1 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,640 Hey, man, thank you, John choir and praise team. 2 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,640 If you have your Bible, and I hope you do make your way to 3 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,000 Psalm chapter 5 as we continue in our series in the book of 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,440 songs that we've just simply titled Songs for Life, Songs for 5 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,440 life. I'm not really sure why, but I 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:34,840 love stories of survival. In fact, one of my favorite ways 7 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,640 right now to listen to them is through a podcast from the 8 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,600 Noiser Network called Real Survivor. 9 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,040 Survivor Stories. Have y'all heard this at all? 10 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,760 Anybody listen to these? Maybe it's just me, I'm weird I 11 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,880 guess. So. 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,400 The most recent one spoke of a guy named John Ritchie. 13 00:00:55,160 --> 00:01:00,040 He's the son of missionaries to West Africa who was on a fishing 14 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,640 trip with his father and his uncle in right off Ivory Coast 15 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,440 area in a lake, and they were in some pretty small fishing boats 16 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:10,400 and having a great time catching some fish. 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,240 I don't remember the type fish they were catching there, like 18 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,040 50 to 75 LB fish. These were big fish they were 19 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,320 fishing for out of pretty small boats, having a great time until 20 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:21,160 their boat was rolled over by hippo. 21 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,280 You're not going to laugh in a second until John Ritchie found 22 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,000 himself in the mouth of that hippo drug to the bottom of that 23 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,680 leg where that hippo stayed with him clamped in his mouth. 24 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,040 I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but he does survive. 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:37,720 You have to go and listen for yourself. 26 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:39,600 But just absolutely fascinating, right? 27 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,160 Stories of survival. Y'all remember when the show 28 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,480 alone was running? I don't know if it still is. 29 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,080 Lorne and I watched alone for a while, you know, where they had 30 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,320 all these participants and they made them select 10 items, 10 31 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,320 items only from a pre approved list and they dropped them off 32 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,560 alone. It's the name of the show. 33 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,480 Think they gave them five square miles from any other participant 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,200 or contestant. And then they had the 35 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,800 psychological battle, not just a physically surviving, but of 36 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,919 mentally trying to remain until they heard they were the last 37 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,360 one standing. One guy that won season 8 was 38 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:15,000 named Clay Hayes. And they all would publish their 39 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,320 list of 10 things. I think we have there his list 40 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,000 that he put on that you can find online that these are the 10 41 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,000 things that he personally selected to help him survive and 42 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,280 be the last one standing on Season 8 of Alone Y'all, when we 43 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:35,800 turn to Psalm chapter 5, it's not that we are hopefully we are 44 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,440 not involuntarily fighting for physical survival on a daily 45 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,360 basis. I mean, we might find ourselves. 46 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,480 It's pretty unlikely you're going to get in the mouth of a 47 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,440 hippo at the bottom of the lake off the Ivory Coast, but you 48 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,120 might, you might all right, every now and then that might 49 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:50,280 happen. You might, I might listen to 50 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,000 your story on noise your network one day. 51 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,160 All right, But hopefully on all things normal, we're not 52 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,240 fighting for our physical survival, but all things being 53 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,880 normal, we are fighting for our spiritual survival. 54 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,880 Now when I say that don't, don't be confused. 55 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:06,640 I'm not talking about we could spiritually die after Jesus has 56 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:08,360 made us alive. That's not what I'm saying. 57 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,800 Now I'm not saying that we could lose our salvation if we've been 58 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,680 truly born again. That's not what I'm saying. 59 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,000 But what I am saying is that the enemy wants to take us out 60 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,280 spiritually. He wants to render us 61 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:21,480 ineffective. He wants to render us 62 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,000 inoperable. He wants us to be essentially as 63 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,200 if we were not alive and existing all right. 64 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,440 He doesn't want us growing and walking with Christ. 65 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,400 He wants us to not quote spiritually survive. 66 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,320 Well, I think when we turn to Psalm chapter 5, you can think 67 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:43,600 of this Psalm as giving us a list of five survival actions, 68 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,480 spiritual survival actions that King David gives us by his 69 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,200 instruction that we learned from him that any and every believer 70 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,720 you and I need to know and implement if we're going to 71 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:59,080 spiritually survive. And so as we read this, I'll 72 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:00,840 walk us through these one at a time. 73 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,120 Let's take just the first 3 verses of Psalm 5. 74 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,800 To begin with. David writes, give ear to my 75 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,520 words, O Lord, and consider my groaning. 76 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:18,000 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for 77 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 to you do I pray, O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. 78 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:30,720 In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. 79 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,600 The first survival tactic that we learn, spiritual survival 80 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,120 action, we learn from David and the Psalm, is to maintain a 81 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:45,120 morning watch. To maintain a morning watch. 82 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:50,120 Now, anytime someone is in a survival situation or let's just 83 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,560 say a dangerous situation where there are threats around them 84 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,800 and if they have enough bodies and eyes to do this, someone 85 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:03,440 always stands watch, right? So someone can be not paying 86 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,400 attention while others are paying attention to be aware of 87 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:08,600 any kind of threat. Maybe they stay awake while 88 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,280 others sleep or maybe they watch they out, you know that 89 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:15,880 outskirts of the city, while those inside the city can't see 90 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:17,400 what's coming. And just think about what King 91 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,240 David and others like him living in an ancient city would have 92 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,680 experienced, right? There'd been no radar to 93 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:30,120 monitor, no radio to check, no text message to see or receive, 94 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:32,680 all right, no news to turn on, all right. 95 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,440 Somebody had to be on the wall in the towers, keeping watch, 96 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,800 looking at the horizon, noticing it was friendly or unfriendly, 97 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,880 seeing who was coming through the gate. 98 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,600 David says here in verse 3, In the morning, I prepare a 99 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,800 sacrifice for you and watch. This is not a physical watch for 100 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,720 danger. This is a spiritual watch for 101 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,560 his good, looking to God, watching God, waiting for 102 00:05:55,600 --> 00:06:00,040 anything and everything good that God might have in store for 103 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,360 him. David says in the morning, I 104 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,240 prepare my sacrifice and I then stand watch. 105 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,880 Now if you go back to verse one, you're going to see how David 106 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,240 begins this morning. Watch, notice the description. 107 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:13,120 He says this. He's talking to God. 108 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,200 Listen to how he talks to God. Give ear to my words. 109 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:21,280 Consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of 110 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:25,440 my cry, My king and my God. You can't miss David's boldness 111 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,680 right here, right? I mean, God three times. 112 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:30,840 He's talking to God in the imperative like he's 113 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,840 instructing, he's telling God, he's boldly asking God. 114 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:38,240 I don't know if this is how you pray, but I love the Psalms 115 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:41,000 because David makes me uncomfortable sometimes with the 116 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,160 way he talks to God, which helps give me comfort to talk to God 117 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,520 in a way that I know I should be boldly. 118 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,440 David's not talking down to God. David's talking up to God with 119 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:52,920 such boldness because of his faith in the bigness and 120 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,000 greatness and goodness of God. He knows he can call and talk to 121 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,920 God this way because of who God is. 122 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,400 So y'all, do you talk to God with such boldness? 123 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,920 Does the way David talked to God sound like the way you talk to 124 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,200 God? I think David's instructing us 125 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,560 to use a boldness with God, to cry out to God, to talk up to 126 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,360 God, if you will, with such faith that we could talk with 127 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:20,840 God too with the same kind of boldness. 128 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,200 Then we learned not only from David's boldness, y'all, but we 129 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,520 learned from the three different elements of prayer, of his 130 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:27,800 prayer he mentions here in the text. 131 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,440 Notice he says three things. He says words. 132 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:32,600 He says give attention to my words. 133 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,000 He says groans. He says give an ear, listen to 134 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,640 my groaning, pay attention. And he says, God hear my cries. 135 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,400 We hear him using words. Y'all words are the most basic 136 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,600 thing that facilitate communication, right? 137 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,320 I mean, most of the time when we think about prayer, we're going 138 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,640 to think about talking to God using words, which is all right, 139 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:53,760 But then he doesn't stop there. What does he do? 140 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,600 He goes next to groans. What are groans? 141 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,760 Groaning is what you do when you're trying to communicate, 142 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:06,600 but the pain is too great to put into, and all you can do is 143 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,680 groan before God. But he says, God, I know you 144 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,840 hear that even when it's wordless, and all I can do is 145 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,560 groan before you in pain. Then he says, God, don't just 146 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,440 hear my words or listen to my groaning. 147 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,360 Give attention to my what? My cries. 148 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,480 Wow. What do we cry when there are 149 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:27,960 times when mere conversation is insufficient to communicate our 150 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,480 desperation? He says listen to when I'm just 151 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,280 speaking words, God, listen to when I'm groaning before you in 152 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:35,840 pain. And God, would you hear when I'm 153 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,320 pouring my heart and my tears out and cries before you. 154 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,640 Praise God, we see here and are instructed our prayer lives are 155 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,080 to be much bigger than casual conversation of mere words with 156 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:51,160 God. Aren't you glad God hears you 157 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,400 and doesn't just hear you when you start off as if everything's 158 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,200 great and grand? Our Father who art in heaven. 159 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:01,760 Listen, by the way, if that's the way you start your prayer 160 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,040 every day, just nice polite conversation with God, you're 161 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:05,720 probably not praying the way God wants you to pray. 162 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:09,520 You're probably not groaning before Him. 163 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,480 You're probably not taking your pain to Him when it's too deep 164 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,280 for words. When you cry, do you ever cry 165 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,440 out before Him? Do you ever shed your tears in 166 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,600 His presence as part of your prayer life? 167 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,240 Or is it always nice, polite, casual conversation? 168 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,720 David's prayer life was much bigger, deeper, and wider than 169 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,600 just mere words. Ours ought to be as well. 170 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:35,720 David then also, is praying in the morning, right? 171 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,560 Christians have noticed by scriptural instruction, by 172 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:43,320 experience and practice, that there are at least two times 173 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,600 every day that a believer ought to give God their undivided 174 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,360 attention. I'm not talking about the fact 175 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,440 this is the only time we pray, but I am talking about the fact 176 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,480 that believers have typically noticed by the Scripture and by 177 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,480 practice and what works to walk with God effectively. 178 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,440 There's at least two times a day God needs your undivided 179 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,480 attention when you're doing something toward him, when 180 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,440 you're not doing anything else. And they're two times of the 181 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,600 day. One is in the morning when God 182 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,440 should get your undivided attention for at least some span 183 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,400 of time. And the other time is at the end 184 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:15,840 of the day in the evening, when God again should get some of 185 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,160 your undivided attention again, or you hit hits that pillow and 186 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:23,000 you close your eyes. Of those two times, though, 187 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,800 Christians and even Scripture seems by pattern to indicate 188 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,280 that one is even better than the other if you're going to choose 189 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,120 one. In fact, some have said one hour 190 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,320 with God in the morning is better than two with him in the 191 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,480 evening. But that's an interesting 192 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:39,240 statement. Why is that the case? 193 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,560 Well, if to put it in the words of another, the morning is the 194 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:46,640 key of the day. It's that time that unlocks the 195 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,320 rest of the day. Another way to put it would be 196 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:53,600 to ask yourself, if you plan to live the day for God, how can 197 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,080 you do so if you don't start the day with God? 198 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,280 Like, I know that I don't live the day for God. 199 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,240 If Kyle doesn't start the day with God, I'll just be honest 200 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,520 Now, some of you, you're like Pastor Kyle, I'm not a morning 201 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,080 person. I get that all right, I get 202 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,120 that. But I'm I'm still saying that 203 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,680 there's got to be a way that we begin today somehow giving our 204 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:15,320 time and undivided attention to God. 205 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,920 If you hope to truly live that day to the fullest for God. 206 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:23,440 David says again in the morning, I prepare a sacrifice for you. 207 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:26,440 That's Old Testament language when animals were involved. 208 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:28,760 But in the New Testament, praise God, God doesn't say you got to 209 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,600 show up with your animal anymore because the final full ultimate 210 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,640 sacrifice through Jesus his own body life given on the cross has 211 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,040 been given. So Romans 12 verse one puts it 212 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:40,360 like this. Therefore, I beseech you, 213 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:45,560 brothers, in view of the mercies of God, to offer yourselves as a 214 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:50,360 what living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is 215 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:55,280 your spiritual act of worship. Because Jesus is the final full 216 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,800 sacrifice. Now we can come before him every 217 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,160 day. And he asked us to lay down our 218 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,240 lives, all of our wants, all of our dreams, all of our time, 219 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,160 talent and treasure, all of our energy, all of our ambitions, 220 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,320 and say, Jesus, today, here I am again today, not my will, but 221 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,320 thy will. I want to be a living sacrifice 222 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:14,360 for you. This is what David is doing even 223 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,480 in the Old Testament, and this is the way God calls us to start 224 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,120 each day. David not only prays though 225 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:26,360 y'all, he does what he watches. What does he mean by that? 226 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,840 This is a morning watch. It's not just a morning prayer. 227 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,240 It's a morning watching, praying and watching. 228 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,000 What I mean by that, David doesn't just pray with his eyes 229 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:36,000 closed. I don't even know if he prayed 230 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,680 with his eyes closed or not. But here's what I do know. 231 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,600 The eyes of his heart. We're open gazing on God, 232 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:47,640 waiting on God not just to hear, but to what to answer, waiting 233 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,320 and watching what was watching again, waiting on anything and 234 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,840 everything good God might have in store for him that day, to 235 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,440 share with him that day, to lead him in that day, to provide him 236 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:57,600 that day. It's like this. 237 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,400 David says, God, now that I put my request before you, I got 238 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,280 faith enough to know you're going to do something about it. 239 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,800 I'm going to watch. It's been said, we pray like a 240 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,760 ostrich. You know how an ostrich acts, a 241 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,440 Mama ostrich. She well, head in the ground 242 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:16,640 kinda. Well, I'm going, it's a little 243 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,120 different. She lays her eggs and she does 244 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:24,640 what? She leaves them never to watch 245 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,280 what happens. Now, I'm not blaming God for 246 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:29,200 that. He made her that way. 247 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,320 That's all good. I'm just saying that's not all 248 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,840 the way we ought to pray. How often do we lay our prayers 249 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:38,760 and leave them with no faith, no expectation, no watching to see 250 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,240 what God's going to do? How often do we begin the day, 251 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,040 and we've started it without any weightful expectation on God for 252 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,240 anything good that he might want to provide us before we embark 253 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,840 upon the How often do we not maintain a morning watch and hit 254 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:57,560 the day like an ostrich? David says I'm going to maintain 255 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,840 a morning watch on God. God ought to be the first 256 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,360 person, first thing you put your eyes on and you speak to every 257 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,760 day with your undivided attention as a living sacrifice. 258 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,200 Maintain. This is a spiritual survival 259 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,600 tactic. If you don't do this, you should 260 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:14,560 not expect to thrive spiritually. 261 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,040 You've got to do this as a believer #1 listen to verse 4 262 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,840 through 6. For you are not a God who 263 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,480 delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. 264 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,960 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 265 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,800 You hate all evil doers. You destroy those who speak 266 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:37,600 lies, the Lord of horrors, the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 267 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:40,640 The second thing we've got to do to spiritually survive and 268 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:45,280 thrive is to stay sensitive to God's disdain for sin. 269 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:53,360 To stay sensitive to God's disdain for sin, we tend y'all 270 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:58,120 to have a nice neat box we put God into, don't we? 271 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,560 You know, with a nice theological framework where God 272 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,600 stays right here, never gets out of that. 273 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:05,640 Just like a nice folded cardboard box. 274 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:07,640 And God, all I know and understand, He all fits right 275 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:08,720 there. I understand it all. 276 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:13,440 I get it. All part of what Psalm 5 says 277 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,600 does not fit in our God box, if we're being honest. 278 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,360 What do you mean? Well, just follow along a little 279 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:22,640 closer this time. You ready? 280 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,760 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness. 281 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,080 Now we track with this right God. 282 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,840 You're a God we understand that takes absolutely no delight and 283 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,440 no pleasure in sin. We get that God is holy, holy, 284 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,800 holy. Evil may not dwell with you. 285 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,360 God and sin don't cohabitate. Sin is not under the roof of 286 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:42,880 God's house. You're not going to find it 287 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:44,680 there. It's not in his bedroom. 288 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,200 It's not on his night stand. It's not on his computer, it's 289 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,040 not on his phone, it's not on his tongue. 290 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,240 It's not before his eyes. God and sin do not cohabitate. 291 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,800 We get that again, don't we? We, we track with that God is 292 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,880 holy, holy, holy. The boastful shall not stand 293 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,440 before your eyes. God, we get that you oppose the 294 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:08,320 proud that you give grace to the God is going to cut the knees 295 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,080 out of the prideful one day when their knee bowels and their 296 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,480 tongue confesses that Jesus is is Lord. 297 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,640 We get that what David says next is a little harder for us in our 298 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,120 box. Buckle your seat belt. 299 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:28,680 Here's what he says. You hate all evil doers. 300 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:34,200 You destroy those who speak lies. 301 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:40,240 The Lord of horrors, the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 302 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,000 You ever tried to shove more in a cardboard box and you can fold 303 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,000 in that like overlapping way where it stays shut? 304 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,520 You ever tried to zip more in a suitcase then the zipper wanted 305 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,760 to zip? This is where in our spiritual 306 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:03,720 suitcase we might find ourselves shoving something in that just 307 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,800 doesn't seem to to fit right. I mean, what do we what do we 308 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,760 say to this right? And in case we think this is 309 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,720 just a one off random biblical statement, I could point you to 310 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,119 others. I'll name 1 Psalm 11 verse 5 311 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:18,880 just a few Psalms down the road. It says this David writes it 312 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,000 like this. The Lord test the righteous, but 313 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,839 his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 314 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:30,720 What do we make of that? Where does that fit in our God 315 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,640 box? You know what we say right? 316 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:39,120 Hate the sin, but love the and that's exactly right for us. 317 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:42,520 This is that's exactly way God has called us as his children to 318 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:47,280 respond, hating sin, having this disdain for sin, but even loving 319 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,680 our enemies and anyone and everyone else in between. 320 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:53,200 Right. But then you got to ask yourself 321 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,040 the question when you read this Psalm, what about God? 322 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:01,120 What about God? Does he operate the exact same 323 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:03,520 way? I'm going to borrow the words of 324 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:05,320 another just because I want to be very clear. 325 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:06,960 I just want you to listen closely to this. 326 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,680 I think this, I hope, will bring some clarity on a part of the 327 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:13,920 word of God that we can't dodge because there it is. 328 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:19,000 OK. The Bible, which tells us that 329 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,440 God is love, also tells us that God hates. 330 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:30,640 The very perfection of God expresses itself in love, and 331 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,880 the gift of His own Son on behalf of guilty sinners also 332 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:40,040 expresses itself in holy hatred against the workers of iniquity 333 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,240 in judgment. From the beginning of Genesis to 334 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,960 the end of the Revelation, the hatred of God against sin is 335 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,480 given equal prominence with the love of God for repentant 336 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,000 sinners. Yes, God loves the Sinner, for 337 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:58,200 God so loved the that He gave His one and only, that whosoever 338 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,160 should believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting 339 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,640 life. And yet, for those sinners who 340 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:09,160 refuse to repent of their sin and refuse the offer of His love 341 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,800 and continue in their sin and unbelief to the grave, they 342 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:17,920 become objects of the hatred of Almighty God. 343 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:28,880 Believe it or not, God's hatred actually empowers our love. 344 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:34,560 Here's what I mean. Knowing God is holy and is going 345 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,680 to have the right and righteous response against the unrighteous 346 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:44,560 who refuse His love allows us to stand and love others no matter 347 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,760 what. Our job not being to show 348 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:51,920 anything but love even in the most difficult of situations and 349 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:56,520 in the face of the greatest evil, loving in return if 350 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:03,160 personally done wrong, knowing God and all vindication and all 351 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,280 judgement and all wrath that is righteous and one day will 352 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,480 reverse all wrong to be made right God will handle and we 353 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,400 don't have to. So our job is to hate sin but 354 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:19,400 love the and we leave the remaining part should it come to 355 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,040 it, after refusing God's love to God. 356 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:28,000 The thing I want to remind you of here, brothers and sisters in 357 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,680 Christ, is that these verses remind us to stay sensitive to 358 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:37,360 God's disdain for sin. If God doesn't take sin lightly, 359 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:44,600 neither should we. If God doesn't let sin dwell 360 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:51,760 with him, neither should. If God sees the severity of sin, 361 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,960 so should wait. Do you follow me? 362 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,400 If you're going to survive spiritually, you've got to 363 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,000 remain sensitive to God's disdain for sin. 364 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,160 You got to remember to run from it, to flee temptation, to 365 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:07,560 resist it, to remember that God's not allowing you to be 366 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,600 tempted any more than what is common to man. 367 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,320 And God will always provide. What a way of escape. 368 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,160 The greater is he who is in you than he was in the world. 369 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,080 By the power of the Holy Spirit you can say no. 370 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,720 Staying sensitive to God, sustained for sin. 371 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,800 Listen to verse 7:00 and 8:00. But I, through the abundance of 372 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,400 your steadfast love, will enter your house. 373 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,720 I will bow down towards your holy temple in the fear of you. 374 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,600 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my 375 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,200 enemies, and make your way straight before me. 376 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:44,080 Survival tactic #3 Daily worship and walk with God. 377 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,080 Daily worship and walk with God. You see, unlike evil and 378 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,680 wickedness in the the wicked and the unrighteous and the boastful 379 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,760 that cannot enter the presence of God, David confidently and 380 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:56,760 boldly says here, I'm going to enter God. 381 00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,840 I'm going to enter your house. That's a bold statement right 382 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:00,440 there. By the way. 383 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:02,240 I want you to turn to your neighbor and says today I'm 384 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,280 going to enter your house. Turn to your neighbor, look at 385 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:06,040 him and say today I'm going to enter. 386 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:07,600 Actually don't do it. Just stop where you are. 387 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,240 They're not going to react well to that. 388 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,280 If you tell me today, Kyle, I'm going to enter your house about 389 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:14,680 1:30, I'm going to say, no, you're not. 390 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:15,920 I'm going to be asleep taking a nap. 391 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,280 Don't come to my house. All right, we don't talk to each 392 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,840 other like that. You don't just tell me when 393 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,520 you're going to show up, and I don't just tell you when I'm 394 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:24,640 going to show up. All right? 395 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,160 Now, there's times we have exceptions to that, but that's 396 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,720 not how we talk to each other. I'm not going to boldly claim to 397 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,120 cross your threshold uninvited. So why in the world is David? 398 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,280 Because he's been invited. Notice he says here through the 399 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:43,200 abundance of your steadfast love, David's not barging in, 400 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,800 David's not entering in his own righteousness or his own 401 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,280 goodness or his own merit. He's coming at the righteous 402 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:51,440 loving invitation of God. He knows God loves him and he 403 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,560 loves God says God, I'm not going to neglect your 404 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,160 invitation. I'm not going to not text back. 405 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,160 I'm not going to not return your phone call. 406 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,440 God, I'm coming RSVP me, I'm coming to worship. 407 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:10,360 And he says here when he's in the presence of God, he says, 408 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:14,000 lead me in your way. Lead me in your way. 409 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:18,920 This is so key for our spiritual survival every day. 410 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,000 Can I just kind of stop here and say, if you don't somehow, 411 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,280 someway ask God to lead you in his way every day, You ought to. 412 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,720 You ought to, because if not, you're making the assumption 413 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,520 that you're going to walk in God's way without his help. 414 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,240 And that's a dangerous assumption. 415 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:41,320 David cries out, God, lead me in your way. 416 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,280 The deal is, David has set aside some time to worship God, and 417 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,200 while he's worshiping God in the presence of God, he's asking for 418 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,280 the guidance of God. That's where we ask God for his 419 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:52,560 guidance is when we're in his presence worshiping him. 420 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,320 David knows that duty is going to call, right? 421 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,160 David's got to get up and go be king. 422 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,200 David's got to get up and go to school students. 423 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,520 David's got to get up and go go to work adults. 424 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:06,800 David's got to get up and go be a husband and a father. 425 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,360 David's got to go get up and go slay his enemies. 426 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:13,800 David's got to go do it, get up and go do life before he gets up 427 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,080 and does life. He sat in the presence of God 428 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,640 and asked for God to lead him according to not his way, but 429 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,440 God's way. And why is that? 430 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,040 Because you know what? There's opposition in our lives 431 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,680 to walking in the ways of God the way David opposes, the way 432 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,520 David names his opposition. He said, God, I've got enemies 433 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:32,720 because of my enemies. Lead me in your way. 434 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,400 Now we sometimes have enemies the way David has enemies, but 435 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,400 maybe not quite the exact same. But we've got enemies like our 436 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,840 sin nature. We've got enemies like 437 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,520 temptation, like the world that we live in. 438 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,440 We've got enemies like people who might oppose us or stand in 439 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,600 the way, or make life hard for us, especially living life for 440 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,840 the glory of God. We've all got things in our way 441 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,000 that oppose us, and we ought to ask in light, just like David, 442 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,760 God, in light of the things that make living for you hard. 443 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:02,000 Lead me please, in your way. Let me do life in a way that 444 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,360 would honor you. This too we must ask, are you 445 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:09,640 starting your days in worship before God and asking God to 446 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:14,240 lead you in his ways? Listen to verse 9 and 10. 447 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,240 For there is no truth in their mouth. 448 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,320 Their inmost self is destruction. 449 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,520 Their throat isn't open grade. They flatter with their tongue. 450 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,960 Make them bear their guilt. Oh God let them fall by their 451 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,560 own counsels because of the abundance of their 452 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,080 transgressions. Cast them out for they have 453 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:34,560 rebelled against you. 4th survival tactic is give God your 454 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,280 problems. Give God your problems. 455 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,680 What's happening here is David is being incredibly detailed and 456 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,800 specific about his primary problem, which was enemy, which 457 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,600 were enemies standing against him. 458 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:49,280 Now, partly you might read what David writes here about his 459 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,280 enemies and the way he's talking to God about them. 460 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:52,960 And you're like, wow, that's pretty bold. 461 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,120 That's pretty graphic. David, you're pretty, you're 462 00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:58,720 being pretty, you know, pretty forthright about what you're 463 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,560 asking God to do about these people. 464 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,800 Like, can I talk to God about my enemies the way David talks to 465 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:05,520 God about his enemies? Sometimes we might ask that 466 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:10,240 question. The answer is honestly, not to 467 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:11,840 oversimplify, but the answer is yes. 468 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:16,840 The the problem is we tend in our anger and frustration in 469 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:20,520 response to talk to other people about problem people and not to 470 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,560 God about our problems or problem people. 471 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,240 And even worse, what we then do is not only talk to other 472 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,880 people, but we try to take our problems and problem people into 473 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,280 our own hands and we make it even bigger, an even bigger 474 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:35,200 mess, rather than giving those problems, giving those people to 475 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,360 God, no matter what type of problem they may be, a human 476 00:26:37,360 --> 00:26:40,280 being or something else or a situation or an obstacle. 477 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,080 We're learning here, David's instructing us here to give our 478 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,760 problems to God. And when they're people, not to 479 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,560 retaliate, not to attack, not to seek vengeance on our own or 480 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,720 repay evil for evil, not to hate or withhold forgiveness, but to 481 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,400 turn to God and give him our problems. 482 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,640 This is an incredibly, incredibly critical survival 483 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,800 tactic. There's a lie that is in 484 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,200 churches and in our culture that goes something like this. 485 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,040 God will never give you more than you can. 486 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,120 You heard that? That's a lie. 487 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,280 That's a lie. God's in the business of giving 488 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:21,000 you more than you can handle. In fact, that's just how he 489 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,960 rolls. I mean, like, think about Paul 490 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,920 when Paul had a thorn in the flesh. 491 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,440 So he speaks of and he cries out to God. 492 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:30,680 God, would you remove it from me? 493 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:31,640 Go. What does God say? 494 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:33,880 Hey, Paul, you got this man. I'll never give you more than 495 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,160 you can't handle. What does God say? 496 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:43,640 My grace is sufficient for Paul. You're not sufficient for Paul, 497 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,520 but I'm sufficient for Paul. When Paul got stoned and got 498 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,640 back up alive and walked right back to the people who threw 499 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,960 rocks at him to preach the gospel to him again, is that 500 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,280 because Paul can handle being stoned without a trip to the ER? 501 00:27:58,280 --> 00:27:59,560 I mean, just just just think about it, right? 502 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,400 Just be logical. Did Paul handle that himself or 503 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,280 did God on his behalf miraculously handle that when he 504 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,760 was shipwrecked and flogged and put in prison and beaten with 505 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,080 rods and on and on it went. Paul was constantly following 506 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,600 God's way and was out of his league. 507 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:21,000 God wants you to walk out of your league every day. 508 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,360 God wants you to walk by His, by confidence in Him and things 509 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,200 beyond you every day. But if you're not in the habit 510 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:33,080 of giving your problems to God, you're not going to spiritually 511 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,400 thrive. In fact, what you'll do is 512 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:38,640 instead of giving God your problems, you'll give God the 513 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:41,400 blame. You'll give. 514 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:48,600 You'll be angry at God. You'll get bitter, insecure, 515 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,240 weaken your faith rather than saying God, I can't fix this, I 516 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,280 can't do this. I can't walk through this on my 517 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:55,480 own. But God, you've put it in my 518 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,000 path and I believe your grace is sufficient. 519 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,360 So I'm going to trust you. You've got I've got we've got to 520 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,000 learn to give our problems to God. 521 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,840 It's a spiritual survival necessity. 522 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:15,520 Verses 1112 But let all who take refuge and you rejoice. 523 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:20,360 Let them ever sing for joy and and spread your protection over 524 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:25,560 them, that those who love your name may exalt in you for you. 525 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:30,240 Bless the righteous, O Lord, you cover him with favor as with the 526 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,680 Shields spiritual survival tactic #5 is remember God's 527 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,480 favor for the righteous. What I mean by the righteous 528 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,720 there is I'm not talking about a certain class of super Christian 529 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,120 who everybody thinks right has got it all figured out. 530 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,480 The righteous or the people that have trusted in the 531 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:53,120 righteousness of Christ and been made alive, when they realized 532 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,800 they in their sin were separated from God and they realized that 533 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,560 by the love of God, He sent the Son of God to live a sinless 534 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,640 life for them. And they, realizing the sinless 535 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,640 Savior died on the cross to pay for their sin, called out on 536 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,120 Christ to save them, making a decision by faith to trust Jesus 537 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:10,480 and to receive His righteousness. 538 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,120 Now they're clothed in that righteousness. 539 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,920 The Bible calls you as a Christian a St. not because 540 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,280 you're perfect, but because a perfect Savior has washed your 541 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,600 sin with His blood, and the Father sees you as righteous in 542 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,720 His sight. That's what the righteous, 543 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,040 that's who the righteous are. Is that you? 544 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,800 Not a perfect person, but a saved person. 545 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,600 Shields of old were typically made large enough to almost 546 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:41,840 cover from head to toe. David would have the righteous 547 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:46,880 know that the favor of God is like such a shield for the body 548 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,880 and soul and the life and the living for the believer in him 549 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:52,480 that that favor of God surrounds us. 550 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,800 In fact, Psalm 30 verse 5 says God's favor last A you know, all 551 00:30:57,800 --> 00:30:59,520 kind of people want to sell you something with a lifetime 552 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,000 guarantee. Most of the time it ain't true. 553 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:08,200 God's favor, last day, lifetime. Never forget. 554 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:12,160 God loves, God defends God protects his own. 555 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:16,320 Christ, even now as I speak, is at the right hand of the Father, 556 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,840 advocating and defending for you if you belong to him. 557 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,720 Even when you sin and you stumble and the devil wants to 558 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,720 accuse you to the Father Jesus claims you as when covered by 559 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:32,720 his blood, God defends his own. Remember God's favor for the 560 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,240 righteous. Remember God's favor for you. 561 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,440 Now you say Pastor Kyle, those 5 survival things sound wonderful 562 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:44,040 man. Kyle I would. 563 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:49,880 I'd really love to start today, but I don't feel like I can 564 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:57,720 because Pastor Kyle, if I was being honest, I feel like I'm 565 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:03,640 that missionary kid, John Ritchie, in the mouth of a hippo 566 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,520 at the bottom of a lake in West Africa being held. 567 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,400 I feel like sin has tipped my boat over. 568 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,280 I'm in the jaws of what seems like death, or at least to 569 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,400 living for the glory of God anymore that God could use me or 570 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,080 that I would have hope or that I would sense that I was in the 571 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,920 will of God, living for the ways of God and spiritually thriving. 572 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:25,480 Kyle I feel a long way from that. 573 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:27,600 I got to get to the surface where I can do anything to 574 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,920 survive and put into practice anything you've preached. 575 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:38,640 If that's you, I want to tell you a little story, guys, if you 576 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,320 get the Better Man emails. This was included in Chris 577 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,320 Harper's week in Review. It was about a man that I've 578 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:46,720 heard about personally, but I learned some new things about 579 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:48,360 him. It's a man by the name of Robert 580 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,960 Robinson. He was a Baptist pastor in 581 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:56,200 London, not in London, but in Cambridge for about 30 years in 582 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,560 the 1700s. This is a long time ago, all 583 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,920 right, but the backup Robert story begins unusual. 584 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,200 He He lost his father when he was only a teenager. 585 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,160 His mother, because he was so hard to handle, sent him off to 586 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,840 live with relatives in London. And when in London in the big 587 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:18,600 city, he soon joined a street gang and they were doing all 588 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:20,960 sorts of wicked and ungodly things together. 589 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,960 In fact, one day they had a plan to show up at a meeting where 590 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,160 the famous revival and evangelist George Whitfield was 591 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,600 planning to preach. If you know George Whitfield, he 592 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,760 traversed the Atlantic back and forth, preaching in multiple 593 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,600 places around the world. Thousands were led to Christ 594 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:39,400 through his preaching. The Great Awakenings were 595 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,240 associated with George Whitfield and others and so Robert 596 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,880 Robinson and his buddies are going to show up and Heckle this 597 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,400 preacher and disrupt the crowd and cause a riot and break up 598 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:49,800 the preaching of George Whitfield. 599 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,960 Only problem was the Holy Spirit did something Robert Robinson 600 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,440 didn't see coming and Robert Robinson heard the gospel and 601 00:33:55,440 --> 00:34:02,480 got got saved. I love you just I mean look at 602 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:10,080 God right At 22 years of age, Robert Robinson writes the words 603 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,960 of the hymn. Come thou fount 22 years old. 604 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,199 Come thou fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing 605 00:34:18,199 --> 00:34:21,480 thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing 606 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,480 call for songs of loudest praise. 607 00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:29,800 He was 22. But then Robert strayed from the 608 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:34,679 Lord. He fell into some sin that 609 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:39,880 entangled him deeply. His boat flipped over, found 610 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,639 himself entangled, pulled to the bottom by temptation and 611 00:34:44,639 --> 00:34:48,960 seemingly held there and really giving up all hope that God 612 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:52,159 would continue to use him or have hope for his life. 613 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,280 So one day Robert gets in a carriage to take a ride to 614 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,520 somewhere he had to go. He was downtrodden, he was 615 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:01,080 depressed. He says he was at the bottom of 616 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,360 the barrel and there was an older lady in that carriage that 617 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,480 he sat by and at first she was just humming and then she 618 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:13,320 started to softly sing the words to a hymn he had written many 619 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,920 years ago. Come thou fount. 620 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:24,040 He was so physically disturbed and moved that the older lady 621 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,000 looked at him and said, young man, are you are you OK? 622 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:33,720 He said, no ma'am, I'm not. He said, in fact, Madam, I'm the 623 00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:39,800 poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would 624 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:45,400 give 1000 worlds if I had them to enjoy the feelings I had. 625 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:50,800 Then the lady looked at Robert Robinson when he felt like he 626 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,960 was at the bottom of the lake and tangled in sin and put her 627 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,920 hand on his knee and said, Robert, the streams of mercy are 628 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:03,960 still flowing. And Robert Robinson in that 629 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:09,360 instant made a decision to run to God and repent and say, God, 630 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,120 if you've saved me from my sin, you can rescue me from this. 631 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,800 And he went on to faithfully preach and pastor for the rest 632 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,840 of his life. What's fascinating to me, if you 633 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,280 listen to stories of survival, you'll hear this certain theme 634 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,560 over and over again. John Ritchie puts it this way. 635 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,680 He says when that hippo clamped onto me and drugged me to the 636 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:36,400 bottom of the lake and held me there, at first I just basically 637 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,320 embraced it. My body. 638 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,760 I just went limp. I didn't try to even fight. 639 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,880 I knew death was imminent. I might as well not even resist. 640 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,240 Basically, he gave up. This is what happens to a lot of 641 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:50,000 people when all of a sudden something overwhelms them and 642 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:51,960 they seem it so. It seems so strong and so 643 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:53,400 powerful, they can do nothing about it. 644 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:57,160 But almost always, those that survive say that in that moment, 645 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,760 there's this switch that flips and all of a sudden their drive 646 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:05,640 to survive kicks in and it's almost like a fire is emblazoned 647 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,520 in them and they're going to do everything within their power to 648 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,880 fight, to live. In fact, for John Ritchie, I 649 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:16,400 meant kicking that hippo in the mouth and pushing off the nose 650 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,080 of it for the surface once his foot was free from its jaws, 651 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:24,200 fighting for his life. You know, you may be what you 652 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,600 feel like is it's no hope. It's at the end. 653 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,560 You're entangled in sin. You've been down the road so 654 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:30,640 far, so long, you feel like God's forgotten about you. 655 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,600 You may be saved, but just on without hope that God could ever 656 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,480 use you or work through you again. 657 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:39,960 And maybe what God's waiting for you is to see if just by faith 658 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,480 you're willing to just flip that switch and say, you know what, 659 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,600 God, if you've saved me from my sin, you can pick me up when 660 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,120 I've stumbled and fell, even to the depths that I've fallen. 661 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,360 If I trusted you, then why can't I trust you now? 662 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:57,400 That's what Robert Robinson did. God used him mightily the rest 663 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,960 of his life. I don't know how you need to 664 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:02,360 respond. John and Praise team are about 665 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:03,840 to come out. I don't know if one of these 666 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,800 practices or more need to be implemented in your daily 667 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,920 routine. Maybe you just want to come and 668 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:11,640 ask God. God give me help to do these 669 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:13,840 things, to put these. These are not the only spiritual 670 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,160 survival practices, but they are five key ones. 671 00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,080 Maybe they say, Kyle, I can't do those until I trust Christ as my 672 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:22,520 Lord and Savior need you to come talk to me and slip out from 673 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,640 where you are and say I need to trust Jesus today. 674 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:31,520 I need to be saved. I'd love to talk to you or maybe 675 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:35,040 maybe you just want to come and kneel at this altar and just let 676 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,120 that switch flip to say, you know what? 677 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:41,120 I've just been passively sitting and where I've been living. 678 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,440 I know God saved me, but I've been acting like I don't have 679 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,360 any hope and I'm just going to trust God today. 680 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,800 I want to repent of where I am. I'm going to place my faith in 681 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,400 Him to pick me up and to use me in ways that I thought maybe 682 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,000 we're too late. I'd love to pray with you. 683 00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:58,960 This altar is open. Our encouragers will be close. 684 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:00,360 I'm going to pray. Then we're going to stand and 685 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,200 respond. Heavenly Father, I want to, and 686 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:06,400 I pray right now that You would help each one of us hear from 687 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,400 You. God, I pray, Lord, that You 688 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,720 would allow our hearts to know that it's not. 689 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,600 It's not ever, as long as there's breath in our lungs. 690 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,960 Too late to say yes to Jesus and let You pick us up by Your 691 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:27,080 power, set us and our feet on the rock and trust You to walk 692 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,240 in the ways Your Word has instructed us for our good and 693 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,280 Your glory. God make adjustments in our 694 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:38,920 lives to let it be and use us, Father, not just to survive, but 695 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,640 to thrive and make an impact for the Kingdom of God. 696 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:45,120 We pray in Jesus name, Amen. Would you stand with me? 697 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,600 We're going to sing. We're going to wait for you. 698 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:49,840 You come, pray, you respond as the Lord leads you this morning.