Enduring Love

Thank you, Olivia.

It's not often you get your daughter to pray for you

before you start to speak.

So that is a bit of a new one for me.

I just want to say just a few things about

the relationship the church has here with Brunsfield.

I was thinking how far it went back.

Many, many years ago, just after we were married,

and we've been married for 35 years,

we entertained Archie Naismith for a full day.

It's not things that young couples do nowadays in church

because you kind of get them off their Xbox

until they're about 40.

But we entertained Archie for a full day.

And then at night time, an elder said to me,

can you give Archie a run to the station?

And the rain was coming down.

It was dark.

I said, you can't ask Archie to go on the train

and go back to Edinburgh.

So I said, Archie, I'll take you back to Edinburgh.

I said, on the one proviso,

I need to be back pretty sharp.

So Archie held on with grim fear and death

all the way to Edinburgh.

And I obviously noticed it was his son here.

So if I made any impact on his life

by my driving across here and back,

then I apologise.

We have a connection with the church here,

really on a few fronts.

I was introduced to Graham through my son.

My son went to Christians in Sport.

And that's where he met Graham.

I then met Graham at a place I was going to see

under our eyes, met across the table,

but that wouldn't sound too good.

But I was introduced to Graham.

And then I contacted Graham about coming to speak

at the church.

Graham then said, well, we have actually a team

of young men who would like to maybe try out

and use their gifting coming to speak.

And so I think we're about to approach

our third session now,

about 12 individuals coming to preach to us

at Liberty.

We're a small church in Bellsill

in quite a difficult socioeconomic area.

We are about 35, 40.

We'd meet on a Sunday.

So it has been good just to have different speakers

coming from Edinburgh.

And now we've drafted in Chalmers Church as well

with some of their speakers to come and speak to us.

So it has been good.

And I've got to know some of the guys.

I see Stuart there.

And hopefully they have felt the benefit

of coming through and speaking to us.

That's just a wee bit about that.

Psalm 118.

I don't know if when you were at school

you had a favourite subject.

Mine was pretty obvious what my favourite subject was.

I love PE.

But a close second,

a close second was English.

And one of the things I loved about English was,

and maybe you can empathise with me,

is sometimes when you read a passage

you thought to yourself,

what is that all about?

Not that noise,

but what is that passage all about?

The poem, the Shakespeare.

What does Shakespeare mean when it says,

oh, that this tutu, solid flesh,

would melt thorn,

resolve itself into a Jew,

et cetera, et cetera.

And I'd be like,

what is that all about?

And I used to love it when the English teacher

would take their time

and explain it

and go through it

and bring what is going on in the text.

And in some ways,

if you read Psalm 118,

as I read it after Graham said,

would you speak on Psalm 118?

It was one of these ones,

I accepted the challenge before I read the passage.

That's a mistake.

And I'm normally a three-point alliteration man

from the New Testament,

but Psalm 118 is different.

And it took me time to go through it

and to read it and to study it.

It comes at the end of a series

that you are working through.

It is rich in so many areas.

It was a favourite of Martin Luther.

If you know him,

who was the great reformer,

he had etched on the wall of the castle

that he had been kidnapped and kept safe in.

I will not die, verse 17.

I will not die, but live

and proclaim what the Lord has done.

He has chastened me severely,

but he has not given me over to death.

And he held on to that.

And you might have read

some of the verses there today

and thought to yourself,

I can empathise with that.

I can hold on to that.

And thank Fiona for the songs that you picked.

You'd obviously read the passage

and picked the songs in relation to that.

It's part of the series of Psalms

from 113 through to 118.

It's a long psalm.

It took quite a wee bit of reading there,

but it's not as long as the next one,

which is particularly long.

I was thinking if I had that,

I would have just been able to read it through

and sit down.

But Psalm 118 is a rich, rich passage.

It's a liturgical psalm.

We don't do liturgy much in church.

You know, when you say,

what do I mean by that?

Well, there's a response here.

There's a presenter presenting

and there's a response from the individuals

or from the congregation.

And the clue is very often in the first part,

there's a colon and there's inverted commas.

And that's our response.

And I'm going to try and develop that

as we go through the passage.

It's a psalm that was probably written by David

at the top of normally the psalms,

it would say written by the sons of Korah,

written by Asaph, written by David.

But there is none here.

But most clever people say that it's been written

by David.

And I want to kind of take up that theme

that was written by David.

If you're writing a psalm like this

and the words that come out,

what you see is what is in the man.

And by the man's experience

and the guidance of the Holy Spirit,

the words are written down.

I love old songs.

One of my favourites.

The winner takes it all.

We play it when you lose at sport.

But it's obviously a song that is written

from someone's heartache.

And you can feel the heartache

as you listen to it.

But when David writes,

he writes richly from his own experience.

He writes from what has happened to him.

And through God,

and through God's Holy Spirit,

the truth of that comes out

to minister to us today.

I thought of just an old,

not an old hymn,

I knew hymn actually.

Normally I think of old hymns.

But I thought of,

just as I was reading it this week,

I thought of a modern hymn.

And over this,

Psalm 118,

the words that came to me were,

I love you,

I love you, Lord.

Your mercy never fails.

All my days have been held in your hands.

From the moment that I wake up

until I lay my head,

I will sing of the goodness of God.

And it's a summary.

That's a summary.

And that's what Psalm 118 is like.

That's the outline for today.

I'm going to just spend a wee bit more on intro,

because intro is quite important

in this passage.

I've started in my old age to read a book.

The book is called

The Inner Game of Golf,

believe it or not.

It's not a deep book,

but it's called The Inner Game of Golf.

And it says,

how do you understand this game?

I've been struggling about it for years,

but how do you get to the nub of it?

And it tries to simplify it.

Not too complicated,

not technical,

but tries to simplify it.

And that's what I thought,

as I'm looking at this,

and I'm looking at the life of David,

and how he could write this.

I started to read.

I thought, as background reading,

I thought,

I am going to read about the life of David.

Because if you're going to write this in Psalm 118,

what made you write it?

And I want to look at that a wee bit today.

What made him write it?

And I took an old Bible that I had,

and I were on holiday,

and as I came to a key phrase,

I underlined it.

I underlined it.

I underlined it.

And I realized there was a pattern.

There was a pattern to David's life

that had never struck me before.

And I'm going to just tell you some of the texts.

1 Samuel 23, verse 2,

1 Samuel 23:2

says,

David inquired of the Lord,

saying,

Shall I go and attack?

1 Samuel 23, verse 4.

1 Samuel 23:4

Once again David inquired of the Lord,

and the Lord answered him.

1 Samuel 30,

And David inquired of the Lord,

Shall I pursue this raiding party?

Pursue them,

he answered.

And so it goes on,

through David's life.

2 Samuel 2,

In the course of time,

David inquired of the Lord,

Shall I go up to the towns of Judah?

2 Samuel 5, 19,

So David inquired of the Lord.

2 Samuel 5, 23,

So David inquired of the Lord.

You got any idea?

David spent his time,

and before he made a decision,

inquired of the Lord.

He kept doing it.

He kept repeating it.

He had a relationship with the Lord

that was a close relationship.

We hear about David in 1 Samuel 13,

as well,

where Samuel says,

Saul, you're no longer chosen.

But,

this is what Samuel says to Saul,

But now your kingdom will not endure.

The Lord has sought a man out

after his own heart,

and be appointed a ruler of his people.

David's not dipping in and out

with the relationship of God.

He's not appearing one Sunday,

disappearing for,

going to his caravan the next week,

disappearing for a holiday,

then appearing again in week 4 and 5.

He's not missing coming together for communion.

He's not missing the prayer meeting.

He's not missing any of that.

Why?

Because he had a close relationship with God.

He was a man after God's own heart.

So the summary of David is this.

He was a man after God's own heart.

He dedicated himself to the relationship with God.

It also tells us that the spirit of the Lord was on him.

And also,

he was very gifted.

I missed that bit out,

but my wife in her Bible

has underlined,

and David was ruddy and handsome

in appearance,

but he had the genes as well.

And when God is a man like that,

it is incredible what he can do.

And he uses David to be able to do this.

Verse 1,

Give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good.

His love endures forever.

It starts with that.

It finishes with that.

Give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good.

His love endures forever.

You could spend an eternity

on those verses alone.

One of my pet hates,

and my wife will tell you,

is this.

Someone on Facebook

is in their holiday in Mauritius,

and they put,

God is good.

They have a new car,

and they write,

God is good.

That's taking his name in vain.

We border on prosperity,

gospel,

when we associate these things.

God is good,

whatever your circumstances.

Whatever you've been blessed with

or not blessed with,

that doesn't determine

if God is good.

Despite our circumstances,

God is always good,

and his love endures forever.

Another hymn says,

Blessed be your name

in the land

that is plentiful,

where your streams of abundance flow.

Blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name

when I'm found

in the desert place,

though I'm walking

through the wilderness.

Blessed be your name.

Give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good.

His love endures forever.

And then verses 2 to 4,

don't worry,

I'll take some big chunks

that time it says,

Let Israel say,

His love endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron

say,

His love endures forever.

Let those who fear the Lord

say,

His love endures forever.

Let those of Brunsfield

say,

He does.

And when you look

at the individuals

who are saying this,

let Israel say,

Israel,

the nation,

had been promised

a covenant relationship

with God.

They failed,

came back,

were restored.

They failed,

came back,

were restored.

They failed,

came back,

restored.

God takes them back

time and time and time

again.

Let me tell you,

you will sing,

His love

endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron

say,

His love endures forever.

That was the priesthood.

They went in and out.

They understood God's

great love,

God's great forgiveness.

But as individuals,

I'm going to refer back

to a story in David's life.

David had to go

to the priesthood

and he had to ask

them for bread.

And he asked them

for bread.

They had only the showbread

that was there

to be used in worship.

And they gave him

the showbread.

That meant their death.

Because Saul heard

about it

and he came

with one of his hitmen

and his hitmen

killed all the prophets.

They killed everyone

in the town.

They killed all children,

wives,

cattle,

everyone.

Now David is on the throne

and they remember

what happened to them.

And they can sing,

His love

endures

forever.

Those who fear the Lord

say His love

endures

forever.

And then

we consider

maybe the next section

which is in verse 5

through

to verse 9.

When we look at it

we realise

that we move

from the love of God

to anguish.

I thought that's

a strange step,

isn't it?

To move from

the love of God

to the anguish

in your life.

Verse 5,

in anguish

I cried to the Lord.

He answered me

by setting me free

or bringing me

to a broad

or a spacious

place.

David has been chased

all over the place.

He's been chased

into caves.

He actually stays

with the enemy.

He's been chased

by his son.

All sorts of things.

He's chased

all over the place

and he has been

confined to so many

places.

But he then says

I cried to the Lord

and he answered me

by bringing me

to a spacious

place.

A few years ago

I suffered with

claustrophobia

because of a thyroid issue.

And we were in a caravan

in St Andrews

and let me tell you

that was tough.

It was small.

It was tough.

But then

to get outside

to be along

the east of the

west sands

with the wind

in my hair

which I had then

it was a great

feeling

to be brought

to a spacious

place.

To be walking

on the beach

to be walking

in the glen

when you've been

tied up

in small spaces.

David says

he's brought me

to a spacious

place.

You can also say

the Lord is with me.

The Lord is my helper.

The Lord

is my refuge.

I will not

be afraid.

I thought

how wonderful

that must have been

for people like

Gideon and Moses

and David

to know

when they go into

battle

as well

they know

that the Lord

is with them.

That's a message

that came out

in the songs.

The Lord

is with me.

The Lord

is with me.

The Lord

is with me.

And I come up

with this myself.

When we walk

with the Lord

when we walk

with the Lord

in times of trouble

we run to the Lord.

The two things

go together.

When we walk

with the Lord

in times of trouble

we will run

to the Lord

and he knew

this.

the Lord

was with him

through the good

times

through the bad

times

when he had

to take refuge

when he was

on the run

always there

and he knew

that he was

going to win.

Wouldn't that

be incredible?

Anything you do

you know

you're going

to win.

It's a great

feeling

to know

you're going

to win.

I remember

it being a primary

school.

You know how

they used to

pick teams

if you're

playing football.

I knew

if I got

a chap called

Adam Gibson

in my team

I would not

lose ever.

Why?

Because he was

a star.

He was

incredible.

Any side he

played in

he never

lost.

David knew

the secret

of the victory

that would

come

because he

had the Lord

on his side.

Then we have

the victory

of the Lord.

There's a pattern

to it.

I'm going to

read it.

You can hear

the liturgy

of the response.

All the nations

surrounded me.

Listen to this.

But in the name

of the Lord

I cut them off.

They surrounded

me on every side

but in the name

of the Lord

I cut them off.

They swarmed

around me

like bees.

They died out

as quickly

as burning

thorns

but in the name

of the Lord

I cut them off.

You see the secret?

The secret is

the name

of the Lord.

The name

of the Lord.

And that's not

if you read

the Bible

and you read

particularly

the Old Testament

it's more than

just having

the name

in your shirt.

It's more than

going out there

and saying

I'm a member

of Brunsfield

or handing out

your tracks

or whatever you do.

It's more

than that.

The name

of the Lord

means something

immense.

When you read

about someone's

name

in the Old Testament

you'll read

the name

Benjamin

means son

of my right hand.

You read

Eve

as the mother

of all living.

You read

Methuselah

when he's gone

at his scent.

When you read

about Joseph

naming his sons

God has made

me forget

my despair.

It means

something.

Your name

in the Old Testament

means something.

And when you

come

and you use

and David

uses the name

of the Lord

it means

something.

something bigger

than just saying

in Jesus'

name.

Something bigger

than all these

things.

Because in the Old Testament

we realize that

God explains

his character.

God explains

his name

time and time

again.

He explains it

to Moses

and Moses

comes time and time

again and God

says to him

in a particular

instance

God's name

means.

And then

again in

Exodus 34

God's name

is more

than just

appearing

with the

name

on your

shirt.

We're told

to worship

it.

We're told

to praise

it.

We're told

to fear

it.

And when we

read the Old

Testament

we read

that he is

God Almighty

he is Elohim

he is the

creator

he is a

provider

he is Jehovah

Jireh

he is Jehovah

Nessie

he is the

Lord is my

banner

he is Jehovah

Rafa

the Lord

who restores

it's a study

on its own

and when David

comes for the

victory

he knows

that when he

is done

he is inquired

he knows the

Lord is with

him and he

goes out in

the name

of the Lord.

There's a

particular instance

in David's

life

and you know

the instance

David stands

before Goliath

it's a bit

like the two

boxers

do you know

I'm not really

a boxing fan

but the thing

about boxing

I like

I like the

beginning

I like the

end

I like it

pre-fight

you know

the pre-fight

thing

when they all

walk up

and they go

like that

you know

I don't know

what that's

about

but that's

what they

do

and then

they tell

one another

what they're

going to do

to each

other

well David

was in

that situation

with Goliath

Goliath says

when David

goes out to

fight him

I am a dog

that you come

to me with

sticks

and the

Philistine

cursed David

come here

he said

and I will

give your

flesh to the

birds of

the air

then it's

David's

turn

it's his

turn

so he puffs

out his

chest

and he says

David said

you come

against me

with a sword

and spear

and javelin

but I come

against you

in the name

of the Lord

Almighty

the God

of the armies

whom you

have defied

and then he

and then he

tells him

what he's

going to do

with him

after he

has killed

him

that's

confidence

but he's

not there

on his

own

David knew

that the name

of the Lord

was more than

just going

and saying

oh this is

God speaking

it is the

weight

of God's

character

the weight

of who he

is

the weight

of his

power

and it

says I

cut

them off

victory

verse 13

to 17

very simply

David gives

the credit

to God

all the time

it's God

who's given

him the

victory

it's not him

and when you

read in verse

13 to 17

it says

but the Lord

helped me

the Lord

has become

my salvation

the Lord's

right hand

has done

mighty things

the Lord's

right hand

is lifted

high

the Lord's

right hand

has done

mighty

things

this is

where my

mind goes

way off

the boxing

thing comes

back

I love it

when the

referee raises

the hand

of the winning

boxer

and David

says

I am raising

the hand

of the winning

boxer

and the winning

boxer is God's

right hand

the right hand

that was

classed as

coordination

power

strength

magnificence

and he says

the Lord

has

done it

David knew

as well

talks about

anguish

in one of

those other

verses as you

read down

but the anguish

that has come

about being

chastised

severely

but has not

given me over

to death

David knew

what it was

like

he knew

what it was

like

to be

chased

by Saul

he knew

what it was

like

for Nathan

the prophet

to come to him

and say

you are the man

that has been

caught in adultery

he knew

what it was

like

to have

his son

taken from

him

because of

his sin

he was

chastised

he knew

what it was

like

to be

chased by

his other

son

Absalom

but he knew

what it was

like to

feel the

pain

of Absalom's

death

and he

knew

that God

was

chastening

him

he wasn't

perfect

but he knew

there was

always a way

back

Psalm 51

have mercy

on me

according

to your

unfailing

love

there's

always a

way back

no matter

where you've

gone to

and David

knew it

and then you

have the

bursting of

praise

you're going

to see

brilliant

verse 19

right the way

through to

29

the bursting

of praise

it's like

David is

going through

this celebration

and he's

getting up

to the

temple

and finishes

and give

thanks to

the Lord

for he

is good

I don't

know if

you've

seen this

on Facebook

or something

like it

you might

see a

couple of

girls there

or you

might see

the face

of a

man

sometimes

you can't

see it

and you

need to

screw up

your eyes

just to be

able to

see it

but it's

a picture

of two

things

but you

can see

the picture

of a

man

can you

just flick

on to

the next

one

depends on

how you

look at

this one

you might

not see

it

you might

see it

you might

see the

word

Jesus

you might

not see

it

depends

your

angle

depends

as you

see in

Glasgow

if your

eyes are

scaly

or they're

not scaly

but you

can see

it

right

and it

would be

wrong to

move on

from Psalm

118

not to

see

Jesus

it tells

us

that in

Matthew

26

that when

Jesus had

finished the

institution

of the

Lord's

Supper

when he

had

finished

the

Passover

feast

it says

they

sung

a hymn

out to

the

Mount

of

Olives

Jesus

is

singing

this hymn

before he

goes to

the cross

this is

probably

the last

song

Jesus

sang

before

he went

to the

cross

Jesus

quotes

from this

psalm

himself

Matthew

21

Jesus

says

have you

read

the

scriptures

the

stone

the

builders

rejected

has

become

the

corner

stone

the

Lord

has

done

marvellous

things

in

our

eyes

that's

verse

22

Jesus

quotes

again

in

Mark

12

quotes

again

in

Luke

20

Peter

quotes

it

in

Acts

4

Paul

alludes

to it

in

Ephesians

2

Peter

speaks

of it

in

1st

Peter

it

is

the

most

quoted

text

in

the

New

Testament

that

he

has

become

their

corner

stone

he

was

rejected

by

the

builders

he

was

rejected

because

they

didn't

approve

of his

origin

they

didn't

approve

of his

education

they

didn't

approve

his

rejection

of

traditions

or

they

didn't

approve

of his

friends

but

Jesus

says

it

that

he

has

become

the

corner

stone

the

thing

which

in

a

building

is

the

foundation

which

lines

are

drawn

from

and

everything

is

built

on

he

has

become

the

corner

stone

building

together

Jew

and

Gentile

God

and

man

time

and

eternity

earth

and

heaven

he

has

done

he

is

the

corner

stone

verse

19

you can

also

you have

pictures

of

Palm

Sunday

they

are

save us

or grant

us

success

Hosanna

blessed

is he

who comes

in the

name

of the

Lord

verse

25

26

we

hear

it

we

see

it

we

can

see

the

picture

of

Jesus

but

as

Jesus

sang

these

words

I

just

wondered

how

he

felt

this

holy

ground

how

did

he

feel

the

Lord

is on

my

help

the

Lord

is

on

my

side

to

help

me

I

shall

look

in

triumph

on

those

who

hate

me

as

Jesus

picked

his

trial

imagine

singing

it is

better

take

refuge

in

the

Lord

than

to

put

your

trust

in

man

knowing

that

all

his

disciples

would

desert

him

consider

him

singing

all

nations

have

surrounded

me

but in

the

name

of

the

Lord

I

cut

them

off

they

swarmed

around

me

like

bees

would

the

bees

do

bees

sting

Christ

would

have

the

stinging

whip

on

his

back

he

would

have

the

gouging

out

of

his

flesh

the

crown

of

thorns

would

be

stinging

his

brow

this

was

like

a

swarm

of

bees

that

Jesus

would

be

feeling

the

sting

on

his

body

old

time

says

what

he

endured

no

tongue

can

tell

to

save

our

souls

from

death

and

hell

can you

imagine

Jesus

singing

I was

about

to fall

as he

carries

his cross

can you

imagine

him in the

upper room

singing

the Lord

is my

strength

he has

become

my

salvation

can you

hear

him

singing

the

Lord

has

chastened

me

severely

but he

has

not

given

me

over

to

death

can

you

imagine

him

singing

this

is

the

day

that

the

Lord

has

made

when

he

knows

what

is

going

to

happen

to

happen

to

him

but

he

could

still

say

give

thanks

to

the

Lord

for

he

is

good

his

love

endures

forever

because

he

would

then

say

father

into

your

hands

I

commend

my

spirit

so

the

challenge

for us

today

it's

easy

to look

at a

passage

like

this

and

see

it

as

intellectual

see

it

as

the

life

of

David

and

his

experience

see

it

as

the

life

of

Jesus

and

his

immense

experience

both

trusting

God

both

coming

down

and saying

God

is

on

my

side

God

is

my

refuge

God

is

my

strength

and

through

their

lives

but

the

psalms

are

personal

and

this

is

where

the

message

comes

home

to

us

to

say

is

it

going

to

work

from

my

ears

to

my

head

to

my

heart

and

how

I

live

that's

the

challenge

of

the

Bible

how

can

I

make

it

live

out

in

my

life

I

don't

know

where

you

are

today

I

don't

know

if

you

feel

battered

and

bruised

but

I

do

know

when

you

go

to

his

word

if

you

have

a

relationship

with

him

you

can

realize

that

he

is

with

you

I

leave

with

one

challenge

and

it's

the

challenge

of

this

verse

here

verse

14

the

Lord

is

my

strength

and

my

song

he

has

become

my

salvation

future

it's a

future

tense

as David

speaks

he has

become

my

salvation

you

know

the word

of

salvation

the

word

is

Yeshua

do you

know

what

Jesus

name

is

Yeshua

when

we

go

to

the

New

Testament

Jesus

you

shall

call

his

name

Jesus

because

he

will

save

his

people

from

the

sin

and

the

challenge

today

for

us

is

we

can

have

the

same

relationship

that

David

had

we

can

have

the

same

trust

if

we

make

him

our

salvation

the

Lord

is

my

strength

the

Lord

is

my

song

he

has

become

my

salvation

he

has

become

my

Jesus

the

love

of the

Lord

endures