WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.500 And this is God's holy word. 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.520 Psalm 122, a song of ascents of David. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.000 I was glad when they said to me, 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.120 Let us go to the house of the Lord. 00:00:13.259 --> 00:00:15.939 Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:20.080 Jerusalem, built as a city that is bound firmly together, 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:23.379 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.320 as was decreed for Israel to give thanks to the name of the Lord. 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:32.119 There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:34.600 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:37.340 May they be secure who love you. 00:00:37.980 --> 00:00:41.359 Peace be within your walls and security within your towers. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.900 For my brothers and companions' sake, I will say, 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:46.260 Peace be within you. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.480 And for the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good. 00:00:51.299 --> 00:00:52.880 This is God's word. Let us pray. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.380 Lord, we ask now that you would help us to focus on your word 00:00:57.380 --> 00:00:59.760 that we would receive from you tonight, 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:02.719 that you would take away the burdens, the distractions 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:06.180 that are creating barriers now in our heart and our minds 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:08.879 to looking at this passage you've written to us. 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:13.099 We recognize that though this was written in an ancient time, 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:16.140 in an ancient hand by David himself, 00:01:16.240 --> 00:01:18.920 that you have written this in your providence for us too. 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:22.799 And so we come now and ask that you would help us to believe that and see it. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:25.159 And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:27.980 --> 00:01:29.900 There are 15 Psalms of Ascent. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:32.540 The Psalms of Ascent are a whole group of Psalms 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:35.980 from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134. 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:37.879 So this is the second of them. 00:01:38.320 --> 00:01:39.379 Psalm 121 is the first. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:43.240 And Psalm, excuse me, I should say, this is the third of them. 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:48.899 And the reason they're called the Psalms of Ascent is that three times a year 00:01:48.899 --> 00:01:51.759 for Israelites that believed in the Lord, 00:01:51.979 --> 00:01:55.819 they are called to come to Jerusalem if they're able for feasts. 00:01:56.479 --> 00:01:59.859 And so when you would travel as an Israelite in the ancient world to Jerusalem 00:01:59.859 --> 00:02:01.780 three times a year, that was a pilgrimage. 00:02:02.019 --> 00:02:03.599 You were a pilgrim on a journey. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.780 And the Psalms of Ascent are songs you would sing along the way, 00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:10.719 songs you would sing at different points throughout the journey. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.240 And so we don't do this as much anymore. 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:16.359 I guess we wear headphones or AirPods throughout the city. 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:20.199 And maybe every once in a while we might sing out loud while we're walking around. 00:02:20.699 --> 00:02:23.159 But in the ancient world, people would always sing 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.199 while they're walking and traveling places. 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:28.319 If you've been to the military tattoo across the street, 00:02:28.699 --> 00:02:30.800 you know that the tattoo is framed around that, 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:34.500 that there would be a band that would go with the army as they travel 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:36.099 and people would sing songs. 00:02:36.620 --> 00:02:39.800 And so the Psalms of Ascent are the songs that Israel, 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:44.040 the Israelites sang along the journey to Jerusalem three times a year for the pilgrimage. 00:02:45.260 --> 00:02:51.060 And those three feasts were Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Booths. 00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:56.180 And so you would travel to Jerusalem for Passover to remember the Exodus story. 00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:00.960 You would travel to Jerusalem for Pentecost to remember the giving of the law 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:02.900 on Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments. 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:08.460 And you would travel for the Feast of Booths as a memorial for the time in the wilderness, 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:10.659 living in tents, living without a home. 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:12.480 And so in each of these, you would go, 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:15.400 you would make a sacrifice to the Lord in Jerusalem at the temple, 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.680 and you would bring your very best, the best of your grain, 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:22.219 the best of your sheep, your lambs. 00:03:22.920 --> 00:03:27.319 And really, it was all about remembering what God had done for Israel historically 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.759 and what God had done for you in your life. 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:32.919 And you come to these and you say, 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:38.539 how can we, as New Testament Christians, sing the Psalms of Ascent? 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:40.519 What does that mean for us? 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:44.560 We don't go to pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year, nor should we. 00:03:45.139 --> 00:03:47.680 What does it mean as a person on this side of the gospel 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:51.120 to sing a psalm like we just sang, Psalm 122? 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:55.719 And the reason we can sing them is because they're God's Word. 00:03:55.980 --> 00:03:56.620 That's a good start. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.680 But also because in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4, 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.580 the writer to the Hebrews says that if you are a Christian tonight, 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:05.319 you too are a pilgrim. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:07.039 It's the same language. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:08.200 You are an exile. 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:09.420 You are a wanderer. 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:15.200 You are wandering through the wilderness of this life towards a city, a Jerusalem. 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:18.160 And so these psalms, the Psalms of Ascent, 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:22.320 become new songs for us in a different way as New Testament pilgrims. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:27.939 And the theme, I think, here is the very first, the third word, verse 1, 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:32.320 David arrives in Jerusalem and he says, I was glad. 00:04:33.860 --> 00:04:37.920 So the question tonight is, what makes for true gladness? 00:04:38.940 --> 00:04:40.180 What makes for true gladness? 00:04:40.440 --> 00:04:42.420 And where is that to be found secondly? 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.340 And then finally, how do you seek that? 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.220 And so that's how we can sing the Psalms. 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:48.720 What makes us glad? 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:49.840 So let's think about that together. 00:04:50.460 --> 00:04:52.740 First, what makes for true gladness? 00:04:53.080 --> 00:04:54.560 Verse 1 and 2 is the focus here. 00:04:55.780 --> 00:04:57.080 Two things that will help us here. 00:04:57.560 --> 00:04:59.880 A couple more things to know about the Psalms of Ascent. 00:05:00.020 --> 00:05:04.660 The first is that by tradition outside the biblical text, 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:06.940 we know that the Israelites often, 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:10.520 when they went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year, 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:15.419 they would often refuse to sleep in any built structures. 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:19.560 So if you were coming towards Jerusalem and you found a house, 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:23.139 you found a friend that lived a little bit closer to Jerusalem than you, 00:05:23.299 --> 00:05:25.079 you wouldn't go inside their house and sleep. 00:05:25.259 --> 00:05:29.959 You would actually sleep outside the house in a tent or just on the ground underneath the stars. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:34.699 And that's because you were there to relive the Exodus story. 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:37.899 You were there to relive the time in the wilderness. 00:05:38.139 --> 00:05:40.139 You were there to relive the struggle. 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:41.680 So it was not meant to be easy. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:42.819 It was supposed to be hard. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:44.599 You don't sleep in a comfortable bed. 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:46.120 You sleep out under the stars. 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:47.980 And then the second thing to know then, 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:50.339 to really make sense of Psalm 122, 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:55.599 is Psalm 122 comes after Psalm 121, right? 00:05:55.919 --> 00:05:56.860 I think that's a fact. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.439 And that's important because the Psalms of Ascent, 00:06:00.539 --> 00:06:01.699 they build on each other. 00:06:01.699 --> 00:06:02.979 They grow. 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:07.639 And you remember, probably if you've been in the church at all for any time, 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:12.279 that Psalm 121 has that very famous line where the psalmist says, 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:16.500 I lift my eyes to the hills, and I ask, where does my help come from? 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:21.819 And then it's antiphonal, meaning a choir or somebody else sings back to him and says, 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.860 my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 00:06:24.919 --> 00:06:25.680 He keeps me. 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:28.899 Now, why in Psalm 121 did they say that? 00:06:28.899 --> 00:06:32.439 And it's because you're on the pilgrimage, and this is not, 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:35.979 oh, I lift my eyes to the hills, and I notice God. 00:06:36.060 --> 00:06:36.979 I look at Arthur's seat. 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:40.379 I look at the best of the highlands, and I say, look at God. 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:41.000 He's amazing. 00:06:41.379 --> 00:06:43.019 Look at how great the creation is. 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:45.239 That is not what it's talking about, though that's true. 00:06:46.579 --> 00:06:49.659 When Psalm 121 says, I lift my eyes to the hills and ask, 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:50.759 where does my help come from? 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:52.539 It is because they're afraid. 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:54.139 They're sleeping outside. 00:06:54.139 --> 00:06:58.319 The hills in the ancient world are a place of danger, not safety. 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:02.680 It's the place where you would get robbed, where bandits tried to hide out for you. 00:07:03.099 --> 00:07:06.279 It was the place, often in the Old Testament, of the false gods, 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:11.740 where Asherah poles and Baal worship sites were set up all throughout the mountains. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:15.319 And so they say, I lift my eyes to the hills outside of Jerusalem, 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:19.120 and I realize, if I'm going to make it from my home to Jerusalem, 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:20.939 where's my help going to come from? 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:23.139 So that's Psalm 121. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:28.740 It's about the journey, and will my keeper keep me all the way to Jerusalem? 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:32.399 But then you come to Psalm 122, and the point is, 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:35.579 I was glad when they said, let's go to the house of the Lord. 00:07:35.719 --> 00:07:36.980 And then verse 2, here it is. 00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:40.519 Our feet are now standing in the gates of Jerusalem. 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:45.079 So you see that they've done the travel, Psalm 121, Psalm 122. 00:07:45.719 --> 00:07:48.939 My feet are now, have arrived inside the gates of Jerusalem. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:49.859 That's what David's saying. 00:07:49.899 --> 00:07:51.939 I'm so thankful to have finally made it. 00:07:52.719 --> 00:07:56.139 And there's a sense here that the psalmist is saying the pilgrimage, 00:07:56.799 --> 00:08:00.199 the pilgrimage includes a sense of homelessness, 00:08:01.539 --> 00:08:03.740 a sense of wandering, a sense of, 00:08:04.159 --> 00:08:07.019 I'm on the journey, and I'm not yet home. 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:08.899 But then in verse 2 of Psalm 122, 00:08:09.419 --> 00:08:11.560 but now when I come to Jerusalem, here I am. 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:12.240 I'm standing here. 00:08:12.339 --> 00:08:15.299 I finally made it to where God has sent me, where I want to be. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.379 And that tells us that in verse 1, 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:21.199 boy, this makes sense, verse 1. 00:08:21.259 --> 00:08:23.759 Because in verse 1, what does David say? 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:27.879 I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the, 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:31.819 and we should expect there it should be temple of the Lord. 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:33.120 But that's not what he says. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:36.580 I was glad when they said, let us go into the house, 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.220 or the Hebrew word is home, of the Lord. 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:43.519 And what David is saying is, when I go into Jerusalem, 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:47.220 and I get through the wilderness journey, the pilgrimage, 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:49.360 which is full of dangers and toils and snares, 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:51.840 and I finally am standing in the gates, 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:55.419 and I see the temple, he says, I just want to be home. 00:08:55.419 --> 00:09:01.879 And in this psalm, he says that home is being in the home of the Lord, 00:09:02.459 --> 00:09:05.620 where God dwells in the midst of the city of God in Jerusalem. 00:09:06.779 --> 00:09:09.259 And that means that the point of this passage is simple, 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:10.899 and it's to just say this, 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:18.500 real home for the pilgrim believer is wherever God makes his home. 00:09:19.379 --> 00:09:20.639 And that's what David's saying. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:25.639 He's saying, I knew finally that no matter where I come from, 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:27.039 no matter where you come from, 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:29.679 that you will never be fully home 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:33.419 until you arrive at the place that God has made home, 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:35.240 where God calls home. 00:09:36.439 --> 00:09:40.100 I, every single person in this room knows what it feels like 00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:46.259 to come off the back of a long work day and come home. 00:09:46.259 --> 00:09:48.919 And everybody in here knows what it's like 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:52.039 to come off the back of a long trip and come home. 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:54.639 And it doesn't matter how good a holiday is. 00:09:54.779 --> 00:09:57.100 There are times on the best holiday you've ever had 00:09:57.100 --> 00:09:59.019 where you think, I just want to be at home, 00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:01.039 and I just want to get back to normal, 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:03.080 and I just want to get back to my routine. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:05.220 And the relief that that is. 00:10:05.819 --> 00:10:08.120 I can say, I did it a month ago, 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:11.759 that when you take five kids 32,000 feet in the air 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.460 across the Atlantic, 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:15.240 no matter where you land, 00:10:15.379 --> 00:10:17.180 whether it's New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:19.700 it doesn't matter, Edinburgh, London, 00:10:20.160 --> 00:10:22.620 wherever you land, you think, this is now my home. 00:10:22.920 --> 00:10:24.200 I just want to be off the plane. 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:26.300 I just, you think, this is such relief. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:28.240 We all have that sense, you know, 00:10:28.300 --> 00:10:30.860 the existential reality of being relieved 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:32.259 to not be traveling anymore. 00:10:32.920 --> 00:10:34.940 And that's what's being talked about here, 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.040 but it's being, in other words, 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.220 that feeling we get when we finally drop our bags 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:42.680 or we come home from work after the worst day. 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:44.579 And think, I'm finally home. 00:10:44.699 --> 00:10:46.039 That sense of existential relief 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:48.399 is the tiniest, tiniest little shadow 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:50.459 of what's being talked about here. 00:10:51.659 --> 00:10:53.099 And we can all say, 00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:56.259 there is a home that I've yet to experience 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:57.459 that I really long for, 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.000 and this passage is telling us 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:02.139 that that home is wherever God makes home. 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:04.120 And that will never really be home 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:05.159 until we get there. 00:11:06.239 --> 00:11:07.379 Now, that's why I think, 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:08.919 in verse one, 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:11.339 David uses the word glad. 00:11:11.899 --> 00:11:12.379 And glad, 00:11:12.459 --> 00:11:13.219 the word glad here 00:11:13.219 --> 00:11:14.339 is not really 00:11:14.339 --> 00:11:15.620 the sense of 00:11:15.620 --> 00:11:17.059 the modern word happy, 00:11:17.579 --> 00:11:19.279 which is sort of a cheap word, 00:11:19.339 --> 00:11:19.899 and we use that 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:20.899 in a really thin way. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:23.679 But the word glad here 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:24.839 has a real thickness to it 00:11:24.839 --> 00:11:25.799 and a depth to it 00:11:25.799 --> 00:11:26.979 in the Hebrew text. 00:11:27.839 --> 00:11:30.179 And I know this is a very old word, 00:11:30.319 --> 00:11:31.099 but it corresponds 00:11:31.099 --> 00:11:31.879 a little bit more 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:33.199 to something like mirth 00:11:33.199 --> 00:11:35.259 or to be merry. 00:11:35.740 --> 00:11:35.919 You know, 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:37.079 we stop saying Merry Christmas, 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:38.360 but that's the word merry, 00:11:38.939 --> 00:11:39.360 mirth. 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:41.539 It's this real deep sense of gladness, 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:43.299 what the New Testament calls joy. 00:11:44.179 --> 00:11:45.679 Joy is what's being talked about here. 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:48.059 One of the favorite moments, 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:49.219 one of my favorite moments 00:11:49.219 --> 00:11:50.099 in The Lord of the Rings 00:11:50.099 --> 00:11:51.120 is when, 00:11:51.319 --> 00:11:52.059 in the third book, 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:53.120 The Return of the King, 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:54.939 Gandalf and Pippin 00:11:54.939 --> 00:11:57.039 are facing a great battle. 00:11:57.939 --> 00:11:58.939 And Pippin, 00:11:59.039 --> 00:11:59.599 the hobbit, 00:11:59.659 --> 00:12:01.039 looks up at Gandalf's face 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:02.500 in the midst of sorrow and trouble, 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:03.679 and it says, 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:04.819 in the wizard's face, 00:12:04.959 --> 00:12:06.259 Pippin saw at first 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:08.819 only lines of care and sorrow, 00:12:09.419 --> 00:12:10.959 though as he looked more intently, 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.939 he perceived that under all 00:12:12.939 --> 00:12:14.659 there was a great joy, 00:12:15.859 --> 00:12:17.299 a fountain of mirth, 00:12:17.859 --> 00:12:20.099 enough to set a kingdom laughing, 00:12:20.699 --> 00:12:21.739 were it to gush forth. 00:12:22.939 --> 00:12:23.919 And, you know, 00:12:23.959 --> 00:12:25.399 this life we live is sad, 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:26.139 it's hard. 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:28.799 Life in this earthly existence 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:29.699 we have so far 00:12:29.699 --> 00:12:31.019 gives you a lot of wrinkles 00:12:31.019 --> 00:12:33.159 and a lot of bags under the eyes, 00:12:33.340 --> 00:12:34.259 like Gandalf had 00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:35.740 when he was battling 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:36.559 in Minas Tirith. 00:12:37.319 --> 00:12:38.639 But Pippin looked up at Gandalf 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:39.220 and said, 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:40.319 underneath it all, 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:41.100 I could see 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:42.659 that there was a joy, 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:43.860 a fountain of mirth, 00:12:43.939 --> 00:12:45.179 that would burst forth 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:46.319 and make us all laugh 00:12:46.319 --> 00:12:47.779 if it was just to let it go. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:50.000 And here, 00:12:50.199 --> 00:12:50.720 we're being told, 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:52.059 David is saying 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:53.379 something like, 00:12:53.379 --> 00:12:56.299 when I step into the place 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:57.240 that God has made home 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:58.299 in this earth for now, 00:12:58.659 --> 00:13:00.059 it creates for me 00:13:00.059 --> 00:13:01.539 a fountain of mirth 00:13:01.539 --> 00:13:02.419 like nowhere else. 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:04.939 What makes glad? 00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:07.539 Being home with God 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:07.980 makes glad. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:10.159 It's the only thing 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:11.460 that can bring 00:13:11.460 --> 00:13:12.840 absolute gladness 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:13.480 to your life. 00:13:14.500 --> 00:13:14.799 Secondly, 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:16.980 where is this home exactly? 00:13:17.659 --> 00:13:19.360 Where is this true gladness 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:20.740 to be found spatially? 00:13:21.259 --> 00:13:22.120 Now, the psalm turns 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:23.159 from verse 1 and verse 2 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:24.419 that the home 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:25.080 where the Lord, 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:25.580 the temple, 00:13:26.060 --> 00:13:27.000 that's what makes me glad. 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:27.460 But then, 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:28.279 he does something 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:29.179 a little bit unexpected 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:30.220 and he turns 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:31.340 not just to talk about, 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:32.080 you expect him, 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:33.139 I think, David, 00:13:33.220 --> 00:13:34.500 to talk about the temple 00:13:34.500 --> 00:13:35.600 and the home of God 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:35.960 and say, 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:37.039 now I get to go 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:37.639 into the temple 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:38.759 and be in God's presence. 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:39.759 But instead, 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:41.019 in verse 3 and following, 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:42.340 he turns and he starts 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:42.879 talking about 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:43.960 the city as a whole. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:45.460 He talks about 00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:46.620 the city of God 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:47.360 in the Old Testament, 00:13:47.539 --> 00:13:47.879 Jerusalem. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:49.560 And just look at 00:13:49.560 --> 00:13:50.379 some of the things 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:50.779 he said. 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:52.100 He says in verse 3, 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:53.419 Oh, Jerusalem, 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:55.000 built as a city, 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:56.139 bound firmly together, 00:13:56.659 --> 00:13:57.820 to which the tribes 00:13:57.820 --> 00:13:58.379 go up. 00:13:58.539 --> 00:13:59.500 And one of the things 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:00.100 he's doing here 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:00.659 is he's actually 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:01.700 standing in the gates. 00:14:02.100 --> 00:14:02.960 The temple is out 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:03.799 in front of his vision 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:04.279 above him. 00:14:04.560 --> 00:14:05.480 But David is literally 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:06.399 looking around 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:07.340 and saying, 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:07.779 wow, 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:08.960 look at the architecture 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:09.860 of this great city, 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:10.639 how firmly 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:11.560 it's been put together. 00:14:12.100 --> 00:14:13.179 And you can go through 00:14:13.179 --> 00:14:14.360 and see how he talks 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:15.240 about this beauty 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:15.820 of the place 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:16.560 that he loves to be, 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:17.580 the city he loves to be. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:18.980 And he goes on 00:14:18.980 --> 00:14:19.399 from there 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:21.060 and says in verse 4, 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:22.639 this is the meeting place 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:23.580 of all the tribes 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:24.159 of Israel. 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:26.080 So he's thinking there 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:26.759 of the fact that 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:28.460 when you get to Jerusalem, 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:29.659 the city that makes glad 00:14:29.659 --> 00:14:30.680 and the home of God 00:14:30.680 --> 00:14:31.379 that makes glad, 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:32.800 you know, 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:33.759 it's like those moments 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:34.500 where you have 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:35.960 a reunion with family 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:37.680 that you've not seen 00:14:37.680 --> 00:14:38.639 in a long, long time. 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:40.319 We got to experience 00:14:40.319 --> 00:14:41.000 this summer. 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:41.899 We had, 00:14:42.199 --> 00:14:42.860 I had a nephew 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:43.980 that I'd never met before, 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:45.279 a niece I'd never met before. 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:46.819 And this summer, 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:48.179 I went and we met them 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:48.819 and all the cousins 00:14:48.819 --> 00:14:49.399 are together. 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:50.759 And you think, 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:51.279 boy, 00:14:51.460 --> 00:14:52.379 I love being here. 00:14:52.539 --> 00:14:54.539 How being here 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:55.319 makes me glad 00:14:55.319 --> 00:14:56.840 because all the peoples 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:57.360 are gathered. 00:14:57.860 --> 00:14:58.539 So you can imagine 00:14:58.539 --> 00:14:59.399 that when you come 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:00.500 to pilgrimage every year, 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:03.179 as an ancient Israelite, 00:15:03.259 --> 00:15:03.899 you are going to see 00:15:03.899 --> 00:15:04.639 family members 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:05.439 that lived on the other 00:15:05.439 --> 00:15:06.059 side of Israel 00:15:06.059 --> 00:15:07.080 that you had not seen before. 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:07.980 You're going to see people 00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:08.759 that you said, 00:15:08.820 --> 00:15:09.039 oh, 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:09.680 I remember you 00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:10.659 from the last Passover 00:15:10.659 --> 00:15:11.779 and that you had met 00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:12.620 and you come 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:13.100 and you greet. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:13.940 And you see, 00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:14.420 in other words, 00:15:14.899 --> 00:15:15.580 David is turning 00:15:15.580 --> 00:15:16.279 and saying, 00:15:17.300 --> 00:15:18.000 true home 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.720 is being wherever 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:20.519 God is home. 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:22.960 And true home 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:23.820 is also being 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:25.000 in a physical, 00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:26.320 gorgeous, 00:15:26.560 --> 00:15:27.039 spatial, 00:15:27.259 --> 00:15:28.159 embodied place 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:29.759 where the people 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:30.920 I love are here. 00:15:31.920 --> 00:15:32.779 And so David looks around 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:33.580 and he notices that. 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:34.180 And this is really 00:15:34.180 --> 00:15:35.899 an ode to true home, 00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:37.820 an ode to that city 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:38.320 here. 00:15:38.379 --> 00:15:39.100 And in verse 5, 00:15:39.300 --> 00:15:40.379 the last thing he says 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:41.960 about it is he says, 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:43.240 there in that city 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.340 the thrones of judgment 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:45.920 are set, 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:46.960 the throne of the house 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:47.360 of David. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:48.360 So he looks up 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:48.680 and he says, 00:15:48.760 --> 00:15:49.500 this is a place 00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:50.840 where at the center 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:52.100 is the throne 00:15:52.100 --> 00:15:53.080 of the house of David, 00:15:53.780 --> 00:15:54.640 the throne 00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:55.540 that represents 00:15:55.540 --> 00:15:56.080 righteousness 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:56.800 and justice 00:15:56.800 --> 00:15:57.580 and safety 00:15:57.580 --> 00:15:58.220 and peace 00:15:58.220 --> 00:15:59.240 and that can never 00:15:59.240 --> 00:15:59.840 be thwarted, 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:01.040 that is forever 00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:02.360 by covenant of God. 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:03.720 And he's resting there 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:04.220 in the fact that 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:05.160 this place is a place 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:05.659 of justice 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:06.199 and peace 00:16:06.199 --> 00:16:07.219 of rest, 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:07.919 of safety 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:08.959 after coming out 00:16:08.959 --> 00:16:09.360 of the hills. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:10.120 Now look, 00:16:10.819 --> 00:16:11.879 we all know tonight, 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:13.879 if you are a Christian 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:14.139 tonight, 00:16:14.199 --> 00:16:14.699 if you've read 00:16:14.699 --> 00:16:15.779 much of the Bible 00:16:15.779 --> 00:16:16.159 tonight, 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:17.399 you know that 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:18.620 David is here 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:19.879 talking about Jerusalem 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:23.100 yet this Jerusalem 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:24.399 is not ultimately 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:25.159 the city David 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:25.819 is talking about. 00:16:27.419 --> 00:16:28.360 David here, 00:16:28.439 --> 00:16:29.139 he knows 00:16:29.139 --> 00:16:30.679 something more 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:31.059 and boy, 00:16:31.239 --> 00:16:31.959 do we know more 00:16:31.959 --> 00:16:32.539 and that's 00:16:32.539 --> 00:16:33.759 that there 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:35.179 is nothing 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:35.959 but a shadow 00:16:35.959 --> 00:16:37.379 of the true 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:38.239 city of God 00:16:38.239 --> 00:16:39.079 that's being reflected 00:16:39.079 --> 00:16:40.079 on in the psalm. 00:16:41.219 --> 00:16:41.799 And that's even 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:42.679 in the psalm itself, 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:42.919 you know, 00:16:42.979 --> 00:16:43.799 verse 6 to 8, 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:45.059 he turns to 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:45.719 other people 00:16:45.719 --> 00:16:46.299 that are traveling 00:16:46.299 --> 00:16:46.899 with him 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:48.219 and he says, 00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:49.059 pray for the peace 00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:49.599 of Jerusalem, 00:16:49.839 --> 00:16:50.859 may it be secure, 00:16:51.439 --> 00:16:52.139 those who love you, 00:16:52.239 --> 00:16:53.279 peace within your walls. 00:16:53.719 --> 00:16:54.439 The reason that 00:16:54.439 --> 00:16:55.359 David has to say that 00:16:55.359 --> 00:16:56.039 is because there 00:16:56.039 --> 00:16:56.839 has not been peace 00:16:56.839 --> 00:16:57.259 in Jerusalem 00:16:57.259 --> 00:16:59.639 and we know 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:00.179 as you read 00:17:00.179 --> 00:17:00.840 the rest of the Bible 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:01.500 there's not going 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:01.919 to be peace 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.419 in Jerusalem 00:17:02.419 --> 00:17:03.939 and this city, 00:17:04.420 --> 00:17:05.140 these walls, 00:17:05.379 --> 00:17:05.900 this temple 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:06.900 is going to be destroyed 00:17:06.900 --> 00:17:08.519 and it is not 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:09.299 a lasting city, 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:10.799 it's an earthly city 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:12.299 where God has chosen 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:13.119 to make a temple 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:14.099 a temporary home 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:16.019 and you could, 00:17:16.140 --> 00:17:16.759 we won't do it, 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:17.539 but you could go through 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:18.500 the rest of the Old Testament 00:17:18.500 --> 00:17:19.879 and look at the prophecies 00:17:19.879 --> 00:17:21.480 about the city, 00:17:21.660 --> 00:17:22.539 the true city 00:17:22.539 --> 00:17:23.960 that this Jerusalem 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:24.799 points to. 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:25.779 I'll just mention 00:17:25.779 --> 00:17:26.339 a couple of them 00:17:26.339 --> 00:17:26.680 for you. 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:27.860 Ezekiel 36, 00:17:28.779 --> 00:17:29.980 Ezekiel 36 says, 00:17:30.620 --> 00:17:31.360 on that day, 00:17:32.140 --> 00:17:33.140 the day of the city 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:33.640 of God, 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:36.380 the land laid waste, 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:38.019 Jerusalem laid waste, 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.000 will become 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:39.779 the Garden of Eden. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:42.380 And so Ezekiel says, 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:43.120 the true city 00:17:43.120 --> 00:17:44.000 that you should look for 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:44.700 is a city 00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:46.340 that looks like 00:17:46.340 --> 00:17:47.660 the very Garden of Eden 00:17:47.660 --> 00:17:48.980 and in the Garden of Eden 00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:49.840 it's a place 00:17:49.840 --> 00:17:51.000 of peace, 00:17:51.080 --> 00:17:51.480 of safety, 00:17:51.560 --> 00:17:51.860 of rest, 00:17:51.860 --> 00:17:52.620 but one of the most 00:17:52.620 --> 00:17:53.539 distinctive features 00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:54.680 is that when you 00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:55.740 traveled to Jerusalem 00:17:55.740 --> 00:17:56.660 in Psalm 122, 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:57.539 and you got to the 00:17:57.539 --> 00:17:58.200 home of God, 00:17:58.279 --> 00:17:58.660 the temple, 00:17:59.100 --> 00:17:59.799 there's a veil, 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.100 there's a curtain, 00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:03.039 and there is only 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:03.740 one person 00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:04.700 in the whole city 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:05.799 that can pass 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:06.660 through that curtain 00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:08.660 and be in the presence 00:18:08.660 --> 00:18:10.060 of the living God 00:18:10.060 --> 00:18:10.500 on earth, 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:11.180 only one. 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:12.820 But that's not what 00:18:12.820 --> 00:18:13.720 the Garden of Eden's like. 00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:14.799 In the Garden of Eden, 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:15.680 Adam and Eve, 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:17.039 the promise is that 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:17.920 you can walk 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:18.560 hand in hand 00:18:18.560 --> 00:18:19.039 with God 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:20.140 as a friend. 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:21.640 You can know him 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:22.440 so intimately, 00:18:22.620 --> 00:18:23.299 so securely. 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:25.079 And so we see 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:26.299 that this is not 00:18:26.299 --> 00:18:26.740 the city, 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:28.299 that this is the city, 00:18:28.359 --> 00:18:29.180 but it's not the city, 00:18:29.399 --> 00:18:30.159 and that's why 00:18:30.159 --> 00:18:31.759 I think one of the ways 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:32.539 to express this 00:18:32.539 --> 00:18:34.319 is that every, 00:18:34.579 --> 00:18:35.259 there's a hint of this 00:18:35.259 --> 00:18:36.839 in the human experience 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:37.500 of nostalgia. 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:39.940 Nostalgia 00:18:39.940 --> 00:18:42.539 sometimes really gets us. 00:18:42.659 --> 00:18:43.859 I've had some nostalgia lately. 00:18:43.980 --> 00:18:44.579 I got invited 00:18:44.579 --> 00:18:47.819 to my 20th class reunion 00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:48.980 for the high school 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:50.039 that I graduated from 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:50.440 recently. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:51.299 I'm not going 00:18:51.299 --> 00:18:51.860 to be able to go, 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:52.400 but you know, 00:18:52.580 --> 00:18:53.860 you get something like that, 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:54.880 an invitation like that, 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:56.500 and it brings memories 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:57.860 of people that you 00:18:57.860 --> 00:18:59.080 don't think about anymore, 00:18:59.380 --> 00:18:59.680 you know, 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:01.799 memories of that time 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:02.600 with that person, 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.799 and you see the invitation 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:05.860 list and who's coming 00:19:05.860 --> 00:19:06.160 and think, 00:19:06.220 --> 00:19:06.299 man, 00:19:06.320 --> 00:19:07.660 I forgot that that guy 00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:08.140 existed, 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:09.140 but we used to be friends. 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:10.720 And there's a nostalgia 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.620 that comes with that, 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:13.620 and nostalgia is a really 00:19:13.620 --> 00:19:14.400 tricky thing, 00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:15.120 a funny thing, 00:19:15.120 --> 00:19:16.820 because what nostalgia does 00:19:16.820 --> 00:19:17.940 is there's something 00:19:17.940 --> 00:19:18.779 beautiful about it, 00:19:18.860 --> 00:19:19.779 but it always contains 00:19:19.779 --> 00:19:20.259 a lie, 00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:21.139 right? 00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:22.639 Nostalgia always contains 00:19:22.639 --> 00:19:23.000 a lie. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:25.720 I haven't been back. 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:26.500 I don't know about you. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:27.700 Most of you will probably 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:29.319 have a little more frequency 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:31.599 in maybe visiting the home 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:32.420 you grew up in 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:33.899 or maybe passing by it 00:19:33.899 --> 00:19:34.839 if it's still around. 00:19:35.660 --> 00:19:36.960 I haven't seen the home 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:38.440 I grew up in in many years, 00:19:38.539 --> 00:19:39.460 but I remember after 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:41.079 about a 15-year hiatus 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:41.839 of seeing the home 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:42.460 I grew up in, 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:43.619 finally being back 00:19:43.619 --> 00:19:44.059 in my hometown 00:19:44.059 --> 00:19:44.859 and seeing it, 00:19:45.259 --> 00:19:46.460 and it was exciting. 00:19:47.259 --> 00:19:47.440 You know, 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:48.359 somebody else lives there. 00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:49.259 I don't know who they are, 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:51.199 but you kind of stand outside 00:19:51.199 --> 00:19:53.079 and you want to walk 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:53.679 on the property, 00:19:53.879 --> 00:19:54.559 but then you think, 00:19:54.679 --> 00:19:55.519 I shouldn't do that. 00:19:55.579 --> 00:19:56.479 I'll get arrested 00:19:56.479 --> 00:19:57.219 in America, 00:19:57.459 --> 00:19:57.759 maybe, 00:19:58.219 --> 00:20:00.039 and, you know, 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:01.079 I have to stay away. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:03.119 But one of the experiences 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:04.099 I had was to say, 00:20:04.159 --> 00:20:04.439 wow, 00:20:05.379 --> 00:20:06.039 and yet, 00:20:06.979 --> 00:20:08.819 the house was so much smaller 00:20:08.819 --> 00:20:09.699 than I remembered, 00:20:10.699 --> 00:20:12.199 and I could see 00:20:12.199 --> 00:20:13.339 where my window had been, 00:20:13.419 --> 00:20:13.919 and I thought, 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:15.720 it doesn't look great, 00:20:15.800 --> 00:20:17.000 it needs a facelift, 00:20:17.100 --> 00:20:18.220 it needs a little renovation, 00:20:18.560 --> 00:20:20.220 but that is what we painted it, 00:20:20.340 --> 00:20:20.740 you know, 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:23.440 and the grass is not as green 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:24.120 as you remember, 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:25.660 and the trees are not, 00:20:26.080 --> 00:20:26.560 and et cetera, 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:26.920 et cetera, 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:27.220 et cetera, 00:20:27.300 --> 00:20:27.480 right? 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:28.779 And you experience nostalgia, 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:29.340 and there's something 00:20:29.340 --> 00:20:30.120 of a lie in it, 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:30.920 and that's because 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:34.440 no matter how much 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:35.300 we find a place 00:20:35.300 --> 00:20:36.380 in this earthly life, 00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:37.500 in these earthly cities 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:38.680 that we call home, 00:20:39.140 --> 00:20:40.140 there is always 00:20:40.140 --> 00:20:41.420 a reality 00:20:41.420 --> 00:20:43.019 that there is a lack in it, 00:20:43.580 --> 00:20:44.660 and you go back 00:20:44.660 --> 00:20:45.220 to your home 00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:45.799 from childhood, 00:20:45.940 --> 00:20:46.380 and you say, 00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:47.320 this was good, 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:49.200 but it's not actually 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:50.640 filling the ultimate need 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:51.500 that I'm looking for. 00:20:52.539 --> 00:20:54.279 There's a word in German 00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:56.220 that some of the German 00:20:56.220 --> 00:20:57.140 philosophers use, 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:59.220 famously Freud 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:00.320 talked about this, 00:21:00.700 --> 00:21:01.940 or someone like Heidegger 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:02.860 who's less well known, 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:03.980 and Unheimlichkeit, 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:05.660 and it's hard to translate, 00:21:05.820 --> 00:21:06.560 but it's got this sense 00:21:06.560 --> 00:21:08.440 of un-home likeness, 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.100 and it's a reference 00:21:10.100 --> 00:21:11.340 to that feeling 00:21:11.340 --> 00:21:12.380 that we sometimes get 00:21:12.380 --> 00:21:14.140 where we are at the place 00:21:14.140 --> 00:21:15.080 we're supposed to be, 00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:16.900 but there's a strange sense 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:17.980 where we're also 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:19.500 not supposed to be here 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:20.279 at the very same time, 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.340 that we're not yet home, 00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:22.500 that it's not fulfilling 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:23.400 all of our desires, 00:21:23.580 --> 00:21:23.720 that it, 00:21:24.100 --> 00:21:25.320 that's life in this world, 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:26.880 that's what they said, 00:21:27.580 --> 00:21:29.640 and one of my favorite books 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:31.440 is C.S. Lewis' novel, 00:21:31.580 --> 00:21:32.560 Till We Have Faces, 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:34.039 and this is the words 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:34.740 he puts in one 00:21:34.740 --> 00:21:35.560 of the characters' mouth, 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:36.100 Psyche, 00:21:36.099 --> 00:21:39.159 about coming home, 00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:41.159 and I think he's got 00:21:41.159 --> 00:21:42.019 the Psalms of Ascent 00:21:42.019 --> 00:21:42.899 maybe in mind here. 00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:44.819 The sweetest thing 00:21:44.819 --> 00:21:45.480 in all my life, 00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:46.119 she says, 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:47.419 has been the longing 00:21:47.419 --> 00:21:48.719 to reach the mountain, 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.099 to find the place 00:21:51.099 --> 00:21:51.939 where all the beauty 00:21:51.939 --> 00:21:52.599 came from, 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:53.699 my country, 00:21:53.819 --> 00:21:54.919 the place where I ought 00:21:54.919 --> 00:21:55.699 to have been born. 00:21:56.439 --> 00:21:57.099 Do you think 00:21:57.099 --> 00:21:57.919 it all meant nothing, 00:21:58.039 --> 00:21:59.039 all the longings, 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:00.699 the longing for home, 00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:01.219 for indeed, 00:22:01.319 --> 00:22:02.019 it now feels 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:03.439 not like going, 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:04.779 but like going back 00:22:04.779 --> 00:22:05.720 to where I belong. 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:07.019 All my life, 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:08.220 the God of the mountain 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:09.379 has been wooing me. 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:11.639 Oh, look up once, 00:22:11.740 --> 00:22:12.980 at least before the end, 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.039 and wish me joy 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:15.700 in these final days. 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:17.460 I am going to my love. 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:19.559 And he's reflecting there 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:20.240 on the fact 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.940 of what David's reflecting on, 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:22.899 and that's that 00:22:22.899 --> 00:22:24.519 there is no earthly city, 00:22:24.779 --> 00:22:25.639 no earthly home, 00:22:25.879 --> 00:22:27.039 no earthly experience, 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:28.079 no success, 00:22:28.180 --> 00:22:28.839 no relationship, 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:29.539 no person, 00:22:30.019 --> 00:22:31.200 as good as it all is, 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.259 that can be 00:22:32.259 --> 00:22:33.579 absolute home for us, 00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:34.720 that can fill 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:35.759 the desires of the heart, 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:36.599 that can really, 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:38.259 really fill the gap 00:22:38.259 --> 00:22:38.799 deep down 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:39.559 at the bottom 00:22:39.559 --> 00:22:40.539 of our soul. 00:22:42.019 --> 00:22:42.779 And that's why 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:44.799 700 years later, 00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:47.720 700 years after this moment, 00:22:48.659 --> 00:22:49.839 there was another pilgrim, 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:52.679 and that pilgrim 00:22:52.679 --> 00:22:53.819 was coming to Jerusalem 00:22:53.819 --> 00:22:55.039 for the feast of Passover, 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:57.119 just like in Psalm 122. 00:22:57.819 --> 00:22:59.059 And that pilgrim 00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:00.480 stood above 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:01.119 in the hills 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:02.679 outside the city of Jerusalem, 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:04.279 and he looked down 00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:05.920 at the city of Jerusalem. 00:23:06.100 --> 00:23:06.779 And what did he say? 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:07.380 It says that, 00:23:07.560 --> 00:23:08.519 we're told in the Gospels, 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:10.640 Jesus wept for Jerusalem. 00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:12.320 And it says, 00:23:13.080 --> 00:23:14.420 would that even you, 00:23:14.539 --> 00:23:14.900 Jerusalem, 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:16.220 had known on this day 00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:17.799 the things that make for peace. 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:19.560 Would you be willing 00:23:19.560 --> 00:23:20.539 to receive peace, 00:23:20.580 --> 00:23:21.940 but now they're hidden 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:22.600 from your eyes. 00:23:22.620 --> 00:23:23.380 And the reason Jesus 00:23:23.380 --> 00:23:24.080 was weeping 00:23:24.080 --> 00:23:25.360 is because he knew 00:23:25.360 --> 00:23:26.080 that just like 00:23:26.080 --> 00:23:26.779 every other place, 00:23:26.900 --> 00:23:28.360 Jerusalem is a city of man. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.060 It's an earthly place. 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:31.879 And he knew 00:23:31.879 --> 00:23:33.099 that when he entered in, 00:23:33.299 --> 00:23:34.779 he would not be glad 00:23:34.779 --> 00:23:36.099 when he entered the gates. 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:37.200 He would be rejected. 00:23:38.379 --> 00:23:39.319 He would suffer. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:40.000 He would die. 00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:40.599 He would be, 00:23:41.460 --> 00:23:41.980 in other words, 00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:42.319 you know, 00:23:42.379 --> 00:23:44.019 we can say the same thing. 00:23:44.579 --> 00:23:45.419 It's anachronistic, 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:46.919 but Edinburgh rejected him. 00:23:47.379 --> 00:23:48.359 Glasgow rejected him. 00:23:48.460 --> 00:23:49.559 Jerusalem rejected him. 00:23:49.940 --> 00:23:50.679 Natchez, Mississippi, 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:51.220 where I'm from, 00:23:51.299 --> 00:23:51.919 rejected him. 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:53.659 Humanity rejected him 00:23:53.659 --> 00:23:54.399 when he came 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:57.220 because no earthly city 00:23:57.220 --> 00:23:58.240 could be true home 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:00.200 unless the Son of God 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:01.040 become the builder 00:24:01.040 --> 00:24:03.259 and he established a city 00:24:03.259 --> 00:24:04.420 whose foundations 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:05.280 come from the Lord. 00:24:06.120 --> 00:24:07.840 And that's why tonight 00:24:07.840 --> 00:24:08.240 in a minute 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:08.800 we're going to sing 00:24:08.800 --> 00:24:09.880 the Charles Wesley hymn 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:11.380 and Can It Be 00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:11.940 where it says, 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.500 he left his father's home 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:16.140 above so free, 00:24:16.280 --> 00:24:17.300 so infinite his grace, 00:24:17.620 --> 00:24:18.500 he emptied himself 00:24:18.500 --> 00:24:20.019 of all but love 00:24:20.019 --> 00:24:20.759 and he bled 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:22.140 for Adam's helpless race 00:24:22.140 --> 00:24:23.820 in order to be able 00:24:23.820 --> 00:24:24.960 to give us true home again. 00:24:26.060 --> 00:24:26.900 And so tonight 00:24:26.900 --> 00:24:27.900 we can say that 00:24:27.900 --> 00:24:29.860 because Jesus Christ bled, 00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:31.480 the veil was torn. 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:32.980 And because the veil was torn, 00:24:33.380 --> 00:24:34.220 we really can, 00:24:34.300 --> 00:24:35.300 in this earthly pilgrimage 00:24:35.300 --> 00:24:36.480 we're experiencing right now, 00:24:36.540 --> 00:24:38.100 know that if you're struggling 00:24:38.100 --> 00:24:38.640 and saying, 00:24:39.040 --> 00:24:39.980 I'm just not satisfied 00:24:39.980 --> 00:24:40.860 with where I am, 00:24:41.100 --> 00:24:41.820 well, let me say, 00:24:41.900 --> 00:24:42.660 that makes sense. 00:24:43.780 --> 00:24:44.800 You're not home. 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:47.400 You will not be satisfied 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:48.080 with where you're at, 00:24:48.120 --> 00:24:48.680 not fully, 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:50.980 not until God brings you 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:51.900 all the way to the mountain. 00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:53.860 And he can do so 00:24:53.860 --> 00:24:55.100 because Jesus Christ bled 00:24:55.100 --> 00:24:56.259 for Adam's helpless race. 00:24:56.900 --> 00:24:57.620 So let me conclude 00:24:57.620 --> 00:24:58.259 with this finally, 00:24:58.880 --> 00:24:59.240 briefly. 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:00.520 How can you, 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:01.800 in this life right now, 00:25:02.060 --> 00:25:02.180 you know, 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:02.680 you say, 00:25:02.780 --> 00:25:03.160 well, look, 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:03.920 that's all future. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.380 What am I to do 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:06.040 with this today? 00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:07.140 What can you do 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:07.700 with this today? 00:25:08.860 --> 00:25:09.920 Let me say two things 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:10.500 as we close. 00:25:10.600 --> 00:25:10.860 First, 00:25:11.560 --> 00:25:12.000 today, 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:13.460 in order to bring this home 00:25:13.460 --> 00:25:14.160 to us right now 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:14.780 in this moment, 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:15.400 in 2025, 00:25:15.820 --> 00:25:16.420 in our city, 00:25:16.900 --> 00:25:17.320 first, 00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:18.580 we have to realize 00:25:18.580 --> 00:25:19.480 and recognize 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:20.940 the city of God, 00:25:20.940 --> 00:25:22.100 true home, 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:23.320 is not yet. 00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:26.200 And what I mean by that 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:28.180 is we've got to grapple 00:25:28.180 --> 00:25:29.200 in our hearts 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.180 and in our minds 00:25:30.180 --> 00:25:31.740 with the objective reality 00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:33.539 that the city of God, 00:25:33.620 --> 00:25:33.920 first, 00:25:33.980 --> 00:25:35.160 is a real destination. 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:37.519 So where do we see 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:38.340 this moment, 00:25:38.460 --> 00:25:39.320 Psalm 122, 00:25:39.420 --> 00:25:40.140 fully fulfilled? 00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:41.680 And that's in Revelation 21, 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:43.320 where Jesus Christ 00:25:43.320 --> 00:25:44.600 brings down 00:25:44.600 --> 00:25:45.380 the new Jerusalem 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:47.160 to this earth. 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:47.880 and he builds 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:48.380 a physical, 00:25:48.580 --> 00:25:49.440 embodied space 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:50.660 where all the tribes 00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:51.960 gather with him. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:53.460 That's true home. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:54.560 And one of the things 00:25:54.560 --> 00:25:55.420 I just want to invite you 00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:55.940 to do tonight 00:25:55.940 --> 00:25:58.140 is I want to ask you, 00:25:59.100 --> 00:26:01.140 is the new Jerusalem, 00:26:01.500 --> 00:26:02.460 the city of God, 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:04.220 a real destination 00:26:04.220 --> 00:26:05.380 in your heart and mind? 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:07.360 It is real objectively, 00:26:07.580 --> 00:26:08.519 but are you grasping 00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:09.160 hold of that subjectively? 00:26:10.500 --> 00:26:11.800 And we sang tonight 00:26:11.800 --> 00:26:12.220 at the beginning 00:26:12.220 --> 00:26:13.000 about hope, 00:26:13.060 --> 00:26:14.060 and the Bible talks 00:26:14.059 --> 00:26:14.839 about hope, 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:16.500 hope in the city 00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:17.220 that is to come. 00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:18.659 And boy, 00:26:18.879 --> 00:26:20.099 that makes all the difference, 00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:21.500 the fact of the new Jerusalem, 00:26:21.659 --> 00:26:22.440 the reality of it. 00:26:23.139 --> 00:26:24.279 C.S. Lewis one more time. 00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:24.980 He says, 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:26.240 creatures are not born 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:27.440 with desires 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:28.720 unless satisfaction 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.480 for those desires exists. 00:26:30.919 --> 00:26:32.319 A baby feels hungry, 00:26:32.899 --> 00:26:33.179 well, 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:35.259 there's such a thing as food. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:37.039 A duckling wants to swim, 00:26:37.179 --> 00:26:37.339 well, 00:26:37.419 --> 00:26:38.440 there's such a thing as water. 00:26:38.700 --> 00:26:40.240 And if I find in myself 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:40.919 a desire 00:26:40.919 --> 00:26:42.279 which no experience 00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:42.839 in this world 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:43.819 has yet to satisfy, 00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:45.639 the most probable explanation 00:26:45.639 --> 00:26:46.859 is that I was made 00:26:46.859 --> 00:26:47.539 for another world, 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:48.399 another city, 00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:49.359 another home. 00:26:49.679 --> 00:26:50.940 If none of my earthly pleasures 00:26:50.940 --> 00:26:51.480 satisfy, 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:52.679 it doesn't prove 00:26:52.679 --> 00:26:53.639 that this is all a fraud. 00:26:53.740 --> 00:26:53.940 Instead, 00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:55.159 it points me to something 00:26:55.159 --> 00:26:56.839 beyond this earthly city, 00:26:57.240 --> 00:26:58.179 beyond this earthly life. 00:26:58.759 --> 00:26:59.519 So the first thing 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:00.099 is to say, 00:27:00.399 --> 00:27:01.579 the city of God is coming, 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:02.399 it's real. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:04.839 Have you let that really 00:27:04.839 --> 00:27:06.759 get down into your heart 00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:09.200 and shape your experiences 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:09.859 in this life, 00:27:09.940 --> 00:27:10.299 your hope, 00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:11.039 your expectations, 00:27:11.679 --> 00:27:13.259 and settle your expectations 00:27:13.259 --> 00:27:15.079 for the kind of satisfaction 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:16.420 you can actually experience 00:27:16.420 --> 00:27:17.420 in the earthly city. 00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:20.839 One pastor I came across, 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:23.119 I got this illustration from him, 00:27:23.140 --> 00:27:23.920 I thought it was very helpful. 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:25.480 He says that, 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:28.119 imagine two men captured 00:27:28.119 --> 00:27:31.559 in a raid of their city, 00:27:31.619 --> 00:27:32.220 their city burned, 00:27:32.299 --> 00:27:33.019 their city destroyed, 00:27:33.180 --> 00:27:34.220 and these two men are captured, 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:35.220 they're imprisoned, 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:36.599 they're thrown into a pit, 00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:40.459 and they both saw the city burn, 00:27:41.259 --> 00:27:43.619 but the first man believes 00:27:43.619 --> 00:27:45.879 that his family's still alive, 00:27:46.419 --> 00:27:47.859 and that there are people 00:27:47.859 --> 00:27:49.119 out there looking for him, 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:52.019 and the second man is told, 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:53.399 there is nothing left, 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:55.219 everyone's dead, 00:27:55.939 --> 00:27:57.179 and they're both given 00:27:57.179 --> 00:27:58.459 a 10-year prison sentence. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:00.439 How did each of them deal 00:28:00.439 --> 00:28:01.839 with the sentence? 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:05.359 One man is trying every day 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:06.519 to wake up and press on, 00:28:06.779 --> 00:28:07.019 right? 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:08.619 But the other man 00:28:08.619 --> 00:28:10.259 finds himself in a place 00:28:10.259 --> 00:28:10.939 of hopelessness. 00:28:11.500 --> 00:28:12.019 In other words, 00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:13.319 the expectation 00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:15.339 of what's on the other side 00:28:15.339 --> 00:28:16.899 means everything 00:28:16.899 --> 00:28:18.179 for how you live your life today. 00:28:18.659 --> 00:28:19.539 The expectation 00:28:19.539 --> 00:28:21.139 of the city of God to come 00:28:21.139 --> 00:28:21.980 means everything 00:28:21.980 --> 00:28:23.319 for how you live your life today, 00:28:23.459 --> 00:28:24.679 and so the expectation 00:28:24.679 --> 00:28:26.159 of true home that is to come 00:28:26.159 --> 00:28:27.059 helps us so much 00:28:27.059 --> 00:28:28.259 to simply do this, 00:28:28.259 --> 00:28:31.099 it helps us to not make 00:28:31.099 --> 00:28:32.920 all the little creaturely things 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:33.839 in this world 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:35.740 into the gods 00:28:35.740 --> 00:28:37.379 that we think can be to us 00:28:37.379 --> 00:28:38.039 the city of God. 00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:40.839 Expecting that our home 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:43.039 is not yet helps us so much 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.279 prevents us from letting 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:46.759 all the crummy little 00:28:46.759 --> 00:28:48.220 and sometimes beautiful things 00:28:48.220 --> 00:28:48.819 in this life, 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:51.879 it prevents us from turning them 00:28:51.879 --> 00:28:53.039 into the city of God 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:53.599 in our hearts. 00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:55.379 Lastly, 00:28:56.039 --> 00:28:57.519 and we'll finish with this, 00:28:57.519 --> 00:28:58.700 not only do we have to know 00:28:58.700 --> 00:28:59.359 that the city of God 00:28:59.359 --> 00:28:59.879 is not yet, 00:28:59.980 --> 00:29:00.960 but today we've got to know 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:01.660 that the city of God 00:29:01.660 --> 00:29:02.359 is also now. 00:29:03.859 --> 00:29:05.019 And what I mean by that 00:29:05.019 --> 00:29:05.639 is very, 00:29:05.799 --> 00:29:06.740 at the end of this passage, 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:08.000 David says, 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:09.500 pray for the peace of Jerusalem, 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:11.720 pray for peace in its walls. 00:29:12.139 --> 00:29:13.839 How can a Christian say that? 00:29:14.879 --> 00:29:16.220 What do we mean by that today? 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:17.480 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, 00:29:17.579 --> 00:29:18.720 and of course we can pray 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:19.619 for physical peace 00:29:19.619 --> 00:29:21.059 amongst human beings today 00:29:21.059 --> 00:29:22.480 in the midst of conflicts, 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:23.759 but something more 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:25.119 than that's going on there, 00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:26.039 and that's this, 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:26.440 that how, 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:26.940 in other words, 00:29:26.940 --> 00:29:27.320 we could say, 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:28.799 how is the city of God 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:29.759 present today? 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:32.640 And this is a complicated theology, 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:34.940 but I'll simply say this. 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:36.640 The city of God 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:37.580 is present today 00:29:37.580 --> 00:29:38.559 in the fact 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:39.799 that God's people 00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:41.400 are citizens 00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:43.120 of the city of God today. 00:29:44.019 --> 00:29:45.080 And so what the church is, 00:29:45.120 --> 00:29:46.100 is when we gather, 00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:47.240 when this group 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:48.160 gathers together, 00:29:48.500 --> 00:29:50.160 we are a one-hour 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:50.940 momentary glimpse 00:29:51.420 --> 00:29:52.420 of the city of God 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:52.960 that is to come. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:54.740 That's what this means 00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:55.519 when we gather together 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:55.980 for worship 00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:57.019 week in and week out. 00:29:57.120 --> 00:29:57.319 And so, 00:29:57.839 --> 00:29:59.279 if you are a member here, 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:00.500 if you're a member of a church 00:30:00.500 --> 00:30:01.240 in the free church, 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:02.660 you will have taken a vow 00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:03.819 that says, 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:04.819 do you promise 00:30:04.819 --> 00:30:06.859 to seek the peace 00:30:06.859 --> 00:30:07.839 and prosperity 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:08.859 of the church? 00:30:09.620 --> 00:30:11.000 And in Psalm 122, 00:30:11.180 --> 00:30:12.019 verse 7 and 8, 00:30:12.180 --> 00:30:12.740 when it says, 00:30:13.079 --> 00:30:13.680 pray for the peace 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:14.220 of Jerusalem, 00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:15.200 you can say, 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:16.680 that means to me today, 00:30:17.120 --> 00:30:18.339 pray for the peace 00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:19.039 of the church, 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:20.559 for its prosperity, 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:21.419 for its unity, 00:30:22.059 --> 00:30:22.899 for its protection. 00:30:24.379 --> 00:30:25.740 And this is the last word. 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:27.579 Boy, David, 00:30:28.740 --> 00:30:29.919 he comes into the city 00:30:29.919 --> 00:30:31.059 of Jerusalem 00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:32.419 where God has made his home 00:30:32.419 --> 00:30:33.679 and he said, 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:34.859 it made me so glad 00:30:34.859 --> 00:30:35.399 to be there. 00:30:35.859 --> 00:30:36.599 And he looked around 00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:37.839 and he saw his cousins 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:38.899 and he saw the people 00:30:38.899 --> 00:30:39.379 that he hadn't seen 00:30:39.379 --> 00:30:39.919 in a long time 00:30:39.919 --> 00:30:41.159 and it gave him 00:30:41.159 --> 00:30:42.599 the biggest amount of joy. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:45.460 If there is 00:30:45.460 --> 00:30:46.419 the smallest 00:30:46.419 --> 00:30:48.200 in our hearts tonight, 00:30:48.460 --> 00:30:49.299 the smallest, 00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:50.859 a little bit of joy 00:30:50.859 --> 00:30:52.799 when you come into church, 00:30:52.919 --> 00:30:54.740 a little bit of joy 00:30:54.740 --> 00:30:55.899 and you look around 00:30:55.899 --> 00:30:56.599 and you say, 00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:58.899 the people of God, 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:00.659 my spiritual cousins, 00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:01.579 brothers and sisters, 00:31:02.139 --> 00:31:03.359 being with God's people 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:04.079 in God's presence, 00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:04.879 in God's place 00:31:04.879 --> 00:31:05.759 makes me glad. 00:31:05.919 --> 00:31:06.919 If there is a little bit 00:31:06.919 --> 00:31:07.659 of that for you, 00:31:08.440 --> 00:31:08.779 how, 00:31:09.399 --> 00:31:10.039 can you imagine 00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:12.279 what it is going to be like 00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:14.000 when you step foot 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:15.019 into the true home, 00:31:15.099 --> 00:31:15.799 the city of God, 00:31:15.899 --> 00:31:17.299 when Revelation 21 happens 00:31:17.299 --> 00:31:19.019 and you first enter the city? 00:31:20.299 --> 00:31:21.440 And Ligon Duncan, 00:31:21.659 --> 00:31:22.500 he puts it this way, 00:31:22.639 --> 00:31:23.819 if God in that moment 00:31:23.819 --> 00:31:24.559 were not holding 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:25.819 the hearts of all his people 00:31:25.819 --> 00:31:26.819 steady, 00:31:27.619 --> 00:31:29.599 we would explode with joy. 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:33.119 Rest tonight 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:34.240 and be glad 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:35.559 in the midst of a tough life, 00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:36.960 hard life, 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:37.599 sad life, 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:38.259 lots of trouble, 00:31:38.859 --> 00:31:40.220 with the words of the psalm. 00:31:40.379 --> 00:31:41.000 Let me finish 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:42.299 with Psalm 87.3, 00:31:42.500 --> 00:31:43.279 a parallel psalm 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:44.019 and it says this, 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:45.700 glorious things 00:31:45.700 --> 00:31:46.859 are said of you, 00:31:47.579 --> 00:31:48.839 O city of God to come. 00:31:50.019 --> 00:31:50.720 Glorious things 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:51.159 are said 00:31:51.159 --> 00:31:51.899 of the city of God. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:53.299 Let's pray. 00:31:53.619 --> 00:31:53.879 Father, 00:31:53.960 --> 00:31:54.839 we ask for hope 00:31:54.839 --> 00:31:55.819 in that reality. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:56.440 We want 00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:58.220 to experience 00:31:58.220 --> 00:31:59.519 just a taste tonight 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:00.359 of the joy 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:02.440 of the city of God 00:32:02.440 --> 00:32:03.159 that is to come. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:03.759 And so, 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:05.899 sometimes it can be hard 00:32:05.899 --> 00:32:06.799 to come into church 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:07.399 on a Sunday night 00:32:07.399 --> 00:32:08.700 and feel joy, 00:32:08.859 --> 00:32:08.980 Lord, 00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:10.359 but that's what we're here for. 00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:11.019 Give us that, 00:32:11.099 --> 00:32:11.480 we ask, 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:12.359 in the midst of trouble 00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:13.459 and sad 00:32:13.459 --> 00:32:16.379 and bags under our eyes 00:32:16.379 --> 00:32:17.179 because of hardship. 00:32:17.679 --> 00:32:19.859 As we read about earlier, 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:20.799 we come, 00:32:21.339 --> 00:32:21.459 Lord, 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:22.399 and ask for this gift 00:32:22.399 --> 00:32:23.359 of hope and joy. 00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:25.799 Set our eyes tonight 00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:27.359 on the new Jerusalem 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:30.139 and on the time 00:32:30.139 --> 00:32:31.019 that is ahead of us 00:32:31.019 --> 00:32:31.639 in the city 00:32:31.639 --> 00:32:32.439 that makes glad. 00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:33.219 Lord, 00:32:33.339 --> 00:32:36.399 we want to even imagine 00:32:36.399 --> 00:32:37.559 what it must be like 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:38.480 to be in a place 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:39.539 where there is 00:32:39.539 --> 00:32:40.240 no more sadness 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:40.919 or anxiety, 00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:42.759 no more trouble. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:44.599 And that's what 00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:45.299 you promise us, 00:32:45.419 --> 00:32:45.519 Lord, 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:46.679 so give us a taste 00:32:46.679 --> 00:32:47.059 of that 00:32:47.059 --> 00:32:48.319 as we sing 00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:49.519 this classic hymn 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:50.339 tonight before you 00:32:50.339 --> 00:32:50.899 and Can It Be. 00:32:50.980 --> 00:32:51.980 We want to bring 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:52.799 these words to you, 00:32:52.919 --> 00:32:53.039 Lord, 00:32:53.399 --> 00:32:54.000 touch our hearts 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:54.960 to bring these words 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:55.339 to you, 00:32:55.419 --> 00:32:55.519 Lord, 00:32:55.539 --> 00:32:56.000 and we pray that 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:56.720 in Jesus' name. 00:32:57.339 --> 00:32:57.579 Amen.