Rebel, Ruin, Refuge

Father, we confess before you that...

Father, I guess I'm sort of forcing us to confess before you

that most of the time we think we know who we are

and we sort of recognize ourselves.

But, Father, you know that many times we, in fact,

don't really understand or recognize ourselves.

And we ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would do a very gracious

but powerful and gentle work in each one of our lives

and in the life of our church as a whole,

that your Holy Spirit would work in our lives,

that you would bring this word deeply into our hearts

and that you would bring the gospel deeply into our hearts

so that we would see who we really are

and that in seeing who we really are,

we would call out to you and flee to you for refuge.

And we give you thanks and praise, Father,

that when we find refuge in you,

we start to become as you truly intended us to be

and you fit us for heaven.

So we ask, Lord, that you would do this gentle

but merciful and powerful work in our lives.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Actually, it's sort of a very fitting analogy for the sermon,

but this is very unbalanced and it's very, very disconcerting,

which I'll try to ignore.

But it's probably just in the providence of God

that it's here like this because it sort of fits with the sermon.

As many of you know, or some of you know,

I spend a lot of time in coffee shops and I work on my sermon

and eventually get into different conversations with people about that

where they find out I'm a pastor

and they'll ask me questions about what it means to be a pastor.

It's very common when I speak to people who are under 40

that they have never been to a church service,

like in their entire life.

The little tiny things they might know about churches

is if they happen to watch a church,

something in the movies or television

that shows a bit of a church service,

but they've never been and they don't really know what goes on.

So sometimes they'll ask me, like, what I do?

What do we do on a Sunday morning?

Like I always invite them to come or to watch online

and maybe one of them are watching online today.

And so one of the things sometimes I try to describe a sermon to them

and I have to confess most of the time I flub it.

I don't do a good job.

So it's after I've failed

and I try to sort of recalibrate in my mind how to talk about it.

And so sometimes what I say is I'll say something like this.

And I'd say a different thing if I'm talking to a devout Buddhist

or a devout Jew or a devout Muslim.

They have sort of different categories that I have to try to talk to.

But often what I'll try to say, if I have my wits about me,

is I'll say something like,

it might surprise you to know that we Christians agree with agnostics

and skeptics about something very, very important.

We're in 100% agreement with them.

We're in 100% agreement with agnostics and skeptics

that the idea that human beings, mere human beings,

could somehow ascend up to a big transcendent God

and somehow or another come up with terms and ideas

and concepts that sort of fit or capture him,

that that's sort of like a vain type of thing

in terms of it's vain you think you're special,

but vain because it's fruitless.

It can't possibly work.

If God is this big transcendent God,

there's just no way that we human beings could actually reach

him, her, it, or whatever.

And I said, we actually Christians,

it's probably going to surprise you.

It usually does surprise them, actually.

They don't expect me to say that we agree

with agnostics and skeptics about that.

But then I say, but the difference is,

and I said, if you think about it for a second,

it makes sense.

The difference is that we think that God has spoken to us.

Like, if you think about it,

if God is really that big and all-knowing,

it's possible that he could speak to us.

He could pick the right words for us to know.

And then I say, you know,

some other time we can talk about why we believe that,

but that's what Christians believe.

So I said, if you think about it,

it makes sense that when we gather together,

that part of what we do when we gather together

is actually take something that God has spoken to us

and try to think about it

and see how it applies to our lives.

And often people say, oh, like,

I mean, obviously they've never thought about it.

They've never been to a church in their entire life.

And they go, oh, I mean, that's sort of,

you know, different.

And so, you know, and then I'll say,

but there's a bit of a problem.

And I said, part of the problem is,

because they'll maybe say,

well, I thought the Bible was written long ago.

And I'll talk a little bit about how,

if you think about it,

that if God really is,

if there really is a God,

like the triune God,

that's big and all-powerful and all-knowing,

then it's possible for him to say words

that could speak to every generation

and every people group.

And I said, but then sometimes,

in fact, I just recently had a bit of a conversation

just a couple of weeks ago with somebody.

I said, so part of the thing that we need to do,

I said, is you sort of have to make a bit of a bridge.

And I said, you know,

and it's not that surprising,

because sometimes, you know,

people say things,

and we don't think it really applies to us.

And then later on,

we realize it really does apply to us.

And I said, so part of what I do,

when you see me here trying to look up in this space,

trying to, looking a bit confused,

and all of that,

I'm trying to think of how do I bridge,

how do I get that piece of what God has said

that might have been written a long time ago,

and how do I get people

who are sitting in Ottawa in 2022

to realize it's speaking to them?

So, for instance,

like if you put the,

we're going to look at Psalm 2,

you're going to see instantly what I mean

as a perfect example,

if we just look at Psalm 2,

which is the psalm I'm looking at today,

it's the beginning of a summer series,

or sort of the,

yes, in many ways,

the beginning of a summer series,

we're going to look at different psalms

over the summer.

And if you turn to Psalm 2,

here we're reading something

that was written 3,000 years ago,

give or take a couple of years,

3,000 years ago,

and you listen to it,

and here's how it begins.

Verse 1,

Why do the nations rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together

against the Lord,

and against his anointed,

saying,

let us burst their bonds apart,

and cast away their cords from us.

Like, look at verse 1 again,

why do the nations rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

So, if you think about it,

just for a second,

take off your holy hat,

take off your holy clothes,

and it just doesn't seem true.

Right?

I mean, it just doesn't seem true.

Or maybe you think of it,

and you say,

you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

that describes,

that describes the MAGA Trump people.

Or, depending on your other,

you know, that describes

all those people going out

and demonstrating right now,

you know, against Roe versus Wade.

Yeah, that describes them.

Like, and so maybe we look at it

and think about how it describes them,

but we don't look at it

and think about how it describes us.

It seems like it's too big a gap.

It doesn't seem like a realistic thing to say.

Okay.

Well, here's the thing.

Now, I meant to have my service,

my phone,

my family brought me my phone

just at the very start of the service,

so I didn't have a chance to look it up,

but it maybe is even better

that I don't look it up.

There's a song

that if I start to say the words to it,

it is so well known to you

that, in fact,

if I started to sing the first verse,

most of you could sing along with me

even though the words aren't up on the screen.

And even though I didn't have my phone with me,

if I had a whiteboard,

I'd probably by myself

be able to put down

most of the lyrics to the song,

but I'd be willing to bet $100

that with none of us looking at our phones,

we could put all of the lyrics of the song

up on the whiteboard

within about a minute or two,

and we could do it effortlessly.

And it's a song

which virtually every Canadian knows,

and my guess is

that almost every single one of you knows,

and you know it very well.

Imagine there's no heaven.

It's easy if you try.

No hell below us.

Above us, only sky.

Imagine, and it goes on.

Am I not correct?

Imagine there's no heaven.

It's easy if you could all join up with me in singing it,

and we'd all be able to put it up on the screen.

And here's the other thing about that song.

And I...

It's not just that we know the lyrics to the song,

but that most people,

when they sing the song,

have a deep emotional connection to that song.

In fact, in an odd way,

there's almost something transcendent

or religious

about that song.

It moves you.

It tugs at your heart.

Imagine there's no heaven.

It's easy if you try.

No hell.

No hell below us.

Above us, only sky.

It speaks to us

at a very deep level.

But that song

is actually saying

what verses 1 to 3 said

in a modern singable form

that tugs at your heart.

Why do the nations rage or plot

and the peoples plot in vain?

That's God's comment.

We work together,

but the bottom line is,

verse 3,

let us burst their bonds apart,

that is the God,

that is the Lord

and is anointed,

and cast away their cords from us.

Let us live.

Let us live

as if

there is no God,

there is no hell below us,

there is no heaven up above,

there is just us.

Let us live in that way.

And when we sing

or hear that song,

it tugs at our heart,

it speaks to us.

In fact,

that song shows

that verses 1 to 3

of Psalm chapter 2

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

are deeply true.

Not only are they deeply true

of most Canadians,

it is deeply true

of you and me.

Because if we're honest,

there's something in that song

that tugs at our heart too.

To cast,

to live as if God does not exist,

to cast off his bonds,

to cast off his cords.

Now one of the things

about the Bible

is that as I,

I think I learned it

from Jackie Hill Perry

that the Bible

is both a window

and a mirror.

And it's a window

in the sense that

it opens up the door,

the window to us

to start to understand

and see the world

as it really is.

And it's a mirror

because it begins

to reveal to us

what we really look like

and what we're really like

at the level of the heart

in the context

of the living God.

And that's what this psalm

does in a very,

very powerful way.

It's a psalm that,

with this,

with Psalm 1,

which we're going to look at

next week,

it's the introduction

to the Psalter.

It tells us how to enter

into the Psalter.

The Psalter is the book of Psalms

and the book of Psalms

are the songs

that God wants us to sing.

They're the prayers

that God wants us to pray.

And at the same time

they teach us

and they inform us.

And one of the reasons

that we can see

why this psalm

is here right at the beginning

is it teaches us

that while we're trying

to learn how to sing

the songs that God

wants his people to sing

and to pray the prayers

that God wants us to pray,

there is a part of us

that doesn't want God

to exist.

Pascal,

who wrote a famous

sort of collection

of thoughts

of apologetics,

I think it was

in the 17th century,

but I can't remember

if it was the 17th

or the 18th century

in France.

He has this very powerful thing

where he says

that if you want to talk

about the Christian faith

to people who are

outside the Christian faith,

you have to deal

with two issues.

One issue is that

everybody has reasons,

often very good reasons,

why the Christian God

cannot be true.

But the other thing,

which most people

don't recognize,

is that most people

don't want

the triune God

to exist.

They don't want

Christianity to be true.

They will accept

just about anything

other than accept

the Christian faith.

And Psalm 2

is expressing that to us

as a way for us

as we enter into

worship and prayer

is to acknowledge

that there is part of us

that likes to cast off

God's bonds

and his courts.

So how does God react?

That we wouldn't

want him to exist.

All of verses 4 to 12

talk about it,

but we'll look at it

in chunks.

Let's look at the first thing

is going to be very surprising.

And actually,

many of us find it troubling

and many of us

probably find it offensive.

Look at verse 4.

He who sits

in the heavens

laughs.

One moment.

So some of us

don't want to recognize

the fact that we

have part of us

that really

the song imagined

speaks to us

at a deep level.

And others,

of course,

would be very,

very public about,

you know,

I've seen people

about saying

how they're looking

forward to going to hell

because all the cool people

and their best friends

will be there.

And people can be

very sort of,

you know,

ha-ha about it.

And that's fine.

But the surprising thing

here is what the psalm

reveals is that

God laughs at this.

But look,

and it's a bit offensive.

Look,

again,

verse 4,

he who sits

in the heavens

laughs.

The Lord holds

them in derision.

I mean,

he just,

he laughs

like because

it's ridiculous.

Verse 5,

then he will speak

to them in his wrath.

And that's a troubling

idea for Canadians.

And terrify them

in his fury,

saying,

as for me,

I have set

my king

on Zion,

my holy hill.

So it's interesting

that this verse

4 to 6,

it begins with a picture

of heaven laughing

and it ends up

with God's response,

not just as laughing,

but there's also anger

at what's going on

by whether we human beings

would live in this.

And his response

is that he sends

his king

to the earth.

It begins

with something

transcendent

and it ends

with something

very,

very much

among us.

But we're bothered

by some of this stuff.

Well, in terms of,

let's look at the thing

about the laughing.

We think this is

sort of wrong for God,

but it's something

that we can actually

deeply relate to.

Imagine for a moment

between the two services

the places may be empty.

And that's what it's like.

We have a service

at 8,

very small little,

very 1662,

book of common prayer,

the,

thy,

thou,

dost language.

And then there's

a period of time

when there's nobody

here between the 9

and the 10 o'clock service.

And let's say Barbara's gone.

And I think I'm here

all by myself.

And I start to do

my best imitation

of U2's Bono singing

interspersed with how,

what's the guitarist's name?

Slash or something like that.

How Slash plays his guitar.

So I'm up here

singing away,

thinking I'm all by myself,

playing the guitar,

doing all the moves.

And all of a sudden

I discover that the

more needs have all

come in very quietly

and are watching me.

They could turn off

all the lights,

the room would be

a bright red

from the color of my face.

Now they wouldn't

all laugh at me

because they're very nice,

but imagine it was

somebody else.

And they would just think

I'm completely

and utterly ridiculous.

Here I am,

a man of a certain age,

acting as if I'm

a super rock star

and it's just ridiculous

and you would laugh

and you all understand it.

Well, that's,

now you understand

a little bit about

your pretension and mine

that I don't need God,

I don't need a creator,

I don't need a sustainer,

I don't need oxygen.

Whoa, whoa, whoa,

that's wrong.

Yes, you do.

I don't need gravity.

I'm just the God

of the universe.

No, no wonder God laughs.

And what about the anger?

I was talking to somebody

about this just about

a month or so ago

and I said,

imagine,

I said that you had

had some kids

and they're your kids

and so, you know,

you changed their diapers

when they were young,

you, you know,

you cared for them,

you got them to school,

you gave them sporting events,

you gave them allowance

and then for whatever reason

you're very wealthy

and you just continue

to give them money

and they don't work

and you put them up

in a very, very fine house

and they get all the money

they want every time

they go to their bank account

the money's there

that they need

and they live in a house

and every single thing

is coming from you

and you are completely

and utterly supporting them

and then you discover

that what they do

is they go around

telling people

how bad and evil

and how much you suck

and how they're responsible

for all this money,

they're making it,

they're sustaining it

and you might be

very angry at them.

In fact,

if you would be

like most people,

if you hear how much

they're disparaging you

and saying how they,

you know,

they're an orphan

and that you're dead,

they don't even have a dad,

like you might just say,

well, I've had enough

of them,

I'm going to cut them off,

you'd be angry at them.

So God's response

to human beings

thinking that we can

be our own gods

is actually very,

that makes,

like that's not

an outrageous thing

for God to do.

But it isn't just

that he laughs

and it isn't just

that he's anger,

there's something deeper

that's going on here.

Now, just before I read

the next bit,

and if you have your Bibles

you can already see it,

but if you're just looking

up on the screen

you have to wait.

You know what I tell

my Jewish friends is,

you know,

we Christians accept

what you call the Tanakh

and we call it

the Old Testament

and we accept

that that's God speaking.

but we obviously,

we believe that

because of Jesus

and his coming,

because he is the Messiah,

the anointed one,

that there's also now

more words

that God has spoken to us

and we call that

the New Testament.

And you might or might

not know this,

but what we call

the New Testament

quotes parts

of the Old Testament

or makes allusions to it.

And the Bible text

in the Old Testament

that's most quoted

in the New Testament

is Psalm 110.

It is found

directly quoted

or alluded to

far more than

any other text

in the Old Testament.

And the second most quoted text

in the New Testament

from the Old Testament

is Psalm 2.

Well, look at these

next few verses

and you'll understand why.

Look at verse 7.

So this is the king, right?

As for me,

I have set my king

on Zion,

my holy hill.

And the king is now saying,

I will tell of the decree.

The Lord said to me,

you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me

and I will make

the nations

your heritage

and the ends

of the earth

your possession.

You will break them

with a rod of iron

and dash them in pieces

like a potter's vessel.

Now you can,

those of you

who are Christians,

you can see that

Jesus quotes that directly.

It's part of the text

in the New Testament

to use about

the divinity of Jesus.

A riddle,

a puzzle

which is there

in the Old Testament

that only Jesus

actually answers.

But we're very bothered

by this idea

that the coming of God

and of his Messiah

to earth

would lead to things

being smashed.

But here's a way

to see it.

In fact, actually,

I've sort of jumped ahead

a little bit

in terms of the overall sermon.

The sermon,

the big idea

of the sermon

is that human rebellion

against the triune God

will only have

one of two ends.

Ruin,

you are ruined,

or you seeking refuge in him.

You are ruined,

or you realizing

that you're heading to ruin,

you seeking refuge in him.

So imagine for a second

you don't like

the law of gravity.

You hate the law of gravity.

You find the law of gravity

deeply offensive.

You think it shouldn't be there.

You think that by your power

of your mind

that it should not be there.

You should be able to fly.

You should be able to soar.

You should be able to be like a god.

And you can say that

as you step off

of a 12-story building.

And you can shake your fist

at gravity

all the way down.

You can scream at gravity.

You can curse gravity.

You can pretend you're flying.

But you are falling.

And you will end

dead on the ground.

The fact of the matter is

that if in fact

the triune god

does exist

and because every human being

will die

coming face to face

with the triune god

is an unavoidable reality.

And you will either

crash

against that triune god

in fact actually

if up until now

up until the end of verse 9

all you can see

is the only option

is smashing.

That you have your pretensions

about God not existing

and whether or not

that's very conscious

or whether or not

it's something unconscious

that you never recognize

others might see in you

or at times

you start to realize

that you don't

you know

like this is my body

you know my body myself

good grief

I mean

my body myself

and if the psalm

was just to end

at verse 9

it would present

a very bleak

and despairing

view

of the human

project

that all we human beings

can do

is to rebel against God

whether conscious or not

wish that he wasn't there

and at the end of the day

really all we are

is people falling

from a 12 story building

railing against

gravity

and we lose

gravity wins

and we will be ruined

but the psalm

doesn't end

at verse 9

it has one more section

one more trio

of verses

let's look at what they are

now therefore

verse 10

oh kings be wise

oh there's a possibility

of wisdom

be warned

oh rulers of the earth

serve the lord

with fear

and rejoice

with trembling

kiss the sun

lest he be angry

and you perish

in the way

for his wrath

is quickly kindled

and what's the final word

blessed are all

who take refuge

in him

what is the final word

before you start

to read the rest

of the psalter

is blessed

are all

who take refuge

in him

now

one of the things

that the rest

of the psalter

you know

many of us

and this is where

that song

imagine

is so powerful

right

imagine there's

no heaven

it's easy

if you try

no hell below us

above us only sky

and you go on

and on and on

imagine all the people

and you know

all of this

etc etc

and the idea

of serving the lord

with fear

and rejoicing

with trembling

is deeply offensive

that's not what

we want to hear

and one of the things

that the rest

of the psalter

will make clear

to us

is that human beings

don't have a choice

about serving

and the other word

for serving

is worshipping

that the fact

of the matter

is

is that I don't

have a choice

between serving

the triune god

and not

the choice

between me

is that I'm

going to serve

somebody

or something

I can't help

but serve

something

or somebody

and I might be

serving my ego

I might be serving

my career

I might be serving

art

I might be serving

money

I might be serving

my politics

I might be serving

a certain type

of ideology

I might be serving

technology

or science

or whatever

I might be serving

my wife

or living in

complete and utter

terror about what

my kids

or my neighbors

say

and I am serving

something

so the question

isn't will I serve

or not

is what are you

in fact serving

and the rest of the

Psalter will start

to make that

very clear

as you read

through it

and as you pray

through it

and as you sing

through it

and this particular

thing of kiss the sun

one of the things

here which the psalm

is remembering

and one of the

problems I have

sometimes when I'm

talking to people

about the Christian

faith is I realize

I can start to talk

about the Christian

faith as if it's

just ideas

if it's just

principles

it's just certain

things about how

culture or morality

or philosophical

types of ideas

but it's not

it's about a person

I mean it is about

those things

there are ideas

there are concepts

and precepts

and practices

and processes

and that matter

but at the end of the day

it's a person

and this word

kiss the sun

it's an image

of homage

of acknowledging

your sovereign

lord

to whom

it is

proper for you

to serve

and bring glory

and to listen

to and to follow

and it's an intimate

image

I had

some people

who were from

a French background

who were at the

earlier service

and I shared with them

and I said

in a French culture

you don't just

sort of say

you know

like this

or shake your hand

it's the

the kiss

on either side

it's close

it's personal

you're in their space

it's a sign

of the fact

that you're willing

to be completely

and utterly

defenseless

and close

and that's the image

the psalms

when they're prayed

and as they're

sung

and as they're

reflected on

it's not just ideas

there's a king

who creates a kingdom

and his kingdom

is all centered

around him

and it's

it's relating to him

it's not a kingdom

where you just

sort of do things

as if the king

is gone

that's the beginning

of the psalm

casting his bonds

asunder

there's always a king

that we are to be

close to

and intimate with

and that we are

to pay homage to

and when it says

that his wrath

in verse 12

is quick

that we might

get

we experience his anger

that we might perish

and that's the thing

about the ruin

and then his wrath

is quickly kindled

the image there

isn't that God

is very very thin

skinned

can fly into a rage

in a moment

the issue is this

that in the next 30 seconds

I could have an aneurysm

and to your shock

collapse dead

that we don't know

when we will appear

before God

face to face

we might think

we know

I might think

you know

I'm having to plan

eventually for my retirement

and all

and you know

I think I'll plan

a retirement plan

until I'm 95

and all of that

type of stuff

but I don't know

I don't know

if I'm going to die

on my way home

I don't know

part of the thing

that gets people

like if you

in Acts chapter 5

Acts 5 · chapter mention

there's this sort of

scary story

of a man

by the name

of Ananias and Sapphira

who dropped dead

and it's a whole other topic

for another sermon

but one of the things

that commentators

and all try to do

is try to make it look

like what

what Ananias and Sapphira

did was so unbelievably

terribly wrong

that God had to kill them

but that is not

the point of the story

the fact of the matter is

is that it was

a garden variety

type of bad thing

just garden variety

the simple little

white lie

that you or I

take or make

and we never even

give it a second's thought

and the point

of the story is

you never know

when you're going to appear

before the living God

you just don't

it can spring up

in a moment

and you're there

I'm driving along

thinking how

I'm going to do this

I'm going to do that

I'm so great

I'm do this

and the next thing I know

I'm before the living God

I'm before him

all of a sudden

in the blink of an eye

in the twinkle of an eye

but notice how the psalm ends

right now George

if you are outside of Christ

you are a man

who stepped off

of the tallest building

in the world

and you are falling

and you might think

you're God

you might think

you're flying

you might shake your fist

at the true and living God

but the fact of the matter is

is that you only have

one destiny

and that is to land

in the ground

but the psalm said

there is another option

why did God send

his son

his anointed one

to his anointed

to his Zion hill

the hill where he died

why did he send

his only begotten son

why did he send

our king

and he sent

his king

that he might drink

the cup

that you deserve

he sent his son

and his king

that you and I

might find refuge in him

you and I

by simple act of faith

might find our refuge

in him

just as I sort of bring

the sermon

to a close

what if you think

back to verse 2

let us burst

their bonds

apart

and cast away

their cords

from us

what is it

you discover

when you come

to the Lord

for refuge

what are those

cruel

and irksome

terrible bonds

and cords

that the Lord

has for you

and me

truth

the Lord wants

to bind us

with truth

what do I want

in the vanity

of my imaginations

I want lies

he wants to bind

me with the truth

he wants to

bind me with love

when I want to hate

he wants to bind

me with goodness

when I would

rather do things

which are purely

and utterly

pursuing my ego

he wants to

bind me with beauty

when I want to

choose ugliness

ugliness from my lips

or ugliness

in my mind

or in my imagination

he wants to bind

me with beauty

he wants to bind

me with justice

when I would

rather have

injustice

he wants to

bind me with mercy

when I would

rather show

no mercy

he wants to

bind me with the gift of forgiveness, when I would rather show no forgiveness but show resentment.

Those are the terrible, terrible, terrible, atrocious things that the living, true and

living God wants to bind you and me with. Those are the cords we want to cast away.

And the Lord looks at you and me and says, gosh, George, you need to find refuge in me,

the way, the truth, and the life, the true, the good, the beautiful. I who am just yet merciful,

whose goodness is beauty and whose beauty is goodness. And we need that. We don't need to

have those cast aside. I need those to bind me. And you know the wonderful thing? I was sharing

this with somebody. We got on a bit of a sidetrack. This is a non-Christian. This is a couple of

months ago. And I said, you know, one of the wonderful things about the Bible and things

like this is if you think about it for a second, all the Bible says is you shall not tell a lie.

And my implication is it tells you you should tell the truth. But you think about it for a

second. You can sing. You can write poetry. You can write a novel. You can write laws.

Just don't tell lies. Just don't tell lies. Like it's not free. It's not like it's so

binding me as if I can only say one thing, you know, quack, quack, quack, quack. No,

the whole universe is open. Write about economics. Write about statistics. Write beautiful songs

and sing them. Just don't tell lies. Speak the truth. It doesn't tell you how to love.

Love your children one way. Love your husband or your wife another way. Love your neighbor

another way. Love the barista who's serving you another way. It doesn't tell you how to.

You see what I mean? It's like these things aren't things which bind us. And that's the thing

which the Psalms are going to now unfold. That now that you realize, okay, I have a sin problem.

There's something in me. There's some significant part of me that's always going to be rebelling

against God. That my refuge in him is a work of his grace, not of my accomplishment. And now the

Psalm is going to help me to sing out of finding refuge in him and wanting to have deeper refuge in

him and understanding how these chords and bonds that his word provides are completely trustworthy.

And do not destroy me, but make me more fully myself and make me free and whole.

We are all on one level. Fundamentally, we know that we are more ourselves in truth than in lie,

more ourselves in goodness than in evil, more ourselves in beauty than in ugliness,

more in ourselves in justice rather than injustice, more ourselves in mercy rather than in hatred.

And that is what the Lord calls you and me to invite you to stand.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. And just before I pray, if you're here or if you're watching online,

if you either maybe you're not sure where you are with the trying God, but after hearing this,

you realize there's been a tug in your heart that you don't want to have imagined tug on your heart,

that you'd rather have the true and living God tug on your heart, that you'd rather not want to cast off his bonds,

but you want to find refuge in him so that the bonds of truth and love and goodness and mercy and beauty and justice

are the bonds that begin to actually keep you together and whole.

There is no better time than right now to just call out to the true and living God and say,

Jesus, please be my Savior and Lord, and I want to find my refuge in you and never let me go.

And there's no better time than now just to call out to him and say that.

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we thank you that your word makes clear who we are.

And we ask, Lord, that you create within us a hunger for you, a hunger for Jesus,

that the message of the gospel and of your mercy, that it humble us,

that it helps us to die to our pride and vain glory.

We give you thanks and praise that you want us to find refuge in you,

that you are our refuge, and that when we find our refuge in you through your grace,

that, well, Father, that from the perspective of your grace, as we hear your words,

we begin to understand that you just want us to be bond.

You want to bind us with truth.

You want to bind us with love.

You want to bind us with joy.

You want to bind us with peace and mercy and justice and beauty.

And so, Lord, we ask that you create not only a hunger and longing and yearning for you,

but a hunger and longing and yearning for your word,

hunger and longing and yearning to know the psalms and have the psalms form us,

to guide us in our prayer and the singing of our praises.

We ask, Lord, that your word have a deep hole and root in our lives.

And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.