1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 Amen. 2 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:06,280 Well, thinking about the world around us, some of y'all might have noticed that everything 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,520 changes. 4 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:11,520 Everything changes. 5 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,220 A season shift right before our eyes. 6 00:00:14,220 --> 00:00:19,600 What used to be trees filled with vibrant green leaves are now what? 7 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:24,880 Dry and in our gutters and in our streets and on our house and everywhere. 8 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:31,680 The leaves have fallen and summer has turned to autumn and winter approaches. 9 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:32,680 Right? 10 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,080 We're not officially at winter yet. 11 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:37,080 21st. 12 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:38,080 Okay. 13 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:39,080 Thank you. 14 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:44,120 The calendar down here. 15 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:51,120 If you're a technology junkie like my family was growing up and extended into my later 16 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:55,680 years, then you also know that technology changes all the time. 17 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:56,680 Right? 18 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:01,000 As soon as you walk out of the store with the brand new iPhone, it's already obsolete. 19 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,760 They've already put out another one and they're marketing it and they want to get it into 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:06,080 your hands ASAP. 21 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:07,080 Right? 22 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:11,360 And for some of you, you know, you still have that nostalgic feeling over that flip phone 23 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:12,360 you once owned. 24 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,560 That fit nicely into your pocket. 25 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:16,560 It was your treasure. 26 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,040 It was your baby. 27 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,240 It was probably your first phone. 28 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:22,480 It has changed. 29 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,320 It has gone away. 30 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:29,320 Left to the landfill covered with dirt. 31 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:32,600 And you guys know too, our bodies testify to this. 32 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:33,600 Our bodies testify. 33 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,300 We grow older. 34 00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:36,300 We break down. 35 00:01:36,300 --> 00:01:38,360 We need oil changes. 36 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:44,000 We change in ways that we can't control anymore. 37 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:45,000 We witness it. 38 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,560 There's an MIT physicist and humanities professor, Alan Lightman, and he was considering this 39 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:57,040 reality of change in a writing and a reflection that he published. 40 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,440 And he was thinking about his daughter's wedding day. 41 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:05,720 And this is how he wrote about his reflections upon this reality. 42 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:12,300 It was a perfect picture of utter joy and utter tragedy. 43 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:18,540 Because I wanted my daughter back as she was at age 10 or 20. 44 00:02:18,540 --> 00:02:23,340 As we moved together toward that lovely arch that would swallow us all. 45 00:02:23,340 --> 00:02:25,340 Other scenes flashed through my mind. 46 00:02:25,340 --> 00:02:29,740 My daughter in first grade holding a starfish as big as herself. 47 00:02:29,740 --> 00:02:32,120 Her smile missing a tooth. 48 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:37,440 My daughter on the back of my bicycle as we rode to a river to drop stones in the water. 49 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,120 And now she is 30. 50 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,420 I could see lines on her face. 51 00:02:44,420 --> 00:02:50,740 As he's reflecting on this, he further goes on to say, I don't know why we long for permanence. 52 00:02:50,740 --> 00:02:54,220 Why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs us. 53 00:02:54,220 --> 00:02:58,840 With futility we cling to that old wallet that has long fallen apart. 54 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,420 We visit and revisit old neighborhoods where we grew up. 55 00:03:02,420 --> 00:03:04,320 Anyone do that? 56 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,320 My family is like notorious for that if we're driving around. 57 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,320 It's like, oh, we've got to swing over here and take this detour. 58 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,480 And that's where I was born or that's where we grew up or that's where I stayed when I 59 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,380 was working here. 60 00:03:16,380 --> 00:03:19,280 We visit and revisit and we're searching for those places. 61 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,740 He says, searching for that grove of trees or that little fence. 62 00:03:22,740 --> 00:03:27,140 We clutch for our old photographs. 63 00:03:27,140 --> 00:03:33,480 And then he says, but yet in every nook and cranny, nature screams at the top of her lungs 64 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,960 that nothing lasts. 65 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:37,840 That it all passes away. 66 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,100 All that we see around us, including our own bodies, is shifting and evaporating and one 67 00:03:42,100 --> 00:03:43,640 day will be gone. 68 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:48,960 Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800? 69 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,320 Only two short centuries ago. 70 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,440 Where have they gone? 71 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:00,040 And then Alan Lightman says something that I think is pretty profound. 72 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:09,440 He says, to my mind, it is one of the most profound contradictions of human existence 73 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:14,800 that we long for immortality, indeed fervently believe that something must be unchanging 74 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:21,760 and permanent when all of the evidence in nature argues against us. 75 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,880 And then he says, I certainly have that longing. 76 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,580 Either I am delusional or nature is incomplete. 77 00:04:28,580 --> 00:04:34,080 Either I am being emotional and vain in my wish for eternal life for myself and my daughter 78 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:43,360 or there is some realm of immortality that must exist outside of nature. 79 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:49,800 Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, for a child will be born for us. 80 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:55,840 A son will be given to us and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be named 81 00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:04,800 wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father. 82 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:09,900 Today we're looking at that third title given to this royal King, the promised Messiah who 83 00:05:09,900 --> 00:05:16,600 as the Christmas song says, all our hopes and fears are met in him. 84 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:21,440 He will be called eternal father. 85 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,680 The first point of clarity is this, that Isaiah is not talking about the first person in the 86 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:31,240 Trinity, the father, when he says that he will be called eternal father. 87 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:36,960 What he is saying is that the reign of the Messiah King will be marked by these characteristics, 88 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:46,840 that Jesus will personify the fatherly love, care and provision of God toward his people. 89 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:53,000 The Bible clearly teaches that God is one in essence, three in persons, father, son 90 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:01,480 and spirit and that God is one unified being who shares a single divine nature, we call 91 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:09,080 his essence, but he exists as three distinct, co-eternal persons, father, son and Holy Spirit. 92 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:15,160 Each person fully possesses the one divine essence or nature and yet each is uniquely 93 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:19,260 and personally different from the other. 94 00:06:19,260 --> 00:06:25,120 In taking on humanity and coming to live with us, Jesus fully reveals the divine nature 95 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,220 of God to us. 96 00:06:28,220 --> 00:06:35,840 In John chapter 14, Jesus said, whoever has seen me has seen the father. 97 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:40,600 And this doesn't mean that Jesus is the father, but that he perfectly reveals the father's 98 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,960 character and the nature he shares with the father and the spirit. 99 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:53,180 And so he is, as Colossians puts it, the image of the invisible God. 100 00:06:53,180 --> 00:07:01,240 In Christ, we experienced the fatherly love and care and provision of God. 101 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,160 If you have your Bibles and you want to turn somewhere else, turn over to Psalm 103. 102 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,160 We're going to spend a little bit of time in Psalm 103 today. 103 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:15,680 The psalmist in Psalm 103 gives us some great insights into God, God's character as our 104 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,600 eternal father revealed in Christ Jesus. 105 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:31,220 Psalm 103 verse 13 says, as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion 106 00:07:31,220 --> 00:07:33,120 on those who fear him. 107 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:38,880 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear 108 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:39,880 him. 109 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,200 How does God treat us? 110 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,200 He pities us. 111 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,560 Now we don't like the word pity. 112 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,840 None of us want to be pitied, right? 113 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,080 We're strong, independent. 114 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,160 We don't need your pity. 115 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,400 God pities us. 116 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:00,080 God pities us in his compassion. 117 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:01,920 Because this is what is true of any parent. 118 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,160 I'm a father and I have three kids. 119 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:09,520 And when they were much younger, especially before they grew up and got really big, I 120 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,760 had great pity for them in their plight. 121 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:16,480 They were hopeless, helpless. 122 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:21,360 Oftentimes they couldn't tell their right shoe from their left shoe. 123 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:25,920 They needed my help and love and care deeply. 124 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:31,560 And so I pitied them as any good father would have compassion on his child and didn't leave 125 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:33,800 them to their own. 126 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:39,120 But instead, tried to bring care and love and provision to them. 127 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,800 He pities us. 128 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:45,080 He's a good father who has compassion on us. 129 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:49,760 Well, how does he treat us? 130 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,440 He treats us with pity and compassion. 131 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,960 How do we see the father, the eternal father in Christ Jesus? 132 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:05,880 Well, the first way, and I'll have you write this down, is he saves us completely. 133 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:11,160 We see the eternal father, the compassion and care of God, revealed it through Christ 134 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:17,080 Jesus in that he saves us completely. 135 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:22,200 Psalm 103, I'm going to read a selection of verses, verse 3, 4, 10, and 12. 136 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,520 It says, he forgives all your iniquity. 137 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,000 He heals all your diseases. 138 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,800 He redeems your life from the pit. 139 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,600 He crowns you with faithful love and compassion. 140 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:37,840 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. 141 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:46,720 As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 142 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,160 Here's something that we don't like, but it's true. 143 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:55,440 As moral beings created by God, we know what is right and wrong. 144 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:57,000 We know what is right and wrong. 145 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,860 That knowledge has been planted within the heart of every man. 146 00:10:01,860 --> 00:10:08,880 We know what is right and wrong, and this is not something we can claim innocence on. 147 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:15,380 We know that wrong is wrong, and we know that wrong behavior, that sin at its core brings 148 00:10:15,380 --> 00:10:20,040 about condemnation. 149 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:25,400 If you've ever had kids or younger kids or teenage kids or even as adults, I was trying 150 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,640 to deflect it onto the kids, but it even happens among adults. 151 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,720 I've seen it. 152 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:37,380 That when we've done something we know is wrong, what do we do? 153 00:10:37,380 --> 00:10:39,900 We hide. 154 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:40,900 We lie. 155 00:10:40,900 --> 00:10:42,660 We deflect. 156 00:10:42,660 --> 00:10:46,540 We don't want the consequence or the condemnation that comes from it. 157 00:10:46,540 --> 00:10:49,920 We know what we were doing. 158 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:55,140 We already know ahead of time that condemnation awaits those who do wrong. 159 00:10:55,140 --> 00:11:00,040 And God is not some benevolent Santa Claus in the sky, as some might want to claim, who 160 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:08,840 just doles out forgiveness like Oprah giving away a free car to everyone in the audience. 161 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:12,020 Everyone check underneath your seats really quick. 162 00:11:12,020 --> 00:11:15,880 You might find something there. 163 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:22,200 It'd be awesome to get a free car, but God is not doling out forgiveness in the same 164 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:23,760 way. 165 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:31,300 He is not a benevolent Santa Claus who all you have to do is wish and then it is yours. 166 00:11:31,300 --> 00:11:34,100 But the other truth is that we can't deal with our wrong. 167 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:36,600 We can't deal with our sin. 168 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,920 We can't do anything about it and God can't simply overlook it. 169 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:48,440 God can't simply overlook it because God is holy and his holiness and his justice demand 170 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:50,940 that it must be dealt with. 171 00:11:50,940 --> 00:11:54,780 And so God can't overlook it and we can't do anything about it. 172 00:11:54,780 --> 00:11:56,600 So what can be done? 173 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:00,760 Well, this is the amazing part. 174 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:07,200 Notice in Psalm 103, who is taking all the initiative? 175 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,200 Who's doing all the things? 176 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:12,440 God is doing it. 177 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:14,160 God is taking the initiative. 178 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:15,800 He's forgiving our iniquities. 179 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:17,000 He's healing our diseases. 180 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:22,240 He's redeeming our life from the pit, crowning us with faithful love and compassion. 181 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:28,680 He's the one not dealing with us as our sins deserve or repaying us as our iniquities deserve. 182 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:36,000 He is the one casting our transgressions as far as the East is from the West. 183 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,560 We can't deal with it. 184 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:40,620 God can't overlook it. 185 00:12:40,620 --> 00:12:43,400 God's taking the initiative. 186 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,500 He is having compassion on his children. 187 00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:48,160 He is forgiving and healing, redeeming. 188 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,680 He is removing sins, stain. 189 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:52,080 But how is he doing it? 190 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:53,840 What's the means by which he's doing? 191 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:55,680 Is he just overlooking it? 192 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:58,960 Is he saying, oh, it's not that bad. 193 00:12:58,960 --> 00:12:59,960 It's okay. 194 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:03,980 No, he's not. 195 00:13:03,980 --> 00:13:12,600 Jesus reveals to us that the eternal father, the characteristics of God, his care and compassion 196 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:20,220 and provision for us, that Jesus is our means for salvation, that it is Christ who is taking 197 00:13:20,220 --> 00:13:26,580 the initiative to become our substitute on the cross, that God would not simply overlook 198 00:13:26,580 --> 00:13:32,260 sin and dole out forgiveness, but that God would stand in our place in Christ Jesus and 199 00:13:32,260 --> 00:13:38,360 take upon himself the just penalty for our sins, that he would redeem us from the pit 200 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:42,520 by crawling into the pit himself. 201 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:48,200 That he would remove sin and stain from us by bearing its shame on his own body, perfect 202 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,320 though he was. 203 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,360 That he would lose his life so that we might gain life. 204 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,080 And this salvation would last. 205 00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:58,380 It would take. 206 00:13:58,380 --> 00:14:00,700 It would go on and on. 207 00:14:00,700 --> 00:14:03,680 It wouldn't need a refresher ever so often. 208 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:08,920 Yeah, this is something we just recently had a baptism, right? 209 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,120 And oftentimes we'll get a question. 210 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:14,560 I was baptized, but I did all these things in between there. 211 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:15,560 I was trusted in God. 212 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:17,360 I was believed in God, but I did these things. 213 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:18,680 Do I need to be rebaptized? 214 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:21,640 No, you don't need to be rebaptized. 215 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:26,360 His redemption, his salvation is secure and complete. 216 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,540 You don't need another baptism. 217 00:14:28,540 --> 00:14:33,060 You don't need a redo ever so often. 218 00:14:33,060 --> 00:14:34,680 It was sufficient. 219 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:39,840 It would be sufficient once for all, for all who had become his children. 220 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,800 And it would be sufficient once for all time. 221 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:50,060 It need not be supplemented by human work or endeavor or anything else. 222 00:14:50,060 --> 00:14:52,160 He will save. 223 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:54,460 He will take the initiative. 224 00:14:54,460 --> 00:15:00,260 He will take it upon himself to pay the price. 225 00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:06,200 We also see God's characteristic as an eternal father revealed in Christ in that he knows 226 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:07,520 us fully. 227 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,840 Chapter two, he knows us fully. 228 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:19,100 Psalm 103, 14 says, for he knows what we are made of remembering that we are dust. 229 00:15:19,100 --> 00:15:22,140 As for man, his days are like grass. 230 00:15:22,140 --> 00:15:24,800 He blooms like a flower of the field. 231 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:32,420 When the wind passes over it, it vanishes and its place is no longer known. 232 00:15:32,420 --> 00:15:35,520 God is compassionate toward us because he knows us fully. 233 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,920 We are not a mystery to him. 234 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,260 You are not a mystery to God. 235 00:15:42,260 --> 00:15:44,900 He knows we are dust. 236 00:15:44,900 --> 00:15:49,920 He knows our days for he numbered them himself. 237 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:54,560 He knows us because he has made us. 238 00:15:54,560 --> 00:16:01,520 In Psalm 139, just a little bit later in the book of Psalms, we hear that God, we hear 239 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:07,280 this prayer that God would search and know our innermost thoughts, that he knows who 240 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:14,080 we are at the deepest level, behind what everyone else knows, at the deepest level of our thoughts 241 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:17,600 and our will, God knows us. 242 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:23,560 That he knows when we will rise and when we will sleep, that nothing is hidden from him. 243 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:30,000 Not only our present, but he also created us in our, he created our inmost parts and 244 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,160 he knit us together in our mother's womb. 245 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:40,400 We're told in Psalm 139 that we are remarkably and wondrously made. 246 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:45,300 The psalmist went on to say, my bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, 247 00:16:45,300 --> 00:16:48,000 when I was formed in the depths of the earth. 248 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,520 Your eyes saw me when I was formless. 249 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:56,680 All my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began. 250 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:03,880 All of them were written in the book and planned before a single one of them began. 251 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:10,160 He knows us fully because he made us completely. 252 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:16,760 Do we, do we need to be preoccupied with endless worries and anxieties if this is true? 253 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:22,020 If we have an eternal father who knows us and cares for us and has turned his face toward 254 00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:27,160 us in compassion and love, who has taken the initiative to save us, then do we need to 255 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,360 be preoccupied with endless worries and anxieties? 256 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:36,280 If we have this father eternal, do we need to count these days and moments and hours 257 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,720 as if they are the totality of reality? 258 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:45,360 Do we need to spend our life as if the bills that are stacking up, you know, on our mantle 259 00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:51,080 or the anxieties and stresses in our relationship are everything in life? 260 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,760 Or can we see that God eternal who knew us before has numbered our days and our life 261 00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:02,380 is fleeting and yet he loves and is compassionate and cares for us, that he knows us before, 262 00:18:02,380 --> 00:18:10,960 he knows us now, and he knows where he is taking us for he has made us for a purpose. 263 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:15,200 Did you know you were made for a purpose? 264 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:22,000 Did you know that you were made to love and to glory in him and to enjoy him forever? 265 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:23,760 Just think about it. 266 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,960 You were made, created, fashioned by God. 267 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:33,680 He in his great wisdom, his wonderful counsel, decided and determined beforehand to make 268 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:48,580 you and to fashion you so that you might glory in him, love him and enjoy him forever. 269 00:18:48,580 --> 00:18:51,160 You are not a product of random chaos. 270 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,780 You are not merely the product of human choice or even human sin. 271 00:18:55,780 --> 00:19:00,840 You are not a mistake, a burden or worthless. 272 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:05,400 Our father knows us and he gives us value. 273 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:09,920 Psalm eight, the psalmist is writing this Psalm and he is just captivated by this idea. 274 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:16,760 He asked this question, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you 275 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:18,520 care for him? 276 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,680 Who are we? 277 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:24,880 Why would you, the God of all creation, why would you, the one who flung the stars into 278 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:30,760 place and created all the planets, why would you look upon me and care? 279 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:37,240 There are a lot of things that I have owned in my life, a lot of things. 280 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,800 But I also came from a family that moved upwards of, it was over 30 times by the time I became 281 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:42,800 adult. 282 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,720 And since I was an adult, probably another 15 to 20. 283 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,040 So I don't know exactly where we're at, but we've moved a lot. 284 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,720 And you know one of the characteristics of people who move a lot? 285 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,460 You just don't keep a lot of things. 286 00:19:54,460 --> 00:19:58,580 You may have them for a while, but you know what's really hard is to move them from house 287 00:19:58,580 --> 00:20:00,800 to house, especially 30 times. 288 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,480 And so my dad had this thing that he would do. 289 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,680 When it's time to move, we just threw everything away. 290 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,680 He just threw it away. 291 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:15,840 Now in the early days, that included my mom's memoirs and her boxes of pictures and stuff. 292 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:21,320 And I remember crying, a lot of crying going on at the house. 293 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:26,440 But it's like, you haven't visited that box in the three years we've lived here. 294 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,320 And now we're gonna move it to another house and then to another house and then to another 295 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:30,320 house. 296 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:31,680 And so you just don't keep a lot of things. 297 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:35,440 But the things that you do keep, they mean something to you. 298 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:41,080 Nowadays, at least at this moment in time, there are things that I keep and that I like 299 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,760 and I enjoy and I know exactly where they're at. 300 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:52,160 But if you've had teenage boys, they're never exactly where they're supposed to be. 301 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,320 And so it's really weird because I'm not even premeditated. 302 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,720 I'm not coming home going, I'm gonna check where all my stuff is, you know, as I'm driving 303 00:20:57,720 --> 00:20:58,720 home. 304 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,080 But I get home and I'll walk into the room and in a moment I'll notice my hat's gone, 305 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,120 my baseball hat. 306 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:06,760 And immediately turn around. 307 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:07,760 And I hate this. 308 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:09,440 We've had the conversations husband and wife here. 309 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,840 It's like, when you get home, the first thing they don't need to hear is correction and 310 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:13,840 things like that, right? 311 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,920 It's true. 312 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:25,040 So maybe I'll give it a one minute reprieve before I go and find them. 313 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,880 But then you, oh, it's missing. 314 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:30,400 And then you go to find it, right? 315 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,600 Well, I've got three boys, but I always start with one. 316 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:40,120 99% of the time, that solves it. 317 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:45,200 It's on his head, it's hanging up there, it's on his bed or he left it outside. 318 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:49,520 A lot has gotten left outside. 319 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,760 But see, I'm mindful of that thing. 320 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,160 Even subconsciously I'm mindful of my hat. 321 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,760 And when I come in, I look at it and it has value. 322 00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,720 Its value is not in its material. 323 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,080 Its value is what I give to it. 324 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:06,240 At this point in time, I'm giving it value and so therefore I treasure it and I keep 325 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,120 it safe and I look for it. 326 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:13,000 God knows us and he gave us value. 327 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:16,160 God knows us and he stamped us with value. 328 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,460 He was mindful of us. 329 00:22:18,460 --> 00:22:20,320 He was considerate of us. 330 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:27,920 He cared for us and in his care and mindfulness, we took on infinite value. 331 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,480 Not intrinsic, not in and of ourselves, but because of his value for us, because of his 332 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:38,840 face looking upon us, smiling upon us and showing us care. 333 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:39,840 You are not worthless. 334 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:40,840 You are not a burden. 335 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:41,840 You are not a mistake. 336 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:46,960 Because the God of all creation looks upon you and smiles. 337 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,920 You have infinite worth and then you think, what would God do? 338 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:55,000 What links would he go to show that love that he has for me? 339 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,440 Would he step down from heaven, take on the flesh of humankind, go through all of the 340 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:05,240 suffering and burden of being a human who was hated and reviled even though he was perfect? 341 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:11,880 And would he go to a cross and take on my sin upon himself so that I might be reconciled 342 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:19,120 back to him so that he might care for me and love me and I might love him and enjoy him 343 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,400 forever? 344 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:26,880 What a God we serve. 345 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,880 Our identity is not in what we can muster up in our inmost thoughts. 346 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,880 It's not about our positive self-talk. 347 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,080 It's not about our positive self-talk. 348 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:42,320 I'm telling you, there are good days and bad days for positive self-talk, but it always 349 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,240 … It's fleeting. 350 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,120 It's not permanent. 351 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:51,120 All it takes is a muff up or a mess up or to sin in some way and pretty soon you're 352 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:57,000 condemning yourself and Satan is right there whispering in your ear how terrible you are. 353 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,520 I need something outside of myself to give me value. 354 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:05,240 I need something to tell me I'm valuable when I don't feel valuable. 355 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:10,680 And all the internal dialogue, the inmost thoughts, even on my best days or my worst 356 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,560 days is not sufficient. 357 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:20,040 It is because my Father is mindful of me that I have infinite value. 358 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:27,120 We are the objects of his love and compassion and that fills us with value. 359 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:33,600 The most important questions a person can ask are, who am I? 360 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,600 Where did I come from? 361 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,520 And where am I going after this? 362 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:45,040 And I believe that God has answered each one of these for you and I and that proof is in 363 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,700 Christ Jesus. 364 00:24:47,700 --> 00:24:53,780 That for his delight and glory, you were worth saving. 365 00:24:53,780 --> 00:25:00,680 That for his delight and glory, you were formed and shaped and crafted by the master craftsman. 366 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,360 No mistakes, no errors. 367 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:10,800 And that for his delight and glory, he invites you in desires that you would worship, love 368 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:21,360 and enjoy him forever and ever and ever. 369 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:33,160 My final point is that we, this eternal Father revealed in Christ is that he loves us endlessly. 370 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:34,160 He loves us endlessly. 371 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:38,360 I'm going to invite the worship team to come on up as we take this final point to the end 372 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:42,060 of the sermon. 373 00:25:42,060 --> 00:25:49,760 Verse eight of Psalm 103 says, the Lord is compassionate and gracious. 374 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:56,080 He is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. 375 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:01,280 This is one of the most common ways that God describes himself in the Bible to his people. 376 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:07,220 He describes himself as the Lord who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding 377 00:26:07,220 --> 00:26:08,220 in love. 378 00:26:08,220 --> 00:26:10,440 That he abounds or overflows with love. 379 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:16,080 That John tells us later that God is love. 380 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:24,640 And we are told that his kindness, his kindness that you who deserve one thing don't get what 381 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:30,600 you deserve, but instead he takes it upon himself, instead of receiving what you deserve, 382 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:38,240 because of his love, that he provides a savior for you in your place. 383 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:44,920 So that as we sang earlier, that by his all-sufficient merit, he might give to me a status change, 384 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:53,120 a position change, his child, his son, his daughter. 385 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:56,600 His kindness leads us to repentance. 386 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,860 It leads us to turn away from this world. 387 00:26:58,860 --> 00:27:03,600 Some of you may feel like you're tied up and sucked into sin, that you can't get free of 388 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,320 it, you're entangled by it. 389 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:10,800 And what you think you need to do, and what we are so naturally trained to do is that 390 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,240 we think we need to make a list of the things that we're doing wrong, and we need to figure 391 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,480 out a strategy to stop doing them. 392 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:29,000 And I think there's a better way, and that is to start looking to Christ, to first look 393 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:35,160 to Christ and be filled with the gratitude and joy that comes from knowing that you did 394 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,360 not receive, you did not get what you deserved. 395 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:45,720 To know that he took upon himself that which you deserved, the penalty which is yours because 396 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,960 of your sin and your failure. 397 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,040 He took it on himself. 398 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:51,540 Remember that. 399 00:27:51,540 --> 00:27:52,540 Look to him. 400 00:27:52,540 --> 00:28:00,000 And if you still don't get it, if it still doesn't do anything in you, keep looking. 401 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:07,800 It is an endless, dead-end pursuit to try to chase down all your failures and correct 402 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,520 them yourself. 403 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:15,480 But something happens when you catch a vision of Christ. 404 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,040 Something happens when you catch a vision of the gospel, the good news that Jesus took 405 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,800 upon himself, your rightful penalty. 406 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:28,240 And when it really drives deep and deep and deep into your heart, pretty soon you don't 407 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,680 want to sin. 408 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,840 Your desires change. 409 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:38,760 Not just your behavior, your desire to sin change. 410 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:40,040 That's the goal. 411 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,240 That his kindness would lead us to repentance. 412 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:49,160 That the gospel reality at work in our lives would lead us to turn away from our sin and 413 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,960 recognize that he loves us endlessly. 414 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:58,480 In verse 17 of 103 he says, from eternity to eternity, the Lord's faithful love is toward 415 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,040 those who fear him. 416 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,760 This is covenantal language, like a marriage covenant. 417 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,280 Although in our day and age that may not mean as much anymore. 418 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,920 It's covenantal language. 419 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:16,760 What it's saying is, I took the initiative to save, and I have bound myself to my people, 420 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:23,280 to my children, and I promise eternal fidelity that I will be faithful, for I am faithful. 421 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,320 This is God's promise. 422 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:30,880 It's to live or to love, the love that he has brought us into a family. 423 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,760 He has made us sons and daughters and coheirs with Christ. 424 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,760 He's adopted us by his grace. 425 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:40,440 This is his covenant with us, his people. 426 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:49,560 And this Christmas, this truth about his love may be especially important to some of you 427 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:55,240 for whom family and holidays are difficult. 428 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,560 Maybe your family has a lot of expectations on you and they let you know that you don't 429 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,980 live up to any of them. 430 00:30:02,980 --> 00:30:06,960 Maybe they're just people that you want to avoid and you want nothing to do. 431 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:13,480 Or maybe some of you just have no one this year because everything has changed and nothing 432 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,840 was permanent. 433 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:22,420 Maybe you're disappointed and left high and dry by the things that distract us and keep 434 00:30:22,420 --> 00:30:30,600 us from facing the reality of our brokenness that ultimately turn us to Christ. 435 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:37,120 But now is the time because in Christ, in Christ we meet a love that seeks you out and 436 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,120 saves you. 437 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:48,120 In Christ, we meet a love that declares you more valuable than you dare believe. 438 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:53,200 And in Christ, we meet a love that invites you to join a family and to never be forsaken 439 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,200 or alone. 440 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:03,680 Never ever, ever, ever. 441 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,520 And this love has a name, Jesus. 442 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:11,360 And he has done this for us. 443 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,600 And he wants us to come to him. 444 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:22,200 It's only apprehended all of this salvation, the value that he puts upon you as a child 445 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,600 of God, the love that he invites you into as a family. 446 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,440 It is simply apprehended by faith. 447 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:34,480 That you would take your life and instead of orienting it around whatever you've oriented 448 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:42,260 it around, you would shift direction and say, I trust fully in Christ. 449 00:31:42,260 --> 00:31:44,600 I trust fully in his salvation. 450 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:46,920 I trust fully in his redemption. 451 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:52,960 I trust fully in his word on my value over my own word. 452 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,000 I trust him fully. 453 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:12,760 And then it's yours.