WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.520 Morning, Church. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.280 Our reading this morning is Psalm five. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.759 To the choir master for the flutes, a psalm of David. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.679 Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:17.760 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my king and my God. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.519 For to you do I pray. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.640 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.000 In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.800 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:30.879 Evil may not dwell with you. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.759 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.000 You hate all evildoers. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.479 You destroy those who speak lies. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.479 The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:46.960 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.560 I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:54.320 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.560 Make your way straight before me, for there is no truth in their mouth. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:04.480 Their inmost self is destruction, their throat is an open grave, they flatter with their tongue. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:13.920 Make them bear their guilt, O God, let them fall by their own counsels, because of the abundance of their transgressions, cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:17.519 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:24.000 Let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.079 For you bless the righteous, O Lord. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.879 You cover him with favor as with the shield. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:30.319 You may be seated. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:36.239 Good morning. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:41.760 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.040 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.760 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.159 Uh it's cold out there, but it's very hot in here. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:53.680 Two observations for you. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:58.000 I'll be doing observational preaching this morning in the vein of Jerry Seinfeld. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:05.280 You might not have picked up on it, but ChatGPT was playing the bass this morning. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:13.680 And I actually did a pretty good job, you know, uh uh, which was pretty cool. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.000 This is our last Sunday in the formation series. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:37.360 Now this series is about forming our hearts so that we as a church and as people within the church are able to move out into a world in which new boundary lines have been drawn, especially over the past three years. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:03:01.120 And the intention of this is that we're able to move in the midst of these new boundaries, these new moral dispositions that our culture holds, and have our hearts no longer oriented towards the moral lines that our culture is drawing, but instead have our hearts oriented towards the scriptures. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.840 That way we might know what is the real dividing line of justice. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:14.879 And we might not, in an attempt to perhaps engage with the culture, lose ourselves to the culture. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:37.280 And this is one of the things that David focuses on in this psalm quite a bit is how do you engage with a world that has hostility in it, and you yourself not be taken in by the tactics that the world uses, but that you might move through a dangerous world that is after your soul and maintain your soul. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:39.280 That's what we're looking at this morning. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:44.800 And so let's pray, and then we'll move into the particulars of this text. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.400 Holy Father, we we thank you for joining us this morning. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.759 We thank you for being able to unite our voices and lift up our worship to you. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:10.960 Lord, we praise you that you attend this time and that as we've read in this psalm, that we are able to move forward, protected by you as though by a shield, that you cover us with your favor as with a shield. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:22.560 Lord, I pray that you would lead our hearts towards your righteousness, and that we might grow in understanding and the experience of your care. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:29.040 That that might transform and heal our hearts, make us into the image of your son. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:35.680 Lord, you have promised that the good work that you have started in us you will see through to completion. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:47.040 We pray that we might participate in that process, that you have made sure in Jesus Christ, we might participate in it by faith and be transformed even this morning. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:50.319 May we enter into your presence. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.720 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.560 So last week was about prayer in the evening. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:02.639 Psalm 4 is about praying in the evening, and this is about prayer in the morning. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:18.319 Now, we've covered a lot in this formation series from Joshua 1, this call for courage, which in order to maintain yourself and maintain the faith that we've been uh given, it will require a lot of courage. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:24.000 And in Psalm 2, we saw that our hearts need to be oriented towards the true king. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:29.199 In Psalm 1, which I just skipped over, we saw that our wisdom comes from the word. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:30.879 So we need to know the word. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:35.759 And in Psalm 2, we need to see that Jesus is the top of the hierarchy of our lives. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.079 He is the thing that we are aiming at, which gives us our direction and orientation. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:44.319 And then in Psalm 4, we skipped Psalm 3, as I said, it's not that good. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:46.319 And it's a joke. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.000 You know, it's very good. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:53.920 In Psalm 4, we saw David praying in the evenings. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.480 And today we see David praying in the mornings. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.199 Now, this is my whole hope. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:13.199 Uh if you forget about the courage, if you forget about the orientation, if you forget about the pattern that this sermon series has taken, look, you will, I will. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:25.920 But if you pray each morning and each evening, this could be the most transformative study of scripture you ever encounter in your life. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.560 This is my hope for our church. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:33.600 Look, we don't just become theoretically oriented towards the Lord. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.879 We become oriented towards the Lord with our lives, in the living. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.720 And we aren't being oriented towards mere principles. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:57.439 We are being oriented towards a person, the person of Jesus Christ, who, as we sung this morning, laid down his crown so that he might identify with us and we might be saved by his work on the cross. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.959 The one who did that is our Lord and our God. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:13.519 And we orient towards him not just in theory, not just in getting our principles right about him, but in the practice of relating to him. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:26.000 And so if you adopt this practice of relating to him, one which matches a rhythm, which you're kind of trapped in anyway, you're trapped in a rhythm of mornings and evenings. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.439 It's been that case since the creation of the world. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:40.399 And so if we can use that rhythm to engage with the Lord in a true relational dynamic, then you will discover the courage that is needed. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:44.160 You will discover the depth of the wisdom of the word. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:51.439 You will discover the orientation of your heart as only being satisfied and only being complete in Jesus Christ. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:08:01.439 Those other things will flow from that in a way that is beyond mere in the way that we use the word knowledge. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:07.120 And into the way that like the Bible uses the word knowledge. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.759 Like a like the way that you know a person. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.079 And that's what we're looking at here. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:27.439 And so today, last week, we talked about praying in the evenings, where David accomplishes this miracle where he engages with the Lord and quiets his mind before the Lord, orients his heart towards what is true, then he's able to do this thing, sleep. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:29.759 It's incredible. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:37.120 Now, for some of you, that may be the most important thing that we look at in this series because some of you are evening anxious. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.960 In fact, today is like the climax of your evening anxiety. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:42.399 Sunday. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.600 They're scary. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:54.559 And we all do when we say that it's Sunday scaries. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.240 Oh, I mean, it's funny, just it's funny just when you say it slowly, it turns out. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:10.159 But there's a uh we know that the dynamic that we're engaging with is there's this future that we're being thrust into, and I'm uh I'm nervous about what it's gonna reveal. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:14.639 And in so, especially in the cusp of a new week, this is a scary evening. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:18.399 And some of you tonight will be like, I can't turn my mind off. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.120 I'm terrified, I've got all this anxiety that's building up. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:35.840 And then you'll remember evening prayer, and you'll go to Psalm 4, and you'll move through that prayer, and you'll be participating in the presence of the Lord, relating to him, seeing him as the orientation of your heart, and practicing the quieting of your mind with him. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:39.840 And that'll be a challenging but a deeply important discipline. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:42.240 For me, evenings are nothing. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:47.519 Evenings are I go to the Lord in prayer in the evenings, joyful. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:48.639 Mornings. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:51.759 Mornings are hard for me. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:10:01.039 Ever since I was a kid, I remember waking up in the mornings with a sense of anxiety and fear of what the day is going to hold. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:11.120 And uh I remember being like a like a young kid in elementary school, and my mom setting an ego waffle before me, and my stomach was too turning to be able to eat it. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.279 And those are, it's not the waffle. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:15.440 We can all agree those are delicious. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:18.159 It was me. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:20.240 It took me a long time to realize it wasn't the waffle, it's me. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.399 I think we've all had moments like that in our lives. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:32.240 I don't run to the Lord in the mornings seeking his joyful presence. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:48.879 I drag my soul into his presence, not desiring to come before him, but just trusting that I will not feel at the end of this prayer like I feel now. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:11:00.080 And if I don't come to him now, then I will be trying to face the day from a mode of, well, let me put it like this. 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:14.720 You know, you know what helps the one thing that consistently helps uh my anxiety when I wake up in the morning and I wake up and I look at the day, and the sun comes up, and I open my eyes and I think, again? 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.000 Another day? 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.720 I've done dozens of these. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:25.679 And yet there it is, another day to be faced. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:32.960 The thing that consistently helps is work, getting to work immediately. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:39.919 So some task that I can bury myself in and accomplish that consistently helps. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.200 And you know what that is? 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:42.879 That's coping. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:53.679 And coping is when you figure out a way to address a symptom while leaving the underlying condition untouched. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:12:06.000 And I'll say, I'll just be anxious and then I'll cope and I'll just get to work, because that'll solve, it'll take care of, it'll mask this experience of the anxiety over the day that I'm facing. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:13.759 Now, think of how different our series through the Gospel of Mark, for example, which we'll pick back up on in the fall. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:33.519 If Jesus sees, we see, we read the story, and Jesus is uh in the temple on the Sabbath and he sees a man with a withered hand, and he walks up to the man with the withered hand and he says, Sir, sir, he looked at him and he loved him, and he said, If your hand hurts when you hold it like this, just hold it like this instead. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:42.000 And the Pharisees would look at him and say, Giving advice to cope with an injury on the Sabbath, we will kill this man. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:43.840 No, that's not the story. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:48.559 Jesus is not in the business of coping. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:53.360 He's not in the business of teaching better coping strategies. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.559 He's in the business of transformation, transforming our hearts. 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:02.480 The man straightens out his hand and it works like the hand is supposed to. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:11.039 My soul, I wake up each morning, and I have a Lord who says, Do not fear, I'm with you. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.600 But I wake up in the morning fearful. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:31.600 Now I I come to him in prayer, I drag my soul to him in prayer, that there will be a day when my soul does not wake up fearful, does not wake up anxious, because of the transformative power of Jesus Christ. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:41.519 Because he is not here to just keep teach us some new coping strategy, he is here to, by his relating to us, to transform our hearts. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:55.519 So that we are we are so identified with Christ, we're so participating in his image that we experience the Lord in the way that Jesus experienced the Lord. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:09.919 Coming to him, clothed in Jesus' righteousness, enjoying his presence, enjoying the gaze of the face of our Father looking upon us, covering us with favors, with a shield. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.080 From what I know about the gospel, I know that that is the proper orientation of my heart. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:27.279 And so when I find that my heart is not in that position, be it for you in the evening or in the morning or some other thing, it is so important to recognize that and say, what pattern has the Lord given us? 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:33.039 He has given us the pattern of coming to him so that we might be healed by him. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.120 Not merely given some new coping strategy. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:38.639 Aim a little higher. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:43.519 Let's lift up our gaze to what the Lord desires for us. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:15:14.879 So throughout this psalm, when God prays to the Lord in the morning, we see when David prays to the Lord in the morning, we see David call for God's attention, and then trust in God's justice, then call for God's guidance, then call for God's action, and then David moves forward, he sets out into the world behind the Lord's SHIELD. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:19.840 Now the acronym for that is I'm just kidding. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.480 Psalm 5, 1 through 2. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:26.320 Call for God's attention. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.879 Give ear to my words, O Lord. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:30.799 Consider my groaning. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:37.440 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my king and my God, for to you do I pray. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.879 I wake up in the morning needing attention. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.240 I need to be attended to. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:50.879 Now, I I I don't like that about myself. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:16:07.200 I would like to wake up confident and rested and at peace with the Lord and just sort of like drift into my day and it in into a place of peaceful enjoyment before the Lord. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:10.080 But that that is not typical for me. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:17.840 I I tend to wake up and I recognize immediately I need attending to. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:26.399 Now, the strange thing about this, or the thing that's worth noting about this, is this is not a flaw in our humanity. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:35.600 We were made to be in relationship with the Lord and to find our centering in relationship with Him. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:39.120 And so you wake up needy. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:43.039 Paul, well, Paul too, but I meant to say David. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.279 David wakes up needy. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:46.480 Paul was fine. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:47.519 Just kidding. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:48.879 He woke up needy too. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:51.120 David wakes up needy. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.240 And we see that in in this psalm. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:59.200 In this initial cry, consider, give ear to my words, O Lord. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:01.200 Consider my groaning. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:13.200 It's this that groaning, it's that internal, you know, almost mumbling to yourself dialogue, whatever track that your brain clicks into right when you wake up and it's saying, it's repeating these couple of things. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:18.480 Sometimes I'll literally be brushing my teeth in the mirror and thinking, why am I thinking this thought? 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:20.079 It was high school. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:24.000 I probably thought this thought for like 20 years. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.119 Why have I, why, why am I thinking this again? 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.920 And it's my brain just clicks into that thing. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:31.359 And I what do I need? 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:32.559 I need that groaning. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.039 Like, Lord, give attention to this groaning. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:36.559 Would you take it away? 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:43.680 Would you transform it into a groaning and words that are oriented towards you, that this would become a prayer? 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:49.279 Because I can't just adjust myself. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:58.400 I need to be adjusted with someone, towards someone, in a relationship to find my orientation. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:01.200 And this is what prayer is. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:03.440 Prayer uniquely does this. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.559 So David does not sit and just merely indulge in his self-sufficiency. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:13.119 David does not begin and think, oh man, I'm feeling anxious. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:21.920 Armies revolting, kings chasing me, sons rebelling, all the things that he would feel anxious about. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:27.440 Conviction from murders and rapes, the things that would be in David's mind. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:33.920 You know, these like these are the depths of what a person can experience. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:43.680 This is one of the benefits of these being David's prayers, is you can basically look at David's life and say, this is a maximal example of pain and suffering. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:47.440 And so that means it includes what I'm experiencing now. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:54.079 If this worked for David when his life was out here on this crazy limit, this will work for me here. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:58.880 It's one of the benefits of seeing this, particularly in David's life. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:06.640 But David comes and he he does not just revel in his self-sufficiency and say, I can figure this out, I can make this happen for myself. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:15.599 Sure, I woke up feeling anxious, but that's just because I didn't follow Tim Ferris's morning routine closely enough, and I'm short on ketones. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:21.279 I don't know what those are, but it feels like a Tim Ferriss word. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:31.440 And the and instead of going to that self-sufficiency, David says, I need the Lord. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.319 I need the Lord. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:37.599 Okay, begin here. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:40.960 You need the Lord. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:48.000 You will not mature out of your need for the Lord. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:54.079 You only mature more deeply, more confidently into it. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:05.119 You recognize as you become a more mature Christian, I needed the Lord even more than I thought when I was first driven to him by anxious mornings. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:09.599 I need the Lord, uh, I need the Lord for my very breath. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:11.680 I need the Lord for for my next thought. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.480 I I am living and moving only within him. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.039 The the complexities of the world are far more than I had previously anticipated. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:24.079 I need him deeply, and he is faithful to be there. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:29.359 He meets me in the morning, he gives ear to my word. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:43.759 At the prayer night on Wednesday, we were gathered in the living room of the car's house, and we were praying for the church in Vanuatu where we support some missionaries. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:49.519 And we were praying for particular issues that people in that church are facing. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:58.880 And I just considered, you know, if I were to walk out in Arvada and scream as loud as I could, you probably couldn't even hear me in Westminster. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:07.680 And yet, we're here quietly speaking to one another in this room. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:15.279 And the God who made the heavens and the earth is giving ear to us. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.400 He's giving us his attention. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:23.359 And he's considering it on behalf of his children on the other side of the world. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:29.920 You know, this is uh this is an incredible thing to gain an audience from the Lord. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.480 And David goes there immediately. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.119 In verse 3, it says, O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:41.039 In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:44.559 David is confident that the Lord hears him. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.240 In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.240 This language can mean just praying. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:59.839 You know, the Bible describes our prayers going up as a pleasing aroma, and that's sacrificial language, because most of the sacrifice. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:06.799 In the early church, where it's just barbecue, which smells, that's the best smell. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:11.119 And it would go up as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.519 And our prayers do that same thing. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:23.759 And so David is saying, in this prayer, it is a sacrifice to the Lord, this means by which I am entering into the presence of the Lord. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.519 You can do this from home. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:28.240 You don't even need to go somewhere special. 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:30.960 You can enter into the presence of the Lord. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:44.799 One of my prayers for this morning, looking forward to this precise moment, was that we would be entering into the presence of the Lord as we looked upon his word and he would attend to us. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:48.240 He enters into the presence of the Lord and he watches. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:53.519 This means that he expects something to happen. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:23:01.039 Now, he wakes up in the morning and he says, I must get into the presence of the Lord. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:08.640 You know, my son wakes up every morning and runs straight into my wife and I's room. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:12.559 And I thought, that's about right. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:18.880 Because he wakes up in the morning and the world, especially his room, is horrifying. 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:29.680 And he thinks, I woke up and I got problems that only mom and dad can solve. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:38.240 I could sit here and rationalize my room all day long. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:40.960 And I know it's not going to change me. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.039 But if I get into their presence, my heart will be settled. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.640 I'll be able to see things more clearly. 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:50.319 I'll walk back into my room and it'll be moderately less horrifying. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:56.160 Ghostface was not a theme, but we decided to go with it. 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:02.400 And we are the same. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.359 Look, I'm not older than my son. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:08.000 Neither are you. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:14.559 You wake up in the morning with problems only your father can handle. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:18.799 That is maturity. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:20.960 Now, I know what you're thinking. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.279 Is that manly? 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.000 Is this a masculine approach? 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.240 To which I'd say, yeah, you're probably right. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.880 You're probably more of a man than King David. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:40.559 Probably. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:45.599 Can't think of anything very masculine he did off the top of my head. 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.240 It's the proper disposition of your heart. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:57.279 Come into the presence of the Lord. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:00.079 Go there, first thing. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:03.519 Say, Lord, I need your attention. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:05.519 Let him give it to you. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:10.400 Next is trust in God's justice. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.680 So the first was call for the Lord's attention. 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:18.640 The next is trust in God's justice. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.519 Verses four through six. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:24.960 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:27.599 Evil may not dwell with you. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.359 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.759 You hate all evildoers. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.559 You destroy those who speak lies. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.640 The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.519 David looks out into the world that he is going to enter, and he sees, what is this populated by? 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:58.880 Wicked, evil, boastful, evildoers, liars, bloodthirsty, deceitful. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:09.519 This is not just themes of humanity that we explore in Swords and Sandals movies. 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:13.200 This is the reality of the world. 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:17.359 These are the other characters that you inhabit this world with. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:19.519 It is true. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:24.079 We walk into a dangerous place. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:39.839 A dangerous world in which there are constantly tugs on our hearts to deviate from the ways of the Lord and move into participating in some lie. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:43.680 We are constantly pulled in that way. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.160 There's it's deceptive, it's bloodthirsty. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:27:04.960 I mean it just consider how many of the how many just ordinary TV shows are borderline pornographic and are speaking to your soul. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:07.200 There's satisfaction. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:09.680 It's right here. 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:10.960 It's in this aesthetic. 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:13.680 Look at this magnificent lifestyle. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:18.400 That it's just a few adjustments from you being able to participate in that. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:20.319 Others are participating in that. 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:25.359 Look, it's piped into your home, and you can look at it and gaze upon it. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:28.319 And they and it's a tug on your soul. 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:36.319 It's deceptive, it's boastful, it's deceitful. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:38.720 And its heart's bloodthirsty. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:40.559 It's bloodthirsty. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:42.400 Out to get you. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:45.359 This is the type of world that we enter into. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:56.799 And David does not just say, look, he's not just saying, lions and tigers and bears, evil and boastful and wicked and deceptive. 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:00.000 That's not the way he's framing it in his mind. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.640 You know, that's not the way that he's meditating on these realities. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:08.640 He's saying, you are not a God who delights in that. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:18.240 I look out into the world and there's all these things, but there is a sure justice that divides the world properly. 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:22.640 And that sure and certain justice is the Lord. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:26.720 Lord, you know what is right and what is wrong. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:34.799 You parse what is good and what our hearts should be drawn towards, and what is evil and our hearts should flee from. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:54.799 And so, yes, there is a world full of all this wickedness and all this evil and this danger and this opportunity for my soul to be corrupted, and some of it's my own memories of past actions that I want to vacation back into before I knew of the justice of the Lord. 00:28:54.880 --> 00:29:02.960 But Lord, you are the true dividing line, and your justice I can trust in, that it will lead to life. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:08.799 David names the reality of the evil, but it is not contextless. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:16.559 It is within the context that this is evil because it is out of step with the Lord, and it is the Lord who shows his justice. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:28.640 Therefore, David is doing an orientation, he's orienting his heart towards the goodness of the Lord while recognizing the danger that is out there. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:37.039 So we trust in God's justice, and we trust that God's justice will be realized. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:40.799 He says the boastful will not stand. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:46.880 You hate all evildoers, you destroy those who speak lies. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:50.640 The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:55.119 The justice of the Lord will be made known. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:29:58.240 And that can be hard. 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:06.079 It's part of the deception of the world, is that it seems to be going fine. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:13.440 For all the people that I see living out of step with the ways of the Lord, it seems fine. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:19.759 But David, he grabs his heart and he says, Look, the justice of the Lord is coming. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:22.720 That road leads to destruction. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:26.799 There is a hope in this and a fear in this. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:34.559 And that is why the next thing that David does after trusting in the justice of the Lord, remember, this is the morning. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:39.119 So he's looking out into the world and he's saying, I'm walking into a dangerous place. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:43.039 Is there any hope of protection in that dangerous place before I walk out? 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:45.759 Or should I just stay here under the covers? 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:53.359 He looks out and he sees the danger in the context of the Lord, and then he calls for God's guidance. 00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:55.039 This is the third thing he does. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:56.559 In verses 7 through 8. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:01.440 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:05.680 I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:10.960 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:14.319 Make your way straight before me. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:32.240 Why is it that David is able to trust in the Lord's justice when he knows that he himself is someone who would fall outside of this perfect line of God's justice? 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:41.920 Notice, David doesn't say, but I, through the abundance of my righteousness before you, will enter your house. 00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.920 No, that's not what gives him his certainty before the Lord. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:32:21.519 He says, But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, David understands his covenantal position before the Lord, that the Lord has made promises to him, promises of his steadfast love, of giving to David the Lord's righteousness, so that he might enter into the house of the Lord and not be met with the fear of being destroyed, but instead be met with abundant, steadfast love. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:25.440 Pause on that phrase. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:28.720 We'll practice this for when you do this tomorrow morning. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:35.119 Through the abundance of your steadfast love. 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:39.200 How do I move out into a world so fearful? 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:43.519 Through the abundance of his steadfast love. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:48.559 Oh, it will take practice to be able to receive that. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:53.680 It is not just a concept to be known. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:33:03.039 You will have to be transformed into a different type of person to be able to receive the abundance of the Lord's steadfast love. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:17.200 You will have to practice being in his presence, to be able to rest and receive that, maybe daily, maybe twice a day, maybe in the morning and in the evening for the rest of your life, to sit and consider he loves me. 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:25.200 He has an abundant, inexhaustible love towards me. 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:35.839 I can move forward into all kinds of dangers because of his love towards me. 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:43.920 And he says, lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness, because of my enemies. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:46.640 Make your way straight before me. 00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:51.039 Now he sees, like, look, I'm walking out into a dangerous world. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:59.440 There's deception and there's evil and there's boastful people, and it's disorienting, and it's hard for me to tell what is right and what is wrong. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:07.279 And my soul drifts without me even knowing it, and then I'll find myself in places where it's like, oh man, what how could I think this was good? 00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:11.360 And I'll have to reorient towards the Lord. 00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:14.719 What do I need to live in a space like that? 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:17.760 Lord, lead me. 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:20.239 Lead me. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:25.280 Be the one who shows me the way that I ought to go. 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:29.199 Lead me in your righteousness. 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:34.719 That I might participate in what the Lord's desires are for me. 00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:49.440 That I might love someone I otherwise would have ignored, that I might move into situations anticipating there is righteousness here that the Lord has stored up for me for me to walk in it. 00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:58.159 Lord, I am not entering a world of mere danger and chaos with no one looking over it. 00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:04.480 Just awaiting some judgment at the end of did you do good enough in that crazy world of chaos? 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:12.480 Were your intuitions good enough to guide you through it so that you made it out and the Lord would justify your existence? 00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:14.480 No, that's not the way. 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:16.960 I wake up in the morning and I think like that. 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:20.159 Another chaotic world, another test from the Lord. 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:23.840 Here I walk into it, armed with nothing but my wits. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:25.519 I hope I pass. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:27.519 I'm terrified. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.079 And snooze button. 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:33.679 Not to sleep, to stress. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:40.800 Or the world is a dangerous place. 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:43.679 The Lord is overseeing it. 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:47.360 He has an abundance of steadfast love towards me. 00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:52.719 Not based on how well I do today, he's given it to me as a gift. 00:35:53.360 --> 00:36:00.559 In fact, he sacrificed his son so that I might participate in the gift of his righteousness by faith. 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:01.760 I have it now. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:04.960 I rest in the abundance of his steadfast love. 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:14.239 I do not walk out into a world where I have nothing but my wits about me in order to make it through this chaotic place. 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:19.119 I walk through led by the Lord who has gone before me. 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:23.519 He goes before me to lead me in paths of righteousness. 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:26.880 What do those paths of righteousness look like? 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:29.280 How can I know when they are on them? 00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:32.800 Well, they they can be paths that are that go through strange places. 00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:35.119 You know, you can hear Psalm 23 in this. 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:36.559 Paths of righteousness. 00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:39.840 Sometimes those are through valleys of the shadow of death. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:41.519 Will he be with me even there? 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:43.119 Yes, even there. 00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:48.480 Lead me in paths of righteousness because of my enemies. 00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:49.519 What is that? 00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:57.039 Because if I'm not led through, I'll follow my enemies. 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:02.159 Even just in the fighting of them, I'll become like them. 00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:06.559 To the boastful, I'll become boastful. 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:08.239 To the liars, I'll become a liar. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:10.239 To the evil, I'll become evil. 00:37:10.400 --> 00:37:19.280 And then I will have moved through this path thinking I was accomplishing the justice of the Lord the whole time, and then it turns out I lost my soul in the endeavor. 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:25.360 Because the world is a place such that we must be led through it. 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:27.599 Led by the Lord. 00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:41.519 Do you see how this whole thing is a practice from start to finish from start to finish of abandoning your self-sufficiency and shifting your trust onto the Lord? 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:48.639 Look, to do that, he cannot just be principles. 00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:57.440 The Lord must be a person that can attend to you and that you can know and be known by. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:10.480 What I'm trying to compel you towards, David says at the beginning of this, he says, I give a sacrifice to you and I watch. 00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:17.599 Now you watch when you expect something to happen. 00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:26.559