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Psalms for the Summer: Faithful and Unfaithful Generations : Psalm 78

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  1. Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

  2. a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

  3. It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

  4. more into the life of following God, Father,

  5. Son, and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming

  6. and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am

  7. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

  8. us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,

  9. Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

  10. sermon. God bless. Let's pray again. Lord, thank

  11. you for the Psalms, these songs, these prayers

  12. that the community together would offer up to

  13. you. Lord, I pray that this community, Second

  14. City Church, would hear these words, that we

  15. would hide them in our hearts, that we would

  16. live them out in faithfulness to you, that you

  17. would teach us what you need to teach us today.

  18. I pray that our hearts would be open to you and

  19. that you would speak, Lord. That we would hear

  20. your voice. Would the words of my mouth and these

  21. meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing

  22. in your sight? the Lord our rock and our Redeemer.

  23. Amen. All right, I don't know if you have heard

  24. this, but I've heard this a few times recently

  25. that dinner parties and family meals are getting

  26. less and less interesting. People just aren't

  27. sure what to talk about. Some of it is that we

  28. live our lives in isolation. There's a few other

  29. interesting reasons that I have. At about, I'm

  30. not going to get into all those right now. Instead,

  31. what I want to do is give you your question for

  32. your next dinner. OK? It's probably one you've

  33. been asked. I've been asked this before, but

  34. it's a great question. It helps you get to know

  35. somebody else. Here's what it is. Who is a who

  36. is a teacher in your life that had a big impact

  37. on you? Great question. Of course, the subsequent

  38. question is. Why? What did they teach you? that

  39. influenced you. Not just who it is, why and what,

  40. okay? Who, why what? Teacher. Maybe ask that

  41. around your dinner table tonight. Maybe ask that

  42. with some friends. I have often thought that,

  43. when that question comes up, the people that

  44. come to my mind often are my high school teachers.

  45. I can actually remember all their names, my high

  46. school teachers. I can remember very few of my

  47. college teachers, but my high school teachers

  48. I can remember. And then also I think of my young

  49. life leader actually in high school, Matt Shorak.

  50. He had a huge impact in my life. But I kind of

  51. was thinking about this because a couple of weeks

  52. ago, I was telling Lily that the first time I

  53. got to go sailing was with one of my high school

  54. teachers. took me out on a sailboat with a couple

  55. other friends. It was so fun, and I remember

  56. that very clearly. Just the love and the kindness

  57. that was shown to me. But I want to tell you

  58. actually a little bit about one of my other teachers,

  59. who was not just my teacher, he was my history

  60. teacher my junior and senior year, but also my

  61. high school principal. His name is Dick Hanula,

  62. Richard Hanula. As the high school principal,

  63. he of course had to also be a disciplinarian.

  64. This is not something that I faulted for at all.

  65. In fact, it was a wise and good thing and he

  66. was very kind in it. But I remember being called

  67. into his office with four of my other classmates

  68. and we weren't just reprimanded with gentleness

  69. and kindness, but we were also fined because

  70. that was the policy of the school. Because after

  71. the school play, which we were in, as seniors,

  72. we were over at one of the other seniors house

  73. and we were all smoking cigars, which was not

  74. according to school policy. So anyway, but he

  75. did that in gentleness. I remember I remember

  76. where I was sitting in his office. But beyond

  77. some beyond somebody that like took sort of these

  78. rules with grace, but also with proper. sort

  79. of severity and love in that. He also just loved

  80. where we lived. He actually wrote our history

  81. book on the Pacific Northwest in Washington State.

  82. And I knew this guy loved the Northwest. He loved

  83. the people of the Northwest, he loved the place,

  84. and he just exuded it. He also loved, loved history.

  85. He actually wrote a book called Radiant, 50 Remarkable

  86. Women in Church History, but he primarily liked

  87. to teach 20th century history. And he was funny

  88. and he's still living. I'm just saying was because

  89. it's my past. So he was kind of dry. He was funny

  90. and he was kind of warm, but also really serious.

  91. And he gave us the option one year to get extra

  92. credit for us who both wanted to take it on and

  93. who maybe needed to take it on. And the extra

  94. credit was that we memorize Billy Joel's famous,

  95. we didn't start the fire. because we were learning

  96. about the Cold War. And so if we memorize the

  97. whole thing and sang it in front of the whole

  98. class, we could get extra credit. You know, we

  99. didn't start the fire. It was always burning.

  100. I mean, it's such a good song. By the way, he

  101. also wrote a book on Samuel Rutherford, the Scottish

  102. preacher. He's a great guy. But Mr. Hanula, I

  103. want to say is a great... teacher because he

  104. was so very principled and he desired, he loved

  105. the content and he wanted it to be known, to

  106. be loved. He wanted to teach us well. He wanted

  107. us to love the Pacific Northwest where I grew

  108. up. It's history, it's people, it's places. He

  109. wanted us to know the historical figures that

  110. we might actually be shaped well as people, right?

  111. So Psalm 78, we're in this Psalm today. Cause

  112. we're making our way through the Psalms in the

  113. summers. You know, this is the 12th summer we've

  114. been doing this. And it's a long Psalm, isn't

  115. it? That's a long Psalm. How many of you drifted

  116. off? You do not need to raise your hand. How

  117. many of you began to dream about canoeing on

  118. the yellow breaches? Yeah. Quite a few of you,

  119. probably. Nobody raised their hand, but that's

  120. fine. If you're interested for your next Bible

  121. trivia, Psalm 78 is the second longest Psalm

  122. in the Psalter. The longest one being Psalm 119,

  123. of course, that one's much, much longer. But

  124. this is a history Psalm, and that's actually

  125. not normally one of the categories that people

  126. break the Psalms down into. I've mentioned, of

  127. course, last week that lament is by far the most,

  128. the largest category. There's Psalms of praise

  129. and royal Psalms and things like that. And then

  130. there's a small category that some people make

  131. called history Psalms, where they recount much

  132. of the history or key aspects of the history

  133. of God working with his people. If you're interested,

  134. it's Psalm 105, 106, 135, 136, and 78. Those

  135. are the history Psalms. It's a history lesson,

  136. but before it gives the history lesson, it says,

  137. remember the past and teach it to those who go

  138. ahead. So, I want us to sort of consider two

  139. big lessons, and it sort of begins like this,

  140. I think. Instruct the present and the future

  141. with the past. That's kind of big lesson one.

  142. And then the obvious next lesson is learn the

  143. history of the past. Learn it, know it. If you're

  144. gonna be told to teach it, you gotta know it.

  145. So first, instruct the present and the future

  146. with the past. So if you hopefully have your

  147. Bibles open to Psalm 78, found on page 578. Oh,

  148. that's pretty handy. What you will notice maybe

  149. is that there's this first kind of section, it's

  150. really verses one to eight, that sort of are

  151. a preface or a preamble to the whole rest of

  152. it. You know, right? In that section, there's

  153. not so much of the history happening yet. It's

  154. sort of here. Here's what you need to do. And

  155. there's two things that it tells us. First, I

  156. want to say that place the past alongside the

  157. present, right? So if this first main point is

  158. instruct the present and the future with the

  159. past, the first thing is place the past alongside

  160. the present. Verse one, give ear to my people,

  161. to my teaching, incline your ears to the words

  162. of my mouth. So he's speaking in the present.

  163. Here, listen to me, listen to me. I'll open my

  164. mouth in a parable. I'll utter dark sayings from

  165. things, dark things, things that may have been

  166. forgotten or pushed aside. Things that we have

  167. heard and known that our fathers have told us

  168. maybe aren't before our eyes like they need to

  169. be. We will not hide them from their children,

  170. but tell them to the coming generation. We're

  171. going to get to that in a second. But an interesting

  172. thing here is that the past is called a parable.

  173. And it's called a parable there in verse two,

  174. right? I'll open my mouth in a parable. And if

  175. you think of a parable, probably what you think

  176. of is, well, you probably think of the parables

  177. of Jesus. That's probably one thing you think

  178. of, like the good Samaritan, all these different

  179. parables, right? And maybe when you think of

  180. a parable, you think fictitious, right? Maybe

  181. not grounded in what really happened, that kind

  182. of thing. But I want to just kind of dispel that,

  183. okay? Christianity is based on what happened.

  184. In fact, Paul says, if the resurrection didn't

  185. happen, we're all to be most pitied. And the

  186. scriptures are always saying God did this in

  187. real time and space. These things happened. Okay.

  188. So what does the parable mean here? Well, para

  189. means alongside of that prefix. And the parable

  190. part comes from balein, which means to throw.

  191. So you put these two things together. And what

  192. it means is to take alongside, to put it along,

  193. to throw it alongside, to put it alongside. So

  194. you're supposed, the idea is that you're supposed

  195. to have one story and another, and you're supposed

  196. to compare the two. What are you supposed to

  197. learn from this story? How does this good Samaritan,

  198. you know, the person that comes up to Jesus,

  199. who's my neighbor, and he tells the story and

  200. you're supposed to put that story along with

  201. your story. How do you understand who your neighbor

  202. is? So we're supposed to put. history alongside

  203. our story and to learn in the present from the

  204. past. Of course, there's tons of great quotes

  205. about history. Think of James Baldwin saying,

  206. history is not the past, it is the present. We

  207. carry our history with us. There's a parable

  208. dynamic. Of course, there's a famous quote also

  209. from George Santayana saying, those who cannot

  210. remember the past are what? Yeah, gonna repeat

  211. it So put it alongside the present take the past

  212. learn it Instruct the present with it Of course,

  213. there's tons we can learn from history One of

  214. the things that we can learn from history is

  215. that oftentimes our stories aren't terribly different

  216. than theirs So we can actually use them as walls

  217. comparing our lives with what has happened in

  218. the past Of course, it invites certain questions.

  219. Have we learned from it? Have we learned enough

  220. that we are able to actually speak to it with

  221. those who come alongside us or after us? Will

  222. our children know that we've learned it in such

  223. a way because we speak of it, right? Of course,

  224. this begs the question of what kind of legacy

  225. we leave also. Have we learned from the past

  226. and what will people say of us when we become

  227. the past? Place the past. But this, of course,

  228. quickly brings up the idea that the path doesn't

  229. just inform the present, but it informs also

  230. the future, right? So the other thing that's

  231. in this little preamble here is talk to the future

  232. about the past. Don't just learn it in the present,

  233. but talk to the future about the past. Teach

  234. the past to the future. And that's actually kind

  235. of the main thing that's happening in this preamble.

  236. And so I'll just walk through verse four, right?

  237. We will not hide them from their children, but

  238. tell the coming generations, verse five, the

  239. second half, which He commanded, talking about

  240. the law appointed in Israel, which He commanded

  241. our fathers to teach their children. Verse 6,

  242. that the next generation might know them, the

  243. children, even yet unborn, it doesn't say even,

  244. but yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their

  245. children. You know, it's like that Russian doll

  246. just keeps going. Verse 7. So that they should

  247. set their hope on God and not forget his works.

  248. You know, this memory that's being passed on.

  249. Verse eight, and that they should not be like

  250. their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,

  251. a generation whose heart was not steadfast. It's

  252. all this generational language. Teach the past

  253. to the future. It's really clear here is teaching

  254. the past to the future. What that of course assumes

  255. is that you know it. that you know it, you know,

  256. shirk it off, that you learn it yourself, that

  257. you place your own story alongside it as a parable

  258. to be thought of together, to be instructed for

  259. yourself and for the coming generations. Now,

  260. okay, let me stop there for a moment before we

  261. kind of get into the next section because I have

  262. a few questions that I want to ask you. And though

  263. these may seem like they're geared towards parents,

  264. which I think to some degree they are, keep in

  265. mind that this psalm was to be read by the whole

  266. community. It was to be sung by the whole community

  267. together. And so this is broadly for us. What

  268. are your children going to say that they learned

  269. from you? You know, your children aren't going

  270. to be able to, I don't know, spend a hundred

  271. hours talking about what they learned from you.

  272. If they were quickly to say, what did they learn

  273. from you? What are they going to say? What are

  274. the children of this church going to say they

  275. learned from us? Kind of similarly, what do you

  276. want your children to say that they learned from

  277. you? I think related to this is just a real simple

  278. question if we go back to the dinner table. What

  279. are your children going to say that you were

  280. always talking about? Like just literally, like

  281. think about your life, think about the conversations.

  282. What are the things that are often on your lips?

  283. What are your children gonna say they heard you

  284. talking about a lot? Of course, let's keep in

  285. mind, there's a lot of good answers, right? There

  286. are a lot of good answers to these questions.

  287. I can think back, right, of Mr. Hanula teaching

  288. me the history of the Pacific Northwest. I want

  289. my children to know the history of their place

  290. and to love it. Right? I want to think through

  291. creatively, how do I learn some of the history

  292. of Harrisburg and our church and all of this

  293. so that I can teach you? So those are good things.

  294. I hope your children say that my parents taught

  295. me to seek the welfare of the city where God

  296. has placed them, like we're instructed to do

  297. in Jeremiah 29, as Jeremiah instructed the exiles

  298. in Babylon to do long ago. I want my children

  299. to learn to love the arts and music and painting

  300. and all of that. My kids love sports and I love

  301. that. There's lots of answers that you could

  302. give. But what will they say that you most talked

  303. about? What were you eager to have on your lips

  304. more than anything else? What will they say,

  305. you know, my parents wanted me to love? Well,

  306. of course, there are a number of questions or

  307. passages that I could read to you from, well,

  308. actually quite a few, but let me read to you

  309. Deuteronomy 6 verses 6 to 9. So this is Moses.

    Deuteronomy 6:6–9

  310. This is his fifth book as they enter into the

  311. promised land. He's instructing them. Deuteronomy

  312. means the second giving of the law. This is the

  313. book that was written right before they entered

  314. in. He says, and these words that I command you

  315. today shall be on your heart. And that's lip

  316. service. You shall teach them diligently to your

  317. children, and shall talk of them when you sit

  318. in your house, when you walk by the way, when

  319. you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind

  320. them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be

  321. as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write

  322. them on the doorposts of your house and on your

  323. gates." He's saying the law of the Lord and the

  324. ways of God and how He has saved you are the

  325. thing. That's it. That you should have on your

  326. lips when you're walking around when you're lying

  327. down when you're eating your dinner They're on

  328. your hands. They're right before you they're

  329. right between your eyes. It's what you see That

  330. is what our children should know That we want

  331. to strike them in So will your children say main

  332. thing? The main thing that you wanted them to

  333. know and to pass on to their own children was

  334. God In some ways, it's a simple assessment. It's

  335. a great question. Is that going to be the thing

  336. that your children go, that's what my parents,

  337. that's what my church, that's what their friends

  338. wanted me to know. The glorious deeds of the

  339. Lord, as it says here, his might, his wonders

  340. that he's done. Well, they say you wanted them

  341. to not forget the works of God, but to keep his

  342. commandments. As verse seven says, will they

  343. say that you did not want them to be stubborn

  344. and rebellious generation, that we're not steadfast

  345. and we're not faithful to God? As verse eight

  346. says, what will they say that you taught them?

  347. What's the main thing? So my first point is this,

  348. instruct the present. Learn it yourself, the

  349. past as a parable. the present and the future

  350. with the past. Okay. Of course, what very easily

  351. comes out of that is the second main point, which

  352. is what happened, right? I mean, that's a good

  353. question. Well, if we're supposed to know this,

  354. what is this? What are these lessons from history?

  355. That's kind of the second main thing. What are

  356. the lessons from history? And let's just broadly

  357. agree that learning the lessons from history

  358. is a very wise thing to do. And you can agree

  359. with this if you're a Christian or not. Learn

  360. the good things from history and the not so good

  361. things from history, right? There's lots that

  362. we can say are great about our city from past

  363. and that are not so great. There's a lot of good

  364. about our country from the past. And a lot that's

  365. not so great. And, you know, when you talk about

  366. American history, it seems as though you either

  367. have to be in one of those camps, right? It's

  368. either you have to look at it, go, oh, man, blah,

  369. blah, blah, blah. Just, you know, only the story

  370. is the story of slavery or it's only good. We

  371. know that it's more complex than that, of course.

  372. Think about think about some of the history that

  373. we must learn here in Harrisburg. Some of you

  374. all know the history of the Eighth Ward here

  375. in Harrisburg that became our state capital park

  376. where soldiers grow in that area. That was like,

  377. that ward was the heartbeat of primarily the

  378. minority communities and immigrant communities

  379. in our city. Place where the churches and the

  380. synagogues were, where the music venues were,

  381. where their businesses thrived. We decided we

  382. want Soldiers Grove instead. We displaced thousands

  383. of minorities and immigrants. Primarily the black

  384. community, the Jewish community, Italian communities.

  385. We need to know these stories. These are important

  386. stories for our city to tell. And we need to

  387. know the stories of God's great work and our

  388. rebellious hearts. And that's kind of the two

  389. big things that are in the rest of this Psalm.

  390. The story of God's great work, His saving acts

  391. for His people and our rebellion, our rebellious

  392. sinful hearts. So first, the work of God for

  393. His... The work of God were wondrous for His

  394. people. His great saving acts were amazing for

  395. His people. So let's see, guys. Do we have...

  396. Verse 9 to 72, you ready? Here's what we're gonna

  397. do. I'm just gonna highlight some of these for

  398. you, okay? We're not gonna walk through it all.

  399. I know we have canoeing and I need to be at Paxton.

  400. You all wanna eat eventually. But if you look

  401. at verse 13 to 16, what you'll see is a little

  402. bit here of being recounted of what God did in

  403. parting the Red Sea. And the story of the pillar

  404. of fire by night and the cloud by day, right?

  405. Of how God brought them in safety, even when

  406. things seemed like we saw last week, unimaginably

  407. against them. God was providing for them. I mean,

  408. there's some beautiful language here. He made

  409. the waters stand like a heap. Waters don't stand

  410. like a heap unless God does it. His saving acts

  411. for his people. Amazing. If you look down at

  412. verse 20, this is kind of a funny verse because

  413. they spoke against God saying, can God spread

  414. a table in the wilderness? He struck the rocks

  415. with the waters gushed out and streamed overflowing.

  416. Can he also give bread and provide - First people,

  417. that's kind of a rebellious thing. But the fact

  418. is that it does recount what God does, right?

  419. Even in the rebellious hearts, it's mentioning

  420. what God does. If we look at verses 23 down to

  421. verse 29, I'm not going to read all of this,

  422. but we can, this part here is talking about how

  423. God provided them food in the wilderness, this

  424. desert place. You know, and if you know the story,

  425. what they're really grumbling about is the fact

  426. that they had, ah, the food back in Egypt. Some

  427. of you know the Keith Green song, ah, hamburgers.

  428. right? They're remembering the hamburgers. They're

  429. thinking back and they're grumbling and God provides

  430. for them miraculously, unbelievably, lavishly

  431. in the midst of the desert. We can jump down

  432. to verse 45 to 51. This is a long recounting.

  433. of the plague that God sent because Pharaoh was

  434. hardened and he was not going to let God's people

  435. go. And he sends these plague after plague after

  436. plague so that his people can be freed from their

  437. 400 years of slavery. God using his power, his

  438. saving act for the sake of his people. Verses

  439. 54 and 55, they brought them to his holy land,

  440. to the mountains, which his right hand had won.

  441. He drove out nations before them. He appointed

  442. them. for possession, and settled the tribes

  443. of Israel in their tents. He's saying God is

  444. the one that brought us into this promised land.

  445. It's He that did it. Which, by the way, let me

  446. take a quick aside here. This is a rabbit trail

  447. that has to do with the point. The first battle

  448. that takes place when God brings His people from

  449. the wilderness into the promised land is the

  450. battle of Jericho, right? What do the people

  451. of God do in that? They don't do basically anything.

  452. They walk around and they blow a horn. And actually,

  453. is God gracious? He shows His grace is open to

  454. all the people there at Jericho. Why do we know

  455. that? Because Rahab, who is a prostitute, is

  456. the one that is saved because she says, I follow

  457. your God. People don't do anything. God does

  458. it. Right? And that's part of what this is recounting.

  459. This is the mighty acts of God for these people

  460. that just don't do anything. Anyway, this is

  461. the refrain in this psalm. It goes, here's what

  462. God did. Here's what God did. Here's what God

  463. did. Here's the story of how God acts. Here's

  464. how he does miraculously beyond what you could

  465. imagine, beyond what makes sense of creation.

  466. Here's how he has done it. He's done it all.

  467. But I asked you, partly because I know my own

  468. mind is going to wander when somebody's reading

  469. 72 verses. So I asked you, hey, would you try

  470. to be attentive? when I'm reading this, to the

  471. buts and the yet's and the even so's and all

  472. of that kind of stuff. Because as much as this

  473. Psalm is recounting for us the wondrous acts

  474. of God for his people, it is so instantly recounting

  475. for us their rebellious hearts and their sinful

  476. lives. And so let's look at some of these, okay?

  477. And they're kind of sandwiched in between all

  478. those other ones, right? Verse 10 and 11, right

  479. after this command, they did not keep God's covenant,

  480. but refused to walk according to his law. They

  481. forgot his works and the wonders he had shown

  482. them. Verse 17 to 19, yet they sinned still more

  483. against him, rebelling against the most high

  484. in the desert. They tested God in their hearts

  485. by demanding the food they craved. They spoke

  486. against God saying, can God spread a table in

  487. the wilderness? Verse 21 and 22. They didn't

  488. believe God or trust in his saving power. Verse

  489. 31. Yeah, despite all that he had done, they

  490. still sinned. Despite his wondrous, they don't

  491. believe. Verse 36, verse 37. flattered him with

  492. their mouths, but lied to him with their tongue,

  493. as their hearts were not satisfied toward him.

  494. They were not faithful to his covenant. Verse

  495. 40, how often they rebelled against him in the

  496. wilderness and grieved him in the desert. And

  497. then verse 56 to 66, which I'm not going to read

  498. all of again, but it begins, Yet they tested

  499. and rebelled against the Most High God. And actually

  500. what that whole next section is talking about

  501. is that they rebelled in terms of idols. They

  502. went after other gods. They said, something else

  503. is going to give me what I desire. Something

  504. else is going to protect me and provide for me

  505. and give me meaning. See, here's what's happening

  506. is that all along this recounting of history

  507. that that the preamble says you've got a place

  508. alongside your own, is recounting the great deeds

  509. of God and recounting a rebellious and sinful

  510. people, constantly. Just as you go throughout,

  511. you're like, man, God is amazing. And man, these

  512. people, which they were to say is us, because

  513. they're singing it, reject God again and again.

  514. See, if we tell this history well, you have to

  515. tell both the wondrous part and the rebellious

  516. part. If you're going to live wisely in the present,

  517. if you're going to instruct the future, you got

  518. to tell both sides. So again, what story are

  519. you telling? Are you telling stories of God's

  520. faithfulness? Are you willing to tell the stories

  521. of your own rebellion? Maybe you noticed that

  522. actually in this Psalm also, the rebellion is

  523. not just, hey, we did this, but actually here's

  524. the effects of it. Here's the judgment, or here's

  525. just how this destroyed us. Here's how my sin

  526. led to something that was really not good. Are

  527. you telling a story with your work? and with

  528. your actions that is honest. Do you spend your

  529. time and your money? Because that's another way

  530. that we tell a story that recounts the wonders

  531. of God. Are you telling history honestly? To

  532. tell history well, to tell the history of God

  533. and of God's people, to tell our own stories

  534. faithfully, you have to tell both of these. We

  535. have to tell the story of God's wondrous grace

  536. and our sin. We have to tell the stories of the

  537. disastrous effects of sin. So how do you tell

  538. the story? What's the story you're telling? Are

  539. you being honest with it? I have often thought,

  540. and I've said this before, but probably not for

  541. a long time, one of the reasons why I'm a Christian,

  542. which is a good question to ask yourself. Let

  543. me encourage you with this. I've given you so

  544. many questions to ask around the dinner table,

  545. but maybe ask this one. Why are you Christian?

  546. If you're with a Christian, okay? If you're having

  547. lunch together today, maybe before going canoeing,

  548. maybe ask yourself, why are you a Christian?

  549. Here's one of the reasons why I'm a Christian.

  550. The world is immensely, sometimes overwhelmingly

  551. beautiful. I mean, creation itself at times.

  552. How many of us have sat down along the riverside

  553. park and watched the sunset? I mean, it's like

  554. it will literally take your breath away. But

  555. other people are like each one of you are like

  556. wonderfully beautiful. And if you sit with someone,

  557. you're like amazed by, wow, look at how you're

  558. made and how insightful different people. I mean,

  559. it's like so much beauty in the world, which

  560. is how the whole Bible begins. The great works

  561. of God. Good, good, good. You know, God looks

  562. back and says, very good. So you have to give

  563. an account. You have to give an account for the

  564. wondrous beauty of the world, the overwhelming

  565. beauty of the world. But you must also give an

  566. account for why is why are things so messed up?

  567. Why is it that the streets do not feel safe at

  568. certain times of the day at night? Why does war

  569. persist as it does when so many do desire peace?

  570. Why are marriages, even the best marriages, so

  571. often fraught with conflict? So you must give

  572. an account both for the beauty of the world and

  573. for the brokenness of the world. You have to,

  574. because it is so glaringly obvious. And one of

  575. the reasons I'm a Christian is because Christianity

  576. does that. It doesn't shirk off either. It doesn't

  577. say, ah, it's so messed up. Right? It's not just

  578. a Debbie Downer about things. Nor is it sort

  579. of, ah, everything's just fine. Don't worry about

  580. it. It gives a true account of the way the world

  581. is. So here's this story that's doing the same

  582. for the people of God and God's interaction with

  583. us. The mighty saving acts of God in a consistently

  584. rebellious people. I wonder if you were able

  585. to make it with attention. to the end. It's a

  586. long Psalm. I don't blame you if you didn't.

  587. But if you get to the end, the last little paragraph

  588. there, the very last part of it, it says things

  589. like this. He rejected the tent of Joseph, you

  590. know, all this stuff, but he built a sanctuary

  591. like the heavens, like the earth, which he's

  592. founded forever. He chose David his servant and

  593. took him from the sheepfolds. From following

  594. the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd

  595. Jacob his people. Israel his inheritance. With

  596. upright heart he shepherded them and guided them

  597. with his skillful hand. There's this story of

  598. God working and just the consistent rebellious

  599. sinfulness of God's people and it ends with saying

  600. there is a shepherd who once shepherded ewes

  601. as they were nursing their children. but now

  602. it's the shepherd my people. And the New Testament,

  603. and actually the scriptures often look forward

  604. to a greater David. And that one is actually

  605. called the shepherd of his people, the true shepherd,

  606. right? The good shepherd, as John says, and as

  607. Jesus. And I think, honestly, this, I don't think

  608. this is forcing this at all. This passage is

  609. pointing us to the work of God in Christ Jesus.

  610. Because it is in Jesus that we see the true telling

  611. of the story, right? The true account of the

  612. world is seen in the Great Shepherd. Because

  613. Jesus does not shirk off the wonder of the world,

  614. so often He's re -establishing the wonder of

  615. the world. He's giving sight to the blind. Making

  616. the lame to walk. He's re -establishing social

  617. relationships that have been broken. He's feeding

  618. people. After the resurrection, most of the time,

  619. he's just eating with people as though he's like

  620. delighting in the wonder of the taste of grilled

  621. fish over a campfire. He's saying this world

  622. is lovely. But what the cross does is it says,

  623. this world is in utter rebellion. And you and

  624. I are in utter rebellion. And it does us no good

  625. to shirk that off. That has got to be dealt with

  626. because the effects of rebellion are destruction.

  627. The effects of rebellion are always disastrous.

  628. And so Jesus goes to the place where there is

  629. the most destruction, the most gruesome destruction,

  630. the cross, and says, I'm going to show you both

  631. the love of God and the heinous reality of rebellion

  632. and sin. And I'm gonna take that upon myself.

  633. Your sin and your rebellion is so awful that

  634. it demands the very death of God, but God gladly

  635. does it for you because He holds together the

  636. beauty of the world and the brokenness. He tells

  637. the story honestly. So I'm gonna invite you again.

  638. First, I'm going to ask you to ask the question,

  639. who is the teacher that influenced you the most?

  640. Why? Right? Who? Why? What? How did he influence

  641. you? And then I want you to ask this question.

  642. I've given you a lot, but these are the two main

  643. ones. What history are you telling? What history

  644. are your words telling, your actions telling?

  645. And if you're a Christian, are they telling the

  646. story of Jesus? That's what we are to pass on

  647. to one another. We're to pass on to the generations

  648. after us. That's what we're to instill in them

  649. in such a way that they want to instill it to

  650. their children and their children's children.

  651. What story are you telling? Let's pray. Lord,

  652. God, we're thankful for this Psalm long though

  653. it is packed full of different stories that we

  654. could dive into. But God, I thank you for this.

  655. sober encouragement, and I pray, Lord, that in

  656. the sobriety of it, we would look to the cross

  657. and cast our sins there, where we are washed

  658. clean by the pure and spotless Lamb who is our

  659. Lord Jesus himself, in whose name we pray. Amen.

  660. Thank you for listening to Second City Sermons

  661. podcast. We hope this sermon has encouraged you

  662. to worship God and to celebrate the gospel of

  663. Jesus. Please consider subscribing to this podcast

  664. and joining us in person each Sunday at 10 a

  665. .m. You can find us online at SecondCityChurch

  666. .org and on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

  667. Thanks again for listening. God bless.