WEBVTT 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:21.920 Steadfast love will be built up forever. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:25.600 In the heavens you will establish your faithfulness. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:30.399 You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:40.079 I have sworn to David, my servant, I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:47.439 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the Holy Ones. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:51.039 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:55.039 Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord? 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:03.679 A God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:12.879 O Lord, God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:19.120 You rule the raging of the sea when its waves rise, you still them. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:22.159 You crushed Rahab like a carcass. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.680 You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.480 The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:34.560 The world and all that's in it, you have founded them. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:38.159 The north and the south, you have created them. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:42.159 Tabor and Herman joyously praise your name. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:44.159 You have a mighty arm. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.680 Strong it's your hand, high your right hand. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:52.640 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.560 Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:10.960 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, who exalt in your name all the day, and your righteousness are exalted. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:13.520 For you are the glory of their strength. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:22.080 By your favor our hornets exalted, for our shield belongs to the Lord, our King, to the Holy One of Israel. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:30.159 Of old, you spoke in a vision to your godly one and said, I have granted help to one who is mighty. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.439 I have exalted one chosen from the people. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:52.000 I have found David, my servant, with my holy oil, I have anointed him, so that my hand shall be established with him, my arm also shall strengthen him, the enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:57.039 I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:04.800 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:09.439 I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:21.199 He shall cry to me, You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation, and I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:27.680 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:33.919 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne at the days of the heavens. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:49.680 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish them transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:56.319 But I will not remove from him my steadfast love, or be false to my faithfulness. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:02.639 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.919 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:14.000 His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.279 Like the moon, it shall be established forever. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:21.120 A faithful witness in the skies, Selah. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.240 But now you have cast off and rejected. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.399 You have renounced the covenant with your servant. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:33.279 You have defiled his crown in the dust. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:37.920 You have breached all his walls, you have laid his strongholds in ruins. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.480 All who pass by plunder him. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:22.879 For what vanity you have created all the children of man, what man can live and never see death? 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:26.240 Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:27.519 Saila. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:34.879 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:49.680 Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations, with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.160 Blessed be the Lord forever. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.399 Amen and amen. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:56.240 This is the word of God. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:57.680 We're in Psalm 89. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:00.639 Like I said, it's quite a long Psalm, so we'll uh we'll get going. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:04.399 Psalm 89 is essentially a psalm about unmet expectations. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:11.519 When you think that life is going to go one way and then it goes another. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:25.920 And uh you may be aware of things like uh uh Pinterest fails, uh cake fails, where there's the the expectation of what it is that you're trying to bake, and then the reality of what actually emerges. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:32.879 And uh I thought it would be I was giggling away this week at uh at those, and so I thought it might be fun just to share some of them with you. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:35.759 Uh so we've got okay, here's the expectation. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:39.120 Nailed it, reality. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:43.680 Next one expectation reality. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.720 Third expectation, beautiful. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.879 Got an octopus on the other side, expectation and reality. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.879 Expectations and reality sometimes differ. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:13.360 It can be uh the photographs of the Airbnb that you booked don't quite match uh the description, the holiday that you expected uh to have, glorious weather, uh they have a freak typhoon, and so you're trapped in your room. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:17.759 Expectations and realities don't always uh go hand in hand. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:23.279 And those are small and trivial things, but what about the bigger disappointments in life? 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:33.279 What about when uh you thought that you uh you knew someone uh that you were friends with, and actually how they turn out to be is rather different. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:41.759 The expectation of a uh of a long, loyal, life-giving, joy-giving friendship is is disappointed. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:44.639 You expected one thing and you got another. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:55.120 How much worse in the context of a serious relationship or a marriage where you expected things to go one way and yet they have turned out quite quite different. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:01.360 Sometimes our life can take a turn in ways that we never saw coming. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:08.720 The reality can be painfully different from the expectations that we had. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:15.920 There's a poem, it's quite a long poem. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:21.360 Uh, there's basically a poetic uh summary of the book of Job. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:22.879 You may know the story of Job. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:32.399 Job is a righteous man, somebody who feared God, and uh who God permitted uh Satan to uh to tempt and to test. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:50.000 At the very start of the story, uh we learn that Job uh makes these uh sacrifices for his seven sons and his daughters, and saying, if they uh if they had committed any sin, let me sacrifice on their behalf. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:58.399 And yet at the very start of the book of Job, one of the things that happens is that his children are killed when a great east wind comes. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:18.159 And in the poetic version, uh written by an American pastor called John Piper, and it's quite in three sections, uh, he comes back to that altar and expresses his disappointment or the mismatch in expectations of reality in these beautiful words. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.159 He says this in the poem. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:28.720 He says, Oh Lord, what you have dealt me in this day is not what I thought this blood blot red stone would bring. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:38.240 Oh Lord, what you have dealt me in this day is not what I thought this bloodblot redstone would bring. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:48.080 Sometimes reality confines expectations in painful ways. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:55.519 Where do you go when you feel like God has let you down? 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:11.759 When he has not met your expectations, when the reality of what you had hoped for never materializes, or it looks like he has failed you or forgotten you. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:20.799 This is the emotional space that the Psalmist is occupying in Psalm 89. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:26.159 The crucial section for this comes quite late in the Psalm. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.000 It comes in verses 38 to 45. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:41.200 He's been rehearsing all of uh these great things of God's faithfulness, and then it turns in Psalm, or sorry, in verse 38. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:53.519 He says, But now you've cast off and rejected your full of wrath against your anointed, you've renounced the covenant with your servant, you've defiled his crown in the dust. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:59.679 God had promised a king, and the crown is in the dust. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:08.320 God had promised safety and security in a long-established city, but the walls are broken down. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.279 It's been plundered and sacked, and the people carried off. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:27.039 God had promised victory and success over enemies, but now the people are trampled underfoot and left ridiculed and ashamed. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:34.720 They expected a great kingdom, and what they got was ruins. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:58.799 And what this Psalm does is it helps us to interact with God when it feels like God has let us down, when the expectations for our life have turned out to be quite different. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.440 So, how does the psalmist respond? 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:10.639 Though he finds himself in this emotional circumstance, how does he interact with God? 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:21.919 Well, the first thing that he does is he comes back and he anchors himself in what he knows about the character of God. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:23.039 That's our first point. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:24.159 He anchors himself. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.480 We are to anchor ourselves in the character of God. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:45.679 Imagine that you're uh you're hiking up a mountain, you're climbing up a mountain, and as you survey from the uh from the foot of the mountain, from the car park down below, as you're getting ready to go, getting your backpack on and looking up, it looks like a fairly straightforward path. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:52.240 And the the weather's clear and all seems fairly uh fairly easy. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:13:02.720 But as you climb, you unexpectedly round a corner and you you hit a patch of uh of shale of loose stones. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:11.120 And you're gonna have to scrabble up that mountainside on these on these loose stones that are that are moving under your feet. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:17.039 And as you make your way up, you you slip and you fall forward onto onto all fours. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:18.320 And what do you grab for? 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:26.159 You grab for the nearest solid handhold to stop you from falling on down the mountain. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:33.279 You look to grab on to something that isn't going to move, like these tiny shifting stones. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:47.519 And as you fall forward, you you see amidst the shale, you see a boulder sticking out and it's planted into the rock, and your hand immediately grabs onto that and it stops you from falling. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.559 That's how the psalmist begins. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:14:02.720 That in the shifting stones of his circumstances of unmet expectations, he looks for a solid handhold for his heart. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:12.799 For the Christian, this is to grab onto the unfailing, unchanging character of God. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:22.879 He begins in verse one by saying that he will sing of God's steadfast love forever. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:28.480 To make known your faithfulness to all generations. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:40.159 God's steadfast love is a very particular word in the Old Testament, the Old Testament word chesed, and it means God's promise keeping love. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:45.360 It's a love that does not disappoint. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:55.200 Or again, as the Jesus story, but the Bible calls it, it is his unwavering, never-stopping, unbreaking, always and forever love. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.519 And that is the solid handhold for the psalmist. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:12.960 He begins by remembering whatever is going on around me, I know that the solid handhold is that you are the promised keeping, loving God. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:17.840 Because that's how his love expresses itself. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:19.360 Look at verse 3 and 4. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:23.840 He says, You have made, you have said, I've made a covenant with my chosen one. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:30.799 I've sworn to my David, my servant, I will establish your offspring forever, I will build your throne for generations. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:36.399 He's recalling how God's unbreakable love expresses itself. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:50.080 It expresses itself in promises, in the promise to David, made all the way back in 2 Samuel chapter 7, that a son of David would always sit on David's throne, that he would establish David's kingdom forever. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:56.080 It's such a crucially important promise for understanding the rest of the story of the Bible. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:59.679 And Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:04.799 He is the son of David, who establishes David's throne forever. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:16.080 That even though it looks like it was failing at this time, God has kept his promise. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:24.480 He is unwaveringly committed to the kingdom of his son, despite all circumstances to the contrary. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:31.919 You think, well, how does that help me understand the shifting sounds and circumstances of my life? 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:42.080 Well, if you are a believer in Jesus, if you're trusting in him, you are trusting in that same Son that God the Father is eternally committed to. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:50.960 In fact, you could push it one level further and say, not only are you trusting in that son, but that you are caught up, wrapped up in those same promises. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:17:02.000 That the commitment that God the Father has to Jesus, that because by faith you are united to him, God the Father has that same commitment to you and your life. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:09.680 That he is committed to seeing you through to eternity, he's committed to bringing you into that kingdom of his son. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:19.759 That though every other handhold fails, whether it's our work or family or money or success, all of them will shift away. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.200 They all will go. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:35.440 When the things you hope for do not come to pass, there is still a firm anchor point for the heart, for the heart of the Christian, that saves us from hopelessness and despair. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:47.440 It is that the believer in Jesus is joined to him spiritually, so that if the Father is eternally committed to Jesus, he's eternally committed to you. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:18:11.680 The psalmist begins, therefore, not with what he has lost temporally, but what he has gained eternally, because of God's unchanging character, because of his resolute commitment to his promises, to his love. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:18.559 How does God show his love? 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:44.480 If I were to tell my wife that I loved her, but never actually did anything loving for her, she might argue that that happens anyway, you would some point question whether or not my words and my actions or my words and my character matched up. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:50.319 I don't seem to be all that committed to the love that I am declaring. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:52.799 Is God like that? 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:55.359 Well, no, the psalmist goes on to go. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:03.519 Not only has God said that he is full of promised keeping love, he has demonstrated it. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:13.440 That's essentially what this section of verse 5 through to verse 18, we're not going to read it all again, but that's what this section is rehearsing for us. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:17.839 That the psalmist is remembering God's awesome power. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:25.279 That's how he expresses his commitment to his people, how he expresses his unbreakable love. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:48.799 The one making these promises, the one who loves you, is in verse 5 and 6 the incomparable God, the king above all kings, the Lord above all lords, the one who sits enthroned above all of the holy ones. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:52.720 He is the one who has committed himself to you. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:20:03.519 All of the idols of our hearts, the things that captivate us, they all will disappoint, they all will lie to us. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:09.759 Not so the God who is transcendent above them all. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:17.039 He has shown his power over his creation. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:24.640 Verse 9, let me remind you, it says, You rule the raging of the seas. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:30.240 When the waves rise, you still them. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:47.279 God's ability to save, his actions, his love is expressed in his power here over creation. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:53.440 But it's not just over creation, it's over the enemies of God's people. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:55.039 Verse 10. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:57.039 You crushed Rahab. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:59.279 Rahab is an old testament word for Egypt. 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:02.640 You crushed Rahab like a carcass. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.680 You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.359 How does God show his love and commitment to us? 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:27.519 By revealing his power over the changing circumstances of the world around us, the shifting chaotic seas, and by defeating our enemies. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:32.640 Maybe you're ahead of me, but are you thinking of anywhere else in the Bible? 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.480 Are you thinking of anyone else? 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:46.160 It takes my mind to Mark chapter 4, where Jesus is asleep in the boat and there is that great squall on the sea. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:50.960 And the disciples fear that they are about to be thrown overboard and perish. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:59.039 And Jesus is awakened and he says, Peace, be still. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.480 Be muzzled like a dog. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:05.759 And it became completely calm. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:13.119 Such that the disciples look at him and say, Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him? 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:22.160 The one who stills the seas in Mark chapter 4 goes on to defeat our greatest enemies. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.599 Not Egypt and Babylon, but sin. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:29.359 Death. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:31.920 Satan. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.319 He defeats them by his death on the cross. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:45.440 He tramples underfoot sin that would enslave us, death that would engulf us, hell that would imprison us. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:49.039 He defeats them for us. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:54.319 So here's where this cashes out. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:23:07.039 So when the Christian is tempted to doubt God's love for us, God's commitment to us, where are we encouraged to look? 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:14.559 Well, we're not primarily encouraged to look at the circumstances that we immediately find ourselves in. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:31.599 No, we are encouraged as Christians, as followers of Jesus, to look back, to look at Good Friday, to look at Easter Sunday, to look at the cross and the empty tomb. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:42.799 You want to see God's commitment to you, his unwavering, gracious love towards you, his trampling of your enemies underfoot. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.000 You look at the cross. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:55.039 God doesn't show us his love in some lofty philosophy. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:02.799 He shows us his love in the grime and horror and muck of the crucifixion. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:15.119 That is the handhold that we grab onto when we feel like everything else below us is shifting sand. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:21.119 When we feel our feet slip, that is what we cling to. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:27.119 And we remember his unwavering commitment to us in Christ. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:37.200 Secondly, we root ourselves in what God has promised. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:44.319 So we grab a hold of, we anchor ourselves in his character, and then we root ourselves in his promises. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:25:03.680 Imagine you've entered into a contract with somebody else, and over the course of that relationship, the party that you've entered into the contract, it looks like they're not holding up their end of the bargain. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:09.200 It doesn't look like they are fulfilling their obligations. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:13.440 What would you do? 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:20.000 Well, you would go to that other party and you would say, This is what you promised to do. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:23.359 This is what you have signed. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:28.000 These are the obligations that you voluntarily have taken upon yourself. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:32.799 And it doesn't look as though you are upholding your end of the bargain. 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:40.640 In other words, you would go to them and say, This is what you promised. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:43.599 Keep your promise. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:51.359 And this is what is happening in verses 19 to 37. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:53.599 See how quickly we're getting 352 verses? 00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:03.759 In verses 19 to 37, the psalmist is coming back to God and saying, This is what you promised to do. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:07.039 Isn't that interesting? 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:14.880 Because doesn't that at first hearing sound a little bit presumptuous? 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:23.519 How is it that a a follower of God, one of his people, would go and go, this is what you promised. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.079 Keep your promises, fulfill your obligations. 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:32.319 Is that not arrogant? 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:34.480 Presumptuous? 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:36.960 I don't think so. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:46.960 It rather is an expression of faith. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:50.319 It's a way of deepening trust. 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:50.960 Why? 00:26:51.279 --> 00:27:06.240 Because you are remembering and rehearsing what God has promised for you, for us, and you are trusting Him still to deliver on His promise. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:07.359 You haven't gone somewhere else. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.839 You've gone back to Him and you say, This is what you have promised. 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:17.200 I am clinging to those promises. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:24.720 It is when we come in childlike humility. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:35.920 Because we're not looking at our own deservedness or our own worthiness, but looking again to his grace. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:40.160 You're saying, saying, in the sense to God, look, I know I know I don't deserve this. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:41.279 I know that I failed. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:44.880 I know that I've not held my end of the bargain. 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:48.240 I know that I have uh not kept faith. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:52.960 But uh, but in Jesus, he kept faith for me. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:58.240 And so I am inviting you, I'm calling you to make good on your promises. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:08.240 This is this is how we ought to interact with him in those moments. 00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:15.359 Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly energetic, which is rare. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:20.079 Uh I uh I'll go on a bike ride uh with my son. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:33.039 And the bike ride, it's become unspoken now, but the bike ride is kind of conditional on uh towards the end of the bike ride, about three quarters of the way through, uh, there's an ice cream shop. 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:36.480 And uh Owen has promised to get me out. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:38.079 No, it's sorry, it's the other way around, isn't it? 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:42.000 Is that I've gotten him on his bike because we're gonna go and get ice cream. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:44.240 We'll get ice cream about three quarters of the way. 00:28:44.319 --> 00:29:00.799 We've already done the we've done the big hill out of uh out of Phoenix Park, and we've come through into Castanon village, and we might be kind of panting up that hill into the village, and he might say, Remember, Dad, you promised. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:03.920 How do I respond? 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:09.759 I don't shout back at him, how dare you put me to the test, you arrogant swine. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:18.079 I shout back through my breathlessness. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:19.920 You're right. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:22.079 I did, didn't I? 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:23.599 Let's stop. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:32.480 It is a wonderful thing to have your son remind you of your promises, to hold you to them. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:43.279 The great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said that the Christians should sue God on his promises. 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:51.839 God loves to answer the prayers that he has committed himself to answering. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:54.400 And so that's why we pray his promises. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.640 You have promised that you will never let us go. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:06.000 You have promised to bring us in the end to your eternal glory. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:09.839 You've promised the gift of your Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.240 Now, Father, please do as you promised to do. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.000 Give us the help of your spirit. 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:22.400 Enable us to persevere until that heavenly city. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:27.119 Be with us as you promised through this dark night. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:35.039 It is a reverent boldness that soothes God on his promises. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:40.400 The psalmist rehearses those promises here. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:45.519 Verse 19, God has chosen a king for himself to lead his people. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:52.240 Verse 20, he anointed that king with oil as a sign of his spirit being with him. 00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:56.319 Verse 23, he promised to make that king victorious. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:02.400 He then promised that he would be a father to that king and would exalt him above all kings. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:12.079 Verse 28 and 29, he said that he would be always committed to this king and to his kingdom, and that that kingdom would never fail. 00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:22.559 And in verse 30, he says that even though those who would come after him would fail, he would never forget his promises. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:31.519 And he has. 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:33.440 He has. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:40.880 Because in Christ, all of these promises, as Paul says, are yes and amen. 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:49.599 In Christ, we enjoy the blessed shelter of this covenant commitment. 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:53.359 We enjoy the Spirit's help by faith in him. 00:31:53.680 --> 00:32:02.559 We experience a foretaste of his victory now that we will now, in that last day, fully see and experience by faith in him. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:12.000 God is a father to us now because he is a father to his son, his chosen king, his anointed one. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:17.680 His kingdom will advance, and no power of hell will overcome it. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:23.759 Because Christ reigns now, over all times and all places and all peoples. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:30.880 And even though we fail, his word is sure. 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:31.920 Why? 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:40.319 Because his covenant doesn't depend on us, but on him and on his faithfulness. 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:54.799 And so it is vital, dear friends, to set every circumstance of shifting sands in the context of God's unshakable, unbreakable, eternal plans. 00:32:55.599 --> 00:33:02.799 That whatever befalls us, the hope of the believer is sure and will not fail. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:24.960 When we feel like our grip is failing or our grasp is loosening, we run to him with his own words, his own commitment to us, and with childlike reverence and humility, say, Father, you promised. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:35.279 Third. 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:52.400 In case you're wondering, there are four, so penultimately, in the disappointment of expectation reality, we anchor ourselves in the character of God. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:57.119 He's unwaveringly loving, unbreakably faithful. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:02.880 We root ourselves in his promises, which means we need to know them. 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:08.559 We need to bring them to God, we need to pray them back to him because he loves to answer those prayers. 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:20.079 But the circumstances that we find ourselves in, the circumstances that maybe you here this morning are in, are still to be lamented. 00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:27.119 And we still plead with God in the midst of the darkness. 00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:41.360 This anchoring, this rooting doesn't suddenly make the things that you have gone through or are going through just fine. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:42.960 Don't hear me say that. 00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:48.800 Don't hear me say, I just like, just go, well, you know, God's good. 00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:52.159 No, the Sama still laments. 00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:56.400 He still weeps over the circumstances that he's in. 00:34:56.719 --> 00:35:07.440 And that's a good and important uh part of how we navigate this changing circumstances of life emotionally. 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:15.760 The Psalmist is not asking us just to paint on a brave face and just pretend like everything's okay. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:22.239 Two things can be true at once, and two things in the Christian life happen simultaneously. 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:25.760 We weep the brokenness of this world. 00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:29.199 We weep the grief that we find ourselves in. 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:32.880 We lament the disappointments and sadnesses. 00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:36.400 And we hope. 00:35:37.840 --> 00:35:39.199 And we hope. 00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:46.000 And that hope is anchored and fueled by the character of God and by the unwavering promises of God. 00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:48.480 We do both. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:53.760 It's like the double heartbeat of the of the maturing Christian. 00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:56.880 We don't just pretend like everything's okay. 00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:05.760 Nor are we so utterly given to despair that we cannot see any of his goodness in it. 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:10.159 Or, let me rephrase that. 00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:15.679 Forgive me for those of you who have been at City for any length of time. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:18.159 I don't think I've kind of used this analogy in a while. 00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:20.159 But there's lots of new people here. 00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:27.199 There's a um there's a book, it's a kid's book, uh, called The Moon Is Always Round. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:31.119 I might have said that too northern Irishly. 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:33.199 The Moon Is Always Round. 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.360 It's a circle. 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:45.039 And it's written by a dad for his son after the loss of one of his siblings. 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:55.440 And his son is wrestling with where God is in the midst of this grief, in the midst of the tragedy. 00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:58.960 And they're in the car at nighttime driving. 00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:06.480 And he points his son up in the story and he says, Son, is the is the moon always round? 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:08.239 Yes, daddy. 00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:12.239 Do we always see the moon as round? 00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:14.320 No, Daddy. 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:17.199 Sometimes it's a crescent. 00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:21.440 But do we see the moon every night? 00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:23.519 No, Daddy. 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:25.920 Sometimes it's hidden. 00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:30.239 But is the moon always round? 00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:32.480 Yes, Daddy. 00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:44.719 There are circumstances that come in your life where you struggle to see the goodness of God, the roundness of the moon. 00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:49.440 Sometimes you can only see it partially. 00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:53.039 Sometimes it is completely eclipsed. 00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:56.239 But the moon is always round. 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:08.639 And God remains steadfastly good, resolutely loving, unwaveringly committed to bringing you to Himself because of Jesus. 00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:17.039 And so we shed our tears and we cling to his promises. 00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:24.400 We lament as the psalmist does. 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:34.159 In this veil of tears, there are times when lament is not just appropriate but necessary for the follower of Jesus. 00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:35.840 This world is broken. 00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:38.719 There is grief and evil. 00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:43.199 We know that it won't always be that way. 00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:49.519 If you have the hope of eternity, we know that He is making all things new. 00:38:50.639 --> 00:38:54.480 And yet we do not have the full blessed reality of that. 00:38:54.559 --> 00:39:04.960 And so it is right for us to cry out with the Psalmist in verse 46 How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever? 00:39:05.199 --> 00:39:09.440 The Ps is in a night where the moon is completely veiled. 00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:11.280 Can't see any of your goodness. 00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.679 Will you hide yourself forever? 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.159 How long will your wrath burn against us? 00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:28.400 All of the promises that the ps has heard and rehearsed here seem to have come to nothing. 00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:32.400 The king is now covered in shame. 00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:35.760 It looks as though God has abandoned his promise. 00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:40.480 The crown lies in the dust, his enemies are exulting over him. 00:39:42.639 --> 00:39:46.559 Where is the power of God's king? 00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:49.679 And where is that forever kingdom? 00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:57.519 All seems to have come down into darkness and defeat and disaster. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.079 But brothers and sisters, this is the way of Christianity, isn't it? 00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:06.880 This is the way of the cross. 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:15.360 Couldn't any of the followers of Jesus on that Friday morning have spoken those words? 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:24.960 The cross, in one sense, is the ultimate unmet expectation. 00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:36.719 You expected a king that would reign, that would defeat all of God's temporal enemies, and that he would triumph. 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:39.199 That's what they expected on Palm Sunday. 00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:40.800 They expected triumph. 00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:42.639 They herald him as king. 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:46.480 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:40:46.719 --> 00:40:50.639 Hosanna to the king of David, or to the son of David. 00:40:52.880 --> 00:40:55.519 And not even a week later, he's murdered. 00:40:56.159 --> 00:40:59.440 The cross is the ultimate, unmet expectation. 00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:06.079 And yet, and yet, and yet, we know that the cross is victory. 00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:10.880 But it's still the greatest evil that was ever committed. 00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:13.119 This is important. 00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:23.280 When God says that he works in all things for good for those who love him, it doesn't mean that the bad things stop being bad. 00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:27.760 And then we just now go, well, that's good, isn't it? 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:31.039 No, no, it's much bigger, it's much richer than that. 00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:43.519 How awful would it be to say to someone in the midst of their grief or sickness or those trapped in the conflict of war. 00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:46.960 Well, I'm sure it's for the best. 00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:50.239 How heartless. 00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:59.920 No, Christianity doesn't approach the suffering of this world with a kind of sentimental, well, every Clyde has a silver lining. 00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:01.519 It doesn't approach it like that. 00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:02.719 Not at all. 00:42:02.960 --> 00:42:06.159 It says the evil in this world is evil. 00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:09.360 Bad things remain bad. 00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:34.000 And yet, our God is such in power, he is so resolutely committed, he is so loving that even through and in and under all of that wickedness, he brings his good and glorious purposes to bear. 00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:40.159 And so we lament, but not without hope. 00:42:40.559 --> 00:43:01.599 Christian maturity looks like feeling the sadness of this world, feeling the grief of bitter circumstance, and still with tear-stained faces, saying to ourselves and to those around us, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. 00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:05.599 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:10.559 So lament. 00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:13.280 Those of you who are in grief. 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:17.599 Weep your tears. 00:43:19.599 --> 00:43:22.400 May we offer you comfort and solace. 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:28.800 But do not weep as those without hope. 00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:32.559 Because the moon is always rhyme. 00:43:33.920 --> 00:43:35.679 Even when you cannot see it. 00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:38.719 Finally. 00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:51.280 Through the shifting circumstances of our lives, we praise the one who exceeds our expectations. 00:43:52.639 --> 00:43:55.760 The psalmist all the way through is never left in bitterness. 00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:59.199 He's perplexed for sure, questioning, absolutely. 00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:01.519 But always trusting. 00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:06.320 The Psalm actually begins and ends with a note of praise. 00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:08.639 Verse 1 and verse 52. 00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:10.639 I will sing of your steadfast love. 00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:13.760 Verse 52, blessed be the Lord forever. 00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:14.400 Amen. 00:44:14.719 --> 00:44:15.360 Amen. 00:44:16.480 --> 00:44:23.760 That even in the wrestling, longing, pleading, it's bracketed with praise. 00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:27.760 With thanksgiving for who God is. 00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:29.199