WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:05.700 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:08.240 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.660 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:13.640 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:15.800 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.280 in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:21.839 us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.519 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:30.199 sermon. God bless. Let me pray for us again as 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:35.240 we begin Lord God, we have this psalm before 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:40.060 us this lengthy psalm This psalm that speaks 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:44.140 of your deliverance and your Establishing yourself 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:47.280 and your promised land and for your people and 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.939 the glory of Mount Zion Zion because you dwell 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:55.060 there and how all peoples will come and worship 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:58.929 you and we think Lord of how this psalm is most 00:00:58.929 --> 00:01:03.429 fulfilled in Jesus. God, we pray that even as 00:01:03.429 --> 00:01:05.829 we look at this long psalm, God, that we might 00:01:05.829 --> 00:01:07.310 have a little bit better understanding of it, 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:09.629 but even more so, Lord, we might have a greater 00:01:09.629 --> 00:01:12.430 awe of your grace and your kindness and your 00:01:12.430 --> 00:01:15.030 love for us in Christ, in whose name we pray. 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:23.810 Amen. All right, I have mentioned before that 00:01:23.810 --> 00:01:27.500 the last house that I lived in in college Had 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:30.040 a fair amount of beer brewing going on in that 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:32.980 house And it was above board. I'm not going to 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:34.560 get into all the details of it because it's not 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.420 really pertinent necessarily But some of you 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:41.019 know that when you're brewing beer you have some 00:01:41.019 --> 00:01:43.120 downtime You know, there's different times where 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:45.659 you're supposed to put the hops in or the different 00:01:45.659 --> 00:01:47.239 additives but then there's some times where you're 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:52.400 just waiting for it to do its thing and so One 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:54.379 of the things that we would do while we were 00:01:54.379 --> 00:01:57.140 waiting is we as a group of guys living in this 00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:01.739 house together would sing together and We had 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:03.599 a great front porch and the quite a few of us 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:04.900 played different most of us played different 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:07.959 instruments we would sing songs together and 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:10.780 One of the songs that we would sing was Psalm 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:17.599 68 And so for me this Psalm has this fond memory 00:02:18.389 --> 00:02:21.169 And but for the most part that the the reason 00:02:21.169 --> 00:02:25.030 for this was really just practical Psalm 68 is 00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:27.849 pretty long Right. It took a little while to 00:02:27.849 --> 00:02:31.169 read it through This is the hymnal that I have 00:02:31.169 --> 00:02:35.270 it in currently And I'll show you how long so 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:38.430 Psalm 68 in this hymnal. This has most of the 00:02:38.430 --> 00:02:43.430 Psalter in it. This is one verse Okay, it's one. 00:02:43.550 --> 00:02:46.800 So this is six verses and then this is another 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.419 six verses, and I timed it. It's 12 minutes long, 00:02:50.419 --> 00:02:53.520 so it kills a lot of time. It's a psalm with 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.479 a personal history there. Unlike a lot of psalms, 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:01.620 though, actually, that we're going to look at 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:03.719 even this summer, like what we looked at last 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:05.819 week and the one we'll look at next week, it's 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:08.180 not so much reflecting on the life of the individual 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:10.599 believer with our doubts and our joys and all 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:12.539 the different things that affect us in this life. 00:03:13.469 --> 00:03:16.430 Instead, it sort of has this broad horizon of 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:18.990 what God has done, what he's doing, and what's 00:03:18.990 --> 00:03:23.729 going to happen. That's more the idea of this 00:03:23.729 --> 00:03:25.569 psalm, and specifically this psalm, we're going 00:03:25.569 --> 00:03:27.610 to talk about this a little bit, is a psalm of 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:29.449 procession. It actually mentions that a couple 00:03:29.449 --> 00:03:33.129 times. This was a psalm almost certainly written 00:03:33.129 --> 00:03:36.069 by David for the procession of the Ark of the 00:03:36.069 --> 00:03:39.789 Covenant to Jerusalem. So it's a psalm with a 00:03:39.789 --> 00:03:45.520 history, again a bigger history, It's also a 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.539 psalm with an ecclesial history, a history within 00:03:48.539 --> 00:03:53.120 the life of the Christian Church. Psalm 68 was 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.319 sung by Savonarola and the other Dominicans as 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:03.099 they were forcibly marched to the Great Plaza 00:04:03.099 --> 00:04:06.180 in Florence where they would meet their death, 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:09.099 where they were burned to death. Why? Because 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:12.479 they preached against the excesses of the Pope. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.639 Some of those excesses which I read about this 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:18.579 week are not even appropriate for a sermon with 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:20.319 most of our children gone If you want to hear 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:25.379 about them come ask me afterwards But this this 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:28.540 song was what he was supposedly singing as he 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:31.379 made his way to his death Having been sort of 00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:34.000 a precursor to the Reformation calling out the 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.160 errors of the Pope This Psalm, also Psalm 68, 00:04:38.660 --> 00:04:42.819 has been known as the Protestant Psalm of Battles. 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:46.620 So if you might know, what is the battle hymn 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:51.639 of the Reformation? Anyone? Psalm 46, particularly 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:54.100 Martin Luther's, a mighty fortress is our God, 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:56.939 is known as the battle hymn of the Reformation. 00:04:57.500 --> 00:05:01.279 This Psalm is known as the Protestant Psalm of 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:05.699 Battles. Many of you probably at least aware 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:10.019 some of you may be maybe fairly aware of French 00:05:10.019 --> 00:05:14.339 history and Protestant Reformation history one 00:05:14.339 --> 00:05:18.819 of the more Kind of saddest parts of church history 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:23.160 is the second half of the 16th century in France 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:28.240 I Studied in France right after high school for 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:30.000 a year and then actually after college for another 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.519 semester and I attended a church there which 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:37.199 was called which is actually the church on the 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:40.259 road of the mass. And it was a church that was 00:05:40.259 --> 00:05:44.360 founded by one of the seminarians from Calvin's 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:46.959 seminary in Geneva. They were then sent out through 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:49.300 the French speaking world to plant churches. 00:05:49.379 --> 00:05:51.300 And this church was planted by one of those guys. 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:53.519 And they actually had the original letter that 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:55.819 Calvin had written to this young church, encouraging 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:59.860 it to continue on in the proclamation of the 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:02.379 good news. That you're saved not by what you 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:06.149 have done, but by the work of Christ alone, the 00:06:06.149 --> 00:06:09.170 necessary work of God. When I was there also, 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:12.329 we went on a little university student retreat 00:06:12.329 --> 00:06:14.810 for a weekend down to the Seven Mountains, which 00:06:14.810 --> 00:06:18.230 are in the south of France. The Seven Mountains 00:06:18.230 --> 00:06:21.430 were one of the Huguenot holdouts. Because it 00:06:21.430 --> 00:06:24.350 was so mountainous, they could hide in order 00:06:24.350 --> 00:06:26.269 to preserve their life, and that was one of the 00:06:26.269 --> 00:06:28.730 places where they hid. Well, if you're familiar 00:06:28.730 --> 00:06:31.389 with sort of that part of French history, which 00:06:31.389 --> 00:06:34.819 I I know that's sort of like a niche thing. OK, 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:37.639 but maybe you've heard of the Saint Bartholomew's 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:40.060 Day Massacre because the actually the situation 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:43.420 had gotten so bad in the second half of the 16th 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:45.879 century between the Catholics and the Protestants 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:50.959 that actually, as was done, the king's sister 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:55.699 Margaret, who was a devout Catholic, was fell 00:06:55.699 --> 00:06:58.860 in love with a Huguenot prince, probably not 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:02.399 forcibly. Asked to marry Henry the third of Navarre 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:04.839 who was a Protestant king in order to in some 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:07.560 ways repair What this great schism that had happened 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.240 violent violent wars that were taking place between 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.120 the Catholics and the Protestants in France Well, 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.660 what happened is that many of the many of the 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:17.579 Huguenot which is the French Protestants came 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:20.959 to Paris to celebrate this Union this marriage 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.040 that was supposed to repair these breaches that 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:27.459 had led to all these battles and about 30 ,000 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:30.259 Protestants in France were slaughtered on St. 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:37.759 Bartholomew's Day there in Paris. The wars of 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:41.720 religion in France lasted from about 1562 to 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:46.420 1598, which was a few years after Henry IV, Henry 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:49.540 III's, of course, son, signed the Edict of Nantes, 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:51.600 which gave a lot of the Protestants certain rights 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.319 in France, which was supposed to lead to the 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:57.910 end of the wars of religion. Anyway, that same 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:00.290 year that began the wars of religion, which is 00:08:00.290 --> 00:08:05.970 1562, there was a tune that was put to Psalm 00:08:05.970 --> 00:08:09.730 68 in the Geneva Psalter. And that is the tune 00:08:09.730 --> 00:08:15.089 that I just showed you. It goes, God shall arise 00:08:15.089 --> 00:08:19.430 and by his might put all his enemies to flight. 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:23.620 In conquest shall he quell them. That was written 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.379 by Mathis Greider. He was the church musician 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.519 living in Strasbourg in German speaking France, 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:33.399 okay? There's a good reason for why I'm telling 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:35.019 you all this and it's not so that I can give 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:37.659 you a weird church history quiz afterwards, okay? 00:08:38.899 --> 00:08:41.360 What I'm saying is that Psalm 68 is a Psalm with 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:46.179 a history. And some of that history is very wonderful. 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:49.399 For me, it brings back just these great joyous 00:08:49.470 --> 00:08:52.190 times with my friends in college some of it brings 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:55.289 back for me fond memories and then actually there's 00:08:55.289 --> 00:08:57.649 another part of it that actually makes me deeply 00:08:57.649 --> 00:09:01.710 sorrowful because my primary teacher that taught 00:09:01.710 --> 00:09:03.570 me French history when I was living in France 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:07.250 her name was Madame Sarati she said that she 00:09:07.250 --> 00:09:09.230 was among the millions and millions of French 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:12.909 people that said this je suis catholique mais 00:09:12.909 --> 00:09:17.570 je crois pas en Dieu which means I am a Catholic 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:22.399 and I do not believe in God." And she said, why 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:28.899 would I say that? Why would she say that? Because 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:31.639 of the violence done in the name of religion. 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:36.580 I mean, that's probably not lost on anyone today. 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:38.299 I would guess that all of you have people that 00:09:38.299 --> 00:09:42.000 you think they would say, okay, culturally I'll 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:46.179 say blah, blah, blah, but this is a farce because 00:09:46.179 --> 00:09:55.330 of the violence. done in the name of God that 00:09:55.330 --> 00:09:59.129 tune was actually outlawed for a little while 00:09:59.129 --> 00:10:03.169 particularly in Paris because whistling that 00:10:03.169 --> 00:10:05.110 tune meant that you were part of the Protestant 00:10:05.110 --> 00:10:09.370 Reformation and it led to conflict to violence 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:15.009 God shall arise and by his might now here's the 00:10:15.009 --> 00:10:16.509 odd thing I want you to keep your Bibles open 00:10:16.509 --> 00:10:18.720 okay Please keep your battles open. We're gonna 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.840 we're gonna try to look at this long text and 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:28.720 I know we we don't have a lot of time The things 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:34.019 I want you to see first is that Psalm 68 is the 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:38.860 celebratory psalm If you look up what category 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:42.679 of psalms the psalm 68 fall into it falls into 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:47.870 the psalms of praise Psalms of praise it begins 00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:51.149 God shall rise his enemies be scattered But then 00:10:51.149 --> 00:10:54.509 quickly it says verse 4 sing to God sing praises 00:10:54.509 --> 00:10:58.309 to his name Lift up a song to him who rides through 00:10:58.309 --> 00:11:02.889 the deserts. His name is the Lord Exult before 00:11:02.889 --> 00:11:05.289 him if you go down actually to the next real 00:11:05.289 --> 00:11:09.269 significant section break actually verse 19 blessed 00:11:09.269 --> 00:11:13.250 Be blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:25.539 God is our salvation. Ascribe power to God, whose 00:11:25.539 --> 00:11:29.080 majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:32.840 the skies. Awesome is God in His sanctuary, the 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:36.259 God of Israel. He is the one who gives power 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:40.759 and strength to His people. Blessed be God. It's 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:45.019 a psalm of praise. It's a psalm of praise that 00:11:45.019 --> 00:11:48.639 is celebrating how God led his people through 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:52.000 the wilderness Kind of has these echoes of Mount 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.539 Sinai where the Ark of the Covenant itself was 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:57.480 built and how he brought them through the wilderness 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:03.679 how he brought them in to the promised land Nearly 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:08.100 everybody as I said says that psalm 68 was most 00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:11.960 likely written to commemorate the event of when 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:14.559 David and the whole procession brought the Ark 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:17.259 of the Covenant from Obed -Edom up to Jerusalem. 00:12:17.779 --> 00:12:20.120 Which is to say, what they're singing is, finally 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.440 God, you did. You're at home now. You're settled. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.139 You've brought us in to this promised land and 00:12:28.139 --> 00:12:30.279 we're following you to your home in Jerusalem. 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:34.039 So here's here's what I sort of want to do I 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:36.740 want to give you a little outline of this psalm 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:39.100 But I want us to particularly sit in the second 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:41.279 section for a little while Okay, because I kind 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:43.700 of want to speak to something that is prominent 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:47.039 there, but if you have your Bibles open still 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:50.879 Well, you'll you'll see some breaks here and 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:53.259 I want to kind of point them out to you verse 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:56.370 1 through 6 most people take to be sort of the 00:12:56.370 --> 00:12:58.730 introduction of this psalm. You know, this is 00:12:58.730 --> 00:13:00.710 a long psalm, it's kind of giving you a little 00:13:00.710 --> 00:13:02.789 introduction, and even in that introduction, 00:13:02.830 --> 00:13:05.210 it's giving you a short outline for how the psalm 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:08.269 is going to go. So it says, you know, they praise 00:13:08.269 --> 00:13:10.769 God, they speak of how his enemies are nothing 00:13:10.769 --> 00:13:14.950 before him, they speak about how life is lived 00:13:14.950 --> 00:13:17.950 as it's meant to be lived. It says specifically 00:13:17.950 --> 00:13:20.830 that his enemies scattered before him, he's the 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:23.480 hope of the the helpless. It says the father 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:27.320 to the fatherless, defender of widows in their 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:32.059 distress. That's verse five. Verse six, he cares 00:13:32.059 --> 00:13:35.279 for the lonely. God settles the solitary in a 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.179 home. He cares for the prisoners. He leads out 00:13:38.179 --> 00:13:41.360 the prisoners to prosperity. And he actually 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.500 deals with the rebellious. What we have here 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:46.240 in this little bit are sort of marks of what 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:50.879 a great leader does. But it's also introducing 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.120 it for us the entirety of the rest of the psalm 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.740 It's breaking up the rest of the psalm which 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:57.960 is broken up into primarily God dealing with 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.740 his enemies and God being established as the 00:14:00.740 --> 00:14:05.179 true king for which we long so then we turn and 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:09.360 verse 7 to 18 then recount for us much of this 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.620 kind of movement of God first with his people 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:15.059 at Sinai through the wilderness and then into 00:14:15.059 --> 00:14:19.470 the promised land And then verses 19 through 00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:21.970 31 again speak to us about that idea of God being 00:14:21.970 --> 00:14:28.049 on the throne. So, verses 7 to 18 first, which 00:14:28.049 --> 00:14:30.110 is recounting for us this movement from the wilderness 00:14:30.110 --> 00:14:36.129 into the promised land. Verse 7 there speaks 00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:39.330 specifically of God being in the wilderness. 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:41.799 when you marched through the wilderness. But 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:45.220 then verse eight moves to actually God establishing 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.639 his people in the land. And specifically that 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:51.539 verse eight actually quotes from part of the 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:55.580 song of Deborah that is found in Judges chapter 00:14:55.580 --> 00:14:59.440 five. Okay. When Sisera's army is destroyed by 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:02.240 the heavy storm. So it actually verse nine kind 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:04.879 of follows on this idea. Well, let me read verse 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:18.860 8. So that word inheritance is referring to the 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:21.019 land, the inheritance of Abraham and his disciples, 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:23.700 and saying he brought them in in part through 00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:28.080 this destruction of other people, namely Cicera 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:33.710 and through the prophetess Deborah. By the way, 00:15:33.809 --> 00:15:36.370 we don't have a lot of children here that story 00:15:36.370 --> 00:15:39.850 is one of the crazy stories of of the Bible too 00:15:39.850 --> 00:15:41.990 because maybe some of you remember jail taking 00:15:41.990 --> 00:15:45.590 the tent peg and Actually pounding it into the 00:15:45.590 --> 00:15:50.059 head of the commander to kill him So it's inviting 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:53.159 us to remember how God actually brought his people 00:15:53.159 --> 00:15:55.820 into the land, into the promised land through 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:57.860 the judges like Deborah. And of course, you're 00:15:57.860 --> 00:15:59.899 supposed to also think of some of the other judges 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:01.559 and you're supposed to think of Joshua and all 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:03.899 this other story. But part of what it's doing 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:07.519 for us is bringing to mind some of the very violent 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.220 things that took place when God brought his people 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:15.820 from the wilderness into the promised land. And 00:16:15.820 --> 00:16:19.399 how specifically God does it. How are they saved? 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:21.940 But it's by a rainstorm. God brought that. Okay, 00:16:21.940 --> 00:16:24.379 we're gonna get to some of that. Let's continue 00:16:24.379 --> 00:16:28.940 on. Verses 11 to 14, they repeatedly reference 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:37.039 the kings. The women who announced the news are 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.340 great. The kings of the armies, they flee, they 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:44.960 flee. Down below. This is kind of interesting. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:46.960 It's talking about how the mountain of God is 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.460 not the mountain that you expect, but it's Mount 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:52.120 Zion, but it also references how God has his 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:53.899 chariots, which should have evoked in us the 00:16:53.899 --> 00:16:57.820 memory of the chariots of King Pharaoh, right? 00:16:57.899 --> 00:16:59.799 There's this dynamic between the different kings 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:01.919 that are taking place and how God is establishing 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:06.500 himself against the kings there in Canaan, which 00:17:06.500 --> 00:17:09.759 is supposed to invite you to think of, you know, 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:14.460 the King of Ai. Joshua, or maybe you're supposed 00:17:14.460 --> 00:17:18.220 to remember the story of Jericho. You're supposed 00:17:18.220 --> 00:17:21.920 to call to mind the story of Sisera, like we 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:25.519 just heard with Deborah, God leading his people 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:28.940 into the promised land. When we think of Bation, 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:32.980 we're supposed to think of the Og, King of Bation, 00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:36.299 of which God, you know, in the story there where 00:17:36.299 --> 00:17:38.880 God brings his people again into the promised 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.109 land by conquering those other kings and their 00:17:42.109 --> 00:17:49.529 kingdoms. Okay, now here's the thing. As you 00:17:49.529 --> 00:17:52.569 sit in those stories and as I try to bring some 00:17:52.569 --> 00:18:00.390 of these stories to your mind, I'm guessing that 00:18:00.390 --> 00:18:03.210 most of you know that this subject that we're 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:05.430 talking about is one of the hardest subjects 00:18:05.430 --> 00:18:09.470 in the Bible. I mean, my guess is that actually 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.460 I would guess that every single person in this 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.740 room at least knows someone that would say one 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:15.700 of the reasons why they think the Bible is not 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:17.519 to be trusted and the story of scripture is not 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:20.799 to be believed is because of the Canaanite conquest 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.680 of which this psalm is is is bringing to mind 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:29.240 for us. That's actually partly why I wanted you 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.460 to hear this story even of how this psalm has 00:18:32.460 --> 00:18:36.819 intertwined with these wars of religion and these 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:39.140 religious conflicts that led to so many deaths. 00:18:40.769 --> 00:18:45.089 What this psalm is celebrating is what many people 00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:47.329 find to be one of the great reasons for rejecting 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:51.630 the Christian faith and rejecting the Bible What 00:18:51.630 --> 00:18:54.369 this psalm is celebrating in at least in a way 00:18:54.369 --> 00:18:59.509 is the conquest of the Canaanite So of course 00:18:59.509 --> 00:19:02.170 we have folk like the very well -known atheist 00:19:02.170 --> 00:19:06.369 Richard Dawkins who writes things like this The 00:19:06.369 --> 00:19:08.650 God of the Old Testament is arguably the most 00:19:08.650 --> 00:19:12.750 unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous 00:19:12.750 --> 00:19:14.890 and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving 00:19:14.890 --> 00:19:17.710 control freak. A vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic 00:19:17.710 --> 00:19:20.450 cleanser, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, 00:19:20.569 --> 00:19:23.670 genocidal, filiacidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, 00:19:23.829 --> 00:19:26.430 sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. 00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:28.869 I did practice reading that out loud because 00:19:28.869 --> 00:19:34.789 there's a lot there. And what we must do as people 00:19:34.789 --> 00:19:36.930 who actually say the Lord does reveal himself 00:19:36.930 --> 00:19:38.710 and he's given us his word because he loves us 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:41.789 and actually longs to live life with us. We must 00:19:41.789 --> 00:19:45.490 say, what do we do? How do we have a text that 00:19:45.490 --> 00:19:50.930 celebrates this story in a way? And it also leads 00:19:50.930 --> 00:19:56.769 so many people down that kind of road. Because 00:19:56.769 --> 00:20:00.109 here is the fact, throughout the centuries of 00:20:00.109 --> 00:20:04.170 the Christian Church and the Christian life leaders 00:20:04.170 --> 00:20:09.509 have used texts like this for all kinds of evil 00:20:09.509 --> 00:20:13.789 I Mean it's unquestionably the case. I mean many 00:20:13.789 --> 00:20:17.890 many people believe that the French Revolution 00:20:17.890 --> 00:20:20.730 actually had its beginning more in how the French 00:20:20.730 --> 00:20:23.190 Reformation happened in these wars of religion 00:20:23.190 --> 00:20:27.259 and the rejection of God But of course we can 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:29.480 think of the effects of these kinds of texts 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:31.839 not just the Crusades against the Muslims We 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:34.000 can think of genocides of the Native Americans 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:37.119 here in North America. They're aboriginals in 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:39.140 Australia. We can think of apartheid in South 00:20:39.140 --> 00:20:43.420 Africa We can of course think about the various 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:47.640 discriminations Here racially in our own country 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:49.640 primarily against African Americans, but plenty 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:52.539 of others We can think about the troubles in 00:20:52.539 --> 00:20:56.440 Northern Ireland. We can list so many ways So 00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:58.779 many ways in which some of the story that is 00:20:58.779 --> 00:21:02.319 alluded to here and celebrated here Has led to 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:06.039 so much violence and so much harm. It's a long 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:10.640 list And here's the truth actually I can't speak 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:13.099 to all I can't give you all the reasons why I 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:16.200 still would say believe in the Lord Trust his 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:20.480 word. His ways are good He is full of love and 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:22.960 truth and goodness and beauty can't speak of 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:25.140 all the things that I would like to speak to, 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:29.380 because you guys would probably leave for lunch. 00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:34.420 I mean, I would love to show you how the judgment 00:21:34.420 --> 00:21:36.900 on wickedness is not just an Old Testament thing. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.799 In fact, Jesus, you know, the word for Gehenna, 00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:42.160 the place of fire outside of Jerusalem, where 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.660 things would be burnt out, that is a reference 00:21:44.660 --> 00:21:48.000 to hell, the New Testament. Of the 12 times that 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:49.900 that's talked about, 11 are from the mouth of 00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:53.900 Jesus. So that's something you got to think about. 00:21:54.299 --> 00:21:56.400 I mean, I'd love to show you, as we've looked 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:58.960 at in our adult Sunday school class somehow, 00:21:59.140 --> 00:22:01.400 the New Testament is always saying the Old Testament 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.400 is authoritative and those stories are true and 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.339 good and therefore our learning and our belief. 00:22:10.380 --> 00:22:12.400 I would love to show you how these cannot be 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:15.380 taken as allegorical stories. These are not made 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:19.500 up for some moral lesson. I can't go into all 00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:21.799 those things, but I think I can go from this 00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:23.740 text into a couple things that I think are important, 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:26.759 okay, as we address the question of the Canaanite 00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:30.440 conquest. And the first thing is that this is 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:35.119 God's doing and not ours, which is to say this 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:41.059 isn't just some holy war, but it's God's doing. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:43.240 The whole psalm actually, right from the very 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:46.119 beginning, right, it says, God shall arise and 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:49.529 by His might. Put his enemies to flight or it 00:22:49.529 --> 00:22:52.309 says God shall rise his enemies shall be scattered 00:22:52.309 --> 00:22:54.970 and those who hate him shall be flee before him 00:22:54.970 --> 00:22:59.029 the whole emphasis in this psalm is what God 00:22:59.029 --> 00:23:04.430 does and I wonder if you were very attentive 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:07.049 when Don was reading for us from the book of 00:23:07.049 --> 00:23:11.210 numbers this verse this first verse in in Psalm 00:23:11.210 --> 00:23:14.630 68 is nearly a direct quote from Numbers chapter 00:23:14.630 --> 00:23:17.730 10. Verse 35, it says this, and whenever the 00:23:17.730 --> 00:23:21.490 ark is set out or sets out, Moses said, arise, 00:23:21.670 --> 00:23:24.529 O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered and 00:23:24.529 --> 00:23:28.650 let those who hate you flee before you. This 00:23:28.650 --> 00:23:31.589 Psalm is beginning with the very phrase that 00:23:31.589 --> 00:23:33.430 Moses said every time the ark of the covenant 00:23:33.430 --> 00:23:36.569 went out and led God's people. It's saying, we 00:23:36.569 --> 00:23:39.029 are following you. You're the one doing the action. 00:23:39.819 --> 00:23:42.119 Where are your people that you're bringing into 00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:45.759 this land? From the very outset of this psalm, 00:23:45.779 --> 00:23:48.279 what it's telling us is this, this is not God's 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:50.099 people saying, we're gonna go and conquer them. 00:23:50.099 --> 00:23:54.220 They need to submit to us. You look down at verse 00:23:54.220 --> 00:23:57.240 seven, you see this idea again, of course. It 00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:59.319 says, oh God, when you went out before your people, 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:01.460 when you marched through the wilderness. It's 00:24:01.460 --> 00:24:05.180 saying God's leading his people in this way, 00:24:05.339 --> 00:24:09.049 okay? Verse 21 it says but God will strike the 00:24:09.049 --> 00:24:12.089 heads of his enemies the hairy crown of him who 00:24:12.089 --> 00:24:15.509 walks in his guilty ways So this is not like 00:24:15.509 --> 00:24:18.789 hey God deal with just with my enemies like this 00:24:18.789 --> 00:24:23.450 just saying actually God is the one who is the 00:24:23.450 --> 00:24:27.269 actor here, okay? Which is why if you think with 00:24:27.269 --> 00:24:30.390 me again back to the story of AI you should also 00:24:30.390 --> 00:24:33.400 think with me about the story of Aiken who was 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:36.500 a part of Israel, but he took some of the plunder 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:41.000 of the city and was judged for it. Because this 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.319 whole God bringing his people in was not so that 00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:46.279 they could just align their pockets. This was 00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:50.000 not about them. This was about God. He was the 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:51.819 commander. He was the one that was in charge. 00:24:52.539 --> 00:24:54.599 So verse 30 tells us, Trample underfoot those 00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:57.880 who lust after tribute. Scatter the people who 00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:00.000 delight in war. God is saying you cannot delight 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.170 in war. This is not about Taking joy in another's 00:25:04.170 --> 00:25:11.009 misfortune This is related to the second point 00:25:11.009 --> 00:25:12.609 that I want you to see this morning and this 00:25:12.609 --> 00:25:15.250 is this is an important point This is not about 00:25:15.250 --> 00:25:17.910 some human conquest. This is divine judgment, 00:25:17.930 --> 00:25:20.549 but this is also a reference to divine grace 00:25:20.549 --> 00:25:25.369 a divine judgment, but also divine grace So if 00:25:25.369 --> 00:25:29.589 you know this that God had told Abraham that 00:25:29.589 --> 00:25:31.630 this would be his land but actually way back 00:25:31.630 --> 00:25:35.470 in Genesis chapter 15 he says the sins of the 00:25:35.470 --> 00:25:37.970 Amorites which were you know related to the Canaanites 00:25:37.970 --> 00:25:40.430 living in Canaan there has not yet reached its 00:25:40.430 --> 00:25:45.769 full measure so way back in Genesis when God 00:25:45.769 --> 00:25:47.569 had first called Abraham he said you can't have 00:25:47.569 --> 00:25:50.029 this land yet because their sin is actually not 00:25:50.029 --> 00:25:52.430 so bad that that their land should be taken from 00:25:52.430 --> 00:25:57.809 them That means that the wickedness of that society 00:25:57.809 --> 00:26:01.990 at the time of Abraham was not yet so wicked 00:26:01.990 --> 00:26:06.730 as to morally justify God acting on complete 00:26:06.730 --> 00:26:09.829 judgment. God himself actually says, they are 00:26:09.829 --> 00:26:11.670 not so evil that it would be right for me to 00:26:11.670 --> 00:26:17.930 act this way. And yet, so we can say this, okay, 00:26:17.950 --> 00:26:20.109 all humans in all societies are sinful in one 00:26:20.109 --> 00:26:23.349 way or the other. But there are times when the 00:26:23.349 --> 00:26:26.509 extremes of wickedness call for a particular 00:26:26.509 --> 00:26:30.029 judgment. And I would actually say that pretty 00:26:30.029 --> 00:26:31.890 much everybody in this room agrees with that 00:26:31.890 --> 00:26:34.670 idea. Whether you want to admit it or not, there's 00:26:34.670 --> 00:26:36.890 a time when there's an extreme of wickedness 00:26:36.890 --> 00:26:40.470 that invites a certain judgment. I have stood 00:26:40.470 --> 00:26:44.349 in the furnaces built for human bodies in Dachau. 00:26:44.809 --> 00:26:46.509 I'm telling you, if you stand in that place, 00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:49.009 it is hard to deny that fact. that there is an 00:26:49.009 --> 00:26:56.990 extreme wickedness that invites an action. We 00:26:56.990 --> 00:27:01.170 know that the time had come when the wickedness 00:27:01.170 --> 00:27:03.730 of the Canaanite people had arose to a state 00:27:03.730 --> 00:27:07.890 where God must bring about its end. We know that 00:27:07.890 --> 00:27:09.230 actually from the Old Testament. We actually 00:27:09.230 --> 00:27:11.130 also know it from other histories outside of 00:27:11.130 --> 00:27:13.210 the Old Testament. The Canaanite people were 00:27:13.210 --> 00:27:16.349 a particularly wicked people, even in sort of 00:27:16.349 --> 00:27:20.150 ancient Near Eastern standards. Here's an interesting 00:27:20.150 --> 00:27:23.369 thing. Those evils that they were particularly 00:27:23.369 --> 00:27:29.829 known for are these. Cult prostitution, so fertility 00:27:29.829 --> 00:27:34.609 cults, and child sacrifice, so offering up their 00:27:34.609 --> 00:27:38.250 children to be burned in their cultic practices. 00:27:38.950 --> 00:27:43.089 So you had the combination of massive sexual 00:27:43.089 --> 00:27:46.549 sins that were related to worship their fertility 00:27:46.549 --> 00:27:49.910 cults along with the idea that many of those 00:27:49.910 --> 00:27:53.250 people who were expecting babies were killing 00:27:53.250 --> 00:27:56.089 them to their very gods those were those that's 00:27:56.089 --> 00:27:57.950 what we know what was going on particularly in 00:27:57.950 --> 00:28:02.930 the canaanite culture okay so hold those things 00:28:02.930 --> 00:28:08.109 together and when you come okay hold hold these 00:28:08.109 --> 00:28:10.970 two things together god is the one who's doing 00:28:10.970 --> 00:28:13.819 it He's saying this like a lot and it's not about 00:28:13.819 --> 00:28:16.339 lining their own pockets think of Aiken in in 00:28:16.339 --> 00:28:21.900 Joshua chapter 6 or 7 Think of that story of 00:28:21.900 --> 00:28:23.619 God actually bring judgment on his own people 00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:27.480 for trying to take from these wars And now I 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:28.940 want you to think about so I want you to think 00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:30.619 about how God is doing this and also how it's 00:28:30.619 --> 00:28:33.079 a particular judgment Primarily because of the 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:34.880 wickedness of the Canaanites had gotten so bad 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:37.460 particularly around the idea of cult prostitution 00:28:37.460 --> 00:28:40.519 and child sacrifice And then I want you to think 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:43.279 about what is the very first thing that happens 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:46.099 when God's people cross the Jordan into the promised 00:28:46.099 --> 00:28:50.039 land? What's the battle that takes place? Jericho. 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:53.920 Jericho. What do the people of God do at Jericho? 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.099 Do they draw swords? No, they don't. They walk 00:28:58.099 --> 00:29:01.099 around and they blow trumpets and God does the 00:29:01.099 --> 00:29:04.819 rest. It is not about them. Not about them. Who 00:29:04.819 --> 00:29:11.549 is saved at Jericho? I feel like I heard some, 00:29:11.789 --> 00:29:14.950 Rahab. Yeah, Rahab. What does Rahab do? What's 00:29:14.950 --> 00:29:19.049 her job? She's a prostitute, which means that 00:29:19.049 --> 00:29:22.990 she is the very embodiment of the evil of the 00:29:22.990 --> 00:29:28.269 Canaanites. She's it. I mean, cult prostitution, 00:29:28.869 --> 00:29:31.009 child sacrifice, she would have been the one 00:29:31.009 --> 00:29:34.390 that embodied what God said, you deserve my judgment. 00:29:34.789 --> 00:29:36.710 And frankly, very few people would totally say, 00:29:36.769 --> 00:29:38.609 yeah, somebody like that doesn't deserve some 00:29:38.609 --> 00:29:43.690 level of stopping. Who gets grace there right 00:29:43.690 --> 00:29:46.529 have actually in her whole family it extends 00:29:46.529 --> 00:29:53.069 beyond her I'm suggesting to you is that even 00:29:53.069 --> 00:29:55.710 in this story? Did you notice that the maidens 00:29:55.710 --> 00:29:57.630 are the ones that are playing their tambourines 00:29:57.630 --> 00:30:01.069 as the procession is making its way in? Can't 00:30:01.069 --> 00:30:03.769 you imagine that maybe some of those are Rahab's 00:30:03.769 --> 00:30:06.910 very descendants? Who are celebrating what God 00:30:06.910 --> 00:30:09.349 has done bringing an end to such evil, but also 00:30:09.349 --> 00:30:12.349 extending unbelievable grace to the world All 00:30:12.349 --> 00:30:14.589 you have to do is turn to him Actually, that's 00:30:14.589 --> 00:30:16.509 part of the story later on in the Gibeonites 00:30:16.509 --> 00:30:20.950 to right they Come and be part of this family 00:30:20.950 --> 00:30:23.410 God's it's not an ethnic. It's obviously not 00:30:23.410 --> 00:30:25.769 an ethnic cleansing. Otherwise the very first 00:30:25.769 --> 00:30:28.009 story would not include say hey, you can totally 00:30:28.009 --> 00:30:31.109 be part of our Not about ethnicity. None of it's 00:30:31.109 --> 00:30:34.990 about it But God acting and God bringing an end 00:30:34.990 --> 00:30:39.170 to evil but also God extending his grace the 00:30:39.170 --> 00:30:47.049 very embodiment of that evil So I'm gonna wrap 00:30:47.049 --> 00:30:50.950 this up We come to the second half of this this 00:30:50.950 --> 00:30:53.529 psalm, right? I said it kind of breaks up verses 00:30:53.529 --> 00:30:57.630 1 to 6 7 to 18 19 to 31 and then you have the 00:30:57.630 --> 00:31:01.359 end there which kind of wraps it around but the 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:03.900 second, that second section we have in the second 00:31:03.900 --> 00:31:07.339 section is, you know, this procession comes up 00:31:07.339 --> 00:31:10.400 to Mount Sinai and then they celebrate that God 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:13.759 is on the throne, that he's the one that's there 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:15.740 and you have everybody coming and you have them 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:19.279 offering tribute and you have the nations. Verse 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:22.460 20, you know, I mean verse 18 talks about, or 00:31:22.460 --> 00:31:25.400 17 rather, you know, the Ark of the Covenant 00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:28.240 is now in the sanctuary and what you have is 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:31.180 that the the virgins are celebrating, you have 00:31:31.180 --> 00:31:32.559 all this kind of stuff, but then also it says 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:36.900 you have the princes, the princes of Judah and 00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:39.480 Benjamin and Zebulun and Naphtali, they're all 00:31:39.480 --> 00:31:41.359 coming and they're worshiping and they're bowing 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.160 down, they're saying, you're the true king, you're 00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:45.680 the one who reigns properly, not us, because 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:48.019 if we do it in our own power, it only leads to 00:31:48.019 --> 00:31:51.160 destruction and chaos and all this. But then 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:53.180 interestingly, you also at the very end, or near 00:31:53.180 --> 00:31:57.539 the very end, verse 27, Verse 31 it rather it 00:31:57.539 --> 00:32:01.259 says noble shall come from Egypt Again, it's 00:32:01.259 --> 00:32:05.279 the place of God's enemies actually They're being 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:08.180 welcomed into this family. It actually says also 00:32:08.180 --> 00:32:12.019 Kush which is even beyond Egypt think of South 00:32:12.019 --> 00:32:14.240 Sudan. Maybe that that area actually is probably 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:19.160 Kush Everybody you're all welcome here. The very 00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:22.180 enemies of God are welcomed into the very place 00:32:22.180 --> 00:32:26.039 the abode the house of God everybody together 00:32:26.039 --> 00:32:31.240 there at the end says blessed be God. Why? Because 00:32:31.240 --> 00:32:33.259 if you think through this great story and if 00:32:33.259 --> 00:32:36.299 you think actually of the conquest and even beyond 00:32:36.299 --> 00:32:39.420 actually if we have our sort of historical lens 00:32:39.420 --> 00:32:41.420 on we know that God actually does bring the same 00:32:41.420 --> 00:32:45.079 judgment on Israel when they go against God's 00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:47.240 ways and go and worship as the nations worship. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:49.039 they're going to get kicked out of the land too 00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:51.180 if they don't actually abide by God. But everybody, 00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:55.160 they're invited to say, hey, God is full of grace, 00:32:56.319 --> 00:32:58.980 but he does not permit wickedness. He doesn't 00:32:58.980 --> 00:33:01.859 love the ways of just doing whatever you want. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:05.660 Come to him and turn and repent and have new 00:33:05.660 --> 00:33:08.799 life. This is what's on offer here. The Egyptians 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:12.160 are welcomed. The Rahabs are welcomed. The Peter 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:15.640 Rowans are welcomed. You're welcomed into this 00:33:15.640 --> 00:33:19.420 new family. Where God reigns with justice and 00:33:19.420 --> 00:33:24.359 with grace hating wickedness loving righteousness 00:33:24.359 --> 00:33:31.140 I'm saying is that this Psalm is a psalm of a 00:33:31.140 --> 00:33:32.839 history Of course, it has like my own personal 00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:34.240 history and it has the history of the church 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:36.660 But it has this great history that God tell that 00:33:36.660 --> 00:33:38.579 is telling us of how he brings his people into 00:33:38.579 --> 00:33:41.319 the promised land How he does away with evil 00:33:41.319 --> 00:33:44.470 how he cares about? things being done right, 00:33:44.470 --> 00:33:47.190 but he also extends grace to the worst of the 00:33:47.190 --> 00:33:50.930 worst, invites them into his family. And all 00:33:50.930 --> 00:33:54.190 of this we see most of all in Christ. It is. 00:33:54.230 --> 00:33:57.230 This is a story almost everybody reads. This 00:33:57.230 --> 00:34:00.890 is about the ascension. Jesus finally going and 00:34:00.890 --> 00:34:02.670 sitting on the throne. And if you have ears to 00:34:02.670 --> 00:34:05.529 hear, you might have heard the echoes from this 00:34:05.529 --> 00:34:07.910 Psalm even that we hear in the book of Revelation, 00:34:07.930 --> 00:34:10.889 where the nations themselves bring their tribute 00:34:10.889 --> 00:34:13.980 before the true King. Where people from every 00:34:13.980 --> 00:34:16.860 tribe and tongue and nation, right? This is not 00:34:16.860 --> 00:34:19.860 ethnic thing come and fall down before the Lord 00:34:19.860 --> 00:34:26.300 their God Where grace is extended beyond Any 00:34:26.300 --> 00:34:29.079 border that you might think people are brought 00:34:29.079 --> 00:34:32.940 in? Where the healing of nations exists because 00:34:32.940 --> 00:34:35.599 the tree of life is there because the lamb is 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:38.440 slain The lamb who is slain is right there in 00:34:38.440 --> 00:34:42.369 the middle this Psalm prepares us for what we 00:34:42.369 --> 00:34:46.949 are all actually most longing for the true King 00:34:46.949 --> 00:34:51.369 Father to the fatherless the defender of widows 00:34:51.369 --> 00:34:55.530 one who meets the lonely Brings them into his 00:34:55.530 --> 00:34:59.550 family Friends I wanted to kind of give you this 00:34:59.550 --> 00:35:02.989 sermon in a way as to say the difficulties of 00:35:02.989 --> 00:35:10.739 scripture are real They are That does not mean 00:35:10.739 --> 00:35:13.739 that we do not worship the true God, the God 00:35:13.739 --> 00:35:16.980 who is full of grace and love. And it does not 00:35:16.980 --> 00:35:18.679 mean that there may not be actually answers to 00:35:18.679 --> 00:35:20.760 some of our great challenges that could actually 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:25.300 challenge us in how we think about it. But I 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:27.460 also wanted to invite you into seeing that this 00:35:27.460 --> 00:35:32.059 text is actually just speaking what we most long 00:35:32.059 --> 00:35:35.679 for, which is Jesus to be on the throne, to rule. 00:35:36.909 --> 00:35:40.909 To welcome the nations to his throne To invite 00:35:40.909 --> 00:35:45.449 you as a sinner that's saved by grace Changed 00:35:45.449 --> 00:35:48.309 and transformed from your evil ways brought into 00:35:48.309 --> 00:35:52.969 the kingdom of our Lord Let me pray for us Lord 00:35:52.969 --> 00:35:56.110 God I do thank you for psalm 68 even though it 00:35:56.110 --> 00:36:00.389 does speak to a subject which is deeply difficult 00:36:00.389 --> 00:36:04.309 Recalls to mind stories that are violent tent 00:36:04.309 --> 00:36:10.639 pegs being drilled through enemy commanders skulls 00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:15.880 God things It recalls for us the history in your 00:36:15.880 --> 00:36:19.920 church, which is often So violent that we blush 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:27.380 and that we are ashamed I'm got to think of The 00:36:27.380 --> 00:36:30.840 two million or so people that died there in France 00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:37.489 during the wars of religion God we think of our 00:36:37.489 --> 00:36:42.829 day now, where people use such violent rhetoric, 00:36:43.070 --> 00:36:49.710 such violent action in the name of God. Lord, 00:36:49.710 --> 00:36:52.090 we pray that you would bring your peace to the 00:36:52.090 --> 00:36:55.190 world. Jesus, that you would reign from your 00:36:55.190 --> 00:36:58.630 throne. God, we pray that this text might even 00:36:58.630 --> 00:37:02.030 move in us that we might desire your return and 00:37:02.030 --> 00:37:04.760 your reign more and more. God, I pray that this 00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:10.260 text might remind us that we were once outsiders. 00:37:11.219 --> 00:37:14.360 We were once sinners, deserving your just judgment. 00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:17.780 And yet you have welcomed us into your family 00:37:17.780 --> 00:37:22.719 with glad arms. That we might be with the procession 00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:25.000 going to the house of the Lord, singing your 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:30.719 praises, saying aloud, blessed be God. God, I 00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:35.239 pray that as difficult as it is, Well, as difficult 00:37:35.239 --> 00:37:38.019 as texts like this are, and as easy it is to 00:37:38.019 --> 00:37:40.500 want to dismiss them or to push them aside, God, 00:37:40.599 --> 00:37:43.480 I pray that we would be those who say, let's 00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:49.440 take on the hard questions. Let's wrestle. Spirit 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:53.139 of God, move in us. Give us faith and understanding. 00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.579 Help our unbelief. God, do this in us, please. 00:38:01.259 --> 00:38:03.960 Now we thank you for your word. We pray that 00:38:03.960 --> 00:38:05.780 we would hide it in our hearts and that it would 00:38:05.780 --> 00:38:08.039 teach us more and more of the word made flesh, 00:38:08.219 --> 00:38:15.280 Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you 00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:17.519 for listening to Second City Sermons podcast. 00:38:18.039 --> 00:38:20.059 We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship 00:38:20.059 --> 00:38:23.000 God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please 00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:25.360 consider subscribing to this podcast and joining 00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:28.539 us in person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can 00:38:28.539 --> 00:38:31.860 find us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on 00:38:31.860 --> 00:38:34.460 Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Thanks again 00:38:34.460 --> 00:38:35.940 for listening. God bless.