WEBVTT 00:00:01.409 --> 00:00:03.609 All right, well as I said we get the privilege 00:00:03.609 --> 00:00:06.809 to hear from Austin Duncan And we got to hear 00:00:06.809 --> 00:00:09.330 from Austin yesterday for the men you guys were 00:00:09.330 --> 00:00:11.109 here There's about a hundred of us actually yesterday 00:00:11.109 --> 00:00:13.750 having breakfast together and enjoying singing 00:00:13.750 --> 00:00:16.629 and time and the word and testimony and we got 00:00:16.629 --> 00:00:19.660 to hear from Austin yesterday and Convinced him 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:23.579 to stay to stay this morning and preach to us 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:25.359 this morning. So we're excited to have him Austin 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.600 is originally from New Mexico He's a Lobo and 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:33.340 he and I yeah, he and I met down at seminary 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:37.820 some 20 years ago Maybe even longer and I think 00:00:37.820 --> 00:00:39.820 we had maybe a couple classes together I don't 00:00:39.820 --> 00:00:42.240 remember any of my classes from seminary, but 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:46.350 I'm here. So that's good and made it through 00:00:46.350 --> 00:00:49.310 somehow. But during that time, I got to know 00:00:49.310 --> 00:00:51.170 Austin and he has been down at Grace Community 00:00:51.170 --> 00:00:54.270 Church in Sun Valley for the last 21 years there 00:00:54.270 --> 00:00:56.909 and served there faithfully. I know that he was 00:00:56.909 --> 00:00:59.350 the high school pastor there because one of our 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:01.869 very own Caitlin Schwitters, Austin was Caitlin's 00:01:01.869 --> 00:01:04.469 high school pastor. And I know for some of you 00:01:04.469 --> 00:01:07.590 out there, he was your college pastor as well 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:09.310 down there. So a couple of you have moved up 00:01:09.310 --> 00:01:11.370 from Southern California here. So Austin, you've 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:14.269 already served our church by serving them, which 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:17.849 is a neat connect. connection to have and We're 00:01:17.849 --> 00:01:19.810 excited to have him Austin's married has four 00:01:19.810 --> 00:01:23.049 four teenagers four teenagers right now So he 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:25.689 is in the thick of it there, but Austin Why don't 00:01:25.689 --> 00:01:28.870 you come on up and and preach the word to us 00:01:28.870 --> 00:01:41.870 so we can welcome him up Not all pastors should 00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:45.189 be tall, but I like when they are So that's a 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:49.969 good thing. Just a thought. Another thought is 00:01:49.969 --> 00:01:52.549 God has greatly blessed this church, that's obvious, 00:01:52.829 --> 00:01:59.189 because the Seahawks are in the Super Bowl. And 00:01:59.189 --> 00:02:02.150 he has not poured his blessing on my Minnesota 00:02:02.150 --> 00:02:03.950 Vikings. I know it doesn't make sense. I'm from 00:02:03.950 --> 00:02:06.069 New Mexico, live in LA, and I'm a Vikings fan. 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:11.870 It's my dad's fault. So you're welcome. For Sam 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:17.419 Darnold, you're welcome. Anyway, that's Things 00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:19.199 of Earth. Let's turn our attention to Things 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.479 of Heaven, and it's such a joy to be here, and 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.879 I'm grateful for the way God has actually blessed 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:30.900 this church, which is His Spirit building a people 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:35.080 in a place where the witness for the gospel is 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:38.520 so desperately needed. And I praise God for your 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:42.620 faith and the light that shines from you as you 00:02:42.620 --> 00:02:45.139 gather here and then as you disperse and fulfill 00:02:45.139 --> 00:02:47.259 the great commission in your workplaces and your 00:02:47.259 --> 00:02:52.520 families and as you continue to display the awesome 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:55.439 glory of God in a place that desperately needs 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.240 it. So praise God for you and your faith and 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:02.000 this precious church. Greetings from Southern 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.919 California and so many wonderful connections 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:07.879 to this church and to Pastor Joe. I'm very grateful 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:10.460 and the other leaders who had me this weekend. 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:12.300 It was good to be with the men and eat bacon 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:15.960 and pancakes and things, manly things like that. 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:19.379 So that was what happened. Will you open your 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:30.750 Bible to Psalm 146? Psalm 146. The title of this 00:03:30.750 --> 00:03:36.770 message is A God Worth Praising and Psalm 146 00:03:36.770 --> 00:03:40.509 commands our attention this morning as it asks 00:03:40.509 --> 00:03:45.569 us to carefully consider who it is that we praise 00:03:45.569 --> 00:03:48.389 and how we praise God and why we should praise 00:03:48.389 --> 00:03:53.650 God. But let's begin by reading this amazing 00:03:53.650 --> 00:04:02.349 song. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh my 00:04:02.349 --> 00:04:08.770 soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:14.250 I will sing praises to my God while I have my 00:04:14.250 --> 00:04:19.529 being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son 00:04:19.529 --> 00:04:23.370 of man in whom there is no salvation. When his 00:04:23.370 --> 00:04:26.730 breath departs, he returns to the earth. On that 00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:31.800 very day, his plans perish. Blessed is he whose 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:36.540 help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:40.680 Lord his God, who made heaven and earth the sea 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:44.620 and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:48.980 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives 00:04:48.980 --> 00:04:53.420 food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:57.120 free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:01.529 Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord 00:05:01.529 --> 00:05:05.350 loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the 00:05:05.350 --> 00:05:10.529 sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless. 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:14.889 But the way of the wicked He brings to ruin. 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:22.230 The Lord will reign forever. Your God owes Zion 00:05:22.230 --> 00:05:30.430 to all generations. Praise. the Lord. This is 00:05:30.430 --> 00:05:35.129 the very word of the living God. May his spirit 00:05:35.129 --> 00:05:39.610 write it on our hearts this morning as he fuels 00:05:39.610 --> 00:05:47.709 and motivates our praise. Psalm 146 is common 00:05:47.709 --> 00:05:51.430 language to us if we've ever dipped our toes 00:05:51.430 --> 00:05:55.550 into the salter. that great collection of ancient 00:05:55.550 --> 00:05:59.569 Hebrew songs, a hymn book from God's people that 00:05:59.569 --> 00:06:03.670 has carried and sustained the faith of believers 00:06:03.670 --> 00:06:07.129 for all these thousands of years. The Psalms 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:10.129 are a place where our hearts so often go when 00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:13.790 we don't know where else to go. And some of them 00:06:13.790 --> 00:06:16.829 we hold with great familiarity, the 23rd Psalm, 00:06:16.970 --> 00:06:21.220 the Great Shepherd. song, and we know that that 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:24.720 will be the words read at so many of our funerals. 00:06:25.079 --> 00:06:28.399 We've been instructed in the first Psalm that 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:30.819 there are two ways to live, the way of the righteous 00:06:30.819 --> 00:06:32.959 and the way of the wicked, one accompanied by 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:37.360 eternal blessing and one by terrible consequences. 00:06:38.060 --> 00:06:41.629 We know that the Word of God lamp to our feet 00:06:41.629 --> 00:06:44.769 and a light to our path because of Psalm 119 00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:48.850 as it extols the virtues of Scripture and what 00:06:48.850 --> 00:06:51.170 we mostly know is that the Psalms constantly 00:06:51.170 --> 00:06:54.250 teach us a word that is available to believers 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:57.370 in almost every language without change and that 00:06:57.370 --> 00:07:01.149 is Hallelujah, the word that opens and closes 00:07:01.149 --> 00:07:04.670 Psalm 146, a word that has the covenant name 00:07:04.670 --> 00:07:08.819 of God, an affectionate abbreviate version of 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:13.220 that name, Yah, and Halle, a verb speaking of 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:17.660 praise, to praise Yah. Hallelujah. It's the way 00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:21.879 the psalm begins with that. call of praise, we 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:24.980 translate it, praise the Lord, hallelujah, it 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:28.560 closes with that same word, hallelujah, as does 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.620 the entire rest of this set of Psalms. Pastor 00:07:31.620 --> 00:07:35.620 Joe read to us Psalm 150, and if you wander over 00:07:35.620 --> 00:07:39.300 there in the 147, it begins in verse one with 00:07:39.300 --> 00:07:42.399 hallelujah, and it concludes in verse 20 with 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:46.939 hallelujah. 148 begins in verse one with hallelujah, 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:50.220 praise the Lord. And in verse 14, praise the 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.500 Lord. 149, same deal. Starts with hallelujah, 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:55.939 ends with hallelujah. And as we read in scripture, 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:59.000 reading 150 says, praise the Lord and praise 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.259 the Lord. This final collection of Psalms is 00:08:03.259 --> 00:08:07.899 put together at the end of the book, a book called... 00:08:07.870 --> 00:08:12.550 book of praises, Telaim, it's now concluding 00:08:12.550 --> 00:08:16.990 with this group of songs, five of them that have 00:08:16.990 --> 00:08:20.250 a riveted focus on the importance of what has 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:23.050 sustained God's people through all their trials 00:08:23.050 --> 00:08:27.370 and victories and that is the centrality of praising 00:08:27.370 --> 00:08:32.950 God. I love missionary biographies and when I 00:08:32.950 --> 00:08:37.519 find myself discouraged, I like to read John 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.480 G. Patton. I've read his autobiography a bunch 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:43.799 of times. I can open it to almost any spot and 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:47.860 pick up the story at any point and find both 00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:52.768 encouragement and adventure. It's almost like... 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:58.019 Indiana Jones for Christians. He had an incredible 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.080 missionary endeavor to the New Hebrides. It's 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:05.460 called Vanuatu now, but it's Oceania, the Polynesian 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:08.919 kind of near Australia out in the scattering 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:12.240 of hundreds, even thousands of islands that had 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.519 not had any gospel witness in the 19th century 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.320 until the first missionary arrived on the shore 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.279 of an island called Tana and were within minutes 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:26.139 killed and eaten by cannibals. Ten years later 00:09:26.139 --> 00:09:29.620 John and his precious wife Maggie would move 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:34.259 there and begin a work and that work would last 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:39.100 for about three years and Maggie would succumb 00:09:39.100 --> 00:09:42.399 to a fever shortly after the birth of their daughter 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:47.620 who also died of sickness. His mission seemed 00:09:47.620 --> 00:09:53.000 like a failure and it was against all odds that 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.299 he went. Maybe the most famous story of his being 00:09:56.299 --> 00:09:59.679 sent into this dangerous place was the warning 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.500 that the mission board gave him. They told him 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:07.480 that it was unwise for him to go and to take 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:10.919 his young wife and to try to start a family in 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:15.419 this far -flung and heathen environment. One 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:19.100 of the mission board told him, you will be eaten 00:10:19.100 --> 00:10:22.940 by cannibals. He looked at Mr. Dixon and said 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:28.340 but you sir will be eaten by worms someday and 00:10:28.340 --> 00:10:30.820 It didn't matter to him the danger it didn't 00:10:30.820 --> 00:10:34.379 matter to him the the struggle that was before 00:10:34.379 --> 00:10:38.360 him and his his his faith sustained through the 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:41.419 most difficult Circumstances the death of his 00:10:41.419 --> 00:10:43.940 wife and daughter he would shortly thereafter 00:10:43.940 --> 00:10:47.759 under threat to his own life Flee the scene and 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:51.210 when he got back to Scotland more criticism more 00:10:51.210 --> 00:10:54.789 contempt. Some even told him, you should have 00:10:54.789 --> 00:10:57.830 stayed and died in that place. Your faith is 00:10:57.830 --> 00:11:00.549 weak. But instead, the Lord used the next few 00:11:00.549 --> 00:11:03.350 years for him to raise funds so that he would 00:11:03.350 --> 00:11:06.870 return and serve there for a total of 40 years 00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:10.950 with his second wife and his children. And he 00:11:10.950 --> 00:11:15.350 had, in his first stay, a very difficult and... 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:18.600 seemingly fruitless ministry, but in a second 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.539 stay, by the end of it, almost the entirety of 00:11:21.539 --> 00:11:24.679 that chain of islands was converted to Christ. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:29.779 They went from people who ate people, who worshipped 00:11:29.779 --> 00:11:33.399 spirits and demons and the ground and the trees 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:38.279 and the plants and the sea, to followers of Jesus 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:43.980 Christ, saints who praised God and said, Hallelujah. 00:11:44.899 --> 00:11:49.340 It's songs like this that sustain the faith and 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:53.159 worship of God's people. And it's my prayer that 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:56.500 that's what will happen with this song today 00:11:56.500 --> 00:12:01.840 as we consider it together. To understand this. 00:12:02.029 --> 00:12:06.509 Song is to understand what it means to praise 00:12:06.509 --> 00:12:10.190 God a phrase that's constantly on our mouths 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:12.289 whether you say it in its original hallelujah 00:12:12.289 --> 00:12:15.309 form or you sing it in a plethora of praise songs 00:12:15.309 --> 00:12:18.330 that just simply like the Psalms tell us praise 00:12:18.330 --> 00:12:22.470 the Lord and I want you to look at this and understand 00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:27.009 that this song really does present to us an opportunity 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:31.549 to understand that more deeply to refine our 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:36.559 worship because it shows us God in His unending 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.559 faithfulness. It shows us that God is a living 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:43.700 God unlike human helpers in contrast who can 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:48.279 only fail us and it proves to us that God alone 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:54.120 is worthy of lifelong praise and deep trust and 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:57.840 all this worship rightly belongs to Him and to 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.299 Him alone. I think the psalm divides neatly into 00:13:01.299 --> 00:13:04.620 three parts. First, a commitment to praise in 00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:07.379 verses one to two. And I'd like to talk to you 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:10.899 about what it means to praise God, such a Christian 00:13:10.899 --> 00:13:14.720 phrase that maybe we don't fully comprehend its 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:17.259 depth and significance. So a commitment to praise 00:13:17.259 --> 00:13:20.019 in verses one to two is the psalmist's heart. 00:13:20.100 --> 00:13:22.740 And then he shows us in verses three and four, 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.710 there's a caution against misplaced trust. a 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:30.220 caution against misplaced trust and in that verse, 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:32.860 I think we'll see a temptation that's familiar 00:13:32.860 --> 00:13:36.080 to all our hearts as we put our confidence in 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:40.059 things that are not God and we consider other 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:44.980 means of sustaining and helping and hoping that 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:48.559 are less than God. It's a trap we all fall into 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.440 throughout the course of feeble faith. And then 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:55.080 thirdly and finally this psalm expands into this 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:58.059 beautiful testimony of blessing and we'll call 00:13:58.059 --> 00:14:01.379 that a call. to trust the forever faithful God, 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:05.940 a benediction, a blessing, a beatitude that begins 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:09.620 to wrap up the entirety of the Psalms and point 00:14:09.620 --> 00:14:12.240 us towards not just the end of the Psalms, but 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:15.559 the end of our existence in this world and the 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:18.860 goal of our existence being the continued and 00:14:18.860 --> 00:14:21.799 eternal praise of a forever faithful God. So 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:24.620 let's dive into this song in those three parts. 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:28.700 First, a commitment to praise in verses one to 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:34.559 two. I love his opening word, hallelujah, hallelujah, 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:37.600 oh my soul. That abbreviated covenant name of 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.679 God, Yah, the word for praise given twice. And 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.500 then in verse two, a modified version of that 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:48.039 word that speaks of singing praise. I will, you 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:52.700 could say make music to or sing praises to my 00:14:52.700 --> 00:14:56.370 God. So it says, praise Yah. 37 times in the 00:14:56.370 --> 00:14:59.870 psalm, it's plural. So it's calling all the people 00:14:59.870 --> 00:15:02.769 to praise. And so it has a corporate sense to 00:15:02.769 --> 00:15:06.029 it as most of the Psalms do. Praise, the order 00:15:06.029 --> 00:15:10.169 is, oh my soul, yah. And then verse 2, oh I will 00:15:10.169 --> 00:15:13.870 praise Yahweh while I live or all my life. And 00:15:13.870 --> 00:15:17.769 now it brings that corporate praise into an individual 00:15:17.769 --> 00:15:21.730 focus. I will praise, I will sing praises to 00:15:21.730 --> 00:15:25.980 my God, to my God. while I have my being or as 00:15:25.980 --> 00:15:31.440 long as I live. It's a commitment to praise for 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:37.090 the entirety of the believer's life. It's a call 00:15:37.090 --> 00:15:42.490 for all the believers to gather together as individuals 00:15:42.490 --> 00:15:47.549 trusting and as a body of people worshiping and 00:15:47.549 --> 00:15:51.330 together trusting and proclaiming the excellencies 00:15:51.330 --> 00:15:57.110 of God. That's what praise is. But sometimes 00:15:57.110 --> 00:16:01.350 we think the Psalms are trying to hit us in the 00:16:01.350 --> 00:16:05.990 head with a praise club. What I mean is it's 00:16:05.990 --> 00:16:09.029 easy to say, hey, y 'all should really praise 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:14.889 more than you do, don't you think? It's like 00:16:14.889 --> 00:16:17.250 the prayer thing. It's easy to feel convicted 00:16:17.250 --> 00:16:19.330 about your prayer life if the preacher says, 00:16:19.750 --> 00:16:22.409 so how much are you praying? Very few are going, 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:27.950 nailed it. To ask you about your praise life 00:16:27.950 --> 00:16:31.470 is similar. And I don't think that's what this 00:16:31.470 --> 00:16:33.649 psalm is doing, though it is commanding you to 00:16:33.649 --> 00:16:38.029 praise. I don't think it's asking you or scolding 00:16:38.029 --> 00:16:43.610 you that your praise is insufficient. Our praise 00:16:43.610 --> 00:16:49.590 is always, for the entirety of our lives, insufficient. 00:16:49.870 --> 00:16:54.289 It's not enough. Acts 17 25 says, God is not 00:16:54.289 --> 00:16:57.129 served by human hands as if He needed anything. 00:16:58.149 --> 00:17:01.899 In other words, God doesn't need your praise. 00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:06.480 He's not lacking something if your praise isn't 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:10.460 to the highest decibel. But He does command your 00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:14.200 praise. And it's not a scolding that this psalmist 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:17.619 gives as he invites his fellow believers to join 00:17:17.619 --> 00:17:21.380 him in praise. It's not a burden that he's... 00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:24.150 putting on your shoulders that makes you feel 00:17:24.150 --> 00:17:27.250 some sense of guilt. You need to be strongly 00:17:27.250 --> 00:17:30.450 exhorted that you ought to praise more than you 00:17:30.450 --> 00:17:35.089 do. We're all aware of the insufficiency and 00:17:35.089 --> 00:17:38.410 meager offering that we bring in our praise. 00:17:38.710 --> 00:17:41.230 And when we are reminded of it, I don't think 00:17:41.230 --> 00:17:45.799 it helps us much. And the solution is not to 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:48.420 be scolded about insufficient praise, but to 00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:54.299 be encouraged on the nature of praise. To understand 00:17:54.299 --> 00:18:00.319 praise is to arrive at a place of deeper love 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:04.640 and worship of God. Christopher Ash in his excellent 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:09.319 commentary on the Psalms says, to know is to 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:12.740 praise. In other words, the way that you fuel 00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:16.960 your praise so that you can join the song presented 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:21.019 to us in 146 and on each Sunday morning as you 00:18:21.019 --> 00:18:24.680 gather and unite your voices to heaven together, 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.799 the way that you amplify that praise is not by 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:30.339 turning up the volume externally of your voice 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:33.880 or increasing the frequency of your petitions 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:38.220 or extolling God more than you do, expanding 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:40.319 the number of times you sing. sure you sing in 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:42.180 your car, make sure you sing at night, sing before 00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:44.700 your bed, that kind of thing. Instead, I think 00:18:44.700 --> 00:18:47.380 the solution is that the psalm is presenting 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:51.500 is that to know is to praise. In other words, 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:55.359 it's a theological reason. How are we to increase 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:57.900 or amplify our praise? It's by increasing or 00:18:57.900 --> 00:19:01.059 amplifying our understanding, our knowledge, 00:19:01.059 --> 00:19:05.839 and our experience of who God is. This is what 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:12.619 praise means. C .S. Lewis, in his book Reflections 00:19:12.619 --> 00:19:19.460 on the Psalms, speaks of his childhood distaste 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:24.539 for the palms in the Psalter. As he read the 00:19:24.539 --> 00:19:28.700 Psalms as a hard -hearted young person, he thought 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:34.339 God sounded like a granny demanding attention. 00:19:35.859 --> 00:19:40.660 He didn't like the way that the God of the Bible 00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:49.720 seemed to be scolding people and demanding, praise 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:54.599 me, praise me, praise me, praise me. What would 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:59.779 change Lewis's mind was an understanding that 00:19:59.779 --> 00:20:04.539 God was not centered on man, but that God, because 00:20:04.539 --> 00:20:09.630 He is the greatest, is centered on God. That 00:20:09.630 --> 00:20:13.809 God offers, in inviting us to praise and worship 00:20:13.809 --> 00:20:19.049 Him, He offers us what is best, Himself. And 00:20:19.049 --> 00:20:22.069 He won't settle for anything less than best. 00:20:22.250 --> 00:20:26.250 And so when God extols God and invites us to 00:20:26.250 --> 00:20:28.769 participate and be the recipients of the blessing 00:20:28.769 --> 00:20:33.089 of knowing the all good, all wise, that manifold, 00:20:33.369 --> 00:20:38.109 excellent God, He theologically gets us to a 00:20:38.109 --> 00:20:41.910 place to increase our understanding and commitment 00:20:41.910 --> 00:20:46.170 and experience and obedience towards God and 00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:49.470 those experiences fuel our understanding and 00:20:49.470 --> 00:20:52.670 knowledge so that our praise comes from something. 00:20:53.670 --> 00:20:58.509 This is simply what praise is. Lewis says it 00:20:58.509 --> 00:21:00.829 like this, the most obvious fact about praise, 00:21:01.150 --> 00:21:05.180 whether of God or of anything. strangely escaped 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:07.839 me. I thought in terms of compliment, approval, 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.700 or giving honor. I'd never noticed that all enjoyment 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:15.240 spontaneously overflows into praise unless shyness 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:17.579 or the fear of boring others has deliberately 00:21:17.579 --> 00:21:21.140 brought it into check. He continues, the world 00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:25.490 rings with praise. Lovers praising their Mistresses, 00:21:25.750 --> 00:21:28.109 Romeo praising Juliet, and vice versa. Readers, 00:21:28.309 --> 00:21:31.049 their favorite poet. Walkers, praising the countryside. 00:21:31.509 --> 00:21:36.250 Players, praising their favorite game. Praise 00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:39.369 of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, 00:21:39.730 --> 00:21:42.690 colleges, countries, historical personages, children, 00:21:42.950 --> 00:21:45.569 flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:52.059 and sometimes even politicians. We praise what 00:21:52.059 --> 00:21:55.359 we love. We praise what we adore. We praise what 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.700 we find worthy. We root for what excites us. 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:02.880 And if you don't have any praise in your tank, 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.359 you don't fill your tank with praise, praise, 00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:08.299 praise, praise, praise. You fill your tank with 00:22:08.299 --> 00:22:12.619 God, who He is and what He's done. Do you want 00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:16.180 to fuel and motivate your praise church? Then 00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:19.740 understand more deeply the glory of God in the 00:22:19.740 --> 00:22:23.640 gospel that he gave you his son the only one 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:28.000 who ever praised God sufficiently and completely 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:32.859 in every moment of his human existence in every 00:22:32.859 --> 00:22:36.460 span of his divine existence in inter trinitarian 00:22:36.460 --> 00:22:40.400 love Jesus is the only one who rightly and fully 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:44.599 praises God until our hearts are full of that 00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:48.180 same love and affection and appreciation of who 00:22:48.180 --> 00:22:52.000 God is to us in Christ, then we can understand 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.680 what it means to say, praise the Lord. Hallelujah 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:02.359 is a call to understand and love and follow and 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:06.660 obey and marvel at the wondrous works of God 00:23:06.660 --> 00:23:10.480 in redemption, in salvation and in our own testimonies 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:13.500 and world today. So as He provides for you and 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:16.440 your family, as He meets your needs, as He walks 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:19.660 with you through a burdensome trial, as He promises 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:23.140 to never leave you or forsake you, all of that 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:26.519 fills the tank of our hearts. and our affections 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:30.099 and causes us to say, praise the Lord. That's 00:23:30.099 --> 00:23:33.779 how this psalm begins. Not with a burdensome 00:23:33.779 --> 00:23:37.519 exhortation to praise, but an invitation to understand 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:40.920 why God is so worthy. Worthy enough that verse 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:46.200 two, this is something that consumes the psalmist's 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:49.380 entire life while I live. I will sing praises 00:23:49.380 --> 00:23:54.039 to my God while I have my being. And it is the 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:57.440 short span of life that becomes a thematic element 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.440 of this song. As we move to the second portion 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.140 of this song, Caution Against Misplaced Trust, 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.599 in verses three and four, it's just that idea 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:13.819 of the brevity and vapor -like nature of life 00:24:13.819 --> 00:24:17.519 that becomes the focus. He issues us a warning, 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:22.430 a helpful warning. A caution against misplaced 00:24:22.430 --> 00:24:25.390 trust. We see it in verses 3 and 4. Look at it 00:24:25.390 --> 00:24:29.890 with me. Do not trust in princes. Do not put 00:24:29.890 --> 00:24:35.890 your trust in princes. Let's pause there for 00:24:35.890 --> 00:24:42.369 a moment. Is that a problem for you? Harry and 00:24:42.369 --> 00:24:46.769 William never crossed my mind. I don't care about 00:24:46.769 --> 00:24:52.119 that. I'm American. Not interested. One was just 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:54.000 gallivanting in Montecito anyway. Maybe I do 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:58.980 think about it sometimes. But I definitely have 00:24:58.980 --> 00:25:05.640 no trust in the princes. But if we immerse ourselves 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:08.859 into the context of this song, as it was originally 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:13.640 sung by the Hebrew people, it was a real temptation. 00:25:14.779 --> 00:25:16.319 And if we think about it for a second, it is 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:20.799 for us as well. for Israel, it was a temptation 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:24.920 for them to rely on surrounding nations. The 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.980 Middle East now and the Middle East then was 00:25:27.980 --> 00:25:32.039 marked by turmoil and war. And it would have 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:35.859 been the covenant people of God's intention of 00:25:35.859 --> 00:25:37.960 self -preservation as they were under attack 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:41.480 constantly. And so to align themselves with Egypt 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:45.619 or Assyria, large massive superpowers, made a 00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:50.799 lot of sense in a geopolitical sense. They were 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.319 constantly by their own prophets warned against 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:57.859 such thinking to not rely on foreign powers or 00:25:57.859 --> 00:26:02.039 other princes. The poor who are featured in the 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.940 second half of this song would also be reliant 00:26:05.940 --> 00:26:09.019 on those who had means. Princes were those who 00:26:09.019 --> 00:26:12.799 were the wealthy ones, the ones with power and 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:16.980 influence and protective abilities and for the 00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:19.000 very poor in society they would look to their 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:21.559 own princes their own rulers their own leaders 00:26:21.559 --> 00:26:25.059 their own kings to find protection if you were 00:26:25.059 --> 00:26:28.519 a friend of the king you were in a good and privileged 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:35.700 privileged position he helps us understand even 00:26:35.700 --> 00:26:39.960 a people who are princeless exactly what he's 00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:43.859 talking about And it suddenly becomes very relevant 00:26:43.859 --> 00:26:47.299 and very convicting. Verse three, do not put 00:26:47.299 --> 00:26:52.700 your trust in princes. In a son of man, the Hebrew 00:26:52.700 --> 00:26:59.039 word is Adam, who has no salvation, his spirit 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:04.059 goes out. Verse four, his breath departs. He 00:27:04.059 --> 00:27:07.650 returns to the earth. Adama, there's a little 00:27:07.650 --> 00:27:10.849 poetic play going there with Adam, man, and Adama, 00:27:10.890 --> 00:27:16.089 the earth, the ground. And on that day, the day 00:27:16.089 --> 00:27:20.269 he goes to the earth, the day he dies, his plans 00:27:20.269 --> 00:27:25.309 perish. The word plans, if it's the same verb, 00:27:25.869 --> 00:27:29.670 it is the same verb in Jonah 1 .6, where the 00:27:29.670 --> 00:27:34.799 sailors look at Jonah and they say, get up. and 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:39.619 call on your God, perhaps He will take notice. 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:43.779 It's that phrase, take notice, like maybe He'll 00:27:43.779 --> 00:27:48.700 help us, maybe He'll intervene. What the psalmist 00:27:48.700 --> 00:27:54.220 is teaching us is that our trust in any human 00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:58.579 salvation, our trust in any human helper, or 00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:01.160 to use the language of the psalm in verse 5, 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:05.400 help and hope, what we're looking for from the 00:28:05.400 --> 00:28:09.380 God of Jacob, help and hope will not ultimately 00:28:09.380 --> 00:28:15.700 or savingly be found in any human means. You 00:28:15.700 --> 00:28:19.539 follow me on that? In other words, there are 00:28:19.539 --> 00:28:23.880 all kinds of people that we count on that are 00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:29.119 dear to us and precious to us who have We believe 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:34.220 our best intentions in their minds who are advocates 00:28:34.220 --> 00:28:38.140 for us. Maybe it's your boss at work. You're 00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:42.400 grateful to have a benevolent head of your department 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:46.019 or a CEO who likes you and who's looking out 00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:49.960 for you and you have a tendency throughout the 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:53.359 year to look to that person and know they are 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:58.650 for me and therefore my position is secure. Or 00:28:58.650 --> 00:29:02.569 maybe you're happy in a particular political 00:29:02.569 --> 00:29:05.769 climate and you look at the leadership in that 00:29:05.769 --> 00:29:10.250 climate and you think now I'll be safe or more 00:29:10.250 --> 00:29:13.430 likely you're not happy and you think we're moving 00:29:13.430 --> 00:29:19.369 to Texas. That's it Feel the covered wagon we're 00:29:19.369 --> 00:29:23.289 reversing this thing I'm from California I get 00:29:23.289 --> 00:29:33.119 it so that tendency let's duck and hide and find 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:38.440 protection in this world in a different circumstance 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:45.720 or environment or maybe you at your annual checkup 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:48.180 and praise God I survived the men breakfast by 00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:52.220 the way it's not easy to do my dear friend Scott 00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:54.180 was here last time and I sent him a picture of 00:29:54.180 --> 00:29:56.299 me and Joe and I just said pray for my heart 00:29:59.450 --> 00:30:02.549 So, thankfully I have no discernible body fat, 00:30:02.589 --> 00:30:07.150 so I'll be fine. It's totally fine. What was 00:30:07.150 --> 00:30:10.650 I talking about? Bacon. Sorry, this happens to 00:30:10.650 --> 00:30:14.109 me. I'm out of practice. Okay, so here's the 00:30:14.109 --> 00:30:17.289 thing. You go to your annual visitation with 00:30:17.289 --> 00:30:21.069 your doctor, and you get a clean bill of health. 00:30:21.650 --> 00:30:25.690 No triglycerides, whatever they test, everything's 00:30:25.690 --> 00:30:30.569 cool. and you leave quite sure and satisfied 00:30:30.569 --> 00:30:36.769 that your kale diet is holding you up. It's all 00:30:36.769 --> 00:30:39.549 those things that we have a temptation to trust. 00:30:40.049 --> 00:30:45.369 It's the ordinary human means of protection of, 00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:48.529 again, the language of the psalm, help and hope. 00:30:49.250 --> 00:30:52.670 The question I would ask you is, who's your first 00:30:52.670 --> 00:30:57.380 call if you're in trouble? Whether it's for advice 00:30:57.380 --> 00:31:02.539 or help or a financial bailout or Assistance 00:31:02.539 --> 00:31:05.539 or whatever it is. Who's your first call when 00:31:05.539 --> 00:31:11.180 you pick up your phone? That's a prince That's 00:31:11.180 --> 00:31:16.019 human helpers. I Love that song abide in me that 00:31:16.019 --> 00:31:19.099 him by Henry F light they sing it at football 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:25.559 That's you know football games in the UK I don't 00:31:25.559 --> 00:31:26.980 understand football and I don't understand why 00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:28.819 they sing a hymn together. They're like drunk 00:31:28.819 --> 00:31:31.380 and singing this abide with me thing. Google 00:31:31.380 --> 00:31:33.200 it, it's interesting. Not now, after church. 00:31:34.740 --> 00:31:37.880 But I love that hymn and I've watched these massive 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:40.519 soccer stadiums of people singing these words 00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:44.880 which have tradition and the national connection 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:48.920 but they sing these words intended for the people 00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:51.779 of God to worship in this hymn. They go like 00:31:51.779 --> 00:31:55.880 this, when other helpers fail. comforts flee 00:31:55.880 --> 00:32:01.480 help of the helpless abide with me that's what 00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:05.480 it means to not trust in princes to not have 00:32:05.480 --> 00:32:09.740 our confidence in humans because every single 00:32:09.740 --> 00:32:14.500 helper that you've ever relied on will have a 00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:22.019 funeral but God is different and that's why this 00:32:22.019 --> 00:32:28.250 psalm expands into a beatitude. You know the 00:32:28.250 --> 00:32:31.250 beatitudes, Jesus's famous sermon on the mount 00:32:31.250 --> 00:32:34.150 where he says blessed are the peacemakers, blessed 00:32:34.150 --> 00:32:36.309 are those who are poor for they'll inherit the 00:32:36.309 --> 00:32:40.970 earth, blessed is, that's a beatitude. The Psalms, 00:32:41.049 --> 00:32:45.049 you'll remember, open with one. Psalm one is 00:32:45.049 --> 00:32:51.960 a beatitude, a promise, a blessing, a... Word 00:32:51.960 --> 00:32:58.000 of assurance Remember Psalm 1 says Blessed is 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:02.220 the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked 00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:04.819 nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in 00:33:04.819 --> 00:33:07.880 the seat of scoffers But his delight is in the 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:11.859 law of the Lord and in his law. He meditates 00:33:11.859 --> 00:33:15.400 day and night. He'll be like a tree planted by 00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:17.839 living water. That's the blessing. That's the 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:20.720 promise. That's the assurance that's given. It 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:24.359 said blessed is the man. Happy is the man. Blessed 00:33:24.359 --> 00:33:28.059 of God is the man. And the Psalms scatter that 00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:31.519 language throughout all the Psalter, five books 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:36.380 of Psalms, 150 of them in all. and over again, 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:39.960 you'll find that little formula, blessed is the 00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:46.660 man. 25 times. In Psalms, 25 different beatitudes 00:33:46.660 --> 00:33:50.859 that promise and ensure God's blessing on a man 00:33:50.859 --> 00:33:53.299 who is aligned with God, who is a righteous man, 00:33:53.539 --> 00:33:56.380 who meditates on God's Word, who does not fraternize 00:33:56.380 --> 00:33:59.519 with the wicked. On and on, it promises repeated 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:03.039 blessings. 25 different occurrences scattered 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:07.400 somewhat evenly throughout all 150 Psalms. And 00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:12.059 then finally, the very last one. the book of 00:34:12.059 --> 00:34:15.300 Psalms before you'll hear it on the lips of the 00:34:15.300 --> 00:34:19.480 Lord Jesus Christ in his most famous sermon is 00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:24.039 in Psalm 146 verse 5 and this is the beginning 00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:26.579 of a call to trust the forever faithful God verses 00:34:26.579 --> 00:34:31.400 5 through 10 but it's a beatitude verse 5 blessed 00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:35.739 happy is the man Just like Psalm 1, just like 00:34:35.739 --> 00:34:38.539 that Sermon on the Mount, blessed is the promise 00:34:38.539 --> 00:34:41.599 of assurance. Well, who is blessed? Blessed is 00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:45.679 he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:51.000 is on Yahweh, his God. There is an assurance 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:55.320 of blessing, of God's pardon, of God's favor, 00:34:55.880 --> 00:35:00.730 of his smile being upon your life. as other helpers 00:35:00.730 --> 00:35:04.630 and humans and princes have failed to comfort 00:35:04.630 --> 00:35:07.789 you, to help you, and to give you hope as you 00:35:07.789 --> 00:35:10.710 come to realize that no medical practitioner, 00:35:11.210 --> 00:35:16.110 no politician, no spouse, no parent, no mentor, 00:35:16.489 --> 00:35:21.769 no pastor can ever give you full help and hope 00:35:21.769 --> 00:35:26.239 and you're only... hope for blessing and hope 00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:30.059 for help and help in hope as you look to the 00:35:30.059 --> 00:35:34.440 future is in God and God alone. This is your 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:37.780 promise of blessing. This is the call that this 00:35:37.780 --> 00:35:40.699 Psalm is making after instructing you to praise 00:35:40.699 --> 00:35:44.460 God from a full tank of understanding of God's 00:35:44.460 --> 00:35:48.460 gospel and God's mercy and love and then warning 00:35:48.460 --> 00:35:53.170 you as fallen creatures who understand the sway 00:35:53.170 --> 00:35:56.690 of temptation to trust in humans instead of trust 00:35:56.690 --> 00:35:59.269 in God, to trust in things we see instead of 00:35:59.269 --> 00:36:02.969 things we don't see. Now it calls us with a beautiful 00:36:02.969 --> 00:36:08.150 voice to a blessing of help and hope in the God 00:36:08.150 --> 00:36:13.849 of Jacob whose hope is on Yahweh his God. What 00:36:13.849 --> 00:36:20.090 an awesome invitation to hear the words blessed. 00:36:20.539 --> 00:36:26.440 is he whose help is in the God of Jacob is a 00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:31.699 reminder that both corporately the God of Jacob 00:36:31.699 --> 00:36:34.760 is a way of talking about the God of Jacob is 00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:41.659 the father of Israel Jacob has all the tribes 00:36:41.659 --> 00:36:47.940 associated under his protection and rescue but 00:36:47.940 --> 00:36:54.619 Jacob is also a man a rascal of a man who wrestled 00:36:54.619 --> 00:36:59.059 with God and eventually succumbed to God's mercy 00:36:59.059 --> 00:37:04.179 in his life and was a friend of God and received 00:37:04.179 --> 00:37:07.159 the kindness of God in his testimony in the book 00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:12.280 of Genesis and ultimately was transformed by 00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:16.039 God and so I think here too you have an individual 00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:20.590 reminder of Jacob's story And you have the testimony 00:37:20.590 --> 00:37:23.250 of the people of God that he protected and preserved 00:37:23.250 --> 00:37:25.789 throughout redemptive history. Blessed is he 00:37:25.789 --> 00:37:29.710 whose help is the God of Jacob and whose hope 00:37:29.710 --> 00:37:35.050 is in Yahweh his God. Help and hope are what's 00:37:35.050 --> 00:37:41.030 promised. Because God doesn't need to aspirate 00:37:41.030 --> 00:37:45.309 like humans who eventually go from dust to dust 00:37:45.309 --> 00:37:48.639 and back to the earth from which they came. breath 00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:51.719 is borrowed from their creator. God the creator 00:37:51.719 --> 00:37:55.179 of all of us is offering us happiness and blessing 00:37:55.179 --> 00:38:01.199 in his unbreakable help and hope. And now the 00:38:01.199 --> 00:38:05.619 psalmist wants to encourage us with grammar, 00:38:06.619 --> 00:38:08.659 poetic grammar, but it's still grammar. There's 00:38:08.659 --> 00:38:11.239 big grammar here. Hate talking about big grammar 00:38:11.239 --> 00:38:13.280 on a Sunday, but you gotta, it's better than 00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:16.420 big pharma. Look at big grammar. Not big grandma, 00:38:16.460 --> 00:38:22.420 that's different. Big grammar. Verse seven. Verse 00:38:22.420 --> 00:38:25.739 six, I'm sorry. There is nine participles. What's 00:38:25.739 --> 00:38:28.300 a participle? ING is the best way to think about 00:38:28.300 --> 00:38:31.300 a participle. Why a participle? Why am I using 00:38:31.300 --> 00:38:35.139 that word? Because if something is ing, running, 00:38:35.900 --> 00:38:39.719 walking, it's a continual movement, right? We're 00:38:39.719 --> 00:38:42.400 walking, we're not walked. We're running, we 00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:46.000 didn't run yesterday. These are participles. 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:49.519 They're words, nine of them. That's a lot. Lined 00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:52.440 up poetically. In Hebrew, poetry isn't like cat, 00:38:52.539 --> 00:38:57.300 hat, mat, rat, fat. In Hebrew, poetry has sounds 00:38:57.300 --> 00:38:59.420 that are alike, but it's mostly about structures. 00:38:59.860 --> 00:39:02.639 Words that line up. And he's lined up, if you 00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:06.559 look at your Bible in verse six. these nine words 00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:09.739 that should be ing kind of words, starting with 00:39:09.739 --> 00:39:13.320 the word making, heaven and earth, the sea, and 00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:15.619 everything in them. And so God is portrayed not 00:39:15.619 --> 00:39:17.679 as the one who created the world, but as the 00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:20.699 one who is creating the world. In other words, 00:39:21.139 --> 00:39:24.880 like Colossians says, Christ upholds all things 00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:28.079 in himself. By the power of his word, God is 00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:32.880 making and. ordering and sovereignly in charge 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:35.739 of the heaven, the earth, the sea and its chaos, 00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:38.659 everything in them, all under the auspices of 00:39:38.659 --> 00:39:42.480 the meticulous ongoing sovereignty of the creating 00:39:42.480 --> 00:39:45.800 God. And then there's only one definite article. 00:39:45.900 --> 00:39:48.179 My ESV Bible says, who, a bunch of times, it 00:39:48.179 --> 00:39:50.739 sounds like an owl broke out. It was verse six, 00:39:50.739 --> 00:39:54.300 seven, eight, who, who, who. There is only one 00:39:54.300 --> 00:39:59.920 who, and it's in verse six, who, keeping faith 00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:03.920 forever. And I think the poet intentionally puts 00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:07.400 the definite article who on keeping to remind 00:40:07.400 --> 00:40:10.860 us that this is an attribute of God. He is forever 00:40:10.860 --> 00:40:15.679 faithful. The word faithful or faithful in Hebrew 00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:19.079 is the same word for truthful. The idea is that 00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:23.139 God can never lie. He can never break his promises. 00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:26.059 You preached about this last week in Psalm 36. 00:40:26.260 --> 00:40:31.019 Shay, baby. And that's exactly right. God is 00:40:31.019 --> 00:40:34.739 unable to lie. He is faithful and unbreakable 00:40:34.739 --> 00:40:38.000 in his faithfulness. And so it says who, pointing 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:42.199 directly at God, keeps, or is keeping faith forever. 00:40:42.300 --> 00:40:44.480 So he's making heaven and earth. He's keeping 00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:47.340 faith forever. Verse seven, he is acting, and 00:40:47.340 --> 00:40:50.380 now no more who, acting justice for the oppressed, 00:40:51.380 --> 00:40:56.570 giving bread to the hungry. And then five Yahwehs, 00:40:56.789 --> 00:41:00.349 Yahweh loosening the prisoner free, Yahweh opening 00:41:00.349 --> 00:41:03.289 the eyes of the blind, Yahweh raising up those 00:41:03.289 --> 00:41:06.489 who are bowed down, Yahweh loving the righteous. 00:41:06.849 --> 00:41:09.349 Verse nine, Yahweh protecting the strangers. 00:41:10.269 --> 00:41:15.170 Nine participles telling you that God is working 00:41:15.170 --> 00:41:20.010 right now for your help and your hope. And the 00:41:20.010 --> 00:41:23.409 lower you are, the more you can be assured of 00:41:23.409 --> 00:41:27.309 this promise. That's why he's highlighting the 00:41:27.309 --> 00:41:30.949 poor, the prisoners, the bowed down. The Bible's 00:41:30.949 --> 00:41:33.289 not woke right now. It's not talking about the 00:41:33.289 --> 00:41:36.349 disenfranchised. It's talking about people who 00:41:36.349 --> 00:41:40.429 are low, who are poor, who are oppressed, people 00:41:40.429 --> 00:41:43.769 who are hurting. And I don't care how much money 00:41:43.769 --> 00:41:46.889 you have or what color your skin is, you can 00:41:46.889 --> 00:41:50.570 be in a place of destitution if you understand 00:41:50.570 --> 00:41:53.949 who you are and who God is. That's fundamentally 00:41:53.949 --> 00:41:56.510 what's most important about us, not our socioeconomic 00:41:56.510 --> 00:41:59.829 class. That's what God is highlighting here. 00:42:00.630 --> 00:42:04.510 So what is God doing for the lowest of the low? 00:42:05.050 --> 00:42:09.039 Well, God... in His forever faithfulness. God 00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:12.280 who offers His people the only help and hope 00:42:12.280 --> 00:42:16.699 that will never die is keeping and making and 00:42:16.699 --> 00:42:20.159 acting and giving and loosing the prisoners free 00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:22.679 and opening the eyes of the blind and raising 00:42:22.679 --> 00:42:25.980 up those who are bowed down and loving the righteous 00:42:25.980 --> 00:42:30.159 and protecting the strangers. Five -fold Yahweh 00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:33.539 is doing this and His name is repeated and repeated 00:42:33.539 --> 00:42:36.300 in His making and keeping. acting and giving 00:42:36.300 --> 00:42:39.280 and freeing and opening and raising and loving 00:42:39.280 --> 00:42:43.059 and protecting and that work goes on and on and 00:42:43.059 --> 00:42:47.960 on into all eternity that's why we ought to praise 00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:50.519 God not because we're not that good at praising 00:42:50.519 --> 00:42:53.679 God we should praise God because he's worthy 00:42:53.679 --> 00:42:57.920 of it worthy of our attention worthy of our affection 00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:02.659 worthy of our trust as we look to the one who 00:43:02.659 --> 00:43:07.300 blesses us with his help and hope. And then the 00:43:07.300 --> 00:43:13.039 Psalm shifts gears, grammatical gears. Now it's 00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:19.519 going to do different verbs. Verse 9, Yahweh 00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:23.820 protects the strangers and then it shifts. He 00:43:23.820 --> 00:43:29.139 upholds the widow and the fatherless. The Bible 00:43:29.139 --> 00:43:33.460 lays special emphasis on the people of God and 00:43:33.460 --> 00:43:37.599 their God. and his concern for those who do not 00:43:37.599 --> 00:43:44.119 have the ordinary means of help and hope. A spouse, 00:43:46.559 --> 00:43:50.239 a parent. Widows and orphans are the special 00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:53.639 object of God's care and historically the church's 00:43:53.639 --> 00:43:57.599 care commanded by the New Testament because they 00:43:57.599 --> 00:44:00.619 don't have the ordinary means of human help. 00:44:01.449 --> 00:44:04.909 And so God underlines them, downshifting from 00:44:04.909 --> 00:44:08.610 this chorus of keeping and acting and giving 00:44:08.610 --> 00:44:14.710 and freeing, to say that He upholds the imperfect 00:44:14.710 --> 00:44:18.610 tense. I think it's a future. In other words, 00:44:18.630 --> 00:44:22.010 it's a promise that God says, I will uphold them. 00:44:23.190 --> 00:44:26.250 I'll sustain those who need sustaining the most. 00:44:30.829 --> 00:44:33.349 And it shifts right back into that warning mode. 00:44:34.429 --> 00:44:40.389 But the wicked he brings to ruin. He wrecks their 00:44:40.389 --> 00:44:46.829 own way. The other path of Psalm 1. And then 00:44:46.829 --> 00:44:51.110 this triumphant blast. Also the imperfect talking 00:44:51.110 --> 00:44:54.510 about future. Like this will happen without a 00:44:54.510 --> 00:44:57.090 doubt. He will uphold the widow and the fatherless. 00:44:57.360 --> 00:45:00.760 He will bring the wicked to ruin eventually, 00:45:01.300 --> 00:45:04.760 and finally, and fully. And how sure can you 00:45:04.760 --> 00:45:07.599 be that God will take care of the least of these? 00:45:07.820 --> 00:45:10.360 And how sure can you be that God will have victory 00:45:10.360 --> 00:45:13.980 over His enemies? Well, it's the same tense in 00:45:13.980 --> 00:45:18.900 verse 10. Yahweh will reign forever. Will God 00:45:18.900 --> 00:45:23.619 reign forever? Yes or no? You can talk at this 00:45:23.619 --> 00:45:30.250 part. Yes. As sure as God's eternal reign is, 00:45:30.909 --> 00:45:34.690 so sure is his upholding and sustaining of the 00:45:34.690 --> 00:45:38.989 widow and the fatherless. As sure as God's reign 00:45:38.989 --> 00:45:42.130 forever is, his final and ultimate victory you've 00:45:42.130 --> 00:45:43.309 been reading about in your scripture readings 00:45:43.309 --> 00:45:46.449 on Sunday morning, so sure is that he will bring 00:45:46.449 --> 00:45:50.369 the wicked to ruin. But the ringing truth that 00:45:50.369 --> 00:45:53.610 this psalm ends with before its final book end 00:45:53.610 --> 00:45:58.059 of praise Hallelujah is Yahweh will reign forever, 00:45:58.519 --> 00:46:04.340 your God Zion to all generations. It's a call 00:46:04.340 --> 00:46:07.639 to trust the forever faithful God who is telling 00:46:07.639 --> 00:46:11.380 you that you can praise your Maker as long as 00:46:11.380 --> 00:46:14.739 you have breath. All the days of your life will 00:46:14.739 --> 00:46:20.079 not pass without His sustaining, His help, His 00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:27.619 hope, and His blessing. Our God is a God worth 00:46:27.619 --> 00:46:36.780 praising. On his second stay in Vanuatu, John 00:46:36.780 --> 00:46:41.860 Patton had an occasion where he was being chased 00:46:41.860 --> 00:46:45.940 by a bunch of angry natives. He didn't know exactly 00:46:45.940 --> 00:46:51.179 why. What had riled them up was all kinds of 00:46:51.179 --> 00:46:54.780 feast days and pagan rituals and Stuff would 00:46:54.780 --> 00:46:57.679 happen and it seemed to be gospel progress and 00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:00.579 then next thing you know he's being chased and 00:47:00.579 --> 00:47:04.219 under threat of being beaten to death and killed 00:47:04.219 --> 00:47:10.480 and this shady chieftain tells him climb up in 00:47:10.480 --> 00:47:14.800 the tree and he doesn't trust this guy but he 00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:18.579 has nothing else to do and so he climbs up in 00:47:18.579 --> 00:47:22.519 this big leafy jungle tree in the middle of the 00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:27.289 night. and he spends the entire night listening 00:47:27.289 --> 00:47:30.630 to the cries of these savage people thirsty for 00:47:30.630 --> 00:47:34.769 his blood, literally. And he doesn't know what's 00:47:34.769 --> 00:47:37.590 gonna happen. But in his autobiography he looks 00:47:37.590 --> 00:47:40.130 back on that scene and he describes it this way, 00:47:40.309 --> 00:47:45.250 I climbed into the tree and was left there alone 00:47:45.250 --> 00:47:48.630 in the bush. The hours I spent there live all 00:47:48.630 --> 00:47:52.840 before me as if it were but yesterday. I heard 00:47:52.840 --> 00:47:55.199 the frequent discharge of muskets and the yells 00:47:55.199 --> 00:47:59.099 of the savages, yet I sat there among the branches 00:47:59.099 --> 00:48:03.699 as safe in the arms of Jesus. Never in all my 00:48:03.699 --> 00:48:06.900 sorrows did my Lord draw nearer to me and speak 00:48:06.900 --> 00:48:10.519 more soothingly to my soul than when the moonlight 00:48:10.519 --> 00:48:13.800 flickered among those chestnut leaves and the 00:48:13.800 --> 00:48:17.280 night air played on my throbbing brow as I told 00:48:17.280 --> 00:48:21.360 all my heart to Jesus. Alone, yet not alone. 00:48:22.250 --> 00:48:24.630 If it be to glorify my God, I will not grudge 00:48:24.630 --> 00:48:28.409 to spend many nights alone in such a tree to 00:48:28.409 --> 00:48:31.630 feel again my Savior's spiritual presence to 00:48:31.630 --> 00:48:38.010 enjoy His consoling fellowship. Sometimes the 00:48:38.010 --> 00:48:45.510 safest place that you can be is not surrounded 00:48:45.510 --> 00:48:49.570 by the means of protection that you and other 00:48:49.570 --> 00:48:52.679 humans have provided for your family. Sometimes 00:48:52.679 --> 00:48:57.380 the safest place you can be is up a tree, all 00:48:57.380 --> 00:49:01.300 by yourself, muskets and clubs going off all 00:49:01.300 --> 00:49:06.840 around you, knowing Jesus has got you in the 00:49:06.840 --> 00:49:10.719 tree. When he went to the synagogue, he read 00:49:10.719 --> 00:49:15.739 Isaiah 61. Its language is almost exactly like 00:49:15.739 --> 00:49:20.980 the verses of 146, 6 through 9. And as Jesus 00:49:20.980 --> 00:49:23.179 read those verses, that he'd be the one who would 00:49:23.179 --> 00:49:25.800 give sight to the blind and free the captives. 00:49:26.500 --> 00:49:30.019 He knew that that spiritual power was his and 00:49:30.019 --> 00:49:32.840 he would accomplish it on the cross. And so as 00:49:32.840 --> 00:49:34.920 we prepare for the Lord's Supper in just a moment 00:49:34.920 --> 00:49:38.619 after I pray, I want us to be mindful of that 00:49:38.619 --> 00:49:41.260 reality. He's the only one that truly praises 00:49:41.260 --> 00:49:44.840 God. He's the one who can be with us for help 00:49:44.840 --> 00:49:48.079 and hope. He's the only one that we can rely 00:49:48.079 --> 00:49:51.989 on. Apart from Him, we'll find no capacity, no 00:49:51.989 --> 00:49:55.969 permanence, no continuance, and no future. When 00:49:55.969 --> 00:49:58.690 other helpers fail and comforts flee, He is the 00:49:58.690 --> 00:50:02.309 help of the helpless, and He abides with us. 00:50:03.010 --> 00:50:07.210 Father, thank You for Your Word. Imprint that 00:50:07.210 --> 00:50:11.030 kind of faith on our hearts as we trust Jesus 00:50:11.030 --> 00:50:18.130 sincerely. In His name, amen. Amen. Austin, thank 00:50:18.130 --> 00:50:22.420 you. so much for that. We get to turn our attention 00:50:22.420 --> 00:50:24.340 to communion, as he has said. And men, why don't 00:50:24.340 --> 00:50:27.000 you guys go ahead and make your way down. The 00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:30.219 music team's making their way up here as well. 00:50:30.219 --> 00:50:32.719 And you guys can start passing out the communion 00:50:32.719 --> 00:50:35.639 plates together. And just as a reminder, the 00:50:35.639 --> 00:50:39.480 communion is set forth in scripture from our 00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:43.920 Lord Himself as a way of remembering His death. 00:50:44.239 --> 00:50:47.539 On the cross and it's designed for believers 00:50:47.539 --> 00:50:49.480 if you're a believer in Jesus Christ We want 00:50:49.480 --> 00:50:54.260 you to partake in this time of communion if you're 00:50:54.260 --> 00:50:56.159 not a believer in Jesus Christ who's asked that 00:50:56.159 --> 00:50:59.880 you allow the plate to pass and and To continue 00:50:59.880 --> 00:51:03.340 on and while you guys are sitting there Just 00:51:03.340 --> 00:51:06.900 want to ask of you guys to take a moment and 00:51:06.900 --> 00:51:10.079 thank the Lord and praise the Lord That he is 00:51:10.079 --> 00:51:14.300 our help that he is our hope that He has offered 00:51:14.300 --> 00:51:18.039 to you, forgiveness of sin, and to really just 00:51:18.039 --> 00:51:20.980 take a time just to meditate on those things 00:51:20.980 --> 00:51:25.099 as the elements are being passed, and then I 00:51:25.099 --> 00:51:27.079 will direct us through taking those elements 00:51:27.079 --> 00:51:29.639 together. So just take some time alone right 00:51:29.639 --> 00:53:41.250 now to do that. First Corinthians chapter 11 00:53:41.250 --> 00:53:44.449 the Apostle Paul recounts what happened on the 00:53:44.449 --> 00:53:47.570 night that Jesus was betrayed and the night that 00:53:47.570 --> 00:53:52.809 the communion table was instituted for His disciples 00:53:52.809 --> 00:53:54.989 and then for the church later on and he says 00:53:54.989 --> 00:53:58.469 in first Corinthians 11 verse 23 says for I received 00:53:58.469 --> 00:54:01.389 from the Lord What I also delivered to you that 00:54:01.389 --> 00:54:03.710 the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed. 00:54:03.710 --> 00:54:06.710 He took the bread And when he had given thanks, 00:54:06.710 --> 00:54:09.719 he broke it And he said, this is my body, which 00:54:09.719 --> 00:54:12.940 is for you. Do this in remembrance of me, church. 00:54:12.980 --> 00:54:14.780 Let's take the bread together in remembrance 00:54:14.780 --> 00:54:25.400 of the body of Christ. Goes on, he says, in the 00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:27.579 same way, he also took the cup after supper, 00:54:27.579 --> 00:54:30.579 saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:54:31.260 --> 00:54:33.579 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance 00:54:33.579 --> 00:54:36.500 of me for as often as you eat this bread and 00:54:36.500 --> 00:54:39.940 drink the cup. You proclaim the Lord's death 00:54:39.940 --> 00:54:43.820 until he comes. Church, let's take this together, 00:54:44.019 --> 00:54:53.039 proclaiming the Lord's death. Lord, thank you 00:54:53.039 --> 00:54:56.179 for the communion table. What a reminder it is 00:54:56.179 --> 00:54:58.920 of the forgiveness of sins that we have in Jesus 00:54:58.920 --> 00:55:03.079 Christ. There is no other name under heaven by 00:55:03.079 --> 00:55:08.300 which man can be saved. Only through Jesus We're 00:55:08.300 --> 00:55:13.219 thankful for that or may we praise you Each and 00:55:13.219 --> 00:55:17.800 every day you are help and you are our hope in 00:55:17.800 --> 00:55:18.840 Jesus name. Amen