WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.640 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to Newsung Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel-centered church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.320 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:26.239 The psalm appointed for this morning is Psalm 62, which we will read antiphonally. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:32.560 I'll ask the woman to say the first line with me and the men to respond with the bolded text. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:37.520 For God alone, my soul in silence waits. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:16.400 Nevertheless, for God alone, my soul in silence weighs. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:30.640 In God is my help and my glory. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:39.280 Oh, put your trust in him always, you people. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.480 As for the children of men, they are but a breath. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:51.519 The children of men are deceitful. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:58.560 Oh, trust not in oppression. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.680 Put not vain hopes in robbery. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:05.359 If reach is increased, set not your heart on. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:08.800 One thing has God spoken. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:12.479 Indeed, two things have I heard him say. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.039 That power belongs to our heart. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.800 And that you, O Lord, are merciful. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:22.879 For you reward everyone according to his work. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.319 For God alone, my soul in silence waits. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.159 From him comes my salvation. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:39.919 He truly is my strength and my salvation. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:45.919 He is my defense, so that I shall not be greatly shaken. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.560 Let's wait on the Lord for a moment. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:19.919 We have come to hear the true words of God and to find life and truth and peace. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:28.479 And Lord, we have come to take up your invitation to be participants in the marriage supper of the land. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:32.560 So through your word and at your table, Lord, would you renew us? 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:34.479 Would you strengthen us? 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:45.439 Lord, would we leave our burdens at your feet and take your love and righteousness upon us? 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:47.919 It's for Christ's sake we pray. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:48.800 Amen. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:50.800 Please be seated. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:09.439 So I was raised by two very loving parents and a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:21.839 If your childhood was anything like mine, it was a steady rhythm of, let's see, Bugs Bunny, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, all the good stuff, right? 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:33.920 Now, cartoons, in some ways, at least in the mind of a child, prepare you for problems of life that turn out to never really be problems, if you know what I mean. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:40.079 Not once have I ever received a gift wrapped for me and opened it up to discover a lit stick of dynamite or something like that. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:41.759 That's not really a problem I've had. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.720 I've never had to deal with quicksand, I've never stepped accidentally onto a catapult, that sort of thing. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:54.720 One problem that seemed uh frequent, at least it's frequent my memory of the cartoons I watched, uh, was dealing with mirages. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:05:04.079 Of course, mirages are real phenomenon, they occur in hot climates, but you know, there's a little artistic license taken in cartoons when it comes to mirages, isn't it? 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:12.720 The character Bugs Bunny or whoever else is in the middle of the desert and parched and desperate, you know, for uh for relief. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:17.519 And sees, you know, it's always like 10 feet away, right? 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:26.079 Uh a beautiful, you know, crystal blue lake with palm trees swaying with a little, I don't know, bar or something set up next to it. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.560 Like it's always, you know, very, it's very appealing. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:44.879 And so the character always uh does the same thing, always sort of does that in the spot, crank-up run, and then dives headfirst into what he thinks is a lake, mouth wide open, only to discover, of course, he just gets a face full of sand. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.399 Now he's left even more parched than when he began. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:56.000 There's something about that very cartoonish image of a mirage that comes to my mind when I look at Psalm 62. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:05.519 Not because it's silly, but because there's something about that that resonates so deeply with my experience, and I wonder if it resonates with yours as well. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.399 See, in the midst of life's trouble, and life has plenty of trouble to offer us, doesn't it? 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.879 Plenty of anxiety, plenty of desperation, plenty of desolation. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.439 In the midst of trouble, we desperately go looking for relief. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:25.839 We go looking for security, we go looking for defense, we go looking for salvation. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:34.720 And whatever it is that we hone in on, we have a way of doing a running start and diving headfirst into it, don't we? 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:42.079 Now the trouble is if we aim at the wrong thing, we find that we get a face full of sand, don't we? 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:43.519 In our own way. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:50.639 And we leave, we're left even more desperate, anxious, than when we began. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:04.560 See, Psalm 62 is a psalm ascribed to King David, where he, either in the midst of trouble or reflecting on trouble, either way, King David is no stranger to very real and present trouble. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:11.199 It's him reflecting on what his real defense is in the midst of life's trouble. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:15.199 When we are in the midst of a desert, what brings actual relief? 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:21.120 And so he writes in verses 1 and 2, for God alone, my soul, waits in silence. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:24.160 From him comes my salvation. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:29.360 He writes, He truly, which we could also translate, He alone is my strength and my salvation. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:34.319 He is my defense, he is a fortress, so that I shall not be greatly shaken. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:50.000 David understands if we want to find defense in trouble, if we want to have something to count on, if we want to have something that is unshakable and turns our despair into confidence, then we have to place our trust in the right place. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:53.040 We have to trust in the right object of faith. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:08:00.560 We have to refuse to trust any substitutes and trust in God alone as our refuge. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:11.439 And in Psalm 62, I think David identifies two important, well, two subtle substitutes for trusting in God. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:14.959 Perhaps they're substitutes that he'll he struggles with personally. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:20.639 I suspect if your experience is anything like mine, you can identify with what David has to say. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:29.120 We find substitutes for our defense against trouble, often in people and in assets. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:36.000 Often that's where we go running headfirst for a defense against life's troubles. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:45.200 And yet, good things as they are, not saying they're not good things, often we find they don't secure us the way we need. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.440 They don't come to our defense in the way that we need. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:09:03.200 So what I want us to do through this whole series, very present help and trouble, as we explore this selection of Psalms, as we dive into Psalm 62, I want to pray that we find confidence in trouble. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:05.200 We're not going to cure life's troubles. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:09.519 There's nothing I can say that'll take life's troubles away from you, if you know what I mean. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:12.720 But we can find confidence to face life's troubles. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:20.399 We can find confidence to face the troubles of life with patience and with trust, if our trust is in the right place. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.960 That's what Psalm 62 is saying to us. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:28.720 If we want to find offense in trouble, trust in God and refuse to trust in substitutes. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.679 So pull out your order of service here for Psalm 62, or pull out your Bible. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:47.039 Let's have a look at the trouble we get into when we place our trust in the wrong substitutes, and discover the confidence we find when we put our trust in the true defense. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:54.799 First thing David identifies people are not our true defense against trouble. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:56.080 Verse 3. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:06.639 How long, David says, will you assail or attack a man to crush him, all of you together, as if you were a tottering wall or a broken fence. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:10.639 Their plan is only to bring down the one whom God has exalted. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:17.519 Their delight is in lies, they bless with their mouths, but curse with their hearts. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:19.840 Now, a couple of things. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:32.960 Where our translation here says, all of you together as if you were a tottering wall or a broken fence, David is, well, whether he's speaking hypothetically about hypothetical enemies or very real enemies, doesn't really matter. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:35.279 Like we say, David is no stranger to trouble. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:38.960 David is no stranger to having enemies coming after him. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:45.440 But this translation says, as if you were a tottering wall or a broken fence, which I take to mean he's referring to his enemies. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:56.879 Now that's a fair translation, but I do wonder if more the Hebrew nuance suggests that his enemies are coming after him as if he's a broken wall or a tottering fence. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:00.159 Because we know what it's like in life to feel like we don't quite have our footing, right? 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.360 To feel like it won't take much to just sort of push me right over. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:08.960 I think David is experiencing that in his own way, and he knows what it's like to have people come after him. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:13.279 So, verse 3, David's recognizing people can turn on you. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:17.279 I gotta be careful about putting my trust in people because people can turn on me. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:21.519 They can come after me, they can spot weakness when I'm tottering, right? 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:25.840 When I don't quite have my footing, and they can grab me, right? 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.080 People can turn on you. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.519 But also people can deceive you, right? 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:40.080 David has to be careful where he puts his trust because he recognizes he has enemies, and their plan is only to bring down the one whom God has exalted. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:41.440 They delight in lies. 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:46.159 They bless outwardly with their mouth, but they curse inwardly with their heart. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:47.360 They'll deceive you. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:48.960 They'll mislead you. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.840 Now, what am I saying? 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:57.519 Am I saying the answer here is trust absolutely no one ever, look out for number one? 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:58.879 No, I'm not saying that. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:00.960 In fact, I don't think David would say that. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:06.080 We know David had a close and trusting relationship with his best friend Jonathan. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:11.120 We know that David experienced intimacy and human relationships and trust. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:17.679 But I think we need to recognize with David a difficult but important fact of life. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:24.559 Ordinary people are capable not just of good towards us, but evil as well. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.080 Ordinary people are complicated, aren't they? 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.519 And they're capable of good and evil. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:37.679 So I was brushing up earlier this week about a fascinating experiment I learned about in college. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:42.879 In 1971 at the campus of Stanford University, you might have heard about this. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:49.039 They had participants, they were studying uh the authority structures within prison, right? 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:50.399 American prison system. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:56.960 And so they had uh a selection of guards and a selection of inmates, and they were studying the interactions together. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:10.080 Now the study was supposed to take two weeks total, but was canceled after six days because very, very quickly the guards started asserting their control and coercion and dominance over the um over the prisoners. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:22.399 They were downright abusive towards the prisoners, and the abuse the prisoners were likewise responding with all sorts of um rebellion and um and and antagonism towards the guards. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:24.559 Now that is nothing shocking. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:30.799 That I suspect that is what we'd find in any major prison. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:37.840 The wild thing about this experiment was they were not recruiting guards from the prison system nor prisoners who were convicted of a crime. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:41.679 They were recruiting ordinary American citizens. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.519 People who live around the corner, our neighbors, right? 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:46.799 Our coworkers. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:48.240 That's who they're recruiting. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:14:05.519 And very quickly, they inserted themselves into these roles, these antagonistic roles, where they desired to vie for dominance, even if it meant turning on one another, even if it meant deceiving one another. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.200 My point is not that everyone is the worst always. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:13.919 My point is no one is immune from the worst kind of sin. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:29.200 Even David, even David, who writes this psalm, who recognized what it is to be pursued and antagonized by his enemies, even David, we have to recognize, is not immune from antagonizing his enemies or deceiving them. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:46.159 In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we read about David exploiting Bathsheba, using his authority as king to exploit Bathsheba, and then to put her husband Uriah, when he feels he's in danger of being found out, putting Uriah into a position to be killed. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:54.720 I mean, you wonder if Uriah could just as well pray these words in verses three and four about David. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:57.519 So how do we explain that? 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:09.600 Well, just early this morning, if you were in our learner's exchange, we were looking at Genesis chapter 3 and we were talking about the consequences of sin on our human constitution. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:19.120 We were talking about the fact that in Adam we are all of us found to be sinners, and none of us are immune from the worst kinds of sin. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:25.039 Oddly enough, it's why I'm a partly why I'm a Christian. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:31.840 Because I think the Bible gives us permission to be perfectly realistic about what it means to be human, right? 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.240 I've heard Christianity criticized from both sides. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:41.840 I've heard people criticize Christianity uh for having such a pessimistic view of humanity. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:53.120 Oh, you just think everyone's the worst all the time, or everybody's totally depraved and doing wrong altogether, but you can't explain the beauty that human beings are capable of, the creativity or how they care for one another. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:54.080 Well, fair enough. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:03.200 But I've also heard Christianity uh criticized from the other angle, which is you Christians think everybody's redeemable, you right? 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:09.360 When we see humanity capable of the very worst kind of behavior, murder and genocide and holocaust. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:16.639 And you think everybody, no one's beyond having a heart change, and yet I've seen some of the hardest hearts that you can find. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:29.440 I've seen Christianity criticized for making uh, I've seen Christianity for a pess taking a pessimistic view of humanity and an optimistic view of humanity, and both have been criticized. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.279 But only a biblical worldview, I think, holds both together. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:35.200 Do you see what I mean? 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:38.399 Psalm 14 or Romans 3 echoes this. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:42.399 None is righteous, no not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:43.759 All have turned aside. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:49.919 What we talked about this morning is that desire to assert our own self-autonomy, our own self-determination. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:53.200 I'm going to determine for myself what is good and evil in my life. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:55.440 Thank you very much, and I'm going to act accordingly. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:01.919 Whether that means turning on others or deceiving others, I'm going to do what it takes. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:07.839 And so Jeremiah 17, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:09.519 Who can understand it? 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:17.279 Again, not trying to say that people will only ever turn on you, people will only ever deceive you, but no one is immune from that. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:21.440 And if we're honest enough with ourselves, we know that's true of us too. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:23.839 We're capable of that. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.319 So the question is this: Is humanity our own best defense, or do we human beings, need saving ourselves? 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:38.559 Do we need to do better, or do we need to be saved from our own fallen nature? 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.240 One commentator writes this. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:51.279 He writes about Psalm 62, in contrast to his great confidence in the Lord, the psalmist has little faith in human beings who are destructive, selfish, and deceitful. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:56.799 Facing enmity, the psalmist finds his strength in the Lord alone. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:59.039 So where's our trust? 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.640 It's not that there aren't people worth trusting. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:06.000 I hope that we trust one another, and I hope we grow in that trust. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:13.839 And yet part of being a fallen human being is experiencing the reality that none of us are immune from the worst sorts of sins. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:21.839 And there's only one source of trust that will never let us down, that will never fail us, that will never turn on us, that will never deceive us. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.519 And David understands that that is God alone. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:27.759 God is our defense. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.680 God is our true hope, our salvation, our help and glory. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:36.480 For God alone, verse 5, my soul in silence waits, for my hope is in him. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.440 He truly is my strength and my salvation. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.960 He is my defense, so that I shall not fall. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:45.200 In God is my help and my glory. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:46.880 He is the rock of my might. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:51.200 In him is my thank you. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:52.079 Trust. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:57.359 God is our true hope, salvation, help, and glory. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:01.519 And the outcome, David understands, is I shall not fall. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.000 So in the midst of life's troubles, where's our trust? 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:13.279 To trust in human beings, David understands, we might set ourselves up to be let down. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.079 Because ultimately we're all fickle, we're all broken, and we're all sinners, aren't we? 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:25.119 But there's one place we can put our trust, our confidence, our reliance, which will never let us down, and that's in the Lord. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:27.119 So therefore, David calls us to action. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:31.599 Verse 8, put your trust in God and Him always, you people. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.599 Pour out your hearts before Him, for God is our hope. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:38.960 Or you could translate that, our refuge, our defense. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:50.240 It's not trust no one, it is to say there is one person that we can trust above all else who will never fail us. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:20:12.319 Perhaps if in the midst of life's troubles, we watch the news, we consider the circumstances of our own life, if we have an anxious obsession with, but if the right person comes into office, if the right activist does the right thing, if I find the right business partner, if I find the right romantic partner, all my problems are going to be solved. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:16.880 Then what we're doing is we're saying, ultimately my salvation is going to come from the right person. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:21.440 And David would challenge us to consider, we are all of us sinners. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:23.119 And we'll be let down. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:25.680 Doesn't mean there aren't people worth trusting. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:39.279 But if we experience anxiety and obsession in that way, it might suggest we need to repent of trusting in people as our ultimate and true defense and consider where it is we're putting our trust. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:41.119 Does that make sense? 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:44.319 David's making a very nuanced point here. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:49.279 People are not our true, ultimate defense against trouble. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:53.279 Okay, so maybe people let me down, but I know what won't. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.599 It's going to be the things that I own. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:57.119 It's going to be the things that I possess. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:58.799 Those don't go away. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:03.440 Well, David wants to say assets might not be our true defense against trouble either. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.200 Let's go down to verse 9. 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:08.400 As for the children of men, they are but a breath. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.319 The children of men are deceitful. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.160 Upon the scales, they are altogether lighter than a breath. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:17.599 So here's the warning. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:22.160 O trust not in oppression, put not vain hopes and robbery. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:26.400 If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:28.799 So David wants to say two things here. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:30.960 Status is impermanent. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:32.000 Number one. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:43.200 If we put our trust in our asset, which is our social standing, our social status, our influence, our preeminence, that's going to let us down because it doesn't last. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:49.759 The translation here says children of men twice, but the Hebrew nuance is kind of like this, and you see it in other translations. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:54.720 It might go something like this, verse 9 As for those of low estate, they are but a breath. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:59.839 And for those of high estate, they are deceitful upon the scales, they're altogether lighter than a breath. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.480 Breath. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:10.720 Whether you're of low estate, low social standing, or high estate, high social standing, both are revealed in the scales of life to be but a breath. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:13.200 It's the same word we find in Ecclesiastes. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:14.400 All is vanity. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:15.519 It's a breath. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:16.640 It's vaporous. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:18.079 It doesn't last. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:22.559 Our status doesn't outlast us or our trouble. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:26.319 But secondly, wealth is equally impermanent. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:29.920 Oh, trust not in oppression, which you could also translate extortion. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.000 Put not vain hopes in robbery. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:34.480 If riches increase, don't set your heart upon them. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:43.599 Whether it's oppression, extortion, robbery, or a legitimate means of accumulating riches, David understands those don't last us either. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:45.839 We can't take it with us, right? 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:52.319 And when the final trouble comes, status and wealth doesn't do a lick, does it? 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:54.000 I love what Jim Carrey says. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:04.640 He says, I think everybody should get rich and famous, have wealth, have status, and do everything they ever dreamed so that they can see it's not the answer. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:08.559 If you know some of Jim Carrey's story, you know what that meant for him. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:15.680 So nothing we can earn for ourselves, whether that's accumulating status, accumulating wealth, can ultimately outlast our trouble. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:23.759 If we turn to status or wealth to our assets, we will find it is a never-ending treadmill that just demands more and more and more of us. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:30.000 If we want to find the security that we're looking for there, we are getting mouthfuls of sand. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:33.440 And so what are we really looking for? 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.759 I wonder if David's suggesting what we're really looking for is a defense against the ultimate trouble. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:47.599 The ultimate trouble being forever forgotten, forsaken, being forever cast out and rejected. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:49.359 Isn't that the ultimate chaos? 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:51.599 Isn't that the ultimate death? 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:57.279 What we have is impermanent, whether we have little or much. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.559 But what we need is permanent. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:06.640 And David understands only God's love for us is permanent. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:08.000 Verse 11. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:09.920 One thing has God spoken. 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:12.400 Indeed, two things have I heard him say. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:13.920 That's just a matter of emphasis. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.480 That's how Hebrews want to emphasize a point. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:18.000 That power belongs to God. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:20.640 Number one, he can do for me what I can't do. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:27.839 And verse 12, that you, O Lord, are merciful, for you reward everyone according to his work. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000 This word merciful is huge. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:38.079 It's how this translation translates the Hebrew word chesed, which we've used before, and can also be translated as steadfast love. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:46.480 It is unchanging, constant, unshakable, unconditional love towards you. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:51.440 Not because of anything you've done, but because that is who God is. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:56.960 And his love for you does not change regardless of life's circumstances. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:07.440 It's this sort of steadfast love, this Hasid, that allows us to affirm what we see elsewhere in Scripture, that God will never leave us or forsake us. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:09.599 Because that is who he is. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:16.880 And in 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul writes to Timothy and says, even if we are faithless, he remains faithful. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:18.240 Why is that? 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.519 Well, Paul says he cannot deny himself. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:26.000 God does who he is, and who he is is love. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:28.480 He cannot deny himself. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:38.000 We need a love that is permanent to outlast our troubles, in which to be secure against our troubles. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:40.480 And here's the thing about status and wealth. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:50.720 No matter how much we might love these things or pursue these things or try and grab onto these things, wealth and status will never love us back. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.119 They'll never love us back, will they? 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:54.640 They can't. 00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:01.279 Only God and only his love is our true defense against troubles. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:06.240 Because even when we were enemies of his, he still loved us. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:08.559 That's a love that doesn't change. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:22.160 So if you want to find a defense, if you want to find confidence in trouble, we have to refuse to trust substitutes, whether they're people, whether they're assets, whether they're any number of things that we get added to the list. 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:30.960 We need to refuse to trust the substitutes and trust in the one and only true God who never lets us down and whose love for us is permanent. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.160 And this is not an abstract principle, is it, friends? 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:39.119 We've seen this love demonstrated for us through our Lord Jesus. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:53.599 At the cross, Jesus endures the very worst that people are capable of, the very worst that we've experienced from people, being turned on, being deceived, or perhaps the very worst that we've done to others, turning on others or deceiving others. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:27:02.079 Jesus has taken the fullness of that on himself, and by his endurance, Jesus becomes our refuge. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:11.599 And through the cross, Jesus shows us a love that endures even death itself, the ultimate trouble. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.400 And by his resurrection, he offers us to share in his new and everlasting life. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:29.839 The status we've been looking for, the richness of life, the true wealth we've been looking for is found not in what we earn, but when in what we, pardon me, what he has to give us. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:35.200 It's in Jesus we find our true confidence in the midst of trouble. 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:41.440 So the question is, what are we going to run towards? 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.839 What are we going to take that running leap towards? 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:46.799 We have to find our trust and confidence in something. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:57.200 But if we found life has only sand to offer, apart from Christ, we will only find substitutes, and we need the real thing. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:04.079 Only God, who is revealed to us in our Lord Jesus, can be our true defense against life's trouble. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:05.839 So what do we do with that? 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:07.599 David's quite clear. 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:10.640 He repeated it twice, and I'm sure you saw it for yourself. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.880 For God alone, my soul in silence waits. 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:18.480 The translation's even stronger in verse 5. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:22.559 It's an ideal in verse 1, but it's an imperative in verse 5. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:28.799 It's like he's saying, For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:30.799 This is your job. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:36.000 Waiting upon the Lord is a spiritual discipline. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:38.960 It takes practice, it takes cultivation. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:53.119 It is cultivating a God-centered patience, depending on Him completely, surrendering ourselves and our aspirations and our hopes and our outcomes entirely to His design. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:29:04.960 It is waiting in such a way that we refuse to take a running leap towards any other substitute or possibility, and instead waiting for God to meet us where we're at. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:12.319 Waiting in silence for God is perhaps a repentance for pursuing false defenses. 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:22.799 Waiting on God is a security in knowing that God has done, is doing, and will do for you and I what we cannot do for ourselves. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:38.640 So what if this week, even if we took a fraction of the time we spend fretting over our financial concerns, fretting over who is or isn't in a given political office? 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:50.319 What if we took a fraction of that time and turned off the TV and waited in silence for the Lord, who is our true refuge? 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:52.799 Do you think that would make a difference? 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:00.079 For God alone, my soul in silence waits. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.240 From him that comes my salvation. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:09.200 He truly is my strength and my salvation. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:11.200 He is my defense. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.519 So that I shall not be greatly shaken. 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:17.839 I wasn't planning to do this, but worshiping. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:19.920 Do you mind just taking a couple of eats? 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.480 Give us a minute or two. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:27.279 And let's do some business before the Lord if that's what we have to do. 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:37.200 We hope that you've been blessed by God's Word today. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:42.720 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:46.480 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:51.440 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:56.880 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:05.200 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:08.160 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.