1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:03,840 You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,840 Pastor Chris Ochoa, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,760 people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in. 4 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:13,120 Let's dive in. Good morning Bridgetown. 5 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,840 We find ourselves this morning in Part 2 of Second Samuel 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,880 Chapter 7. I don't know if you've noticed, 7 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:24,240 maybe you have. You've been here since day one 8 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:27,200 of our series Heart. We've been in First and Second 9 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,200 Samuel for a while now. It's been a year, over a year 10 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,760 and some change now. It's been a long journey, but 11 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:36,960 rest assured, we're almost through. 12 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,960 We'll complete this sermon series heart Second Samuel this 13 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,800 year. It does beg the following 14 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,200 questions, though, as we've been in this Old Testament book this 15 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,480 long. Why do we study the Old 16 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:53,920 Testament at all? Chris? 17 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,400 What in the world has this got to do with me? 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,160 I'm not a king. I don't live in ancient Israel. 19 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,040 What exactly has this got to do with me? 20 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,520 And I excitingly respond to you with a resounding everything. 21 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,400 This has everything to do with you and what you believe today 22 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,720 as a Christian. This is why it's so important to 23 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,080 study. You see, when we were studying 24 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,560 the Old Testament, it is tempting to reduce these 25 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,880 Scriptures merely principles of Christian living. 26 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,000 And that is true. There's, there's godly wisdom 27 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,120 here. It does contain wisdom for 28 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,680 practical living. There is a whole genre of the 29 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,360 Old Testament called wisdom literature. 30 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,360 These are literally the words of God on how to live, on how God 31 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:41,360 has created you. So yes, there is wisdom in these 32 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,640 Old Testament passages, but they're more than that. 33 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,800 It's more than just helping you live a certain way. 34 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,640 It's telling a story. It's telling a narrative. 35 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,280 You see these Old Testament scriptures, they're woven 36 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,680 together to tell a story that is in search of a conclusion in the 37 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,160 New Testament. These passages, they're actually 38 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,240 foundational to your understanding of the New 39 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,600 Testament, the New Testament story, Jesus, who he is. 40 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,000 Therefore, these passages are crucial. 41 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,920 You think about John chapter 5, Jesus and His debating with the 42 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:17,120 Pharisees and religious leaders of the day. 43 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,320 He tells them you search the Scriptures because you think 44 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:25,200 that in them you have life, but it is they that bear witness 45 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:30,600 about Me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 46 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,240 Jesus by his own affirmation says these Old Testament 47 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,040 Scriptures, that was his Bible of the day, these Old Testament 48 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,680 Scriptures. He's saying you search the 49 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:40,680 Scriptures because you think life is in them. 50 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,160 No, they point to me. This Old Testament is going to 51 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,800 set the stage for the New Testament who and who Jesus 52 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,080 would eventually be. So if these Old Testament 53 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,960 scriptures were important to Jesus, then they also ought to 54 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:57,880 be important to us, his disciples. 55 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:03,440 And there's a quite legendary quote by theologian AW Tozer. 56 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:05,240 Write this on the forefront of your mind. 57 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,160 Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. 58 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,400 Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. 59 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,120 And that's what we believe here. We love the scriptures. 60 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,400 We believe they're inspired by God and they're profitable for 61 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:20,800 doctrine, for teaching, for training and righteousness that 62 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,800 we would be complete equipped for every good work. 63 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:31,000 So every year we have the worst 30 seconds of our lives. 64 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,040 The most embarrassing 30 seconds of your life happens every year. 65 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,920 Do you know what moment that is? It's your birthday. 66 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,840 Why? Because it's your birthday. 67 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,760 All eyes are on you. The worst, most embarrassing, 68 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,360 cringy 30 seconds you experience every year is the happy birthday 69 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:53,040 song. You dread it. 70 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:58,280 You dread it, this, this idea of everybody in the room looking at 71 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:03,080 you just to spoil you. They're all here just to spoil 72 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:04,600 you because they love you that much. 73 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,080 When we don't know what to do, when all eyes are on us, it's 74 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:10,400 like, where do I put my hands? I don't know what to do. 75 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,400 There are some egotistical maniacs over there that are 76 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,200 like, oh, yes, lay it on me. But I think for every rational, 77 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:20,720 sane person, it's a hard 30 seconds. 78 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,040 Oh, shoot, don't look at me. And it gets even worse. 79 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:28,920 It's amplified if they do it at a restaurant, because now all 80 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,400 eyes in the restaurant, all the servers, all the cooks, the eyes 81 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,400 are on you. Isn't it funny how humanity, we 82 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,800 crave attention, we crave to be noticed, but when all eyes are 83 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:41,120 on us, we don't know what to do about it. 84 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,920 You're made to image glory, but when you actually get the glory, 85 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:52,360 it's like, I don't know what to do that center of attention, all 86 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,280 eyes are on you. It, it becomes a lot to handle. 87 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,360 David kind of feels like that today on our story in our second 88 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,560 part of Second Samuel Chapter 7, we're going to focus on David's 89 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,200 response to the promises that God has just made him in Part 1. 90 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,840 If you remember last week, we we, we talked about the first 91 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:14,880 part of Chapter 7. God makes these series of 92 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,120 promises to King David that it's what we call the Davidic 93 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:20,880 covenant. God makes a covenant with David, 94 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,840 binding himself to David, saying, here's what I'm going to 95 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,040 do for you, David. I'm going to build you a house. 96 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,120 I'm going to build you a family dynasty, and there's going to 97 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,560 come an offspring from you. You're going to have a son and 98 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,320 he's going to reign on the throne forever out of your 99 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:35,960 Kingdom. There will be no end. 100 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,240 David says, what? Who? 101 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,080 Me? That's what we're going to study 102 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:45,400 today. We're going to study David's 103 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:50,760 response to the promises, the unmerited promises of God last 104 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,080 week. So here's our sermon road map. 105 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,120 Here's our three points that we'll go over today. 106 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,360 OK, one, I want you to understand that the promise 107 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:03,000 produces worship. The promise produces worship. 2, 108 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:08,440 the promise produces a people. And then three, the promise 109 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,520 produces courage. In addition to that, this 110 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:16,000 morning church, I'm hoping to connect some dots in the 111 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,480 Scriptures for you. Again, like I said before, I 112 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,240 don't want to just give you principles of Christian living. 113 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,600 There will be at meditation and application. 114 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,320 But what I also want to do is connect some dots for you in the 115 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:33,120 Old Testament as they build to the story of who Jesus is. 116 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,240 I want you to see how these covenant promises lead to Jesus 117 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,000 and a future hope for you, his people. 118 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,760 It's about God and his people, us the church. 119 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:51,040 Prayerfully, it will result in our own worship of God because 120 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,120 he's just that good. That's what we want to do today. 121 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,680 So let's get to it. Second Samuel Chapter 7, verse 122 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:02,040 18 says, then King David went in and sat before the Lord and 123 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,520 said, Who am IO, Lord God, and what is my house that you have 124 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,720 brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing 125 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,200 in your eyes, O Lord God, you have spoken also of your 126 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,360 servant's house for a great while to come. 127 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,120 And this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God. 128 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:20,160 And what more can David say to you? 129 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,880 For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your 130 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:26,680 promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought 131 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,520 about all this greatness to make your servant know it. 132 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,920 Here we get to eavesdrop on a special sacred moment. 133 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,320 This is a prayer between King David and God. 134 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,320 In this prayer, this is David's response to the covenant 135 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,440 promises that God had just revealed to him. 136 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:50,160 David is so overwhelmed by God's kindness and generosity that he 137 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:52,920 appropriately falls to his knees in prayer. 138 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,120 He begins his prayer with who? Who am I? 139 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,920 Oh my goodness. Some things I want you to to 140 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,760 notice here in David's prayer. He's presumably presumably in 141 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:10,840 the tent that houses the ark. Remember chapter 6? 142 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,840 A couple weeks ago we talked about Israel under King David's 143 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:19,680 leadership, moving the ark from a house to the center of 144 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:24,000 Jerusalem so that God occupies the capital of Jerusalem, the 145 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,800 capital of Israel of Jerusalem. David now is presumably in that 146 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:29,960 tent. It says he went in and sat 147 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,760 before the Lord. Now, if you remember in chapter 148 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,480 6, what was chapter 6 about? It was about Ouza touching the 149 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,799 ark. What happens to Ouza as he 150 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:41,200 touches the ark? He's dead. 151 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:47,200 What chapter 6 is showing us is the holiness of God, that being 152 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,480 around him is dangerous, that the area around him is sacred 153 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,200 space. If you were going to enter 154 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,600 sacred space, you must be holy, you must be pure. 155 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:02,960 So the question I have here in the text is how is David able to 156 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,840 approach the presence of the Lord without any consequence? 157 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:09,120 Think about it. How is he in the tent? 158 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,160 Well, one thing I want you to notice. 159 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,520 I want you to notice David's posture in the presence of the 160 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:17,400 Lord. He's sitting. 161 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,120 He's sitting. Do you remember what I talked 162 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,320 about in chapter 6 about the holiness of God being his 163 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:27,560 nature? He is holy in His nature. 164 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,640 That holiness of God is glorious, and all that word 165 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,360 means in Hebrew, glory is weighty, heavy. 166 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,760 So that's why anybody that interacts with God in all of His 167 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,560 Holiness, the glory of God, they're in that space. 168 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,760 This is why they all fall to their knees, because the glory 169 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:51,160 of God is weighty. I'm in front of the Holy One who 170 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,960 created everyone and everything. David's posture in the presence 171 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,640 of the Lord is sitting. He is exhibiting humility before 172 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,720 God. After all that, he's seen and 173 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:07,080 heard of God. David sits on the floor and he's 174 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,280 overcome. He's overcome by the words of 175 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,080 God and what God has told him. Isn't this amazing, what we do 176 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:15,920 here when we study the Scripture? 177 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,920 We are responding to the words of God. 178 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:21,640 We're responding to the words of God. 179 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:24,840 The reason it's such a holy moment is because these are the 180 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:26,800 very words of God to you, his church. 181 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:31,120 And we ought to respond in the same way when we hear the word 182 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,280 of God preached and taught. We ought to respond with the 183 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,000 same humility that David has on our knees in worship, thanking 184 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,160 God for even speaking to us because he has something for us. 185 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,320 Isaiah chapter 66 verse 2 says this. 186 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,400 God says all these things. My hand is made everything so 187 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,440 that all these things came to be, declares the Lord. 188 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:58,360 But this is the one to whom I will look, He who was humble and 189 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:03,440 contrite in spirit and trembles at my word and trembles at my 190 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,600 word. David is exhibiting, exhibiting 191 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,280 humility. So it may very well be that 192 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,240 David's humility and his faith in God is what's preserving him 193 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:17,400 in the tent, foreshadowing of what it takes to be in 194 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,720 relationship with God. Humility and faith. 195 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,680 David's prayers starts off looking back to the past and 196 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:32,640 God's past faithfulness. He says this, he says, who am IO 197 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:36,720 Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus 198 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:38,760 far? And yet this was a small thing 199 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,280 in your eyes, O Lord God. He recalls his past here and 200 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,360 here. He remembers where he came from. 201 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,480 This is an improbable, improbable under underdog story 202 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,280 to to say the least. If you look at David's life, 203 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,000 there is no way he becomes king without divine intervention, 204 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,320 without God sovereignly leading his life. 205 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:02,560 He understands it. He says, who am I? 206 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,480 What is my house? This is a confession from David 207 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:11,400 that he is nothing special. He is clothed in humility. 208 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:15,680 Think about it. He was a shepherd boy who 209 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:19,000 becomes a giant Slayer, who becomes the king of Israel. 210 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:24,560 This is an impossible journey through merely human means. 211 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,200 Think about it. He's not even the first born in 212 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,640 his family. He's the right. 213 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,440 He's the last one. He has no claim to the throne. 214 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:40,280 He shouldn't be the king, but God says this is the one Goliath 215 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:44,200 out of 1 he should have won nine out of 10 times. 216 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,720 It it, this isn't a muster of courage in myself, I'm going to 217 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,040 defeat Goliath. No, it doesn't work without God 218 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,120 divinely intervening. Goliath wins 9 out of 10 times. 219 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:01,000 Jerusalem itself, the capital. Remember that city, Jebus, the 220 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:02,800 impenetrable city of the Jebusites? 221 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,640 It sat unconquered for over 500 years. 222 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:09,080 How is this little shepherd boy able to conquer it? 223 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:12,320 Many have tried, many have failed. 224 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,160 It got to the point where Jebus said let David try the crippled 225 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:18,720 and the blind will ward him off because this fortress is 226 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,720 impenetrable. And it happens his life up to 227 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:24,400 this point. He recalls his past and he 228 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,200 recognizes I am nothing special. You've been the one leading me 229 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,200 this whole time. He recognizes that it's God 230 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,520 who's led him there. The sovereign hand of God has 231 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,600 been working in David's past to prepare him for this present 232 00:13:39,680 --> 00:13:44,280 moment. This is the same for you and I 233 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:45,760 today. This is the same truth. 234 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:50,200 Church, what I ask you to do is to consider your past right now. 235 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:52,720 Take a moment. Just just consider your past. 236 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,560 Who did you used to be before you met Christ? 237 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:05,040 How much has changed in you? You all have a story now. 238 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,160 Do you believe that this transformation that's taken 239 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,520 place in you happened by accident? 240 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,720 No. You could have never have 241 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,480 imagined that you'd be here today. 242 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:21,160 God has been working behind the scenes in your life, and each 243 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,320 one of you has a story. Now, that past story is your 244 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:30,360 testimony. What is the testimony testifying 245 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,640 of? It's testifying of God's 246 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,760 faithfulness. God's faithfulness, just like 247 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,840 David. And so for us believers here 248 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:44,240 today, with that past, with that story, instead of running away 249 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:50,640 from it and shame, we praise God of how he's redeemed it and he's 250 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,800 using it for his glory. We ought to embrace our story 251 00:14:55,080 --> 00:15:00,960 and share that story for the sake of others so that they too 252 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,240 can understand that nobody is beyond the reach of God's 253 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,200 redemption. Your story matters. 254 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,920 You see, the way I want you to look at your life is like you're 255 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,240 on a journey, navigating the a journey, on a voyage, on the 256 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:21,160 sea. In this voyage of life, the past 257 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:25,080 faithfulness of God becomes an anchor that's going to stabilize 258 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:30,720 you in your present storms. I want you to be practical as 259 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,480 well. Let me ask you a question. 260 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,760 How do you remember the faithfulness of God in your 261 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:38,920 life? How do you remember it? 262 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,680 If you recall Scripture, I don't know if many of you know this, 263 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,800 but the idea of a book, we don't, we kind of take this for 264 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,640 granted. This book is an invention. 265 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,480 A book was an invention. There weren't any books back 266 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:58,320 then. At the time of King David, 267 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,720 Scripture was oral. It was oral. 268 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:07,640 That's why the Shema in Deuteronomy begins with the 269 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:11,320 Shema is this saying, this repetition, this act of worship 270 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,160 that Jews would say to one another. 271 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,960 It begins with here, O Israel, hear the word of the Lord here, 272 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,640 here. Because it's oral tradition, it 273 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,760 required memorization and remembering. 274 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:25,720 So how do you as a Christian, remember the faithfulness of God 275 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:30,160 in your life? David as a king was commanded in 276 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,000 Deuteronomy to actually keep a handwritten copy of the Torah, 277 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:36,280 to read it over and over and over again. 278 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,360 How do you remember the faithfulness of God in your 279 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,840 life? Well, some practical 280 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,240 application. Do you write it down? 281 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:48,480 Do you keep a journal maybe of what you're going through and 282 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:53,200 how God has brought you through all these circumstances that 283 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,200 could help. Maybe you have some sort of 284 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:02,240 trinket or something that you dedicate to the Lord, something 285 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:08,160 maybe, maybe a necklace, something that you can relate to 286 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,839 a certain situation in your life of all that God has done for 287 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,079 you. Whatever it takes, you want to 288 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:16,400 commemorate and remember the faithfulness of God because that 289 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:22,280 past faithfulness of God is going to stabilize as an anchor 290 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:26,960 your current circumstances. David begins his prayer looking 291 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,680 back at his life and says, I don't know how I even got here. 292 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:34,080 You've been so faithful to me. This is so important to remember 293 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:39,160 the past faithfulness of God. But there is more than the past 294 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:42,000 faithfulness of God. Listen to David's prayer as we 295 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,400 continue. He says, you have spoken also of 296 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,000 your servant's house for a great while to come. 297 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,960 And this is the instruction for mankind, O Lord God, David says 298 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,520 in his prayer. God, as if it wasn't enough that 299 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,160 you took care of me in the past, you've gone above and beyond, 300 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,720 and you've now promised to take care of me in the future too. 301 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:10,440 I called this. But wait, there's more theology. 302 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,360 But wait, there's more theology. I have a little story here for 303 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,200 you, a reading from author FW Borum. 304 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:22,000 He was a Australian essayist, and I just thought it was so 305 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,800 beautiful and I want to share it with you, he writes. 306 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:29,520 One afternoon a man chanced to pass a tourist agency and saw in 307 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,560 the window a colored representation of Niagara Falls. 308 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:37,240 He entered, secured a copy of the advertisement, and pasted 309 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,520 across the foot of it. It read More to follow. 310 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:43,640 Could anything be more to the point? 311 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,400 However great the demand that the Falls may make upon the 312 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,440 river, there is always more and more water to come. 313 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,240 However great the man that my needs have upon the divine 314 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,840 grace, there is always more and more at my disposal. 315 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,720 This vision of grace, overwhelming and overflowing, 316 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,160 rebukes the paltriness of my appropriation. 317 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,960 FW Boram can say with David that the grace of God, like a river, 318 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,240 is inexhaustible. He's been faithful in the past. 319 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:24,360 He will be faithful in your present, and he will be faithful 320 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:30,160 in the future because his grace is not ever exhausted. 321 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,920 You see, God is the source of all things good, and His grace 322 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,440 will continue to flow in the lives of his children. 323 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:42,640 We only need to ask. We only need to ask. 324 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,720 This is what James is getting at in James chapter 1 when he says 325 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:52,160 if any of you lacks wisdom, you can ask him at any time and he 326 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:57,280 gives freely with that reproach. He goes on to say in chapter one 327 00:19:58,080 --> 00:19:59,880 that God is the source of all things good. 328 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:02,320 He's the giver of good gifts. Every good and perfect gift 329 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,960 comes down from him. He loves to bless his kids. 330 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,760 Do you believe that, or do you think in your mind that you've 331 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:15,600 send His grace away? That temptation hits our minds 332 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,840 every day, does it not? We must put that to death 333 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,480 because the fact of the matter is, God, his grace, is 334 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,200 inexhaustible, and there's always grace upon grace, an 335 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,720 unending flow of grace into the lives of His children. 336 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:36,000 We need to only ask. He has been faithful in the past 337 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000 and He will be faithful in your future. 338 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,400 Returning to that analogy of the voyage of our life as we're 339 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,880 sailing on the seas, I want you to understand as well that the 340 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,400 past faithfulness of God is not only an anchor for your 341 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:55,040 president, it's also the sail that enables you to continue on 342 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:59,640 in on your journey. His past faithfulness enables 343 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:03,960 you to continue on your journey full of encouragement and faith 344 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:05,280 that He's going to take care of you. 345 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,760 If he has been faithful in the past, will he not continue to be 346 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:14,040 faithful in the future? He can't deny himself. 347 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,400 Last week, I, I, I brought up this idea that in the nature of 348 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,640 God, in all of His Holiness, do you realize that there are some 349 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:26,160 things that God can't do? There's some things he can't do. 350 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,160 One of the big things he can't do is he can't be faithless. 351 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,880 He has to be. And So what David's banking on 352 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,560 here is the character of God. He's made this covenant promise 353 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:39,040 with me. I know he's not going to stop 354 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,320 then because he's going to be faithful to me. 355 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,160 He, he can't say no to himself. This is just who he is, what he 356 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,920 does. Now, an interesting thing I 357 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:50,280 wanted to note in the text here, David says, is this not 358 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,280 instruction for mankind, instruction for mankind? 359 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,280 This. There's actually two ways to 360 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:02,280 translate this text in Hebrew. And I think both are important. 361 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,680 I think both are important and so I want to share both of them 362 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:07,920 with you. There's two varied translations 363 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,600 here. 1 is instruction for mankind, and you'll find this in 364 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,160 here in the ESV. It's more of an exclamation. 365 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,080 David's saying, Oh my gosh, is this not instruction for 366 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,280 mankind? The way that God deals with 367 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,480 people? These Old Testament scriptures, 368 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,480 they're recorded for our instruction today. 369 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,840 You think though we live under the new covenant established by 370 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,720 Jesus, it's essential that we are acquainted with these 371 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,400 scriptures that set the foundation for what we believe 372 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,040 in the New Testament. You look at what Paul writes in 373 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,640 Romans chapter 15, verse four. He says for whatever was written 374 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,800 in former days was written for our instruction that through 375 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,200 endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, 376 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:53,640 we might have hope. So what instruction is there, 377 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,680 David? What exactly is God instructing 378 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,040 us on? Well, this passage reveals 379 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,000 truths about who God is, His nature. 380 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:06,080 He's the faithful one. It reveals who we are as humans. 381 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,280 It also reveals our sinful predicament that we find 382 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:14,000 ourselves in, and they reveal a need for redemption in our 383 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,480 hearts. That's why we studied the Old 384 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:18,000 Testament. That's the first way to 385 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,040 translate this instruction for mankind. 386 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,240 The second way, you'll find it in the New King James Version, 387 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:31,040 maybe the NET version, if you use that, it reads, is this the 388 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:35,880 manner of man, O Lord God? Rather than an exclamation, it's 389 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,520 actually a question. David hit with the reality of 390 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,800 what God's doing in his life. He's astounded on it. 391 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,040 And he says, God, is this your ordinary way of doing things? 392 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:54,600 I, I am floored. Well, I want to tease it out. 393 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,160 We'll get back to this. We'll come back to this point, 394 00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,480 this translation, but I want to tease it out. 395 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,600 Is this God's ordinary way of doing things for humanity? 396 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,760 No, it's not. It's not God's ordinary way of 397 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,400 doing things with humanity. This is a special sacred moment, 398 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,240 a sacred bond, and we'll come back to that. 399 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:16,800 I just want to tease it out real quick. 400 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:23,360 Moving on to verse 21, David continues and he says because of 401 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,800 your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought 402 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,520 about all of this greatness to make your servant know it. 403 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,720 Now remember, David opened his prayer with who am IO Lord God, 404 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,280 His acknowledgement that he's nothing special. 405 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,840 So then why the covenant? Why would God make these 406 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:43,520 promises then if he's nothing special? 407 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,480 If David's done nothing to earn it, What God, why are you making 408 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,920 this promise to him? Why would God make this pledge? 409 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:58,840 Recall from last week, what did David do to merit this promise 410 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,120 from God? Nothing. 411 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,800 He was just a shepherd boy. God broke into his life just 412 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:12,440 like he's broken into our lives. So then it begs the question, 413 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,400 what motivates God to make these promises to David? 414 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,520 What's motivating him? Well, the answer is in the text. 415 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,480 It says here according to your own heart. 416 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,840 According to your own heart. If I was to ask you, why does 417 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:36,040 God do what he do? Why does God do what he does? 418 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,440 What motivates him? You think if he's the God that 419 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,640 owns everything, I created everyone and everything, he 420 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,360 says. I'm not even going to tell you 421 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:47,600 if I'm hungry. I own everything. 422 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:50,440 What do you give to the God that owns everything? 423 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,120 What motivates him to act in such a way to David? 424 00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:02,280 Well, God does what he does for his own good pleasure, for his 425 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:07,720 own glory. That sounds crazy. 426 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,280 God does what he does for his own glory. 427 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,320 Now, lest we think that God is an egomaniac who demands 428 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,320 worship, let's parse this out real quick. 429 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:23,720 Think with me. If God does all things for his 430 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,760 own good pleasure, then what brings him good pleasure? 431 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,480 The answer is glory. Glory brings him good pleasure. 432 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,880 What is glory? The worship and exaltation of 433 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,280 His Holiness. So if God does all things for 434 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,080 his good pleasure, what brings him good pleasure? 435 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:47,240 Glory does. Now if glory brings God good 436 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:52,040 pleasure, it begs the question, what brings Him glory? 437 00:26:53,800 --> 00:27:01,480 Here's the amazing answer. You do you bring him glory. 438 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,040 You who believe in him bring him glory. 439 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:10,120 Isaiah 43 chapter. Isaiah chapter 43, verses 6:00 440 00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:15,200 and 7:00 Bring my daughters from afar, my sons from the end of 441 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,800 the earth, Everybody who's called by my name, who I've 442 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:25,040 created for my glory, Everybody who's called by my name, who 443 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,040 created, I created for my glory. Here's the amazing fact of the 444 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,720 matter. If God is glorified and His 445 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,800 people will, then he not, Will He then not go out of His way to 446 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,920 take care of these same people that bring Him glory? 447 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:44,480 He loves to bless His people. David, you know why he's doing 448 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,040 this? Not because you deserve it. 449 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:52,840 He loves you, You're His, and you bring Him glory. 450 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,600 God does what He does for the glory of His name and the joy of 451 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:04,360 His people. God glorifies Himself by 452 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:09,120 bringing good pleasure to His kids, to His family, and this 453 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:14,960 magnifies His name. So then it begs the question, 454 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,480 what can we possibly give to God in response to this 455 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:24,040 faithfulness? We give Him glory through 456 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,880 worship, just like David did in his prayer. 457 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,360 You see, God is looking for worshippers. 458 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:34,880 This is what Jesus tells the woman at the well in John 459 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,760 chapter 4. Remember He tells her, but the 460 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:42,800 hour is coming woman, and is now here when true worshippers will 461 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,080 worship the Father in spirit and in truth. 462 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,520 For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. 463 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,720 God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in 464 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,920 spirit and in truth. Now what is worship? 465 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:00,560 Worship is more, is more than just singing. 466 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,360 We have one of the most amazing worship teams in the world up 467 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,200 here that lead us into the presence of the Lord with 468 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,200 praise. But I want you to understand 469 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,160 that worship is more than singing. 470 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,840 And that's a good thing because some of us have terrible voices. 471 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:18,840 We're we're we're challenged in that way. 472 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,520 I want you to see that worship is more than singing. 473 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:29,800 Worship really means worth ship worth ship. 474 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:34,600 You're showing worth. You're ascribing worth to 475 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:36,920 something. Worship. 476 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:39,600 This is my prized possession and my life revolves around it. 477 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,840 What is worship? It's the giving of ourselves 478 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:47,600 over to God and loyalty and declaring that He is our prized 479 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,880 possession. That's worship. 480 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:52,960 And that includes singing. That includes the living, That 481 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:56,880 includes sacrifice. It includes giving what worship 482 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:58,440 is. It's the changing of the 483 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,320 framework of our lives so that our lives are centered around 484 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,000 God. When we make the conscious 485 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:11,320 decision to deny ourselves and live in obedience to Him and His 486 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:16,880 Word, we are worshipping. And that entails more than just 487 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,720 singing. It's just this life change. 488 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,360 It's my life is built around him. 489 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,120 This is the appropriate response to the faithfulness of God is 490 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:27,920 worship. David in his prayer falls on his 491 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,600 knees in worship because of the goodness of God to Him. 492 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:35,600 We ought to learn from David. God has been so good and 493 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:36,960 faithful to us. Has he not been? 494 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:44,440 It warrants, it is appropriate, it demands our worship, and he 495 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,760 is pleased with it. He's pleased with it. 496 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,400 Now David starts to take his prayer in a different direction. 497 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,880 He expands it from himself to a people. 498 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,360 And I want you to see that here in this text starting verse 22. 499 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,760 Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, 500 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,280 and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have 501 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,440 heard with our ears. And who is like your people, 502 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,960 Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be 503 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,720 his people, making himself a name and doing for them great 504 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,960 and awesome things, driving out before your people, whom you 505 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,600 redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. 506 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,560 And you established for yourself your people, Israel, to be your 507 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,920 people forever. And you, O Lord God, became 508 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,840 their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm 509 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,040 forever the word that you've spoken concerning your servant 510 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,920 and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken, and your 511 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,640 name will be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is God 512 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,920 over Israel. And the House of your servant 513 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:49,520 David will be established before you. 514 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,640 Here David realizes that God has been working in more than just 515 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,400 his own life. This covenant promise is 516 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,160 expanded to Israel, the people of God. 517 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,800 David remembers, and he recalls that Israel's very existence as 518 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:09,080 a nation is in fact the product of God's loving faithfulness. 519 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,960 God's loving faithfulness? No, in the text, I want you to 520 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,640 see it, says David prays. Here you went, you, God went to 521 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:21,440 redeem for yourself a people. Now why? 522 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:23,880 Why Israel? Why would God redeem Israel? 523 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,480 Well, we actually have the answer in the Bible. 524 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,280 Deuteronomy Chapter 7. Listen up with all your might. 525 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,200 Deuteronomy Chapter 7. God says, For you are a people, 526 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,720 that's Israel, holy to the Lord your God. 527 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,800 The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured 528 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,840 possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of 529 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,200 the earth. It was not because you were more 530 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,200 in number than other people that the Lord set His love on you and 531 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:55,000 chose you, for you were actually the fewest of all people. 532 00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:01,800 You're the weakest. But it is because the Lord loves 533 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:07,720 you and is keeping the oath, the promise that He swore to your 534 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:12,360 Father's. What I want you to see in 535 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:16,440 Deuteronomy is that God, he elected or chose Israel as His 536 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:20,680 people for two reasons. He made a promise with her 537 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,960 forefathers. He made a covenant with Abraham, 538 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:29,280 Isaac, and Jacob. Two, He just loved them. 539 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,880 He is the faithful promise keeping God. 540 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,480 So let's do a little bit of theology real quick. 541 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,880 What does it mean to say that God chose or elected Israel as 542 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:47,240 his people? You'll hear that term thrown out 543 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,040 frequently. Election. 544 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,400 What does it mean to say that God chose a people to redeem for 545 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:56,360 himself, his, himself, Israel? While we need to understand this 546 00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:00,360 idea of choosing an election against the backdrop of these 547 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:07,080 covenants that we are studying. You see, remember covenants with 548 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:12,199 God, they're never cancelled. They are only fulfilled. 549 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,480 God cannot deny himself. He needs to fulfill these 550 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:20,199 covenants, and right now this Davidic covenant is third in the 551 00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:22,639 biblical storyline. Can anybody remember the other 552 00:34:22,639 --> 00:34:26,760 two previously, the two instances where God has made a 553 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:32,920 covenant with his people, Moses and Abraham? 554 00:34:33,639 --> 00:34:36,520 Moses, Moses and Abraham. So this is third in the line of 555 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,920 covenants. Now let's work backwards real 556 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,920 quick, and then we'll understand this big idea of election. 557 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,840 Why would God choose Israel? Well, let's go to the Mosaic 558 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,960 Covenant at the base of Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19. 559 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,040 You can go read this for your own studies. 560 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:56,760 God calls Israel to be a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 561 00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,800 I'm going to be your God. You're going to be my people. 562 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,760 You are a Kingdom of priests, a holy nation. 563 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:09,040 Now what do priests do? Priests intercede on behalf of 564 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:14,280 somebody, and they teach the people the word of God. 565 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:19,880 Now understand, if God is calling all of Israel to be a 566 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:25,480 priest, a royal priesthood, who in the world are these priests 567 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:31,120 interceding for or teaching? Well, let's go back to the 568 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,160 Abrahamic covenant. You'll find this in Genesis 569 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:38,480 chapter 12 through 15. God tells Abraham, and you 570 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:43,960 through your offspring, through your children, shall all of the 571 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:49,520 nations be blessed. So let's combine these things. 572 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:52,520 Israel. Here's the answer. 573 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:58,440 Israel is chosen to vocation as God's servant to carry His name 574 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,320 to the nations in the future hope that the nations would be 575 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:08,280 brought into the family of God. According to the Mosaic 576 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:12,600 Covenant, Israel is a royal priesthood who intercedes and 577 00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:16,200 teaches the nations far off the way of Yahweh. 578 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:23,520 Here's who our God is. God's plan of redemption is 579 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:27,600 revealed throughout the entire storyline of the Bible in these 580 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,120 covenants. Remember last week I talked 581 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,880 about these covenants as being like mile markers on a journey. 582 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,760 We're heading to a destination. Well, where's that destination? 583 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:40,080 It culminates in Jesus. This was his plan of redemption 584 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:45,320 from the very beginning. A new family of God, the church, 585 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,600 Israel, plus the nations reconciled together in one 586 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:53,520 family of God. This prayer of David, this 587 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:57,920 promise of the Davidic covenant to David is for more than just 588 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,680 him. And David recognizes that it's 589 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:06,480 about a people. It's about a people, Israel plus 590 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:12,320 the church. Now, remember, previously I 591 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:17,560 teased the second translation of Instruction for Mankind. 592 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:21,280 Remember that? Let's work this out real quick. 593 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:26,640 That second translation, David, remember, questions God, and in 594 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,880 some translations it says, is this the manner of man, O Lord 595 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:31,360 God? And if I could paraphrase it, 596 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,840 David is asking God, is this the way that you ordinarily treat 597 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:43,680 humanity, God? No, it's not the way that God 598 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,760 ordinarily treats humanity. This is special. 599 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:53,040 This is the covenant of love of God, and this covenantal love of 600 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:58,320 God is experienced and enjoyed in the lives of His family, only 601 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:03,360 His people. This is in the context of His 602 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:08,200 covenant family. Please understand this biblical 603 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:13,080 truth Church. If you are outside of the family 604 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:19,200 of God, if you are not His, then you are outside of His 605 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,440 covenantal love. You're outside of this 606 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:28,000 generosity of God biblically. And the way that I, I, I like to 607 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:34,600 bring out an analogy, if I, if I May, is if I'm walking in the 608 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:38,120 park or if I'm walking in the mall and some random little kid 609 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:44,600 comes up to me, tugs on my pants and says, Hey, hey, Mr. buy me 610 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:49,600 an ice cream cone. What am I going to do for the, 611 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,560 the little kid? I'm going to be like, where are 612 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:54,760 your parents? Stranger danger? 613 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,680 Don't come talk to me. I'm not, I, I can't give you an 614 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,240 ice cream. I don't even know you now 615 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:02,760 reverse it. Switch it. 616 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:10,040 If my daughter came up to me in the park and said, Daddy, buy me 617 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:14,320 an ice cream cone, my response to her is anything you want 618 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:23,760 sweetheart, anything you want, anything you want, you must be 619 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:27,680 in the family to experience this covenantal love of God. 620 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:35,680 You see, our natural disposition as humanity is enmity with God. 621 00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:43,240 We are his enemies. We seek our own glory instead of 622 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:48,240 His. Influencers on social media are 623 00:39:48,240 --> 00:39:50,720 preoccupied with building their own empires rather than 624 00:39:50,720 --> 00:39:57,360 furthering the empire of God. Politicians are so concerned 625 00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,520 with building their own empire rather than following the will 626 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:04,080 of God. We in our natural state are 627 00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:07,280 enemies to God, seeking our own glory instead of His. 628 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:12,200 Something must be done to us to bring us into the family of God 629 00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:14,400 to experience this covenant blessing. 630 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,280 You think about Isaiah chapter 59. 631 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:24,720 God says my arm is not too short to save you, my ear is not too 632 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:29,680 dull to hear you, to hear your prayers, but you are separated 633 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:34,360 from me because of your sin. Something must be done about 634 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,360 your sin. Now we at Bridgetown, our desire 635 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:42,360 is that strangers would become family would come to experience 636 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:46,800 the covenantal love of God. So how can somebody move from 637 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:52,280 being a stranger to God to being in the family of God and a full 638 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:57,240 recipient of this endless grace, a full recipient of this 639 00:40:57,240 --> 00:41:02,720 covenant to love answer. It is through the Lord Jesus 640 00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:08,520 Christ through his gospel. How do strangers become family 641 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,360 through the gospel of Jesus Christ? 642 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,640 Jesus is the way into the family of God. 643 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,000 He is the one that fulfills His covenants. 644 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:20,800 Isn't it interesting You go to the Gospel of Matthew, the 645 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:25,800 Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew was written for a Jewish 646 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:28,760 audience. Out of the four gospels, this 647 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:32,200 one specifically was tailored for Jewish believers. 648 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,640 Isn't it interesting? The very first verse, Matthew 649 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:42,160 11, begins this way, The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, 650 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:50,400 the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of David, the 651 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:51,880 son of Abraham. Do you hear what Matthew's 652 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:53,800 saying? He's the one. 653 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,600 He fulfills this covenant. He fulfills the covenant to 654 00:41:57,600 --> 00:41:58,880 David. He fulfills the covenant to 655 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:01,160 Abraham. He is the fulfillment. 656 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:05,360 He is the offspring that will reconcile the nations back to 657 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,120 the Father as he establishes a new Kingdom. 658 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,680 Paul goes off on this in Ephesians chapter 2. 659 00:42:15,720 --> 00:42:19,520 I want to read it to you. Remember you. 660 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:24,280 Remember that you at that time were separated from Christ, 661 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:29,240 alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the 662 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:34,360 covenants of promises, having no hope, and without God in the 663 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,520 world. But now in Christ Jesus you who 664 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:42,160 were once far off have been brought near by the blood of 665 00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:44,920 Christ, for He Himself is our peace. 666 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:49,480 He has made us both 1 and broken down in His flesh the dividing 667 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:53,520 wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments 668 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:58,000 expressed in ordinances that He might create in Himself one new 669 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:03,080 man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us 670 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:07,680 both to God and one body through the cross, thereby killing the 671 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,920 hostility. And he came and preached peace 672 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,360 to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near, 673 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,040 for through Him we both have access and one spirit to the 674 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,160 Father. Paul is saying to you here, who 675 00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:25,560 are non Jewish, you did not inherit these covenant promises 676 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:28,400 in Christ. You who were strangers who were 677 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:30,040 far off, you've been brought near. 678 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,760 You've now inherited these covenant promises. 679 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:37,760 David understands this. It's not just a promise for him, 680 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:39,720 it's a promise for a people. This is yours. 681 00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:44,320 Now that Kingdom that God promised to David reaches its 682 00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:47,720 culmination in Jesus. Jesus establishes it and he says 683 00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:53,760 in Luke 1232, Fear not little flock, it is the Father's good 684 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:55,200 pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 685 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:01,880 It's yours. Through the gospel of Jesus, we 686 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:05,600 enemies of God are redeemed and reconciled to God as his kids. 687 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:09,240 We become inheritors of this covenant promise. 688 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:17,480 But wait, there's more. There's more grace to be had. 689 00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:24,720 Genesis chapter 49 verse 10. Jacob prophesied to his son the 690 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,080 the 12 tribes, the 12 tribes of Israel. 691 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:32,680 Jacob says this concerning the coming ruler, the scepter, this 692 00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:36,320 rod of iron, this symbol of authority. 693 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,400 The scepter shall not depart from Judah. 694 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:45,200 What line was David from Judah? The scepter shall not depart 695 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,640 from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, 696 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:52,600 until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of 697 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:56,680 the nations. This is a prophecy about King 698 00:44:56,680 --> 00:45:00,000 David and the covenant promise, and it reaches its fulfilment in 699 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,520 Jesus. Jesus has the scepter, He has 700 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,800 the obedience of the nations. Check this out Revelation 701 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:12,400 chapter 2, verse 26. This will blow your mind to the 702 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:14,840 one who conquers. This is Jesus speaking to the 703 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,560 one who conquers, who keeps my works until the end. 704 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:23,240 To Him I will give authority over the nations, and He will 705 00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:28,160 rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth and pots are broken 706 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:32,080 in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my 707 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:35,200 Father. Do you see it? 708 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:41,240 The future faithfulness of God, the future grace, the future 709 00:45:41,240 --> 00:45:45,400 hope of the family of God is ruling and reigning alongside 710 00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:51,680 Jesus. For some reason God gets glory. 711 00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:57,200 It pleases Him to share authority with his family. 712 00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:01,880 That scepter that was prophesied in Genesis chapter 49, 713 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:04,280 Revelation, Jesus comes and says, I'm giving it to you. 714 00:46:06,240 --> 00:46:09,320 And so I've always thought like, you know this, the old worship 715 00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:17,680 song, we fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus. 716 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:25,840 We lay our crown down and Jesus says, thank you so much. 717 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:31,440 But here you dropped this. It's yours. 718 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:36,200 Does that like chafe you to think that God's going to share 719 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:41,600 authority with you? It seems like almost like who am 720 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,440 I? Oh Lord God, you feel how David 721 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:47,960 feels. There is future grace yet to be 722 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:56,480 had for believers. Now lastly, as we end for you, O 723 00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:59,840 Lord of hosts, the God of Israel have made this revelation to 724 00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:02,160 your servant, saying, I will build you a house. 725 00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:05,480 Therefore your servant has found courage to pray to you. 726 00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:09,240 David has courage to pray. He has courage to enter the 727 00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:11,880 tent. He has courage to be close to 728 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:13,920 the ark. Though he saw what happened to 729 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:15,720 Ouza, he knows this is dangerous. 730 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:20,120 He has courage to approach the ark. 731 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:22,080 Where does that courage come from? 732 00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,200 The promise God made him, a promise. 733 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:27,480 He knows he's not going to kill me. 734 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:31,120 He promised me that he's going to take care of me. 735 00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,920 There's 10 times in this prayer that David calls himself your 736 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,440 servant, your servant, your servant, your servant, your 737 00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:44,720 servant. 10 times he says it. He has this relational communion 738 00:47:44,720 --> 00:47:48,880 with God. David is close to the presence 739 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:50,960 of the Lord and he is no longer afraid. 740 00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:55,920 He's actually in the safest place he can ever be in relation 741 00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:58,720 to God. He's full of trust and he's full 742 00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:02,760 of faith because he believes in the covenant promise of Jesus. 743 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:09,000 Understand that Jesus is the one. 744 00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:16,200 He's made our way to the Father. What happened that day? 745 00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:19,120 He hung there on the cross in the temple. 746 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:23,840 The veil tore, the veil torn where the presence of God 747 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,320 dwells. The veil is torn because of 748 00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:31,720 Jesus, because of his perfect life and his perfect death. 749 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:36,920 We too, like David, can have courage to approach God because 750 00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:42,400 Jesus is our confidence. He's brought us into that family 751 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,640 of God. And what does God get All the 752 00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:50,400 glory from blessing his family. There is no more fear. 753 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:55,960 There is no more fear. There is now therefore no more 754 00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,160 condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 755 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,400 Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says this. 756 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:06,040 Let us then with confidence, this confidence that David has, 757 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:10,840 draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy 758 00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:13,720 and find grace to help in time of need. 759 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:19,000 You can come near to God now because of Jesus. 760 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,880 You can have courage to pray. You can have courage to worship 761 00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,160 through whatever you're going through because of what Jesus 762 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:27,280 has done. He has fulfilled these promises. 763 00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:30,880 He's the one that brings us into the family of God. 764 00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:40,320 As I as I wrap up some points of meditation and application, I 765 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,480 want you to remember that God's disposition toward his people is 766 00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:46,440 kindness and overflowing with grace. 767 00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:51,240 He's so kind, His grace toward his family. 768 00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:56,760 You who believe is unmerited, and it's unearned because it's 769 00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:59,080 unmerited, because it's unearned, that means you can 770 00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:01,960 never lose it as long as you keep believing because you 771 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:03,520 didn't start it in the first place. 772 00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:08,400 He did. This reframes our suffering and 773 00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:11,720 hardship in life when we go through hard times. 774 00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:17,080 It's not punitive. He's not angry at you. 775 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:19,680 There's now, therefore, no condemnation for those in Christ 776 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:21,840 Jesus. When you walk through suffering 777 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:24,880 and hardship, when He guides you through those valleys, it's 778 00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:28,520 meant to be transformative, not punitive. 779 00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:34,120 We cannot send His grace away. In the same way that you cannot 780 00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:37,760 stop Niagara Falls from flowing. You cannot stop the grace of God 781 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:43,320 from ending, from from unending. We can however, continuing 782 00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:48,600 belief David is only safe in the presence of God because he 783 00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:50,400 believes the covenant promises of God. 784 00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:54,720 He has faith and the author. Of Hebrews goes through. 785 00:50:55,480 --> 00:51:01,120 Painstaking detail to make sure you, the reader understand that 786 00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:02,760 what? Brings somebody close to. 787 00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:08,080 God is faith, how can? You encounter the living God. 788 00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:09,480 And not die. Faith. 789 00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:11,720 Faith that he loves you. Faith that He's there for you. 790 00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:17,080 You must believe second. Point of application is that 791 00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:19,680 this. Overflowing grace of God should 792 00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:25,480 move His people to worship. When we understand that. 793 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:29,480 This inexhaustible source of grace, it's ours. 794 00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:31,360 And that our God is inexhaustible. 795 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:33,560 It should move us to respond in worship. 796 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:40,000 Worship is more than singing. It's the conscious. 797 00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:42,800 Reorienting of. Our lives to center around God 798 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:45,800 we recognize. That God is. 799 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:49,640 Holy and that He's called us to live holy in our lives. 800 00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:52,200 And here's what worship can look like. 3 simple ways. 801 00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:56,040 Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for what he's done 802 00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:59,680 for me. Sacrifice. 803 00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:03,440 He's given me everything. I'm willing to sacrifice for 804 00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:07,200 somebody else because my source of all things good is unending. 805 00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,720 3rd it results in praise you. Are so good for what you've 806 00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:20,720 done, God. Luke 1232 Fear not little flock. 807 00:52:20,720 --> 00:52:22,520 It's your father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 808 00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:27,160 Do you believe that today that you who believe the Kingdom is 809 00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:34,000 for you? As we head into a time of 810 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:37,760 communion, we have the communion table up here, the bread and the 811 00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:41,560 wine. On the night Jesus was betrayed, 812 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:43,280 he. Actually instituted a new 813 00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:45,520 covenant. Here's how it all connects. 814 00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:46,240 Again, what? Why? 815 00:52:46,240 --> 00:52:49,760 Why study the Old Testament? Because the New Testament is 816 00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:52,720 founded on it, Jesus says. Here's the blood of the new 817 00:52:52,720 --> 00:52:56,880 Covenant. Here's what I want to understand 818 00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:00,680 about this new covenant. That Jesus has inaugurated sin 819 00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:04,280 is forgiven. Your sin is forgiven. 820 00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:07,560 Death has been. Defeated. 821 00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:19,320 Righteousness is ours, eternal life is ours, and this is. 822 00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:20,680 Grace Beyond. Measure. 823 00:53:22,200 --> 00:53:23,840 That's what the. New Covenant is about. 824 00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:27,760 Founded on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. 825 00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:30,440 And guess what? Like Niagara Falls, this 826 00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:34,960 covenant, the blood of Jesus shed to inaugurate this 827 00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:37,760 covenant, is unending and it will flow forever. 828 00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:45,240 He no longer has to die to make. Atonement for your sin you are 829 00:53:45,240 --> 00:53:49,240 forgiven for you in the family, you who've trusted and put your 830 00:53:49,240 --> 00:53:52,480 faith in Jesus. For those of you who. 831 00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:55,200 Haven't had Never. Heard this before, would you 832 00:53:55,200 --> 00:54:00,120 consider who Jesus is? Would you consider the way that 833 00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:02,440 you're living your life? Are you experiencing this 834 00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:07,400 covenant love of God? Please realize understand that 835 00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:08,520 until. You give in. 836 00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:15,560 God's your enemy. He's just waiting for you to 837 00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:18,320 give in. He loves you. 838 00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:23,600 Would you consider that? We hope you enjoyed this message 839 00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:25,360 and we'd love. For you to join us in person 840 00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:28,360 every Sunday at 10:30 AM. For more information and 841 00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:30,560 updates, visit wearebridgetown.com. 842 00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:32,880 Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.