:10.700 about how long it takes to develop a habit. 00:17:10.700 --> 00:17:12.900 There was various kind of answers to that. 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:18.500 But it seemed that one of the most common ones was 21 days. 00:17:18.500 --> 00:17:22.660 Takes about 21 days for something to become a habit. 00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:25.140 So that's significant, isn't it? 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:30.340 That kind of speaks about our physiology and our mental abilities and our routine and all 00:17:30.340 --> 00:17:31.340 that. 00:17:31.340 --> 00:17:36.180 So if we can do the first 21, before the end of January, if you've got out of the habit 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:46.620 of daily routine going into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, you, changing your 00:17:46.620 --> 00:17:52.740 perspective, seeing things differently, then can I ask you, and we challenge ourselves, 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:56.019 all of us, every day, do that. 00:17:56.019 --> 00:18:00.779 Every day, and we'll maybe test it out and see if it becomes a habit. 00:18:00.779 --> 00:18:04.019 We'll be back after 21 days. 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:07.139 So you do it on day 22 with ease? 00:18:07.139 --> 00:18:09.579 Probably not because there's a spiritual battle going on. 00:18:09.579 --> 00:18:12.420 But anyway, he goes back into God's presence. 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:15.539 And as he does so, he sees a different reality, doesn't he? 00:18:15.539 --> 00:18:17.139 He sees a different reality. 00:18:17.139 --> 00:18:18.980 Things are not as they seem. 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:23.299 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned our end. 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:26.059 We read about the end. 00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:27.859 Did you make that link? 00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:30.660 We read about the end in Revelation. 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:34.259 It was both glorious and terrifying. 00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:39.460 It would have made you uncomfortable and different points of rejoice. 00:18:39.460 --> 00:18:44.820 It's a different reality because he sees them spiritually before God, and he sees their 00:18:44.820 --> 00:18:45.820 end. 00:18:45.820 --> 00:18:51.660 And this section from 18 to 20 is about the lost. 00:18:51.660 --> 00:18:54.860 They're the ones that are actually in slippery places. 00:18:54.860 --> 00:18:56.300 Truly you set them in slippery places. 00:18:56.300 --> 00:18:58.259 It's not a believer who's in a slippery place. 00:18:58.259 --> 00:18:59.860 It's nearly gone. 00:18:59.859 --> 00:19:06.219 Because the unbeliever is the one who is rebelling against God in the caricature that he paints 00:19:06.219 --> 00:19:08.979 in this picture. 00:19:08.979 --> 00:19:12.500 And he's speaking here about the reality of judgment at the end. 00:19:12.500 --> 00:19:20.979 The reality that comparative measurement of our goodness is not what God requires of 00:19:20.979 --> 00:19:21.979 us. 00:19:21.979 --> 00:19:27.019 That there's this recognition that to be out of Christ for us in a New Testament context, 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:34.460 however comparatively good we are, however religious we are, is to remain under God's 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:38.579 just and good judgment. 00:19:38.579 --> 00:19:41.619 Because he has provided an answer for us. 00:19:41.619 --> 00:19:45.660 And if we choose to stay out of that, we choose to stay out of his grace. 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:49.500 And really this passage in Asaph, what he did when he came into God's presence, was 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:58.299 he began to appreciate the urgency and the desperate condition of being guilty before 00:19:58.299 --> 00:20:02.339 God, the very real scenarios for those who are lost. 00:20:02.339 --> 00:20:05.980 We spend so much of our time apologizing for God. 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:07.420 I say, well, it's terrible. 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:09.819 I know, but that's kind of God he is. 00:20:09.819 --> 00:20:14.539 But it's absolutely good and perfect in his justice. 00:20:14.539 --> 00:20:19.140 We've seen that not just in his justice, but in his love. 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:22.500 We all sense the need for justice. 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:25.020 We all recognize the need for wrongdoing being punished. 00:20:25.020 --> 00:20:29.020 All of us at different level comparatively, maybe. 00:20:29.020 --> 00:20:35.460 But God perfectly is the one who cannot stand in the presence of evil and sin. 00:20:35.460 --> 00:20:41.140 And so he provides the Savior who stood in the presence of sin and evil in our place 00:20:41.140 --> 00:20:44.820 in order to be the Redeemer. 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:49.500 And so all of us, as we had our carol service and all these people were inviting, our friends 00:20:49.500 --> 00:20:54.419 came and as we want to give out one to one, word one to one and study and pray for our 00:20:54.419 --> 00:20:55.419 friends. 00:20:55.419 --> 00:20:59.339 We remember that they, if they are not Christians, will one day hear if they don't change 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:01.379 depart from me. 00:21:01.379 --> 00:21:03.500 I never knew you. 00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:04.500 I never knew you. 00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:06.539 It's not a game. 00:21:06.539 --> 00:21:09.460 We're not building a church for the sake of having a nice community. 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:13.980 However important and significant that is. 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:16.059 In other words, this is the reality. 00:21:16.059 --> 00:21:21.220 What Asaph was considering wasn't the reality. 00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:22.220 This is the reality. 00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:30.140 And what's interesting is that he speaks about it, the prosperity of the wicked and the way 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:32.220 they seem to get on so great. 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:38.339 He says it's like a, it's like when God comes in judgment, it'll all be like a dream. 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:41.660 They're destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors, like a dream when one awake, 00:21:41.660 --> 00:21:46.100 oh Lord, you rouse yourself, despise them as phantoms. 00:21:46.100 --> 00:21:53.700 And he tells us that this current battle that we're in is like a dream. 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.500 It's going to pass. 00:21:56.500 --> 00:22:01.460 The reality will be the new heavens and the new earth we're in, dwells righteousness. 00:22:01.460 --> 00:22:03.660 That is God's ultimate aim for His people. 00:22:03.660 --> 00:22:05.380 So he learned about the lost. 00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:07.940 He also learned about himself, didn't he? 00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:09.100 Verses 22 and 23. 00:22:09.099 --> 00:22:14.019 He says, when my soul was embittered when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant. 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:16.619 I was like a beast before you. 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:17.619 Great stuff. 00:22:17.619 --> 00:22:18.619 Brilliant. 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:20.819 It's brilliant because it's right to the heart of the matter. 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:23.819 He says my heart, it was a heart problem he had. 00:22:23.819 --> 00:22:26.419 My heart before you was, I was pricked in my heart. 00:22:26.419 --> 00:22:28.859 My heart was brutish and ignorant. 00:22:28.859 --> 00:22:35.539 He, he, he claps his hands, he snaps his fingers and he says, it was, I was living by circumstance, 00:22:35.539 --> 00:22:36.539 not by faith. 00:22:36.539 --> 00:22:43.339 I'd lost sight of God and I was living out the experiences of a dream as if that was 00:22:43.339 --> 00:22:44.940 real life. 00:22:44.940 --> 00:22:49.099 Living without a sense of being made in God's image and living without the reality of God's 00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:51.940 rescue and God's love and God's grace. 00:22:51.940 --> 00:22:57.019 Living as it were, you know, when we live like that, when we live away from the sanctuary, 00:22:57.019 --> 00:22:59.339 away from God's presence, what are we doing? 00:22:59.339 --> 00:23:02.619 We're living like we don't have a soul. 00:23:02.619 --> 00:23:08.099 So when you live just for your work or for your family or for your pre-course meal or 00:23:08.099 --> 00:23:12.619 for a good night's sleep, you're just living like you don't have a soul. 00:23:12.619 --> 00:23:18.299 Like you're living as if you're just part of the natural world. 00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:20.139 Like you part of David Attenborough's world. 00:23:20.139 --> 00:23:27.059 That that, you know, you could be studied as the human animal without any reference to 00:23:27.059 --> 00:23:32.019 this fact that you're made in God's image and you have Him as your King and Lord. 00:23:32.019 --> 00:23:33.019 And that's what he's saying. 00:23:33.019 --> 00:23:34.019 He said, I was like a beast. 00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:36.259 I was just like an animal. 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:37.579 I wasn't thinking. 00:23:37.579 --> 00:23:41.779 I wasn't recognizing that I was made in God's image. 00:23:41.779 --> 00:23:42.980 Just a lost sight of that. 00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:50.539 And then also he speaks about God in verses 23 to 20, Nevertheless, I'm continually with 00:23:50.539 --> 00:23:51.779 you, hold me by your right hand. 00:23:51.779 --> 00:23:54.900 You guide me with your counsel and afterwards you receive me to glory. 00:23:54.900 --> 00:23:57.460 We read about that glory in Revelation. 00:23:57.460 --> 00:24:02.860 He's held by God's, he recognizes and sees for the first time when he changes his perspective, 00:24:02.860 --> 00:24:08.660 he's held by God's loving grip and he's guided and led towards something infinitely 00:24:08.660 --> 00:24:12.100 better, something infinitely better. 00:24:12.100 --> 00:24:14.019 Isn't that great? 00:24:14.019 --> 00:24:17.740 He recognizes God is the must be the strength of his heart. 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:20.100 There's nothing else out there. 00:24:20.100 --> 00:24:21.700 There's nothing in nobody else. 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:28.059 It's a picture of the power and majesty of God that's so often lacking in our fatherly 00:24:28.059 --> 00:24:31.539 embrace of who he is. 00:24:31.539 --> 00:24:34.059 Out of him there's nothing. 00:24:34.059 --> 00:24:36.460 There's no sustainable life. 00:24:36.460 --> 00:24:39.140 There's nothing out of God. 00:24:39.140 --> 00:24:40.140 There's no heaven. 00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:42.660 There's only death and perishing. 00:24:42.660 --> 00:24:45.299 She speaks about in verse 27. 00:24:45.299 --> 00:24:48.299 There's nothing. 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:56.700 And then very, very briefly, Asaph then has this renewed powerful testimony in verse 23, 00:24:56.700 --> 00:25:01.059 nevertheless, I am continually with you, hold me by your right hand. 00:25:01.059 --> 00:25:02.059 So it's Emmanuel, eh? 00:25:02.059 --> 00:25:04.299 It's back to the Christmas message. 00:25:04.299 --> 00:25:09.220 Emmanuel, God with us. 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:13.019 You are with me God, so I know I can be with you, he says. 00:25:13.019 --> 00:25:19.059 And how much more in a sense for us with the New Testament knowledge of Jesus and the cross. 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:24.980 And so my encouragement to you today as it is to myself is that if you're in that place, 00:25:24.980 --> 00:25:31.619 there's no alternative for you but to turn back to God and His grace and His loveliness 00:25:31.619 --> 00:25:32.619 and His goodness. 00:25:32.619 --> 00:25:33.619 It's our biggest challenge. 00:25:33.619 --> 00:25:35.099 There's lots of things going on out there. 00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:39.139 There's Brexit and there's personal wealth and there's challenging circumstances. 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:45.020 I'm not belittling any of these things, but there's this need that we have for the felt 00:25:45.020 --> 00:25:49.780 presence, the intimacy of knowing God who holds us by a right hand. 00:25:49.780 --> 00:25:55.380 That's an intimate picture, holding us by a right hand. 00:25:55.380 --> 00:26:00.580 The miserable teacher in school who went with a whip and a bell, he didn't hold you by 00:26:00.580 --> 00:26:01.580 the right hand. 00:26:01.580 --> 00:26:04.380 It's not that kind of picture. 00:26:04.380 --> 00:26:10.780 This is a picture of gentleness and a picture of fatherly love and grace and intimacy. 00:26:10.780 --> 00:26:15.300 And they gave him a renewed perspective of desire. 00:26:15.300 --> 00:26:22.420 God is the strength of my portion forever whom have I on earth that I desire besides 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:23.420 you. 00:26:23.420 --> 00:26:26.740 So that intimacy is linked with heart longing. 00:26:26.740 --> 00:26:29.620 The wellspring is coming from the wellspring. 00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:35.259 The ego, the core of our being, the emotion, the mind, the will is the recognition deep 00:26:35.259 --> 00:26:38.259 down that He is my desire. 00:26:38.259 --> 00:26:45.459 He'd moved from being covetous and grumpy and unhappy with God and dragging His feet 00:26:45.459 --> 00:26:51.019 to being in the place where He desired God again because He could see who God was and 00:26:51.019 --> 00:26:55.579 it brought Him identity and peace and belonging and forgiveness and hope. 00:26:55.579 --> 00:26:57.619 Isn't that great? 00:26:57.619 --> 00:27:02.179 Isn't that great honest poem, a public poem? 00:27:02.179 --> 00:27:03.939 Would we ever be as honest as that? 00:27:03.939 --> 00:27:09.819 Do we kind of shy away from that because we think somehow we've failed or it'll make 00:27:09.819 --> 00:27:12.459 us look worse with other people? 00:27:12.459 --> 00:27:14.819 I don't think it will. 00:27:14.819 --> 00:27:18.819 I think you'll often find that when you're honest about your faith, the people you speak 00:27:18.819 --> 00:27:21.419 to will say, well, that's exactly how I feel. 00:27:21.419 --> 00:27:23.299 And that's exactly what I went through. 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:29.059 Very few people will say, well, I'm on the mountaintop all the time, you just lack faith 00:27:29.059 --> 00:27:31.980 down there. 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:35.819 And if they do, they're probably backslidden anyway. 00:27:35.819 --> 00:27:39.019 And then He gives us a shared experience at the end. 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:43.619 Well, at verse 1 as well, you truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:27:43.619 --> 00:27:50.139 And then verse 28b, I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. 00:27:50.140 --> 00:27:53.460 It's good for me to be near to God. 00:27:53.460 --> 00:27:58.940 So out of His heart, you know Proverbs 4, 23, don't you? 00:27:58.940 --> 00:28:01.220 We all know Proverbs 4, 23. 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:02.220 We don't really. 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:03.220 I'm just saying that. 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:06.060 But it's out of the heart everything flows. 00:28:06.060 --> 00:28:09.460 So the heart is the core. 00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:16.300 And from His heart, He then knew what was good for others of faith. 00:28:16.300 --> 00:28:19.700 We are talking a lot this year in St. Columbus about sharing our faith. 00:28:19.700 --> 00:28:24.380 We've talked about it for years about the importance of being on the front line ourselves 00:28:24.380 --> 00:28:27.259 and sharing our faith in Jesus Christ. 00:28:27.259 --> 00:28:32.700 That will come from our heart as we have that shared experience. 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:39.700 As it is real for us, it will be something we want it to be real for other people. 00:28:39.700 --> 00:28:44.380 And we need to help each other with that because it's not easy for us. 00:28:44.380 --> 00:28:46.779 The key is not having all the right answers. 00:28:46.779 --> 00:28:49.220 It's not being apologetic geniuses. 00:28:49.220 --> 00:28:53.380 The answer is being near, is good to be near to God. 00:28:53.380 --> 00:28:54.940 That's the answer for us. 00:28:54.940 --> 00:28:57.539 That's where things become easier. 00:28:57.539 --> 00:29:01.059 When we can say like Asaph, he's my refuge. 00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:04.539 Asaph didn't have all the answers and he doesn't give all the answers. 00:29:04.539 --> 00:29:08.740 He had lots of questions and lots of doubts, just like us. 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:14.059 But the key was that he went back into the presence of God as Savior. 00:29:14.059 --> 00:29:16.339 How much more reason do we have? 00:29:16.339 --> 00:29:22.939 And he then shared his testimony, wanted other people to tell of God's works. 00:29:22.939 --> 00:29:27.220 Tell people this year the good works of God. 00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:36.220 Let's stop apologizing for God and being embarrassed by God as if He's the unwelcome cousin that 00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:39.220 comes once a year into our lives. 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:41.179 Let's not be like that. 00:29:41.180 --> 00:29:47.539 Let's share the testimony of how much God has loved us and is our refuge and how much 00:29:47.539 --> 00:29:51.860 He loves other people. 00:29:51.860 --> 00:29:54.660 Who He has placed you among. 00:29:54.660 --> 00:30:02.259 You might be the only Christian that the other people around you will ever know. 00:30:02.259 --> 00:30:03.259 What is the song? 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:05.100 What is the poem? 00:30:05.100 --> 00:30:09.539 What is the message that each of us have? 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:16.059 People may be that the Psalm enables us at the beginning of this new year to just go 00:30:16.059 --> 00:30:17.059 back into God's presence. 00:30:17.059 --> 00:30:18.819 It's a great thing about being a minister. 00:30:18.819 --> 00:30:22.139 It's different from any other job where you have to give answers, but you don't need to 00:30:22.139 --> 00:30:23.139 give any answers. 00:30:23.139 --> 00:30:25.339 Really, you just point people to Jesus. 00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:26.819 Isn't that a great job? 00:30:26.819 --> 00:30:29.019 He's got all the answers. 00:30:29.019 --> 00:30:35.579 And we redirect as leaders, as people, we redirect people all the time to Jesus Christ 00:30:35.579 --> 00:30:37.339 that they will share his testimony. 00:30:37.339 --> 00:30:42.019 And if you don't know Jesus, redirect. 00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:44.019 He's the greatest Savior. 00:30:44.019 --> 00:30:45.019 He's beautiful. 00:30:45.019 --> 00:30:47.459 He's the only Savior. 00:30:47.459 --> 00:30:53.579 And life without Him is utterly and completely meaningless. 00:30:53.579 --> 00:30:55.059 Let's pray. 00:30:55.059 --> 00:30:59.579 Father God, we thank You for who You are. 00:30:59.579 --> 00:31:02.740 We thank You in the depths of the Old Testament. 00:31:02.740 --> 00:31:14.779 We have this remarkable, passionate, honest, loving journey of Esaaf where He is exposed 00:31:14.779 --> 00:31:18.620 before all of Christendom. 00:31:18.620 --> 00:31:23.819 And He is pleased because it gives glory to God. 00:31:23.819 --> 00:31:33.779 In our lives, we similarly founded in that honesty and in that willingness and desire 00:31:33.779 --> 00:31:38.899 to share the glory of God in our lives, what He has done for us. 00:31:38.899 --> 00:31:44.980 And may the self-reflection remind us what He's done, because sometimes we probably feel 00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:50.779 that we are scratching our heads because we are not aware of what He's done. 00:31:50.779 --> 00:31:59.819 So remind us of your great sacrifice on Calvary, of your incredible emptying of yourself, of 00:31:59.819 --> 00:32:05.139 facing the darkness for three hours on that cross, for taking the hell that is due to 00:32:05.139 --> 00:32:11.180 every one of us, for defeating the power of death and the grave, for breathing life into 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:17.539 us through your resurrection power, and for the promise upon promise upon promise that 00:32:17.539 --> 00:32:22.299 even in our suffering, even in our darkness, even in our trials and tribulations, you have 00:32:22.299 --> 00:32:28.819 a purpose, you have a plan, and you're bringing us home to glory to an unimaginable world 00:32:28.819 --> 00:32:34.259 of blessing and joy and happiness where you will wipe away every tear. 00:32:34.259 --> 00:32:39.980 We rejoice in you and as we begin this new year, we pray that our lives might reflect 00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:46.299 with courage and humility and grace the Savior, who we call our own. 00:32:46.299 --> 00:32:48.299 May God bless you. 00:32:48.299 --> 00:32:49.299 Amen. 00:32:49.299 --> 00:33:18.299 Thank you.