WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.199 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:16.879 I want to take a moment and draw your attention to those words on the screen. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:18.480 It says second line. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:20.559 It says, I will be with the one I love. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:21.120 We get that. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:23.600 But then we say, with unveiled face, I'll see him. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.399 Sometimes we say things in the church, we sing things in the church in a way that we don't necessarily talk. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:33.280 And I don't want you to miss the fact that when it says with unveiled face, I'll see him. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:37.439 The Bible says that here in this life we look to a glass dimly. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.079 Translation, there are things that are going to happen in your life that you're not going to understand. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:46.640 And you have to live with the what, and you never get clarity around the why. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:48.399 You're like, why did that happen? 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:51.280 And the Bible says, hey, there's kind of a veil. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:52.960 We don't see things clearly. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.679 The best way I know to describe it is kind of like that blocked glass people put in their bathroom window. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:01.520 You can see that there's somebody in there, but you can't make it out. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:08.879 And I would dare say most of us in this room have something in our life that we can look back on and say, yeah, I don't know why. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.079 I can't see that clearly, and it bothers me. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:18.640 And the task for you, or the opportunity for you and I, is to still exercise hope in the midst of that. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.760 Because the Bible says that the hidden things belong to the Lord. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:24.560 But those things that are revealed belong to us. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:31.040 There are things that are going to happen in this life that we're never going to understand until heaven. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.760 And then it's going to be made clear. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:46.640 And so the question before us is can we live with this kind of veil over our face, this inability to see everything clearly the way God does, and to know everything absolutely the way God does. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:56.959 But the question that we're left with is, can I be a person of hope, like the Bible describes it, and not know all the whys that I experience in life? 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.120 We're going to talk about that today. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:00.400 Let's pray together. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:12.800 Lord Jesus, thanks for the truth of the Bible, that the gospel doesn't shrink back from just the reality of life, that it's hard and that it's painful sometimes, and things don't always go our way. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:19.039 We don't get what we want for Christmas every year, and we don't get what we want in life every day. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:24.879 And yet the Bible calls us to this sustaining reality that the Bible refers to hope. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:32.560 And so, Lord, we don't want to be glib and we don't want to be sentimental or sappy or we don't want to just say things that the Bible doesn't say. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:38.719 The Bible gets down into the nitty, gritty details of life, and it speaks to it in a language that we understand. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:43.199 So speak to us today, Lord, about what it means to be people of hope, we pray. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:45.120 Ask all this in Jesus' name. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:46.960 And everyone said, Amen. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:47.759 You can have a seat. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.840 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to the 137th Psalm. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:58.560 If you're wondering where the Psalms is, just crack your Bible right in the middle and kind of go to the left a little bit, and you'll probably find the Psalms. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.159 One of the longest books in the Bible has 150 chapters. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:06.159 And it was a kind of a prayer book or a song book of the people of God. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.639 If there was a hymnal in the Bible, it would be the Psalms. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:11.039 These are things they they sang to God. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.120 It's divided into five sections. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:18.080 The fifth section of the Psalm, which is Psalm 135 to 150. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.039 That is songs of praise or Psalms of Praise. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.360 And so this was a song that they sang in worship to God. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:28.719 I tell you that, so you kind of get the context because we're going to read it. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:35.360 And I promise you, most of you have never heard a sermon out of the 137th Psalm because of the violent nature of what it says. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.479 Now that I've got your attention, you're like, well, what is what is what is it? 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:39.759 Can't be that bad, can it? 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:41.520 Let me say this. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.479 I uh in preparation for today, I read a lot. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:47.520 Uh like I came across Immanuel Kant, the philosopher. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.800 He wrote a book in 1787 called The Critique of Pure Reason. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:57.759 And in the book, he says that all of our questions of human reason and speculation, they fall out into three categories. 00:03:57.919 --> 00:03:58.719 What can I know? 00:03:58.879 --> 00:03:59.680 What should I do? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:01.280 And what may I hope? 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:08.400 And so for a long time, people have been asking this kind of existential question: what can I really hope for in life? 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:13.520 Uh just this this month, someone wrote an article in the uh the Atlantic magazine. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:15.280 Anybody know what the Atlantic magazine is? 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:19.040 It's not a not a Christian, it's not like, you know, hey, this is a guy. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:22.959 He the the article proved that I read a bunch of different stuff. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:24.879 Uh my friends are like, you're a nerd, dude. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:28.720 Uh the article was, is it should there be hope in art? 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:34.000 Is it wrong to paint and sculpt and things that kind of provoke hope in people? 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:35.360 Is that right or is that wrong? 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.199 And here's the best line from the article. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:50.879 The writer says, if if someone observes the world and generally feels hopeful and truly feels that the future is not chaos, but is in fact already written, then that person has the responsibility to say so. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:53.040 Now hear that again. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:59.279 This is someone writing about art, and is it fair to capture hope in art? 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:13.120 And he says, if a person observes the world and generally feels hopeful and truly feels that the future is not chaos, but is in fact already written, then that person has the responsibility to say so. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:15.360 I believe that. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:17.519 I do not think the future is chaos. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:19.839 I'm aware of what's going on all around us. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:20.639 I'm aware. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:21.360 I'm aware. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:23.920 I got a TV, I got an internet connection. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:36.959 I know that in our culture it's it's it's pretty jaded and pretty cynical, but it's in that context that what the Bible calls hope, and I say hope, I don't mean hope for hope's sake or hope because I said so, because that insults your intelligence. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:38.560 And the Bible never does that. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:41.120 The Bible never says fake it till you make it. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:46.240 The Bible says, hey, this is what it means when it talks about hope. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:47.920 And so it's against that backdrop. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:52.800 I want to talk to you this morning about the sustaining power of hope from the 137th Psalm. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:56.240 And the context is that the the people of God are in exile. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:05.360 They disobeyed God, and God raised up a nation called Babylon, and they came and ramsacked the city of Jerusalem and took its people as slaves back to Babylon. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:06.639 And that's where they're writing from. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:13.199 And he says this in the 137th Psalm, by the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:24.160 On the willows there we hung our lyres, our harps, for there our captors required of us songs and our tormentors, mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.439 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.360 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:38.319 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:48.240 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem, how they said, Lay it bare, lay it bare down to its foundations, O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.519 Blessed shall be he who repays you with what you have done to us. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:56.560 Blessed shall be he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:00.959 We don't talk about that much in the church, do we? 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:09.680 Matter of fact, one of the people, as I was researching and studying this, one of the there's a guy that wrote an article that basically said, I don't believe the Bible because it's this kind of violence in it. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.839 And let me just say this, unless you're thinking the same thing. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:12.399 Look at me. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:13.279 Do not miss this. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.199 Do not take the darkness of the human heart and impose that upon God. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.120 It's not God saying, I'm gonna get your babies. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.120 It's these people that were so mad. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:27.120 They were so mad at the Edomites because they they cheered when Jerusalem fell. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:29.279 They said, God, we hate those people so much. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.759 We we want people to do harm, harmful violence to their children. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:38.879 Now, it's in that context that the Bible says three things about hope today. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.160 Number one, it says this hope is bigger than our circumstances. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:44.000 Hope is bigger than our circumstances. 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:45.680 Look at the first four verses again. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:47.120 They're down by the river. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:53.040 It says, by the rivers of Babylon, by the waters of Babylon, we sat down and we wept when we remembered Zion. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.720 On the willows there, we hung our lyres, our harps. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:03.680 Now, and our it says for our captors, our tormentors, uh, our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors mirth. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:05.680 Mirth is not a word that you use this week. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:07.839 Mirth means joy or gladness. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.079 You should go to work tomorrow and people say, How you feeling? 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:11.199 I'm full of mirth. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:14.720 Okay, did you bring some? 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:17.360 It is not a human word. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:22.240 It is a really unnerving word, but the people said, Hey, we want you to be happy now, okay? 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.600 Because see, here's the thing. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:24.319 Don't miss this. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:25.680 I don't have time to go into it. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:30.560 But but but the unbelievers expected joy and gladness from the believers. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:40.639 For our captors, our tormentors, they they demanded, they required of us songs and mirth saying, Sing us your favorite worship song now. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:44.080 And we said, How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.519 When I say that hope is bigger than our circumstances, this is what I'm saying. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:55.840 It's one thing for your captors to say things that have no meaning, but when they begin to say things that connect deep inside of you, that you kind of go, you know what? 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:57.200 I feel that way too. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:58.240 I don't want to sing. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:00.000 I threw my harp up in the trees. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.080 I'm like, ah, I'm not doing that. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:10.559 It's one thing when they say things that don't have any register, they don't register with you and all, but when they say stuff that connects with what you're feeling, then you feel exposed. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:14.240 And which is why you have to face the reality of what you're feeling. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:19.200 Let me tell you this, uh uh, parents, if you've got kids, don't teach your kids to fake it. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.879 This is, I've been your pastor almost 10 years now. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:26.320 And over that time I've gotten to know you and many of your stories. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:35.600 And there's many a Sunday I'll see people out in the lobby, and worship will be going on, and they'll be just kind of hanging out, sitting on the benches out there, and the pews out there, just kind of, and I know what's going on. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.240 What they're saying is, I don't want to sing happy songs. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.039 I don't want to go in there right now because that's not where I am. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:48.879 And one Sunday, one lady in particular was just sitting there staring down at the floor, and one of our greeters walked over to talk to her, and I waved him off and he said, What's going on? 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:50.559 I said, She's just sad. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:52.399 She didn't feel like singing. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.759 And he kind of looked at me like, we should give her a pep talk. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:56.320 No. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:57.519 No, we shouldn't. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.600 Matter of fact, you have to learn, this is a sign of spiritual maturity. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.080 You have to learn to be sad to the glory of God. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:06.960 Otherwise, you're just going to be depressed and angry. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.080 There's a whole book in the Bible called Lamentations. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.519 We'll read from it in just a minute. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:12.559 It's Lament. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:16.000 It's basically the funeral service for the city of Jerusalem. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:21.039 And it's in the Bible because God wants his people to know, hey, I know you're sad. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.919 And you don't have to feel guilty or unspiritual that you're sad. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:26.399 Hope is bigger than your circumstance. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:29.200 These people said, hey, we don't like singing. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:30.639 Are you kidding me, dude? 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.120 We've had the life beat out of us. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.200 Some Sunday you're going to feel that way. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:41.360 And especially if you got your kids with them with you, you should look at your kids and go, hey, dad believes, mom believes. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:46.000 I just, I just need to listen to other people sing today so I can kind of be reminded. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.960 So I don't want you to look at me and think, oh, mom's mad at God. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:50.639 No, I'm just sad. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.919 That's more than okay. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:58.240 Matter of fact, I would say to you, that's a great confession of worship. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:02.879 This is the way people, so you get to context, this is the way people thought about Jerusalem back then. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:04.799 This is from Lamentations chapter 2. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:08.559 It says that all who pass along the way clap their hands at you. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.600 They hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:16.399 Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth? 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.639 All of your enemies rail against you. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.519 They hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:23.279 We have swallowed her. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:26.000 Ah, this is the day we long for. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:27.200 Now we have it. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.240 We see it. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:33.919 In these circumstances, their captors demanded they sing God's songs. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:41.039 They said, our captors demanded songs of us, and they said, How shall we sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land? 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:47.440 I would suggest to you that a foreign land is a great context for singing the songs of Zion. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.360 Let me say that again. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:50.720 I said this before. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:53.440 The native invader, let me stop and ask a practical question. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:54.960 Is it cold in here? 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.519 We'll do something about that. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:11:58.080 Okay? 00:11:58.399 --> 00:11:59.519 Don't hold it against me. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:02.559 I see some of you kind of like, talk fast. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:05.279 Hurry. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:08.799 If you're visiting today, this is not a performance. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:10.480 We're real people. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:16.799 And I'm thinking, if I'm cold and I got lights on me, hmm. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:18.480 Okay. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.639 Because I know some of your wives don't love you that much and they're snuggled up next to you. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:25.120 Just say it. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:29.279 They've had enough family togetherness to last them until next Thanksgiving. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.080 Anyway, let me say this. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:36.399 The Bible says, hey, they demanded songs for they said, sing us the songs of Zion. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.440 And we said, How shall we sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land? 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.720 That is the best context for worship, is in a foreign land. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:50.799 Because this room right here that's climate control, that's too hot right now, that's hot coffee and padded chairs, this is not the native environment for the gospel. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:13:02.559 The native environment for the gospel is in the boardroom and in the conference room and in the teacher's lounge and at home doing 16 loads of laundry in a week with your ungrateful kids, don't realize it. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.120 That's the context for the gospel. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:09.120 Somebody called me the other day, a friend of mine said, Man, I gotta lay off 18 people this week. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:10.639 You got any verses for me? 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:13.200 Well, let me see where that is in the Bible. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.399 And I said, No. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:15.440 I said, What does this feel like? 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:19.600 He goes, Man, I just, I mean, right before the holidays, when production's down, blah, blah, blah. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:21.759 And I said, here's the greatest gift you can give them. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.039 Feel this. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:28.240 Don't just be the company guy and say, hey, we're gonna fire you, but you get a spiral ham. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:36.080 He said he did six and he's gonna do six and he's gonna do the spread over three days. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:41.120 He said, about the 12th guy walked in, just sat down and said, Hey, I know what this is all about. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:42.720 How are you doing? 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:49.519 And his friend, my friend was like, I just burst into tears, and I'm the boss. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.200 I said, You think you're not supposed to have a heart because you're the boss? 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:56.799 He said, That guy Neil just looked at me and said, Hey, what is this like for you? 00:13:56.879 --> 00:13:59.519 You have to have this conversation over and over and over again. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:00.480 How are you doing? 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:01.600 I'm gonna be fine. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:05.200 That's what it looks like to sing the song of Zion in a foreign land. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:11.039 Your boss calls you in to lay you off because production is down and you smile and go, hey, God's got this. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:12.480 This didn't catch God off guard. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:13.039 How are you? 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.200 You gotta have this conversation 18 times. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.279 Make it 17 because I'm good. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.399 All right, whatever you want to do for me and the company, that's great. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.480 But I want to know how you are. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:26.320 That's upside down and crazy. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:29.440 Again, that is the native environment for the gospel. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:37.200 If the people of God do not have the hope that comes from God, how will the world know that there's anything bigger than what they're going through right now? 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:39.120 Let me ask that again. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:48.240 If the people of God don't have the hope that comes from God, how will people that don't believe in God know that there's anything bigger than what they're going through right now? 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.799 Then all of a sudden they take matters into their own hands and head out. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:15:03.440 Let me say again a foreign land, a circumstance you did not want to be in is the native environment for not just the gospel, but for worship. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.360 And I saw it yesterday on my TV. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:07.279 We have a free preview weekend going on. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.519 We get a bunch of movie channels over this weekend. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:12.000 We don't have movie channels because I'm not paying for any of that. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.759 So I'm flipping around yesterday, and there was a heavyweight championship fight on. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:16.639 Did anybody know that? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.240 That the heavyweight championship of the world was contended yesterday. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:34.399 And and Vladimir Klitschko, who's been the heavyweight champion of the world for nine years, and he's fighting this guy from Great Britain, from England, and it's it's it's it's he's a huge underdog, and the underdog wins. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:40.960 And not only does he win, but after it's over, and I'm flipping across, and I come across right after it's over, and I'm like, oh, there's a guy. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:42.879 His name's Tyson Fury, by the way. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:45.600 And if you're gonna be a boxer, that's a great name to have. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.039 Tyson Fury. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:48.639 I'm like, get you some of that. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.080 I'm gonna go down to the courthouse tomorrow and change my name. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:54.879 But he said, You say, what's this got to do? 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:56.960 It's singing the songs of Zion in a foreign land. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.440 Wait for it, saw it with my own eyes. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:08.960 The cat, after they give him three belts, he's got the three belts, he turns and hands them to his trainer, grabs a microphone, and sings a love song to his wife. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:10.399 Get this in your head. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:21.919 The dude is pasty white, he's six foot nine inches tall, the tallest heavyweight champion in the history of the world, and he sings the Aerosmith song, I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, to his wife. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:27.440 With, I mean, I don't want to close my eyes. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:32.000 And I am like, you are kidding me right now. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:35.440 And the the announcers went just silent. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:43.759 And finally, Jim Lampley just pierces the silence and says, That is the most strange thing I've ever seen in the history of boxing. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:45.679 And I was like, thank you. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:53.039 And then in that moment, the Holy Spirit said, That's what it looks like to sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:17:02.080 Your boyfriend of two and a half years breaks up with you, and you look at him and you say, This hurts so hard, I don't have words for it, but I'm gonna be okay. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.480 Because my God is a great God. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:12.319 You're not the last person that God ever created for me to be in a relationship with, and so whatever's coming, it is coming, and it's got goodness all over it. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:13.039 So thank you. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.759 I want my cat back, and you can have your sweater. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:20.960 And I'll be taking all my Christmas gifts back. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:23.759 Why? 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:28.319 Because the Bible is very clear that hope is bigger than our circumstance. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:38.240 By the way, if you want to get a biblical context, uh Acts 16, by verse 25, Paul and Silas they told them, hey, stop talking about the gospel because they knew the gospel's native environment. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:47.359 It's not in the church, it's out in the streets, in the highways, and the byways, in the hedges, in Starbucks, and all these other environments where the gospel hasn't penetrated. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.559 They're taking the gospel and they told them, hey, you guys better shut up. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.759 And so they couldn't shut up. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.920 They said, We can't help ourselves. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:57.759 And so they brought them in and they beat them severely and they locked them in prison. 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.680 The Bible says about midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God. 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:03.839 And here's that part you need to hear. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.599 And the prisoners were listening. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:09.200 The prisoners are listening, beloved. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.880 And is the song coming out of you in the midst of whatever circumstance you're in? 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.400 Is it a song of hope? 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:19.759 Or are you just as negative and jaded and cynical as everybody else you do life with? 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.160 The second thing the Bible tells us is that hope is a confession of remembrance. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:25.039 Verse 5. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:27.440 So far the pronouns have been plural. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:32.880 We, we, us, our, in verse 5, it shifts gears and gets singular. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:36.799 He says, If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:44.240 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.079 Here the pronouns change from plural to singular, and here's why. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:50.000 We're all gonna experience suffering. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:53.200 We're all gonna experience things that are not our own doing. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:55.279 We're gonna find ourselves in the foreign land. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.839 That is a corporate reality in a fallen world. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:59.279 You realize that, right? 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:00.480 Hello? 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:02.559 You realize that. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:13.680 There are going to be situations and circumstances you find yourself in, and you're just like, we had to tell our 12-year-old last night, hey, by the way, don't want you to hear the smart church for the first time. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:17.920 But but but your student pastor, your first student pastor you've ever had, Aaron, is resigning. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:19.759 He's gonna go back and focus on school. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:22.000 Sob for 45 minutes. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:26.799 And my wife texted me and said, I want to so rescue her from this. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:30.000 And I texted back, and we're two rooms apart. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.559 I'm like, what are we, 13? 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.720 I walked in there and said, we can make sound. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.920 And and I just said, Yeah, I want to rescue her from this too. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:46.000 But here's what she's she's gotta understand that this is just the first of many things that, hey, you know what, it didn't go like I wanted. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.279 Can we all stay together? 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:50.400 And so I just said, Hey, babe, it's okay for you to feel this. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:51.839 I don't want to talk. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:52.400 Okay? 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:54.640 That's fine, you ain't gotta talk. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:00.000 But I don't want my children to grow up thinking my dad can fix everything. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:03.279 Because there's gonna be things they have to experience that are just sad. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.319 If my kids don't know how to be sad to the glory of God, look at me. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:09.599 They're gonna be mad at God to the glory of themselves. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:14.240 And that's an epic fail on my part if I let that happen. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.960 So we're all gonna experience suffering. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:19.599 But here's why hope is a confession of remembrance. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:23.440 It's an individual choice as to how you will respond to it. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:30.480 And the writer of the Psalm says here in verse 5, he says, If I forget you, O Jerusalem, it's it's it's it's a statement of defiance. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.839 They demanded songs of us saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:37.680 And we said, How shall we sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land? 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:41.279 It so ticked him off that he said, Oh, you think this is a joke? 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.160 You think now, sing your favorite hymn now, huh? 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.519 I tell you what. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:57.599 And he rises up and says, If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill, let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above its highest joy. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:00.240 Exclamation point, exclamation point. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.759 Translation, you provoked the wrong guy at this point. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:06.160 What am I saying? 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:12.319 They ask for the songs of Zion, and the psalmist responds with a song of defiance about Jerusalem. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:19.359 By the way, this happened in Paris a couple weeks ago on a Friday night when they attacked outside the soccer stadium. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:29.759 Most of you the media didn't talk about this, but as they are evacuating the soccer stadium, all the the Parisians started singing the French national anthem. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:37.200 I had the words printed out, but it's parts of it are so gruesome that I wouldn't read them in church. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:46.880 But basically, on the night they were attacked, I mean 30 minutes after they were attacked, they were singing back to their to their captors, we're not afraid of you. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:48.319 You don't intimidate us. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:51.039 We're gonna march out and your blood's gonna flow. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:54.240 And they sing it with a French accent, so it sounds fun. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.839 And they're just walking out, there's no big, you know, goo ooh. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.279 No one's face was painted. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:05.039 They were just walking out singing. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.960 This is what we're gonna do to you. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:09.920 Now, I don't know about the French. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:14.000 You know, they got I know they love wine and a five-hour work day. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.000 They got something figured out we don't. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:22.079 But I promise you this: they walked out. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:25.119 No one said, and now we'll sing the national anthem. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:27.359 Somebody just started singing. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:32.160 Someone struck the original match and said, You're not going to intimidate us into fear. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:40.160 And it just swept over the stadium, and they're just what men, women, children, all saying the same thing. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:52.480 By the way, the Bible records, I told you earlier that Lamentation, the book of Lamentations, was basically a funeral service for the city of Jerusalem, written by a man named Jeremiah who had a front row seat for the whole thing. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:53.680 He writes these words. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:58.000 I'm going to read a long section of Jeremiah chapter 3 because I want you to hear. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.720 This is when the Bible talks about hope, look at me, beloved. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.440 The Bible doesn't say, hey, fake it till you make it. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:05.039 Don't teach your kids that. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:06.559 Smile. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:12.880 See how phony that is? 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:16.000 You're like Donald Trump. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.759 By the way, no one wants to know the God that you know when you're that phony. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:31.680 This week, a week ago today, there's a young couple that goes to our church. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:35.200 Her brother was killed in a car accident in Bryan Codd Station. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:36.880 21 years old. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:39.039 You're talking about seeing through an unveiled face. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:42.799 All he's doing is crossing the street, hit by a drunk driver. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:48.240 You're talking about, hello! Excuse me, God. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:53.519 You should read what that young man that lost his life, what his dad wrote. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.519 That's hope, beloved. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:03.359 That's a man saying, My heart is so broken right now, but God is so good, and my son's life was not in vain. 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:12.880 There's people that are reading that have no don't know the family from Adam, and they're being confronted with, what does this man know that I don't know? 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:14.640 This is what. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:17.279 Remember, hope was a confession of remembrance. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:20.559 Here's what Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations chapter 3, verse 1. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:24.240 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.759 He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.240 Surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:35.359 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:37.119 He has broken my bones. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.119 He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:44.960 He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.240 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.759 He has made my chains heavy, though I call and cry for help. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.519 He shuts out my prayer. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:59.359 He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones that have made my paths crooked. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:01.920 He is a bear lying in wait for me. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:03.839 A lion in hiding. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:06.160 By the way, he's talking about God. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:09.680 A lion in hiding. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:12.000 He turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:13.359 He has made me desolate. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:18.240 He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.240 He drove into my kidneys the arrow of his quiver. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:26.880 I have become the laughing stock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:28.480 He has filled me with bitterness. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:30.400 He has sated me with wormwood. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:34.559 He has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:36.720 My soul is bereft of peace. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:41.359 I have forgotten what happiness is, so I say, my endurance has perished. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:44.400