WEBVTT 00:00:00.420 --> 00:00:04.019 I'm going to invite you this morning to Psalm chapter 19. 00:00:04.460 --> 00:00:06.060 Psalm 19 is where we're going to be. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:10.100 And there is a purpose to us approaching the psalm. 00:00:10.100 --> 00:00:14.940 You'll know if we've gone as we've gone through these Psalms together, we've sort of increased in where we've gone in the Psalms. 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:18.860 We started off in, what, Psalm 27 and Psalm. 00:00:18.860 --> 00:00:19.940 I don't know where we went after that. 00:00:20.340 --> 00:00:25.460 43, 7351 And now we're back down to Psalm 19. 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:32.000 And we've been looking at these Psalms together because the book of Psalms is a beautiful psalm in the chaos of summer. 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:39.800 Usually it's during the summer that we have a lot of people that go on vacation and just to do a series that follows one right after another is difficult 00:00:39.800 --> 00:00:41.640 to be a part of. 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:46.680 And so when you go to the Book of Psalms, they're really each chapter is unique to itself. 00:00:47.080 --> 00:00:54.100 Some of the Psalms tie together, but most of the Psalms are written just unique to themselves to teach us not only about some theology in 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.560 the Lord, but also how we engage God. 00:00:56.580 --> 00:00:58.240 That's the uniqueness to the Book of Psalms. 00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:05.319 The beauty of the book of Psalms is that while 65 books of the Bible are God talking to us, wanting us to know about Him 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:09.580 and Psalm, the Book of Psalms is our response back to God. 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:16.860 So the 66 book is different than all the other books is learning how to respond back to God and the circumstances that 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:22.480 we experience in life through celebration and adversity and everything in between. 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:25.840 How can my heart learn to engage the Lord where I am? 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:27.620 And Psalm 19? 00:01:27.740 --> 00:01:29.980 It's really more of a simplistic Psalm. 00:01:30.080 --> 00:01:31.430 It's why I wanted to end here. 00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:34.740 But it's also an incredible psalm in the way that it reaches our lives. 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:40.700 It's sort of a sort of the psalm of reminder, a reviving or refreshing of the soul. 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:48.140 In fact, I take away the title of today The Reviving of the Soul, from verse seven, where the psalmist talks to us about how God's word does 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:51.220 renew and revive the soul. 00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:53.910 And if you're new in Christ, it revives your soul to life. 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:59.560 If you've been walking with Jesus for years, it just it renews your soul in Christ. 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:03.730 You can really translate that word revive or renew in verse seven either way. 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:11.520 But this psalm is this place of reflection to really bring your heart back to that place, to remind you of how good God is. 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:20.260 It happens that often times in life we recognize the goodness of God and then we get busy with the things 00:02:20.260 --> 00:02:21.040 of life. 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:24.140 We replace the God things with good things. 00:02:24.140 --> 00:02:25.230 And we just we forget. 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:29.460 We sort of get lost in the goodness of life with the greatness of God. 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:36.480 And Psalm 19 really has that image of King David having a great time in the Lord and sort of it gives the 00:02:36.480 --> 00:02:43.540 idea maybe on according to verse six, that David has arisen early in the morning and he's watching the sunrise, reflecting on the greatness 00:02:43.540 --> 00:02:49.020 of God and he's refreshing our soul in the goodness of who he is. 00:02:49.140 --> 00:02:53.940 And he starts this Psalm by beginning with this general idea of God. 00:02:53.940 --> 00:03:01.140 Some theologians would refer to this as general revelation, and he leads it into to this idea of a really special revelation 00:03:01.140 --> 00:03:04.340 and then draws your heart into a response. 00:03:04.380 --> 00:03:05.420 What are you going to do with that? 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:14.160 Even the greatest people of life, they tend to, from time to time, drift from the greatness of what 00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:15.120 made them great. 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:20.030 If you look at a great leader, great leaders are people that necessarily know a lot of information. 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:25.080 But rather they get fixated on one thing and they make their life about that cause. 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:27.840 And like a dog on a bone, they don't want to let go. 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:33.300 But all of us are susceptible just over the drift of time to lose focus and perspective. 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:40.200 And Psalm 19 is that drawing us back to the restoring of our soul in the goodness of God. 00:03:40.220 --> 00:03:47.220 And point number one, in your notes, as you think about three areas in which your heart and life can be restored, your soul can be restored 00:03:47.220 --> 00:03:48.040 in the goodness of God. 00:03:48.180 --> 00:03:55.600 Point number one begins in verse 1 to 6 of this Psalm, where David encourages you to pause your life and remind 00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:57.980 yourself of the richness of God. 00:03:58.140 --> 00:04:05.580 And he encourages us this way to see his common grace is to see his common grace. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:12.260 Now, in a very broad sense, we know grace or we should know grace is not something that's merited. 00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:15.040 If you try to earn grace, that's not grace. 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:16.760 That's a wage, right? 00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:19.790 Ephesians two eight and nine tells us for by grace you're saved. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:20.910 Not of yourselves. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:22.740 It's the gift of God, not of works. 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:28.340 Lest anyone should boast, Ephesians two eight and nine juxtaposes the idea of grace from works. 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:29.780 The faith you have in God. 00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:32.370 The reason you're able to have that faith is because of grace, not of works. 00:04:32.700 --> 00:04:34.620 If it's about what you do, it's in your boasting. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.660 That's what Ephesians two eight and nine says. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:43.140 Grace is a free gift to us based on the goodness of who God is. 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:47.760 And theologians, as they see God's grace unfold in Scripture, they talk about two types of grace. 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:50.900 And we're going to we're going to look at that in scripture. 00:04:50.900 --> 00:04:57.410 And the first that he tells us here, he's describing for us in these first six verses is this idea of common grace. 00:04:57.640 --> 00:05:00.120 Common grace is a grace that all of us. 00:05:00.140 --> 00:05:01.950 Have the opportunity to experience. 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:08.720 But the question is what do you attribute it to as you live under the common grace of God? 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.980 What do you attribute that common grace to? 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:13.990 What ultimately gets the glory? 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:15.500 And David starts off like this. 00:05:15.520 --> 00:05:21.310 He says, The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 00:05:21.700 --> 00:05:25.560 Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. 00:05:26.940 --> 00:05:32.330 When David is taking this idea of glory, he this word glory means weightiness. 00:05:33.200 --> 00:05:34.620 It's heavy. 00:05:35.080 --> 00:05:42.380 And he's not saying heavy is in a bad way but it's this moment that recognizes in your soul this greater grandeur 00:05:42.380 --> 00:05:48.560 of something beyond you, something that transcends you, something that captivates you and inspires you. 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:56.560 But the question is, when life brings this glory to you, when it's presented and just this common grace, this general creation, 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.180 what do you praise with it? 00:05:58.180 --> 00:05:59.120 What do you recognize? 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:05.540 I once heard a joke and this was an old joke of someone teasing a wealthy individual. 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:08.280 This wealthy man was riding into town on the back of a horse. 00:06:08.280 --> 00:06:10.740 So that already tells you how old this is, right? 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:16.620 A wealthy man riding in the back of a horse and he had a feather on his hat, which apparently was a prestigious symbol in the day. 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:20.740 And he was wearing this nice suit, boasting in how great he was. 00:06:20.760 --> 00:06:24.420 And a man looked at him and remarked, You fool, the glory doesn't belong to you. 00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:28.520 It belongs to the horse and the bird and the tailor. 00:06:28.780 --> 00:06:33.200 And we sometimes do that with the great things of life. 00:06:33.220 --> 00:06:39.760 We take the beauty for which God has created and we sell it short and we idolize something else. 00:06:40.760 --> 00:06:48.080 And David is saying in this passage, it's the weight of God's glory that we should recognize, that we ultimately 00:06:48.080 --> 00:06:53.780 should attribute it to our creator and how wonderful he is. 00:06:54.360 --> 00:07:00.110 I have yet to, in this world, stand on the precipice of some some beautiful scenery. 00:07:00.840 --> 00:07:08.380 You know, when you think about whether or not you attribute to God's glory or not, but I've yet to stand, let's say, on the edge of the Grand Canyon, or look at the beauty of the Rocky 00:07:08.380 --> 00:07:15.720 Mountains with someone else and then simply just say to me, I love how these random 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:22.780 atoms and molecules have come together to create this matter under the illusion of 00:07:22.780 --> 00:07:26.600 purposelessness or purposeless in this world. 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:33.920 Right when we see glorious things, there's something within our soul that rises up that longs 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:37.640 for more and just finds satisfaction in that beauty. 00:07:37.760 --> 00:07:45.060 You don't have to tell yourself really, that there is a creator God when you look at creation, when you embrace it for what it is, it's magnificent. 00:07:45.200 --> 00:07:47.300 Abraham Lincoln said it like this. 00:07:47.340 --> 00:07:54.520 He once said, I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth 00:07:54.520 --> 00:08:01.880 and be an atheist, but I cannot see how he could look up into the heavens and say there is 00:08:01.880 --> 00:08:02.720 no God. 00:08:03.900 --> 00:08:11.000 I make sense sometimes when you look at how we treat one another and act in this world to kind of lose hope, get a 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.560 little jaded in our language and in our attitude. 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:22.660 But when you really pause and you look at the grand beauty of creation and how all of it works together 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:26.800 to communicate the glory of God, it's astounding. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:33.880 In fact, he goes on in verse three and four a little bit further, and he says, There is no speech nor their words whose voice is 00:08:33.880 --> 00:08:34.520 not heard. 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:40.240 Their voice goes out through all the earth and the words to the ends of the world. 00:08:41.020 --> 00:08:47.860 I'll say the ESV actually translates the Hebrew text a little bit confusing here, but what he's saying in verse three is creation. 00:08:48.880 --> 00:08:49.790 It says nothing. 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:56.360 But yet, without having a word to say, it says so much to the ends of the earth. 00:08:56.360 --> 00:08:57.700 There's no one that can escape this. 00:08:57.720 --> 00:08:59.240 All of us see this common grace. 00:08:59.620 --> 00:09:03.780 While creation itself really says nothing in communicating the greatness of God. 00:09:03.780 --> 00:09:06.880 Yet to us it says so much in the goodness of who God is. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:14.680 I mean, when you when you look at creation, you from that can extrapolate when you consider the greatness of God, some 00:09:14.680 --> 00:09:17.440 some characteristics of what God might be like. 00:09:18.420 --> 00:09:25.540 And as you look at creation, you see the intelligence of a creator because creation has an intelligent design, or you can see the 00:09:25.540 --> 00:09:27.370 creativeness of your creator. 00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:33.720 Seeing how God made things, made things uniquely or the purposefulness of your creator. 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:38.340 God designed things with purpose or the care of your Creator. 00:09:38.340 --> 00:09:45.500 The way that He was so detailed on how he structured things or the power of your Creator that God could do 00:09:45.500 --> 00:09:46.600 all of this. 00:09:47.180 --> 00:09:51.080 The transcendence of your Creator that He is He is beyond us. 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:57.530 He has other he is unfathomable that we can't even wrap our minds around the substance of the things that he has made. 00:09:57.800 --> 00:10:02.920 And therefore, to think that we can conceive of all the greatness of God, He transcends us. 00:10:02.920 --> 00:10:07.070 You know, you can extrapolate those ideas about God from creation. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.680 And then in verse five and six, he goes on to then relate it to how we would perceive it. 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:19.080 He says in them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber and like a strong man, runs its 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:20.880 course with joy. 00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:26.180 He's saying, just like you see an athlete performing this, it just mesmerizes you. 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:27.540 Or like on a wedding day. 00:10:27.540 --> 00:10:29.940 Everyone knows the wedding in the community is about to take place. 00:10:29.940 --> 00:10:30.790 It's a day of celebration. 00:10:31.580 --> 00:10:36.600 Or in verse six, its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them. 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:38.660 There is nothing hidden from its heat. 00:10:40.820 --> 00:10:41.710 And so he's saying everyone. 00:10:43.900 --> 00:10:51.450 Everyone has the opportunity to experience this common grace, the goodness of who God's God is. 00:10:52.020 --> 00:10:56.480 And He's reminding us God's glory can't help but be displayed. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.880 He is a creative God and for us we can't help but worship. 00:11:03.900 --> 00:11:05.600 Because we're made to belong to him. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:09.280 Your life was created for worship. 00:11:09.300 --> 00:11:11.430 You are a worship being. 00:11:12.640 --> 00:11:15.820 You will honor something with the way that you live your life. 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:17.340 You can't help but do that. 00:11:17.380 --> 00:11:21.100 But the question is, what is it that you honor? 00:11:24.040 --> 00:11:27.340 Does your heart pause before the greatness of God? 00:11:29.060 --> 00:11:30.400 Or maybe I could say it like this. 00:11:31.220 --> 00:11:31.760 Lately. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:33.440 When was. 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:34.600 When was the last time? 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:41.980 You've just sat and reflected on the greatness of who God is and the privilege. 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:49.000 It is not only to sit under his common grace, but point number two is also experiencing his 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:50.420 special grace. 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:58.560 Because while the psalmist in these first six verses talks about the greatness of God through his common grace and all he created, he's also 00:11:58.560 --> 00:12:01.860 going to remind us in this same passage that it's not enough. 00:12:03.540 --> 00:12:10.580 It's not enough for us because we're created to know God intimately and personally, to connect to God through 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:11.630 his word. 00:12:11.880 --> 00:12:18.960 And so this psalmist starts to relate this idea for us as he, as he connects verse one and to verse seven, 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:20.440 really all the way to verse 14. 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:27.580 But I want you to see this in this passage of Scripture, what the psalmist actually does, he starts off verses 1 to 6 talking about the idea 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:32.280 of God, and he uses this thought of God generically. 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:36.520 He takes the word Elohim, which is just a generic word for God. 00:12:36.520 --> 00:12:41.860 They in the Old Testament, they would use this word for false gods and the true God. 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:47.440 Just this idea of Elohim, there is a God creation says to us there is a God. 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:49.900 You can see his handiwork there is a God. 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:53.930 But then in verse seven, then you'll notice the switch in how the psalmist communicates. 00:12:54.800 --> 00:12:59.980 He no longer uses the generic word God, but rather through the psalm. 00:13:00.060 --> 00:13:06.800 Now he starts to refer to the Lord specifically L Lord, all in capital letters. 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:14.200 Anytime in your Bible, in the English Bible, when the word Lord is written in all capital letters, it's using the 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:16.760 personal name for God, which is Yahweh. 00:13:18.100 --> 00:13:19.090 This is the intimate name. 00:13:19.380 --> 00:13:22.620 The name that the Jews of the Old Testament wouldn't even utter. 00:13:22.640 --> 00:13:24.240 To do so would be considered blasphemy. 00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:30.880 Lord, this is the name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush. 00:13:30.920 --> 00:13:38.020 When God told Moses, Go back to Egypt, the place where they wanted to kill you and declare to Pharaoh, the leader of 00:13:38.020 --> 00:13:45.060 the world at the time that God is to that Pharaoh is to let God's people go, to let the Israelites 00:13:45.060 --> 00:13:48.320 set free from slavery into a promised land. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:49.780 Moses, I want you to go there. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:53.800 And Moses, in that moment is a little concerned and fearful for doing such a thing. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:58.140 And so he's asks this burning bush, God, who am I going to tell them? 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:00.300 Is showing up to declare this message? 00:14:00.380 --> 00:14:02.660 I mean, who is it that's saying this? 00:14:02.660 --> 00:14:04.740 And God gives him that sacred name. 00:14:04.800 --> 00:14:05.100 I am. 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:05.660 That I am. 00:14:07.220 --> 00:14:09.180 God is the Self-existing one. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:13.760 The one through which everything created looks to depend upon. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.160 I love that it's this word I am. 00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:16.710 That I am. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:18.660 That he simply is. 00:14:18.860 --> 00:14:23.340 He's saying that he is sustaining in and of himself, that he relies upon nothing. 00:14:24.700 --> 00:14:26.830 But all things rather depend upon him. 00:14:27.520 --> 00:14:34.680 Which is why you as a created being, must look to your creator to find the purpose for your existence is why you were made as a worship 00:14:34.680 --> 00:14:40.860 being and David is saying in this passage is it's not enough just to know about God. 00:14:40.860 --> 00:14:43.380 So creation can give us some knowledge. 00:14:44.540 --> 00:14:49.500 But the intimacy of a relationship is that which you were created for. 00:14:50.420 --> 00:14:56.120 And so in verse seven, he gets to the particularity of this idea by talking about this special grace. 00:14:56.160 --> 00:15:03.080 And so that's what makes it special, is the privilege of connecting to God in this way. 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:10.340 And so he uses this particular name of God, Lord, to share with us the greatness of who God is. 00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:11.720 John Calvin says it like this. 00:15:11.800 --> 00:15:19.080 He said, From nature, we know only the hands of God, but from Scripture, we 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:19.960 know his heart. 00:15:21.020 --> 00:15:27.120 The heavens cannot tell us that God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son. 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:35.040 So we get these general ideas, the attributes of who God is and His intelligence, his creativity, his purpose, his caring. 00:15:35.040 --> 00:15:35.300 His. 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:36.610 His power. 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:36.800 His. 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:37.470 His transcendence. 00:15:40.420 --> 00:15:41.420 But what about his love? 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:44.250 Is he a loving God? 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:49.410 I know people in this world might claim I follow a God and its a God of love. 00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:51.670 But my question with that would be, well, how do you know? 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:53.610 How do you know? 00:15:53.700 --> 00:15:54.860 He's a loving God? 00:15:55.300 --> 00:16:03.120 I mean, when you engage other religions in the world and in our Judeo-Christian American society, I know we've had the thoughts 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:08.730 of Christianity permeated within our culture to the point that people don't even realize how much it's affected the way that we think and interact. 00:16:09.680 --> 00:16:17.080 And so generically, even people that don't may not have been a Christian or ever belonged to the Christian faith, might see God as a loving God, and 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.660 they might generalize all religions that way. 00:16:19.660 --> 00:16:24.300 You know, all religions kind of follow the same God and all religions kind of have a loving God. 00:16:24.380 --> 00:16:26.400 And that's the kind of God I follow, a loving God. 00:16:26.520 --> 00:16:32.120 But do you know if you were to travel to other parts of the world and actually interact with religions and ask them, Is God a loving God? 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:40.520 There are many religions in this world have no concept of a loving God, a personal, relatable God. 00:16:40.680 --> 00:16:47.640 I think it's the permeation of a Judeo-Christian culture affecting the idea of the minds of people with a loving God. 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:51.320 But it still begs the question, how do you actually know God is loving? 00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:57.280 What would make you so confident in such such a claim? 00:16:58.660 --> 00:17:01.600 And this is where the psalmist wants us to know God in his. 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:03.300 His personal name, his. 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:08.839 His nature, his incredible love, his particular plan for humanity. 00:17:10.420 --> 00:17:13.880 The only way you know that is for God to be more specific. 00:17:16.280 --> 00:17:18.560 And our understanding of him and the purpose of our creation. 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:27.700 And that's where special grace communicates this to us, where it's ultimately culminated through a gospel, a 00:17:27.700 --> 00:17:32.380 freedom and a messiah who came to deliver our life. 00:17:33.100 --> 00:17:36.580 That's where we see the tangible nature of who God is. 00:17:36.580 --> 00:17:43.860 And so the psalmist is saying to us in verse seven, he says, Look to the word of God, because the word of God is what communicates this to you, where you find freedom 00:17:43.860 --> 00:17:44.420 in the Lord. 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:46.640 So he says, the law of the Lord look is perfect. 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:48.300 Reviving the soul. 00:17:48.300 --> 00:17:55.460 The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord 00:17:55.460 --> 00:17:57.500 is pure, enlightening the eyes. 00:17:57.500 --> 00:17:59.920 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.680 The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:09.520 And so he's saying not not only do you have the common grace of God, which is important, but it's not enough. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:18.100 You also need to understand the special grace of God, the special revelation of God by which He is His communicated himself to you that you can find the freedom 00:18:18.100 --> 00:18:20.950 for which you were designed in relationship to your Creator. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:25.040 The word of God and how sacred it is. 00:18:25.100 --> 00:18:29.260 He refers to it as perfect, which means it's a way of saying it's complete. 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:32.420 It's sort of like the punch line. 00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:38.800 And if anyone ever tells you a joke or and they get to the end and they just falter in the punch line, just they didn't tell it. 00:18:38.800 --> 00:18:38.940 Right. 00:18:39.080 --> 00:18:39.940 It's just not the same. 00:18:39.940 --> 00:18:42.140 And he's saying this is how God's word works for us. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.220 It's the punch line. 00:18:43.260 --> 00:18:44.780 The other day I was watching this video. 00:18:44.780 --> 00:18:51.820 I don't know what it was on Facebook or YouTube or something, but it was this guy walking through the streets with a little girl and they're carrying 00:18:51.820 --> 00:18:52.720 ice cream cones. 00:18:52.780 --> 00:18:53.480 Maybe you've seen it. 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:53.850 I don't know. 00:18:54.060 --> 00:18:54.380 But. 00:18:54.380 --> 00:18:54.540 But. 00:18:54.540 --> 00:19:00.200 And he gets bumped into by two bullies and the little girl drops her cone, and then they proceed to chew out this guy. 00:19:00.260 --> 00:19:02.630 And this guy's just listening to these people. 00:19:02.840 --> 00:19:09.960 And he's kind to the two young punks and kind of walks away and he puts the little girl in the car and he looks up and 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:15.490 a little bit later in the day and he sees these two individuals off in the distance and he tells her, hey, just stay in this car. 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:17.210 I'll be right back. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:22.120 And he walks down the alley where these two punks were and you're like, oh, he's about to teach him a lesson. 00:19:22.120 --> 00:19:22.880 You got to watch it. 00:19:23.020 --> 00:19:24.110 And all of a sudden, the video stopped. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:25.580 The video stopped. 00:19:25.580 --> 00:19:28.120 I don't know why that's a popular thing to do now. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:29.700 But you can watch these short videos online. 00:19:29.760 --> 00:19:33.180 And before it gets to the punch line at the end, they don't even they don't reach the conclusion. 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:40.500 And it's like when you look at creation and you just end there, you're selling yourself short of the goodness of who this God is as he's 00:19:40.500 --> 00:19:47.520 desired to make himself known in your life in a particular way for which you can discover your purpose in life 00:19:47.520 --> 00:19:48.120 in him. 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:52.140 And so he says the law of the Lord is perfect. 00:19:54.320 --> 00:20:02.120 I mean, even this morning, if we share the text of this passage and let's just say this is the worst message I ever share in 2023. 00:20:02.320 --> 00:20:08.020 You know, the beauty of God's word is it doesn't return void that the messenger can do an awful job. 00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:14.780 But what matters isn't necessarily where it comes from, but that you see the truthfulness of what it said. 00:20:14.780 --> 00:20:15.730 I mean, God can talk. 00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:20.220 We even see in scripture through a donkey, even when we're not listening, God can talk through a donkey. 00:20:20.220 --> 00:20:23.500 He tells us in scriptures, even the rocks can cry out the glory of who God is. 00:20:25.100 --> 00:20:30.120 But what matters is that your soul receive it, that you let the Word of God work in you. 00:20:31.780 --> 00:20:33.330 And so he says it's perfect. 00:20:33.940 --> 00:20:40.980 It's complete, that you would know him encouraging your life, that in the busyness of what things become that you would you would pause and let the 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:45.260 goodness of God, as it says in verse seven, revive your soul. 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:47.380 Renew your soul. 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:50.720 In fact, he tells us in verse eight that the Word of God, it's right. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:56.280 And the way this word translates is actually viewed as a straight edge. 00:20:57.140 --> 00:21:02.360 And if you ever want to build a building, you want to make sure that when you build the building, you've got your lines plumbed right? 00:21:02.360 --> 00:21:03.200 It's straight. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:05.440 You don't want to build a crooked building. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:12.460 And so he's saying the way God's word works for us is this straight edge to measure your life against, to examine If you're in line with 00:21:12.460 --> 00:21:15.960 the Lord, you know who he is and therefore who you're called to be. 00:21:16.040 --> 00:21:21.480 The only way you know, if you're living life the way that God has called you to live is to know God himself. 00:21:21.820 --> 00:21:22.860 It's to know Him. 00:21:22.860 --> 00:21:25.440 It's the straight edge of your life. 00:21:25.840 --> 00:21:31.780 Every culture that's ever existed has had something within his culture that was contrary to the of God. 00:21:31.940 --> 00:21:37.590 And even the people in culture by majority will try to push you and force you to think the way that they think. 00:21:39.380 --> 00:21:45.440 But it's not necessarily how God thinks and it's not necessarily what God says. 00:21:46.340 --> 00:21:53.400 So he reminds us that God's Word, it's perfect, it's complete, it's right, it's clean for 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:53.640 us. 00:21:53.940 --> 00:21:54.640 It endures forever. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:55.200 It should be the foundation. 00:21:57.620 --> 00:21:57.970 Of your soul. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:02.380 And he goes on and he says to us in the second half of these verses, it's sure. 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:03.980 It makes wise the simple. 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:05.440 It's pure, it's enlightening the eyes. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:06.910 It's true and righteous altogether. 00:22:08.520 --> 00:22:15.800 And what the psalmist is saying the first half of the verse is you come of each of these verses, you come to God's word and you receive the knowledge of His word. 00:22:17.580 --> 00:22:18.610 But it still doesn't mean you're wise. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:26.440 In fact, there are people that are trained well beyond their obedience. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:27.910 They're intelligent, beyond their obedience. 00:22:28.580 --> 00:22:31.960 Like we call them sometimes college professors. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:32.620 I'm just kidding. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:33.370 Not college professors. 00:22:33.840 --> 00:22:36.260 But we've got some good college professors here. 00:22:36.260 --> 00:22:36.680 I don't know. 00:22:36.780 --> 00:22:42.180 Not college professors, but sometimes we become intellectual, but we lack we lack absolute wisdom. 00:22:44.280 --> 00:22:46.000 It's not just knowing about God. 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:51.300 But intimately knowing God personally. 00:22:52.700 --> 00:22:55.600 And then living out the purpose for which he has designed me in him. 00:22:55.600 --> 00:22:58.640 That's wisdom, the proper application of truth. 00:23:00.120 --> 00:23:07.580 And so he's telling us in this passage that in our lives we're not to just simply have the knowledge, but to 00:23:07.580 --> 00:23:09.700 pursue God with this wisdom. 00:23:09.720 --> 00:23:16.780 And this wisdom transforms our life as we look at the truthfulness of God, Wisdom has the power to navigate us through through 00:23:16.780 --> 00:23:17.760 the goodness of life. 00:23:17.860 --> 00:23:24.010 If you think this morning as maybe an illustration, like if you today, no matter what age you are. 00:23:24.280 --> 00:23:26.310 I'm we're to go back 20 years from now. 00:23:26.820 --> 00:23:29.840 Maybe you are maybe you're too young for that to even be able to do that. 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:37.000 So if you're if you're above 20 and you were to go back 20 years from now and you were to look at 20 year old self, would you say that 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:42.040 20 years ago are wiser than you are today? 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:49.560 You know that life has this opportunity to be a great teacher in some things, and some 00:23:49.560 --> 00:23:52.280 of us learn lessons harder than others. 00:23:52.280 --> 00:23:52.540 Right. 00:23:52.660 --> 00:23:59.720 We've got to learn the difficult way and do the sometimes the dumb things before we embrace the right 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:00.420 things. 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:03.440 And this passage, it's the reminder that. 00:24:05.180 --> 00:24:06.580 Let the truth of God. 00:24:07.860 --> 00:24:08.600 Saturate. 00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:09.840 Revive your soul. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:14.500 That had just simply not be something you do, but it becomes who you are. 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:22.960 And as God churns that within you over time, you grow in this wisdom of who 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:28.250 the Lord is, and you begin to make wise, wiser and wiser decision. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:30.760 Real wisdom is to know where to listen. 00:24:32.780 --> 00:24:34.920 And therefore know how to follow. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:37.090 I heard it jokingly. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:39.140 An angel. 00:24:40.580 --> 00:24:42.130 Showed up to a faculty meeting. 00:24:43.640 --> 00:24:47.120 And the angel appeared before the dean at this faculty meeting. 00:24:47.180 --> 00:24:51.920 And he asked the dean, he said, Dean, I'm I will give you one wish to Grant. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.360 And it's one of three things. 00:24:53.660 --> 00:24:57.420 I will either give you wealth, wisdom or beauty. 00:24:57.980 --> 00:24:58.880 What would you like? 00:24:59.360 --> 00:25:01.660 And the dean said, I choose wisdom. 00:25:03.140 --> 00:25:07.430 And so the angel imparts wisdom and it begins to float away and disappear. 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:12.060 And all of a sudden, everyone, everyone's eyes fixed, fixated on the dean. 00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:14.330 And the dean now has this aura, this halo. 00:25:14.520 --> 00:25:15.420 He's glowing. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:18.000 And they're waiting for this wise words to come out of him. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.620 And he says, I should have chose the wealth. 00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:22.820 That's not just kidding. 00:25:22.840 --> 00:25:23.200 I kid wit. 00:25:23.300 --> 00:25:30.860 Real wisdom is learning where to look and to know enough in the knowledge 00:25:30.860 --> 00:25:33.160 to follow with your life. 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:39.750 And so the psalmist is encouraging us not to not to just know this information, but to seek God in his truth. 00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:47.920 It's experiential that our hearts would know God and not just in a in a general 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:53.020 revelation or a common grace, but in this special revelation and special grace. 00:25:53.280 --> 00:25:54.300 And then he encourages them. 00:25:54.380 --> 00:25:58.220 Point number three, and this is the last point, your notes that we would respond in humble worship. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:07.620 Truthfully special grace should lead us to humble worship because special grace culminates in Christ. 00:26:09.060 --> 00:26:11.870 And verse 11, you start to see how the psalmist unfolds. 00:26:12.380 --> 00:26:12.880 This, and this is incredible. 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:17.560 He says in verse ten, More to be desired as they than gold. 00:26:17.560 --> 00:26:19.100 Even much, much fine gold. 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:21.490 Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:30.120 He's saying about God's word that it's more rich than the richest wealth this world has to offer 00:26:30.120 --> 00:26:33.150 and sweeter than the most sweetened. 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:35.440 Whatever you can think of. 00:26:35.460 --> 00:26:40.640 I know they had honey back then, but we've got we've stepped up our game, I think, in the deliciousness of sweet things. 00:26:40.660 --> 00:26:47.760 But he's saying, however sweet you think life is and the sweetest thing you can think of and however wealthy you think life is and the greatest wealth you 00:26:47.760 --> 00:26:50.520 can think of in this world, God's Word is better. 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:55.320 And then he goes on and says, Moreover, by them is your servant warned? 00:26:56.140 --> 00:26:58.000 In keeping them there is great reward. 00:26:58.080 --> 00:27:02.220 And notice this in this Psalm up unto this point, he's talked about God generically. 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:03.710 He's talked about God personally. 00:27:04.360 --> 00:27:06.360 But now in this psalm, he's going to talk about himself. 00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:11.280 How he's called to respond in this humble worship back to the Lord. 00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:13.320 Your servant warned. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:15.460 In keeping them there is great reward. 00:27:15.460 --> 00:27:15.960 Verse 12. 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:17.180 Who can discern his errors? 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.100 Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 00:27:19.740 --> 00:27:23.460 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. 00:27:23.540 --> 00:27:25.420 Let them not have dominion over me. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.250 Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. 00:27:28.600 --> 00:27:34.300 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:40.540 In verse 11 and 12, the psalmist is He's doing something interesting with God's word. 00:27:40.560 --> 00:27:47.880 He's saying, Look, when I, when I go to God's Word and I start to understand who God is in light of who I am, God's Word lays 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:48.680 me bare. 00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:51.720 I'm not just reading it. 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:53.820 But it's reading me. 00:27:55.360 --> 00:27:58.460 And it tells me who I am and the darkness of my own heart. 00:27:59.580 --> 00:28:05.340 And in verse 12, he even says that there's hidden things in his own life. 00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:09.420 And who can declare him innocent from his faults and discern his errors and keep back. 00:28:09.420 --> 00:28:13.080 Verse 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. 00:28:14.060 --> 00:28:17.140 Who can discern these errors that he's in and keep him innocent? 00:28:17.320 --> 00:28:24.420 He recognizes his own faults and his life that the word of God just completely exposes him 00:28:24.420 --> 00:28:25.970 and his brokenness. 00:28:27.820 --> 00:28:32.040 There are some people that come to God's Word and treat it with disdain. 00:28:33.180 --> 00:28:40.440 I often find some of the most religious people, even though they might not belong to a religion, will hate God's word because God's word it will 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:44.920 do a number on ripping you apart and your own faults and failures. 00:28:46.380 --> 00:28:50.490 It doesn't just speak to the things that you do, it speaks to the things that you do. 00:28:50.800 --> 00:28:56.280 Or excuse me, that doesn't speak to the things that you just do, but it speaks to the matters of the heart, the things that you might desire. 00:28:59.140 --> 00:28:59.820 What you think. 00:29:01.280 --> 00:29:04.440 How you might want to act, but you restrain yourself. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:10.690 There's something wrong in the core of who we are, and God's Word exposes that. 00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:18.300 And the reason we wrestle with that from a religious perspective is because we've learned as human beings, apart from the Lord, that the solution, if 00:29:18.300 --> 00:29:21.370 we're not looking to God, is within us, and therefore you need to try harder. 00:29:21.800 --> 00:29:29.120 But, if you walk that road and trying harder and adding more of you and giving more effort and more work, that in the end what you find is you constantly 00:29:29.120 --> 00:29:29.520 falter. 00:29:31.520 --> 00:29:33.120 You can never be good enough. 00:29:34.380 --> 00:29:35.700 They don't measure up. 00:29:36.820 --> 00:29:40.730 And here's one of the beautiful things that we find in this psalm is that David has his heart is exposed. 00:29:41.260 --> 00:29:42.280 He knows that. 00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:47.140 He knows the answer isn't more of him. 00:29:48.580 --> 00:29:51.840 But rather to let go of him altogether and turn to the Lord. 00:29:53.020 --> 00:29:54.640 And how do we know David is saying that? 00:29:54.800 --> 00:30:00.000 Well, the answer is because where David goes in verse 13 and 14. 00:30:01.500 --> 00:30:08.580 The point is that the Bible isn't pushing you to just simply an idea or an act or just a modification 00:30:08.580 --> 00:30:09.470 of your behavior. 00:30:10.820 --> 00:30:17.140 The Bible, rather, is pushing you to a person in humble surrender and worship. 00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:25.740 As you look at the truth of God's word, it's not it's not simply just about learning knowledge and truth and behaving wisely 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:29.280 in a certain way, but rather what spurs all that on. 00:30:29.280 --> 00:30:31.700 I had my ten year old just a few weeks ago. 00:30:31.700 --> 00:30:37.700 We were driving down the road and he says to me, Dad, what's more important truth or Jesus? 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:39.480 That is an important question. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:41.740 What is more important truth than Jesus? 00:30:41.760 --> 00:30:49.320 Here we are, philosophically waxing, waxing elegant, waxing eloquent, waxing eloquent with this question here, 00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:51.260 This It's a deep theological question, I think. 00:30:51.260 --> 00:30:52.230 What is more important truth? 00:30:53.540 --> 00:30:54.680 Or Jesus. 00:30:55.700 --> 00:30:57.930 And the Bible certainly says the truth will set you free. 00:30:59.660 --> 00:30:59.740 But. 00:30:59.860 --> 00:31:01.000 But can I tell you, we. 00:31:01.420 --> 00:31:02.900 We don't have truth without Jesus. 00:31:04.420 --> 00:31:05.300 John 14 six. 00:31:05.300 --> 00:31:07.180 Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. 00:31:07.260 --> 00:31:08.540 He is the source of truth. 00:31:08.560 --> 00:31:09.500 He is truth itself. 00:31:09.520 --> 00:31:12.080 To not have Jesus is to not have the truth. 00:31:14.080 --> 00:31:21.240 And I think David knows this and he's looking down the corridors of time, longing for the opportunity of a messiah that would set him free. 00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:29.740 And so David is not just simply putting his hope in the word of God, but what the word of God declares for freedom of the soul, which is not found in an idea or 00:31:29.740 --> 00:31:32.520 a thought or modification of your behavior. 00:31:32.520 --> 00:31:33.320 It's found in a person. 00:31:34.940 --> 00:31:39.010 So that's why we say for us as a church, the goal of you this morning is not to walk out and just be better. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:44.490 The goal for this morning is to know the Lord and to make your life about something completely different. 00:31:44.820 --> 00:31:47.260 David And this prayer, He's not asking God, make me better with me. 00:31:47.280 --> 00:31:51.540 In fact, in verse 13, you see it, keep back your servant also from the presumption of sins. 00:31:51.540 --> 00:31:53.280 Let them not have dominion over me. 00:31:53.360 --> 00:31:55.890 Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. 00:31:55.960 --> 00:31:59.260 He's saying, God, he's not saying God, give me more strength so I can perform better. 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:07.020 But rather He's looking to the Lord and he's saying, God, you do this in me because the answer is not more of me, but rather more of you in me. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:12.090 I don't want to make life about me. 00:32:14.300 --> 00:32:15.030 But about you. 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:18.620 Because I was created for you. 00:32:19.980 --> 00:32:27.100 And so in verse 14, he says this Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my 00:32:27.100 --> 00:32:28.180 rock and my redeemer. 00:32:29.620 --> 00:32:30.510 At the end of this verse. 00:32:30.820 --> 00:32:37.200 What David is really saying, these words that he chooses, these are these are pictures of who Christ is. 00:32:38.780 --> 00:32:42.590 The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 00:32:44.260 --> 00:32:52.300 This word for acceptable is actually a the word that they would use throughout the Old Testament for a willful sacrifice. 00:32:53.780 --> 00:32:55.980 A decision to surrender your life. 00:32:55.980 --> 00:33:00.130 And David, in this passage, he is surrendering his life to the Lord. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:04.760 But ultimately, what David is doing is he's personifying what Christ would do for us. 00:33:05.340 --> 00:33:12.760 That the reason we're able to surrender our life to the Lord is because Jesus became a willing sacrifice for us. 00:33:13.760 --> 00:33:20.640 He became that ultimate sacrifice and demonstrated himself as our rock and our redeemer. 00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:28.400 In fact, listen to this In first Corinthians ten, verse four, it says this about the Israelites as they were wandering from Egypt 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:35.540 into the promised land, it says, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they all drank from 00:33:35.540 --> 00:33:37.920 the spiritual rock that followed them. 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:40.060 And the rock was Christ. 00:33:41.360 --> 00:33:46.960 In Titus chapter two, verse 14, Jesus gave himself look, willing sacrifice. 00:33:47.100 --> 00:33:54.140 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people, for 00:33:54.140 --> 00:33:58.560 his own possession who are zealous for good works. 00:33:59.780 --> 00:34:01.980 And God certainly made us to do wonderful things. 00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:09.880 But before I can do anything for Christ, it's essential that Christ be in me. 00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:13.650 And this is what David is saying in this passage. 00:34:14.620 --> 00:34:17.679 He goes from the idea of the greatness of a God. 00:34:18.739 --> 00:34:23.940 To the special grace of knowing him personally and not just knowing him. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:29.580 So that David does has more knowledge and simply changes his behavior. 00:34:29.600 --> 00:34:36.659 But rather David comes to this place of absolute surrender in who he is to the glory of this God, because this God desires to 00:34:36.659 --> 00:34:38.159 be made known in David's life. 00:34:39.659 --> 00:34:41.520 And so this becomes David's prayer at the end. 00:34:43.100 --> 00:34:50.659 Lord, let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and 00:34:50.659 --> 00:34:52.070 my redeemer. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.700 Psalm 19 reminds us that it is it is easy for the soul. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:02.020 To look at the good things of life. 00:35:03.520 --> 00:35:07.480 And not attribute it to the greatness of God and His glory. 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:14.200 How important it is to not treat gathering on Sunday as a mundane thing that you do. 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:22.860 But for your soul to be mindful of the goodness of a creator, not just a creator, a savior who 00:35:22.860 --> 00:35:30.020 becomes personal, that you could know him and walk with him and delight with him through the truth of 00:35:30.020 --> 00:35:34.940 his word that promises a message of freedom in Christ. 00:35:36.520 --> 00:35:43.660 And with this, there was a there's a story of a single mother who 00:35:43.660 --> 00:35:45.020 was she's. 00:35:46.220 --> 00:35:47.980 Has a lower income in life. 00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:50.200 She struggles to make ends meet. 00:35:50.200 --> 00:35:53.720 She's from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. 00:35:54.120 --> 00:36:01.320 She's raising her daughter, and she knows notices as her daughter enters her teenage years that she, as they've struggled together, 00:36:01.680 --> 00:36:08.980 her teenage daughter has developed this particular love for the world, and she constantly warns her daughter and she loves her daughter. 00:36:09.480 --> 00:36:13.880 But finally, one night, the mother went to bed and when she wakes up the next morning, her daughter is gone. 00:36:15.340 --> 00:36:19.600 And the mother is in grief and she's stricken and she she's at a loss. 00:36:19.620 --> 00:36:24.900 But she finally she digs through a drawer and she finds one of the most recent photos she has of her daughter. 00:36:24.940 --> 00:36:31.940 And she runs down to a local store and she makes copies of the photo to go around all around Rio de Janeiro and post that 00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:33.060 her daughter is missing. 00:36:33.060 --> 00:36:35.340 And she goes anywhere she can think of. 00:36:35.340 --> 00:36:38.400 If she finds a light pole, she hangs it. 00:36:38.700 --> 00:36:46.100 If she finds a wall where it's possible, she puts it, she goes to soup kitchens and she goes to shelters and 00:36:46.100 --> 00:36:51.800 she goes to sleazy motels everywhere she can think of and anywhere she can find to hang these pictures, she hangs it. 00:36:52.820 --> 00:36:59.900 And after searching all over the city and spending everything that she has, what little income she has, she still can't find her daughter and she goes home. 00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:02.460 She sets distraught. 00:37:02.860 --> 00:37:07.140 But days go by, months go by, and still no sign from her daughter. 00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:15.920 Then one one morning, her daughter walks down from the upstairs of a sleazy 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:22.630 motel, and she as she's going down the stairs, she sees a mirror and she sees her reflection. 00:37:23.860 --> 00:37:27.240 And she recognizes that her youthfulness has just quickly faded. 00:37:28.520 --> 00:37:34.880 No longer does she glow like she did in her early teenage years, but rather her eyes are sunken in and she is worn out by life. 00:37:36.060 --> 00:37:38.480 And right beside that mirror, she glances over. 00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:42.360 She happens to catch out of the corner of her eye a picture of herself. 00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:51.600 And she grabs the picture immediately and she pulls it down and she can't believe that there's someone out there looking for her and she knows it's her mother. 00:37:51.620 --> 00:37:54.020 But she happens just to flip the picture over. 00:37:54.040 --> 00:37:56.660 And when she looks on the back side, she. 00:37:58.700 --> 00:38:01.360 Handwriting and the handwriting. 00:38:02.680 --> 00:38:03.700 It's from her mother. 00:38:03.720 --> 00:38:08.160 And it says, I don't care what you've done. 00:38:09.560 --> 00:38:11.020 I don't care where you've been. 00:38:12.860 --> 00:38:13.420 All is forgiven. 00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:14.940 Please. 00:38:18.200 --> 00:38:22.080 For us, guys, I would say God's Word reads us the same way. 00:38:23.640 --> 00:38:25.940 The things of this world destroy the soul. 00:38:25.940 --> 00:38:27.770 And if we're being honest, even ourselves. 00:38:29.820 --> 00:38:34.360 We pick a path of destruction contrary to the reason which we are created in God. 00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:42.740 But when you engage the Word of God, not only does it expose the brokenness of our soul, we see the beauty of a creator and a savior who 00:38:42.740 --> 00:38:49.740 still pursues us, who still loves us, who still desires to not give up on us, to give us both 00:38:49.740 --> 00:38:53.800 his common grace and his special grace that we might find freedom in him. 00:38:54.920 --> 00:39:01.980 The solution is not in you, and it's never been in you, but rather in the goodness of this God who is desire to make himself known 00:39:01.980 --> 00:39:03.340 that you can find freedom in Him. 00:39:05.060 --> 00:39:12.580 God let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your eyes, my rock and 00:39:12.580 --> 00:39:13.250 my redeemer.