WEBVTT 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.519 You are listening to the Gateway Franklin Church podcast. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:13.279 To learn more about Gateway Franklin Church, including our service times here in Franklin, Tennessee, visit us online at GatewayFranklin.com. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.000 And now, here is this week's message. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:28.480 The Lincoln Memorial is the most visited memorial in Washington, D.C. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:32.799 Some 7 million people visit it every year. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.000 It's massive. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:37.920 It's 188 feet long. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.920 It's 119 feet wide. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:46.000 If you put that on a football field, it takes up from the end zone to the 40-yard line. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:47.679 Okay, it's massive. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.240 Inside sits the towering image of Lincoln. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:53.840 In fact, it's 19 feet tall. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.560 Who's been to the Washington or to the Lake of Morrill? 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.039 So you've been there, you got the visual, what it looked like. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.039 It's amazing to see the scope of it. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.159 It anchors the western part of the reflecting pool. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.599 The eastern part uh end of the reflecting pool is the Washington Monument. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:09.200 It's an amazing sight. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:12.079 And you walk in, it almost feels forever in a sense. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.239 You walk in this massive area, and there sits there sits Lincoln. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:29.120 There's 36 Corinthian-inspired columns around uh the Lincoln Memorial, and it represents the 36 states that were a part of the Union when Lincoln was when Lincoln was president. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:35.519 Um, to us, Lincoln is bigger than life, like the no-brainer for the presidential hall of fame. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:44.480 Um but as you know, I finished reading um a book on Lincoln, 750-page biography on Lincoln, uh called Team of Rivals. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:53.120 And what was striking in the reading of this is that Lincoln's presidency and himself was shrouded in national doubt. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.480 Um, his reelection was very much in doubt. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:01.760 In fact, only six of the first 16 presidents ever served a second term. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:06.079 And he was the first in eight to serve a second term. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:08.560 Um I I enjoyed reading that book so much. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.840 Uh I finished it a couple months ago and I I miss him. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:24.560 Um of the things that stood out to me was how underestimated he was, how publicly maligned he was. 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:27.840 His education didn't match his peers' education. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:31.520 Now he was an attorney, but he wasn't he wasn't schooled in the Northeast. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:38.639 His family had no pedigree, like a lot of the people that he was running for offices for years and years against. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:43.280 Um he was given the nickname Rail Splitter. 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:45.919 Any Lincoln Memorial University graduates in here? 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:47.439 LMU, they're the rail splitters. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:49.280 If you ever said, what is a rail splitter? 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.159 You know, it was a physical labored job. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:58.319 Lincoln took it on as a badge of honor, and yet it was meant to deride his background. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:09.599 Um, Lincoln went into the presidency with this he felt mandate of ensuring that the Union did not disintegrate. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:11.039 This is what he was. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:12.560 It was fracturing. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:17.280 The nation was fracturing, especially around the issue of slavery. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:22.479 Now, ironically, Lincoln comes in not as an abolitionist. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:26.800 He comes in on wanting to maintain the status quo. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:32.319 North has slaves, or North does not have slaves, South has slaves. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.159 We're not going to change that. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.719 What we want to do is that with the new territories that slavery now, it's it's done. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:40.639 No slavery in the new territories. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:44.719 He was trying to hold together these factions of the Republican Party. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.560 Oh, side note, this is fun. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:52.479 Um, there was a political party in the day, and their name was the Know Nothing Party. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:58.159 I think we still have a couple of those today, the Know Nothing Party. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.759 But anyway, so he was trying to hold everybody together. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:08.080 Um his his position on slavery changes, it changes over time. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:17.120 That this this was only going to be rectified, uh, or the union was only going to stay together in 36 states if this could be eradicated. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:30.240 And so he feels this strong, compelling force to hold the union together and stop this, stop this this this moral um degradation to end this. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.959 Um the war did not go well at the beginning. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:51.040 Um he had generals who completely disobeyed direct presidential order that that publicly maligned his leadership, um, publicly stating that he wasn't fit for the office. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:05:14.160 Someone in his own cabinet was actively uh campaigning for the presidency about two years in, actively, when I say actively, you know, talking to newspapers, doing all kinds of things, again, to discredit that this whole thing of keeping the Union together in this war was well above um Lincoln's ability to control. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.959 Um the war had taken a specific toll on his life. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:36.079 Like they talk about pictures of before and after, and they do this for all presidents and church planners, where they take pictures of you before and after, and you know, here comes this tall, you know, lanky man, and you know, he he didn't care about clubs. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:42.319 I mean, his clothes didn't fit, he was all rumpled all the time, and then they take pictures of him at the end, and the war had taken its toll. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:48.160 Um, personal tragedy, his own life had taken a toll, the election had taken its toll. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:56.480 Um he um the the the the tide of the war does not turn until near the end of his first term. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:58.959 Uh it wasn't until he gets Ulysses S. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:11.680 Grant in a position of overall leadership of the armies do we start seeing someone that had the resolve in Grant to stick to, and it was, I mean, you could read in the history books what a and we live in a Civil War area, right? 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:16.399 The tragedy that it was in terms of the loss of life on both sides is staggering. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:26.879 Um and and um so but it wasn't until near the end of uh his first term does the war start to take a turn. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:34.240 It looks like, I mean, it is firmly in hand, um, and then he wins the election for his second term. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:45.360 The night that he's at Ford Theater is after the election win, and he just wants to go to a play. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:48.959 He loved the theater, went all the time. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:52.319 He was especially fond of Shakespeare. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.600 I mean, he was a well-read man. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:14.959 Interestingly enough, what he goes to see that night was a satire, a comedy called The American Cousin, about an uh person from the Union making it well and going back to England and trying to fit into English society. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:22.560 And it was a it was a comedy of how how much of a difficult transition and the fun that was made of him. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:24.959 He was going to blow off steam. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.279 He was just going to blow off steam. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:35.600 He he is shot, as you know, that evening in his box at Ford Theater. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:40.480 He succumbs to that assassin's bullet the next day, April 15th. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:44.560 Um April 15th, 1865. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:53.360 The contents of Lincoln's pockets was then given to his wife Mary, and then to his son Tad. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:08:03.360 And then in 1937, his granddaughter, Tad's daughter, then donates the contents of Lincoln's pockets, donates them to the Library of Congress. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:05.519 Um, this is a picture. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.560 Um, Judah, now you know why I told you to look at it. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:10.639 Do you see what's in there? 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:12.800 My knife collector friend back there. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.120 So this is what this is what's in his pockets. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.879 It's uh it's like he should have won cargo shorts, actually, is what it looks like. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.879 So he has two pairs of glasses with cases. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:28.800 One of those pair of glasses is repaired by twine, this upper right hand thing. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:30.879 That's the president of our United States. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:31.680 All right. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:37.039 A lens polisher, that was kind of a weird-looking thing that looks like a clam over here. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:49.120 Uh, one sleeve button, go figure, an embroidered handkerchief with his, it says a dot lincoln, um, a watch fob. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.440 So the watch fob to the left over here looks like a uh diamond or whatever. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.519 That's quartz, that was to counterweight the balance of the pocket watch. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:04.480 He had a pocket knife, as all right, as all good presidents should have, a pocket knife in his pocket. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.840 The$5 Confederate bill is kind of a stumper. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:10.240 Um, but he had visited Richmond. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:14.399 Um, Richmond was the the capital, then, if you will, of the Confederacy. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:18.159 And he he visits Richmond right after its fall. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:24.080 So it's believed that it was given to him kind of as a commemorative, you know, keepsake trophy, if you will. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:27.039 And then a purple silk lined wallet. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:35.519 Um, but here's um, if you're mistaken, this is this is not a this is not a library lecture on the life of Lincoln. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.240 Um I'm actually going somewhere. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:42.559 Um he had nine newspaper clippings in his wallet. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:43.919 Nine. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:59.440 They were newspaper clippings of one was someone commenting, uh wrote an article on how strategic and strong his platform was for his second um election. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:13.440 There were articles written that um uh that was in favor of his stance with the Union uh to stick with the war until slavery could be abolished. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:19.279 And then there was one particular written by a London statesman that he had a great deal of respect for. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.440 Um, Bright was his name. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.360 And Bright was writing a letter to someone else and it was published. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:38.799 And Bright spoke about the brilliance he saw and how Lincoln did everything from form his cabinet to war strategy to how he was handling the different factions that he put around him. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:42.559 Now, why would Lincoln carry those? 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:47.360 Because the war did not was not going well. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:11:03.360 Because continually in newspapers it was written about how he wasn't qualified for the job, how the cause was lost, how what he started to hold the union together, he was actually causing the union to fracture. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:11.360 And here it is, our 16th president of the United States, who we would consider Hall of Fame president, he should have always been full of confidence. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:22.000 He, there was times where he had to pull out these newspaper articles and read in order to bolster his own courage and his own confidence. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:35.840 It was said that Lincoln would stay up at all hours waiting for news reports to come through the telegraph wire at the war office so that he could read to see how the war was going because it was so up and down and down for so much of the time. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:38.559 And so here's my here's my premise. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:43.759 Have you been in a place where you needed courage and confidence? 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:52.080 That nothing around you, no circumstance that you were in warranted any courage or confidence. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:12:00.240 And you needed something from outside of yourself, like there's an old sports phrase that said, don't read your own news clippings. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:02.159 That this is different. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:11.200 This is that that you there's just you find yourself or have found yourself in a place in time and you weren't going to dig yourself out. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:21.759 And somebody you needed some kind of confidence from someone else that believed in you enough to get you out of that place. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.480 This is what today's sermon is about. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:34.000 Psalm 125 that Pastor Micah read to beginning, is not a prayer, it's not a it's not a lament, it's not a song of thanksgiving. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:40.080 In fact, it's believed to be, I read it in one place called a communal psalm, and I had not heard that phrase before. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:43.120 But the psalmist is writing to the people. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:57.679 In some regard, and this is a weird connect, but to me, it's kind of like the the team that meets with the coach at halftime, and you have just got punched in the face in the first half. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:08.720 And the coach kind of gets you in the confines of the locker room because he needs you to be different when you go back out on the field or the court or whatever. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:23.519 And this is the kind of connotation I get from this psalm that the psalmist is writing to these pilgrims, and he's writing to instill courage and confidence in them for the walk, for the pilgrimage, for the life, the circumstance ahead of them. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:30.399 But the courage won't be found in who they are, or the confidence in what they bring to the table. 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:34.720 He's drawing their attention to who their God is. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:38.080 All right, so here is here's Psalm 125 again. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:46.399 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:53.919 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surround his people, both now and forevermore. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:02.080 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:14.639 This part sounds a little like a prayer, but Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart, but those who turn to the crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:17.279 Peace be on Israel. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:22.879 There's so much more to this psalm than what your ears can pick up on. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:40.720 Um Philip and I had a com uh Paul and I had a conversation after the last last week when I showed all those pictures of Jerusalem, and he said there was a Jewish uh book uh uh shop owner that told him that when you come to Israel, you're to listen with your eyes. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.600 That's why I was trying to show those pictures last week. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:47.360 Um, I want you to be able to see what the psalmist is saying. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:56.960 Unfortunately, how I begin, there's no way for me to um, I couldn't find a picture that will adequately uh convey this, so I'm gonna have to do my best to draw the picture for you. 00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:07.679 But when we begin with verse one, verse one, those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken, but endures forever. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.759 All right, so the the metaphor here deals with Mount Zion. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.000 So we got to start with Mount Zion because it holds, it it's the metaphor, it holds it together. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:22.480 So um, so Mount Zion, this is this is where we have Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:26.559 So Mount Moriah is where we the temple gets built. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:40.240 When David comes and conquers the city, um Mount Zion is the city of David, and then eventually just a whole mountain ridge gets absorbed in its Mount Zion, which is the earthly address for God. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:47.919 All right, so so Mount Zion, it's a mountain, but it's not the highest mountain in the area. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:56.159 On the east and the south, and on the west, there are mountain ranges that sit above Mount Zion. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:07.039 The valley to the south and to the east is a deep, it's the valley, the Kidron Valley, that comes down this way, I guess this way. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:09.360 You're just gonna have to be dyslexic for a little bit. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:15.759 And then the ravine on this side are so steep that you can't really traverse it. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:20.639 You wouldn't traverse it from you wouldn't traverse it from uh an army standpoint. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:31.039 There's only one way really in, and that was from the north, from that valley, but you could see them coming from miles around. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:37.519 The city then sits with walls, fortress-like walls surrounding it. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:17:00.559 In 2 Samuel 5, when David is on a quest to capture then his this address of God, which is where he ends up uniting the twelve tribes of Israel under his reign, the the Canaanites, like specifically the Jebusites, had held that spot for 350 years. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:08.480 And in 2 Samuel 5, and a taunt to David, they say even the lame and the blind could defend these walls. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:16.880 I mean, that's how strategic, that's how fortified from a natural topography sense that this was. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:18.720 So that's the metaphor. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:20.160 Now think about it. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:28.160 As the pilgrims would make their way to Jerusalem, and they would make their way over these mountains, probably goat paths, right? 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:40.720 I mean, not anything you're going to drive an army through, but where they were all when they would make their way up to Jerusalem three times a year, I can see this is the song that leads them through the mountains and the valley passes. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:47.119 I can see the psalmist picturing that this is what I want people to see. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:55.119 I want them to see that those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:57.200 That's great imagery. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.160 I wish I could show you. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:17:59.440 There wasn't, I couldn't find. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:00.960 I'm sure there are images. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:05.039 Uh the way y'all looked at the screen, I actually thought that maybe Caitlin found one for me. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:05.599 All right. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:12.160 So um, so I I I um so let's get to those who trust in the Lord. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:17.839 It is the first Psalm of Ascent that uses the word trust. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:27.599 Now, the ironic the irony here is that Psalms uses the word trust more than any other book in the Bible. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:34.480 And yet in the Psalm of Ascent, this is the first time that the word trust is given. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:40.319 And it generally applies to trusting God for two things, vengeance and deliverance. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:42.960 That's pretty good. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:43.839 Right? 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:48.400 We we you might know the verse, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:56.880 When we're wronged or an injustice is caused to us, there are many times that we want to carry the vengeance, but he's saying, No, no, no. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:01.359 There there are two specific things that you can like trust me for. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.480 I will defend you, I will deliver you. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:13.839 Now, um I stepped down off of that in the first service purposely, didn't fall. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.799 Um I choose not to do it in a second. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.400 All right, Alex, I need you. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:23.519 Don't sit on the front row. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.720 That's all I got to say. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.759 All right, so um, you familiar with trust fall? 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:28.559 Yes. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:30.160 Okay, I'm not gonna do that. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:30.720 Okay. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:47.599 Um I learned, I heard this story in my mission pastor days of a Bible translator being a part of uh in a village trying to translate scripture into their language, and they did not have a word for trust. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:56.319 And so on a particular day, his young aide was in a chair, think back to your middle school days, and he was leaning back on the two legs. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.039 You know this, right? 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.839 Right when your buddy comes and knocks it out from under and you fall. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.160 All right, and then immediately that translator said, What word do you have for that? 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:09.200 And he gave him the word that meant lean your whole weight upon. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:11.039 All right. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.480 So, I'm gonna lean on you in a second. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:16.960 All right, all right, so you have to be a little bit more active. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:18.880 All right, turn this way for me. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:24.160 All right, all right, so you don't have to hold me, I'm not gonna fall down, but I do need you not to let me fall. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:28.160 All right, look, I can do this, now yeah, I can do this, right? 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:29.839 And my whole weight's not there. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:31.440 I'm leaning, right? 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.759 I'm leaning, but my whole weight's not there. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.119 Now, now I will. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:38.400 Now I'll he has more than you thought, I know. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:42.079 Uh he has my whole weight. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:45.519 So so what does that mean practically? 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:50.079 It means if he's not here, I'm down. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:51.680 Thank you, Alex. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.519 We played golf all day yesterday. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:53.920 He's okay. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:55.039 He's like me do that. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:59.200 Are you are you are you getting that? 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:03.440 Hard question. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:06.319 Does that describe your trust in God? 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.559 Like if you're not there, I'm falling. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:13.920 I I can tell you. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:23.279 If you're if you're s even close to a typical Western American Christian, I'm not sure, I'm not sure that's I'm not sure we hit that bar. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:36.480 We're gonna hedge our bets, we're gonna look for something, because but I guarantee you there's enough of you in this room that you you have exhausted all of those other options. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:40.319 And the only one you got is God. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:47.119 And this is the imagery that the psalmist is putting forward. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:59.039 Those who lean their whole weight upon are like Mount Zion, the topography. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:02.079 The walls. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:11.200 The forces that would repel the forces coming to take the city. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:18.000 Those who lean their whole weight upon are like Mount Zion. 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:21.200 And then it says, and will not be shaken. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:29.839 Now the English, our our English robs us here because who's been shaken before? 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:30.720 Raise your hand. 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:43.599 All right, so could this possibly be the correct understanding that if we fully lean our whole weight upon, then we will never endure anything that shakes us? 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:53.279 Well, my own experience, my experience as a pastor, um, and my understanding of scripture tells me that's not so. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:59.519 That shaking is a part of our experience, it's a part of our pilgrimage. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:04.559 It's better understood will not fall. 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:25.680 Those who trust in the Lord will be like Mount Zion, who will never fall, who will never fall, but endures forever. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:28.160 Endures forever. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:33.920 So we know about Israel's history, we know from Christ's own words in Matthew 16, 33. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:40.000 In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I've overcome the world. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:47.359 That tells me I will experience trouble, but I will not fall because of the trouble. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:55.359 So here's your pro tip for today lean your whole weight upon your Lord, the person you have placed yourself under. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:59.599 See, we do a good job, we do a good job with Jesus as Savior. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:02.960 We don't do quite as good job as Jesus as Lord. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:15.759 We want a Savior, we want a Redeemer, but it takes us a while to get to the place where we want His will over our will, which is what Lord is. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:17.279 Here's verse 2. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:27.200 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore, both now and forevermore. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:30.000 So I give you the geography, I give you the geography. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:47.599 Now, now he's taking this away from um, he's moving us from just a mountain, Mount Zion here, and he's saying, I want you to draw your attention to the mountains because God surrounds us like these mountains are surrounding Mount Zion. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:57.119 Now, the the Old Testament picture I get here is a story with Elisha. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:03.920 Now, Elisha succeeds Elijah as kind of the lead prophet for Israel. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:11.440 Elisha witnesses Elijah being taken up on a chariot of fire, scripture says. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:28.079 In this particular case, Elisha has prophesied in a manner which always disrupt anybody that was ruling, and they sent an army after him to the city of Dothan in order to capture Elisha. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:35.119 This particular morning, I don't know if his servants going out for bagels, for coffee, what he's doing. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:43.200 He gets to the door wherever they're staying, he opens the door, and he sees that army that is now about to take them. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:49.279 Closes the door, maybe discreetly, maybe screaming. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:54.160 Tells Elisha, we're surrounded. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:26:02.000 Elisha's prayer is Lord open his eyes and let him see. 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:17.759 Lord opens his eyes and he sees angel, fiery angels all around the top, and saying, actually, they're surrounded. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:21.519 This is the imagery. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:27.599 He doesn't negate the army outside the door. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:32.640 But it does negate the army outside the door. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:40.880 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:44.160 Both when, now, and when. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:54.720 There's no gap in that linear space, both now and forevermore. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:56.319 All right, here's verse three. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.599 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted, right? 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:06.480 So there's a there's a reference back to the land being given, allotted over to Israel. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.720 The scepter of the wicked will not remain. 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:09.839 So what does that mean? 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:12.160 What's the implication there? 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:15.119 That the scepter of the wicked's there. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:17.359 Right? 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:22.240 So when you say it won't remain, that's that's an indication that it's present. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:23.039 Okay? 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:29.039 So the scepter of the wicked, the rule of the wicked, will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:40.079 The Hebrew connotation carries with it both political and social systems, as well as regular injustices. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:46.640 And if there was anybody that understood both political and social oppression, it was Israel. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:47.839 Okay? 00:27:48.160 --> 00:28:12.000 So we have Egyptian oppression, that after a short period of time then turned into Assyrian oppression, which then was followed by Babylonian oppression, which was followed by the Medes and the Persians' oppression, which was followed by Greek oppression, which then brings us to the New Testament Christ's day, and it was Roman oppression. 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:16.559 They understood political and social and injustice. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.440 They understood all of those oppressions. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:30.079 And the psalmist is saying the wicked scepter is there, but it will not remain on the land allotted to the righteous. 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:33.440 I read a news article on Wednesday. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:39.039 Wednesday is my right day for the if you're interested in the anatomy of a sermon. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:44.559 Wednesday, most of my research and reading and note-taking is finished. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:49.039 Now I'm trying to bring it into a cohesive manner to preach. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:53.200 And it's amazing some of the things that pop up for me on Wednesday. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:29:02.079 And on this Wednesday, I read a news report of a family, a mom and a dad, of two teenage girls in Brazil who were arrested. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:03.920 Now, this is a present news article. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:07.279 This isn't something that happened 10 years ago or whatever. 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:11.359 They've been arrested for intellectual negligence. 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.480 They've been homeschooling their girls since COVID. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:24.160 The girls were thriving in that homeschool environment, and so they never went back to the state school. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:31.839 They were following the curriculum except for something around sexuality and tolerance. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:39.920 Parents did not align with the state sponsored curriculum to that regard, and so they left that out. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:52.480 The girls are thriving, they're blowing their exams out of the water, they're multilingual and accomplished pianists, and it's still pending in the court whether the mom or dad will mom and dad will serve 50 days in prison. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:04.720 Fifteen to 18,000 Nigerians, Christian Nigerians, have been killed this year. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:06.720 This year. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.359 Which is the biggest oxymoron I've ever heard in my entire life around abortion. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:46.480 I spoke to a couple outside in the great room right after the first service, visiting from Canada. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:55.119 I had a reference in here at Canada, but I could not find enough research to substantiate what I wanted to say, so I didn't say it. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:56.960 And they gave me enough. 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:05.920 That there are things that pastors cannot say publicly from the pulpit without fear of arrest. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:14.960 And their pastor would have to go to the police station every Monday until they finally stopped them from coming there because of things he was preaching. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:26.000 He said they were 100 people before COVID, now it's an 800-person strong church, but they no longer meet in a church, they meet out on a farm in a barn because of that oppression. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:33.680 We hear folks, it has come west. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.559 So this is a part of our pilgrimage. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:54.000 And the promises that the scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to, or over those a lot land allotted to those who are righteous. 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:07.440 And uniquely, the next part of that verse says, because my here put it up there so I don't butcher it. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:11.039 For then, the righteous might use their hands to do evil. 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:31.759 It tells me the father understands that when we live in a predominant culture of wickedness, political, social, that inevitably it takes the toll, and there are righteous that lend themselves to it and are corrupted by it. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:40.960 Paul mentions at least five different people in the epistles that had walked away from the faith. 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:44.079 Or were they walking away to? 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:48.160 Some other idea, some other philosophy. 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:50.079 Time was hard. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:56.079 Did not have enough confidence in God followed their own way. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:33:00.559 And I know that I mean if I'm gonna go step in stuff, I might as well keep stepping. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:14.640 I know we live in an area that what was shocking to me was when I first moved here was how uh uh ironclad some people held on to this concept of once saved, always saved. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:20.720 Now, I mean, I'm an old big-time Pentecostal kid. 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:24.480 I mean, I was at the altar so many different times, right? 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:27.440 Repenting of my sin so I wouldn't go to hell. 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:33.440 That is not an accurate assessment of the gospel that I lived under. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:35.680 Okay. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:46.240 And at the same time, I believe, and I've seen it and witnessed it, of someone saying, I think I'm gonna go this way. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:49.759 The psalmist is telling us. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:34:00.240 He's telling us that there there are the the wicked times do lead people to another path, a crooked path. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:01.839 That's kind of how it gets phrased. 00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:03.039 A crooked path. 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:06.799 And and can I just can I just a little a little sidestep over here? 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:17.679 Can I say there is only there's only so long you can live in both worlds without it taking its toll. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:20.079 I will say it it will take its toll. 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:30.320 But but you can only you can only have one foot in and one foot out for so long before it just extracts a price. 00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:35.920 Uh and I I hope you can sense how I'm telling you that. 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:45.519 I'm not telling you that to scare you into something or to slap you around something as as as much as just you need to hear that. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:48.239 You needed to hear that. 00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:49.599 Okay. 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:55.440 Um last verse, verse four. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:07.760 Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart, but those who turn to crooked ways, the Lord will banish with the evildoers. 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:10.400 Upright here literally means straight. 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:12.800 It literally means straight, to be straight. 00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:29.280 So, in light of the scepter of wickedness, is encouraging the members of the community, telling they really have two choices to walk straight after God, his will, or his ways, or to walk crooked and face banishment with the evildoers. 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:31.519 This is supported by Psalm 1. 00:35:31.679 --> 00:35:33.119 Listen to Psalm 1. 00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:47.440 Blessed is the one who does not walk and step with the wicked, or stand in the st stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night. 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:57.760 That person is like the tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and those who leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:35:59.519 Not so the wicked. 00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:02.400 They are like the chaff that the wind blows away. 00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:11.760 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous, for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:18.000 That that supports, that that Psalm 1 supports what this psalmist says in 125. 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:23.840 And then the last part of the of verse 5 says, Peace be on Israel. 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:28.159 All right, so I've told you this the shalom, wholeness, ease. 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:34.719 This is still the call for us, for Israel, for our nation, for our families, for our kids, for us personally. 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:41.119 Shalom, let there be peace, wholeness, ease over all of us. 00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:44.559 So as I wrap this up, come up, team. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:49.119 Both of these statements are true at the same time. 00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:54.800 Number one, the world is a hard place, a dangerous place. 00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:57.760 It's becoming more hostile to the people and ways of God. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:58.800 Do you agree with that? 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:01.119 That's a true statement. 00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:03.199 This one is also true. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:05.599 God is our refuge. 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:10.000 He will not fail, and we will not fall. 00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:16.000 Our enemies are potent, but they're not omnipotent. 00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:23.199 I personally love how and I appreciate how honest the Bible is. 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:27.599 If you're looking for a book of propaganda on Christianity, do not read the Bible. 00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:29.119 Read somebody else. 00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:33.199 The Bible is really straightforward, it's plain. 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:37.519 It tells the truth about the world, but it also tells the truth about our God. 00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:48.239 I remember being told this young middle teenage years, I guess, and um that Christianity was just my crutch. 00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:56.239 It was, it was uh, this wasn't the language teenagers use, but it was, it's, it's the way you, it's the way you extrapolate it. 00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:58.400 Um it's just an escape. 00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:02.960 Uh Christianity is neither one of those two things. 00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:10.000 Christianity is not a crutch for for um walking through hard times. 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:12.000 God's a refuge. 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:24.000 And it's not an escapist theology of somehow just trying to believe that something better will happen and so that I can escape the hardship of this world. 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:26.159 It's not that. 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:30.960 God is a refuge, He's our present strength. 00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:35.760 Those of us who trust in Him, lean our whole weight upon Him, we are like Mount Zion. 00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.360 We are surrounded by Him. 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:42.639 We are strong through Him. 00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:47.360 And we will be shaken, but we will not fall. 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:51.199 That's the power of the gospel. 00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:56.480 Our faith is our fortress and God is our refuge. 00:38:56.800 --> 00:38:58.239 He surrounds us. 00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:03.440 Don't give up on God, don't give into the wickedness around you. 00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:07.519 Walk straight, and He will direct your paths. 00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:18.480 Frederick Bieckner, acclaimed theologian, he just died in 2022 at the age of 96. 00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:23.519 He wrote this in his work called The Magnificent Defeat. 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:37.119 He said, For what we need to know, of course, is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars, there's a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going. 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:50.400 But that there is a God right here in the thick of our day-to-day lives who may not be writing messages about himself and the stars, but in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness, our inability to see. 00:39:50.960 --> 00:40:03.199 As we move around down here, knee deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world, it is not the objective proof of God's existence we want, but the experience of God's presence. 00:40:03.760 --> 00:40:06.320 That is the miracle that we're really after. 00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:10.400 And that is so, I think, the miracle we really get. 00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:23.119 The premise of the book comes from Genesis 32, where we have Jacob wrestling with God or an angel, and where Jacob says, he's not winning. 00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:28.719 And he's holding, but he says, I am not gonna let go until you bless me. 00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:32.559