WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.919 Well, maybe you heard the big news this week. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:08.000 Several of you emailed me and texted me to make sure I knew it. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:13.199 I mean, it's it is news, and it's it's actually quite sad news. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.399 Um we're in Psalm 23. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:17.600 We've been in Psalm 23. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:23.679 Psalm 23 was introduced to me by this 90s rap artist. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:26.640 It's not it's not funny. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.839 He passed away this week. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:28.800 That's not funny. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:30.960 He was 59, he passed away on Wednesday. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:34.000 Coolio passed away on Wednesday. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:35.840 And y'all were ready. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:43.679 I mean, the church was ready to let me know that Coolio passed away almost as if our study of Psalm 23 is centered around Coolio. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:56.479 Um but for many of us, if you're 40-ish or young 40s, uh 10th grade, in my Toyota four-wheel drive truck, Gangsta's Paradise, even though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.719 I mean, it introduced me, it was my knowledge of Psalm 23. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.759 So Coolio was 59, he passed away on Wednesday. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:05.359 I read up on him a little bit this week. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:06.480 He grew up in Compton. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.640 He was plagued by addiction during his life. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:14.319 He actually said that Christianity played a role in his recovery in early adulthood. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:21.519 And so he gave us this gift of Psalm 23 that continues to enter people's lives through Gangsta's paradise. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:24.640 Played on the way home from church for your family. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:31.359 And he also gives us a gift today, in a way, because he reminds us that our lives are finite. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:38.400 He reminds us that we have limited time, and yet we have this gift of Psalm 23. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.719 And this gift keeps giving all the way until the very last phrase. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:48.640 And we've been going phrase by phrase by phrase, letting this story unfold itself. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:02:03.439 And so what we see in Psalm 23 is we see the sheep and the shepherd, and they start in the home ranch, those green pastures of still waters, and then they go through that dangerous valley, they're headed up to the high country, the table up in the high country where there's relief from the summer weather. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:05.359 And then you think everything's going to be great. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:10.560 They're at the high country, they're at the tables, they have provision, and then the flies start. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:16.159 If you remember that, that's what hits the sheep up in the high country is the flies, and they need to be anointed by the shepherd. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:20.000 They need the intimate care of the shepherd. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.680 So there's this pattern in Psalm 23. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:32.319 It's just kind of like over and over and over again, there is loyal love by a fully committed shepherd. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.560 Over and over again. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:37.360 And maybe you've seen that in your life. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:41.680 That you received patience when you should not have received patience. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:44.639 Or you're loved in your messiness and you are. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.280 Or you're loved in your weariness and you are. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:49.599 That loyal love. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.560 So that Hebrew word is chasid. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:54.400 Can we say that together? 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:55.360 Say it together. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:55.680 Ready? 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:56.319 One, two, three. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:56.800 Chesed. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.159 You got to that chh-chhith. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:00.319 You know that little that little noise there. 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:02.479 Hebrew scholars, we're Hebrew scholars. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.199 We love Culio and Hebrew scholars all at the same time. 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:07.680 So here's point number one. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.319 And it comes out of this idea of chissid. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:14.879 You are followed by God's loyal love that never gives up on you. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:16.879 That is what you are followed by. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.120 Sam preached that so well last week. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.120 And we gotta let the first part of verse 6 flow into the second part. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:28.319 Chesed is perfectly loyal love that meets you where you are. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:32.479 It's I'm for you and I'm with you and I'm not giving up on you. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.000 I've read this quote before about Chid as theologian John Oswald. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:36.639 Let's read it again. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:45.360 Chasid speaks of a completely undeserved kindness and generosity done by a person who is in a position of power. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.919 This was the Israelites' experience of God. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:51.520 He revealed himself to them when they were not looking for him. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:58.719 He kept his covenant with them long after their persistent breaking of it and had destroyed any reason for his continued keeping of it. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:05.680 Unlike humans, this deity was not fickle, undependable, self-serving, and grasping. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:10.080 Instead, he was faithful, true, upright, and generous. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:11.360 Always. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.959 So our passage today, at verse 6, Psalm 23. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:26.480 Surely goodness and mercy, Hasid, follow me all the days of my life. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:29.839 And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:36.639 So that word surely, last week, Sam taught us that it meant emphatic certainty. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.000 Emphatic certainty. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:52.399 So thinking about that and thinking about this word chissid, so that word mercy is the word chissid, meaning faithful, steadfast, loyal love. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:05:03.680 And putting this together, we could say with emphatic certainty, goodness, and loyal love follow you all the days of your life. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.000 I could end the sermon there. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:07.279 You probably wish. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:08.959 I would end the sermon there. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:11.839 I'm not going to, but you wish it. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:20.079 Now, if you're anything like me, anything like me, you feel like you're followed by all sorts of things other than loyal love. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.160 You feel like you're followed by all sorts of messes. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:26.959 It's like the bike ride I had home from Jimmy Hagar's house in the fifth grade. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:33.759 I don't know how it happened, but his parents let us watch Friday the 13th, one Friday night. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.000 I was in the fifth grade. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.959 I had never seen a movie like that before in my life. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:41.759 I don't handle dark things well. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:44.000 I don't watch stranger things too dark. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:45.680 I don't watch anything dark. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:47.040 Like, just can't do it. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:48.720 Fifth grade, even worse. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:52.240 I was under the blanket, under the couch, faking bathroom breaks. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.040 By the time the movie ended, it was 9:30. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:59.040 It was dark out, and I had to ride my bike home. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.720 And so I head down Edwards Court. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:04.879 I take a ride on Shannon Way. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.319 I round that curve right where the dirt bike jumps were. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:09.920 And that curve was the darkest. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:10.720 That was the darkest. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:12.240 We all knew that curve was the darkest. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:16.800 Because if you had to ride your bike home at night, you always rode really fast through that curve. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:20.800 And I knew Jason was behind me. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:22.959 Knew it. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.920 I could feel it with his mask and his axe. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:26.959 Do you remember what he looked like? 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:27.920 This is what he looked like. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:36.319 So this is this is what it what I felt was chasing me, was following me, right? 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:40.639 Maybe you remember, we don't have to keep it up there much longer. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.839 But maybe you remember a bike ride home like that. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:48.399 Or or just a walk home. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.639 Or the first three quarters of the Georgia game last night. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.560 Felt like Jason. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:57.040 We've we've felt that, right? 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.879 Like we have these questions that sort of like chase us and harass us. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:03.600 Am I enough? 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:06.720 Do I really have what it takes? 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.759 Will I ever feel pure? 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:15.439 Will I ever be whole? 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:18.319 Will I always be sad? 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:20.399 Will I always be lonely? 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:23.040 Will I always be disappointed? 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:26.240 Will I always be tired? 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:29.519 If people knew me, would they love me? 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:36.399 If God knew me, like really knew me, like if I actually would he love me? 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:47.120 Then the doozy in all this to me, for me, is is if he does love me, does he actually delight in me? 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.879 Or is he just sort of obligated to love me? 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:57.680 And last week Sam just showered us with Psalm 23, 6A, that emphatic promise. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:03.680 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:05.759 Think about the construct of this verse. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:07.199 We have a part A and a part B. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:08.959 Part A flows into part B. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:15.360 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:23.600 So what we have in six days, we have an emphatic promise, the promise given to you, this loyal love, out of it comes a joyful proclamation. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:25.680 That's the Christian life, right there. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:27.680 Promise into proclamation. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:35.600 Any proclamation we have, anything that we have about our life or behavior, anything like that, it comes out of what's already been promised to us. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.639 The love that's already given to us, apart from any reaction or response. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:44.320 You are forever welcomed and loved and forgiven and righteous in Christ. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:45.840 That's the emphatic promise. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:50.559 Now, out of that secure promise comes a joyful proclamation. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.159 A desire to walk with him, a forever home with him. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:56.799 What a promise, what a proclamation we get to make. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:04.639 Point number two is this to dwell with God is to rest in the faithful presence of God with you. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.919 That's true now, and it's true in our heavenly home. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:15.440 The word dwell is the word Yeshab, meaning to remain, sit, abide. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:34.960 Two weeks ago, I went out of town for a few days with my ministry cohort group, and we like to hike together and hang out together, and we taught theology and church and leadership structures, and we, you know, share all of our great opinions that are so great, and we complain a lot, which we're getting better at as we get older. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.720 And so we do this and we laugh a lot, and we do this for a few days, and we're together. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:43.759 And after three days sitting in the airport, I was ready to come home. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.039 I was excited to come home, I was ready to sit on my back porch. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.240 I was ready to have my remote control, not the out-of-town remote control. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:51.759 We all know about the out-of-town remote control. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:53.600 You're always a little confused the whole time. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:10:00.559 I was ready to sleep in my bed with my pillows, my box fan running, right? 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:10.799 But really, I was eager to be at home, not because all those material things that make up a home, but also because, obviously, the people that are there. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:12.240 The presence. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:17.360 So I don't really miss a what as much as I miss a who. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:20.320 You miss your people. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:21.440 You miss your friends. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.120 If you're single or you live alone, you miss your friends, you miss your family. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:26.639 You miss presence. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:48.639 Home always becomes more than to dwell in the house of God is to rest and behold the faithful presence of God to you. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:49.679 He is for you. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.960 Philippians 3, 20 says, But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:05.039 So Christ and our heavenly home, that's our true belonging, without question and without conditions. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:11.360 So point number three is this to dwell with God is to behold his goodness and limitless love to us. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:14.000 That's what it means to dwell with him. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:16.080 Because we're beholding that. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:21.279 And we're gifted to do that now, and we're gifted to have a heavenly home, to do that in forever. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:27.360 Psalm 23 places this idea of dwelling with God at the end of the sheep's journey. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:34.080 He's telling us the ultimate purpose of the shepherd is to dwell with us, and the ultimate purpose of us is to dwell with the shepherd. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:38.159 Psalm 27, verse 4, another of David's. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:50.080 One thing I asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:52.799 Now, what does that mean for you and Marietta in 2022? 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.399 Well, we all want something to behold. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:01.519 We all want to be held by something, and nothing quite works. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:05.200 We try, we have tried, you are trying, I'm trying. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:07.759 But God Himself is different. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:14.000 Limitless love, loyal love, Hasid into our limited ability to get it all together. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:17.200 Now that's a beauty to be held by. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:22.240 That's something sustainable, secure enough to hold our fragile hearts. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:40.559 And we get to abide there to allow our hearts and identities to dwell in that lavish welcome and validation that we are finally found by something worthy enough, with enough love to hold us. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:44.799 Point number four, last point, four-point sermon. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:45.759 You got an extra one. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:50.559 God's heart is to dwell with you, not condemn you or distance you. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.000 That's God's heart. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:57.600 In the Old Testament, the temple in Jerusalem stood as a symbol of God's desire to dwell with his people. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:01.840 In that courtyard of the temple, there would be a bloodied altar. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.200 People making sacrifices as they entered. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.679 To say, I don't have my act together. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:11.519 There needs to be a sacrifice, a purification of sin. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:13.840 Now we know Christ is the final sacrifice. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.960 So God provided this Himself, so we don't have to keep sacrificing. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:24.639 We don't have to sacrifice ourselves over and over again, which we're so very good at doing, as if it merits some sort of welcome or love. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:36.960 Hebrews 12, verse 2, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:44.399 We are orphans who became children because of the Father's love for us. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:55.840 Now we've noticed it a couple times in Psalm 23 that David never places the care or health of the sheep on the burden of the sheep. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.799 It's one of those things you could read Psalm 23 over and over again to sort of like bypass that fact. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.159 It's just embedded in the nature of the Psalm. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:06.080 It's the shepherd. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:07.840 It's the shepherd. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:12.720 It's his guidance and his care and his steadfast love that's sustaining the sheep. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:14.399 So here's what that means. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:22.240 Revolutionary, if you've never heard it, your relationship with God is not centered on your love for him. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.879 It's on his love for you. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:31.840 And that is freeing, and that is healing, and that is empowering. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:38.960 So your faith doesn't have to be do more and try harder, but it's surrender more and gaze more. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.279 David keeps going in Psalm 36, 7 and 8. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:48.000 How precious is your steadfast love, O God. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:53.360 The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:59.919 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.000 So knowing the word steadfast love is the word chassid. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.240 Again, here, David uses it again. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:09.840 We could say this: how precious is your loyal love. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.279 We take refuge in your care. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:19.120 And then verse 8, you give them drink from the river of your delights. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:23.519 The word delights is built from the same root word as the word Eden. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:32.159 The paradise we once enjoyed with God at our creation, that pure joy, pure fellowship with the divine, this is our meta-narrative. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:33.600 It's your story. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:40.000 That your life's end is your new beginning in pure delight. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:41.919 That's our heavenly home. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:52.159 Can you imagine a place where there's no weariness or sadness, where those questions that follow you, like Jason, they go away. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:53.919 They're healed. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.600 Can you imagine all the disappointment and pain and anxiety becoming whole? 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:02.960 Can you imagine not being tired or lonely or your mistakes not plaguing you? 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:12.480 The story ends not with you adding it up, the story ends with God redeeming everything. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:14.879 All the sadness. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.960 And all that remains is joy and peace. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.600 God Himself for us to behold. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:28.480 Let's close by reading what David has to say in Psalm 136 and then revisit our verse for today. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:33.519 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His Hasid. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.360 Steadfast love endures forever. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:42.320 Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:47.120 Give thanks to the Lord of Lords for his steadfast love endures forever. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:48.720 Psalm 23, 6. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:54.159 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.919 And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:59.120 Let's pray together. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:13.680 God, would you help us even more today to receive this emphatic promise that we are followed, grounded in your goodness to us, your mercy to us that is secured in the gift of Christ. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.839 Help us even more to dwell in your presence. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.599 That you have promised to us as we are surrendered to you. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:25.200 And you promise to be for us and never leave us. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.960 Help us to sit more, abide more, dwell more, gaze more, behold more. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:38.240 Help us to trust that you are enough for us and all the mess that follows us. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:43.440 And that ultimately we are followed by your goodness and your mercy. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:45.519 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:46.319 Amen.