Worship a Just God - Psalm 9 - Sunday Sermon

Um first announcement that I have uh

tomorrow

we are having our youth boating day. Uh

so that I know the youth look forward to

it. So even if you have never been to

the youth group um but you are between

uh it's like uh sixth grade to high

school. Is that right? Not fifth grade

to high school. Sixth grade to high

school. So, we transition our kids um up

to the up adult worship after fifth

grade and then they uh are like

graduated into the youth group. Um I'm

actually the person teaching in the

youth group, too. And the youth group

took a break from meeting regularly

during the summer, but we'll be starting

up again. Um but this youth event, it's

kind of our last little summer youth

event. And we we are going to be boating

in the Bamit. will be meeting at Wamut

Park, not the one in Westland, the one

south of Lass Island Bridge. Um, so an

email will be sent out with actual

directions for that. Um, we'll probably

be depending on how many kids are

coming, we'll be taking turns, so we'll

do like uh the boat can hold about 12

people and we're going to have two

adults on it, so 10 kids. And so if

there's more than that, we'll take turns

going on. Uh, food will be provided. So

not for lunch, but for like a late

barber denu bar denue. Uh, new word made

it up. Paul does too. But uh

[clears throat] a barbecue burgers

basically and we'll be having fun games.

The kids will be chaperoned as well uh

while they're at the park. So again,

Wamut Park 12:00

south of the Ross Island Bridge. If you

are concerned about the algae bloom,

which I think is reasonable to be

concerned about, uh from our research,

the alga algae bloom terminates around

the Ross Island Bridge. We're going to

be boating south of that. So, we're not

going to be anywhere um in uh the algae

bloom. So, I I personally don't think

you my kids are going to some of my kids

are going to be on the boat. I don't

think you need to be concerned about

that. If you have any other questions

like what else to bring, towels, maybe a

change of clothes, board shorts or

swimming sho uh shorts, if you want us

to know something about your kid, last

time someone said please don't pressure

the kids to um uh to go on the inner

tube and we don't. I will say we do have

signals for the inner tube. This means

faster. This means faster. And this

means faster for [laughter]

only with my kids. You should have seen

their eyes the first time I told them

that. There's no other signals.

[laughter]

Isaiah got it and he thought it was

funny. Um, but anyway, should be a great

time. Should be a safe time. Um, I I

would not be concerned about that algae

bloom. Um, another announcement is we

have Bible studies that take a break for

the summer. Um, I doubt you've

experienced Bible studies like this. If

you have, you know how awesome they are.

I want to explain something about them.

First of all, they're called disciplehip

communities. They're not less than a

Bible study, but they are more. Really,

we are just copying what the early

church devoted itself to. The apostles

teaching, the breaking of bread, the

fellowship, prayers, and taking care of

each other's needs. Uh making sure no

one has needs that aren't taken care of.

And they met in their homes and they

broke bed together. They ate together.

We do that. They're on Wednesday nights

at 6 p.m. in homes. or if we don't

currently have a home to host in, the

church becomes the home for a time. But

we think the home fellowship, there's a

lot of hospitality and warmth and uh

it's a great environment for people to

grow in relationship to one another. So,

we start with like a potluck meal. If

you're brand new and just coming, um you

can always email the leader, go under

the disciplehip tab on the web page and

uh uh scroll down to there's three

different um disciplehip communities.

Some of them are at the point where they

might be doubling and then we start a

new one. Uh but you can join any one of

them. Just pray about maybe someone

invites you. You can take that as a cue

like maybe that's the one I should

attend. Geography if it's closer to you

that makes sense. Um but just uh just

show up and don't feel like you have to

bring food the first time. But the

food's food's actually quite good. We

got a lot of good cooks in the church.

So we eat together because that's what

Jesus modeled us and that's what they

did. Fellowship is important eternally.

uh we'll be eating together in heaven

with Jesus. Um and then we study the

word together. Not it's not the the

leaders are not teaching, we're

discussing questions. Those questions

are also posted online onto the disciple

page at the very bottom. We'll be

posting I I told you last uh week I

think that we're going to be doing a

study in Acts. So all the way through

Acts for over two years. I'm really

looking forward to that. The first

questions on the first set of discussion

verses uh will be posted soon. You just

you write down your answers to those

questions at home. They're they're

written so that you can get a

significant amount of out of those

questions in about half an hour. So I

would say if you take an hour, you'll go

even deeper. You bring your answers and

the discussion leader asks those

questions and we're hoping to have a

dynamic conversation about the subject

matter. Then and only then after that

you'll hear the sermon on that exact

passage. That's intentional. We want you

to study like Bereans, right? It doesn't

matter if it's my conviction for

scripture. It's matter that you see that

scripture teaches it and believe it

yourself. So I really as a preacher and

as a Bible study developer along with

with Greg and Rebecca Egg, our uh

women's director, we write these

questions together. We see ourselves

more as scripture guides than uh uh I

don't even know what the opposite would

be. But I really care about you uh

growing in your understanding and

conviction in scripture. It's a powerful

thing. And I see I sense that there's a

lot of excitement in the church because

of it. You're like, "Oh, you know, you

get maybe a passage where there's some

really deep stuff. What's going to be

said on Sunday?" It helps you look

forward. It's engaging. It also gives

you if you're like, "Man, I need to read

the Bible more. I need" and I keep

saying that, but I'm just not I'm not

doing it anymore, but I know I need to

be more engaged with scripture. Well,

just come to a disciplehip community and

commit to it. And you're going to want

to prepare your questions because you're

coming and you want to have something to

say. So, you've already got some like

sort of fellowship accountability to to

do some one one time of homework in in

the scriptures and then you're coming

and discussing the scriptures and then

if you come on Sunday, you're hearing it

preached. That's already three times.

It's like set it and forget it. Just

come and commit, you know. Um it really

helps. It's the same thing with workout

buddies. A lot easier to work out more

often and regular if you have a person

that you'd be disappointing if you don't

come kind of thing. Uh didn't mean that

as a guilt trip. I'm just saying

accountability is a good thing. Uh so I

wanted to plug those those are starting

up again in September and uh they the

very first um uh DC group will be a

fellowship only that means there's no

scripture content just time for hanging

out relationship great time to join if

you're brand new noon not a scary time

we're just eating together hanging out

maybe praying a little bit that'll be

September 9th the first time with

content meaning that from September 9th

to the 16th you'll have a a week or so

or more if we post it earlier to

actually discuss or to to do your

homework and questions. That'll be the

16th. Okay. And then we're into Acts uh

for two and a half years or more and uh

with only two month breaks in the summer

and I cannot wait. Studying acts have

been has been amazing. So I don't think

I have any other announcements. Welcome

cards. If you want to be known, get

connected, or put a prayer request in,

fill out the fill out the welcome card

and then turn it in at our connection

table. If you're brand new, never done

it, we have a gift card for you. So,

take advantage. I think it's something

like Dutch Brothers, maybe Subway, I

don't know. That's a good one, though.

So, that's it. Let me pray and we're

going to get the word. We're still in

our summer in the Psalms and we'll be in

Psalm 9. But, uh, let me pray and we'll

get into it. Heavenly Father,

um we know that it's only by your spirit

that we can understand the things freely

given to us. And so we want to be

spiritual people. We want to listen to

your spirit. We know that each one of us

that believes uh that Jesus Christ is

God, that you um raised him from the

dead, that he died on the cross for our

sins uh have the Holy Spirit indwelling

us permanently. And so we have that

anointing with knowledge like the

Apostle John teaches us in first John.

And uh so he is our teacher. He's my

teacher. And for that reason, I pray

that you'd help me to get out of the way

and let him speak through me. I pray

that people would understand what we're

talking about today regarding worship

and justice. Um specifically the justice

of God and how it connects with our

worship of him. And that if there are

places in our life where we're stuck in

trusting ourselves to God's justice and

that's uh maybe creating a more dry kind

of road go through the motions of

worship or whether that is uh hampering

our growth in some way and wanting to be

thankful and praising you. I pray that

you would that you would remove those

roadblocks today. I pray these things in

Jesus name. Amen. So Psalm uh 9

um is really themes about trusting God's

justice and then worshiping him as a

result of that justice uh or his nature

as judge that we've entrusted ourselves

to. And I want to introduce this a

little bit by

by bringing out the emotional weight of

it. Okay. Uh David had a just cause. He

was a righteous king. Um, and so his

just cause was ruling like a righteous

king before the Lord and submitting to

the Lord. And oh boy, did he fail that

sometimes. But ultimately, the Bible

says that he was a man after God's own

heart, which means that he repented when

when Nathan came to him and said,

"You're the man. You did this thing uh

to Basheba's husband and to her." Um,

and not that she was guilt-free, but

Uriah really was in the situation. And

David was cut to the heart. And if you

want to see how cut to the heart, read

Psalm 51. So, he's not a perfect man.

He's a sinful man. Um, but he had a just

cause and he had a heart after God. He

was a repentant man. And that's really

important. Uh, there's no such thing as

perfect men or women. Um, but when we

repent, uh, God um, establishes our

righteousness. He declares us righteous.

He counts our repentance and faith as

righteousness just like he did with

Abraham. And it has nothing to do with

something we did. It has something that

he has done uh, through his son

completed on the cross. And so I like to

call it superimposed righteousness, but

real righteousness all the same. When

God looks at you, your status in

relationship to him is righteous, even

though you're still a sinner this side

of the grave. So that's true of David.

So that doesn't mean he's always

perfect, but he has a just cause. And oh

man, because his just cause is so

important to the salvation plan of God

for the world, um he has a lot of

enemies. So, the more you commit

yourself to a just cause, the more push

back from the enemy and his servants on

earth you're going to experience. If

you're not particularly uh committed to

a just cause or if you're committed to a

just cause of your own agenda, that

doesn't really bear out as uh uh

something that scripture teaches us to

be about. Um you can't necessarily

expect that uh God will support you

against enemies. It may be that they're

not actually enemies of his. It could be

that your cause is actually unjust and

wrong. And so since we're sinick, since

our heart is desperately wicked, since

because of our sin nature, there's

corruption in our hearts regarding

justice, uh you going to have to decide

today, am I really committed to a just

cause? Uh you can't really claim that

the people are your enemies, as in the

enemies of a servant of God and the

enemies of God, if you're not even

moving the direction of a just cause.

So, we'll be talking about that. But

David definitely was. Now, his enemies

were often mortal enemies seeking to

kill him, seeking to slander his

reputation, destroy them however they

could. If they could snap the figures

and he would be dead, they do it. You

may not be experiencing in your life

mortal enemies. Um, but I like to use

this idea that like just because people

are starving in Africa does not mean it

doesn't hurt when you stub your toe.

Uh, think about it. Do you have to say

that your pain do you have to diminish

your own pain and suffering at the hands

of something unjust just because someone

somewhere else in the world is suffering

more than you? No, you do not. Maybe

that heaps helps you keep it in

perspective, but I generally don't think

it's all that helpful spiritually to

compare your suffering to somebody

else's suffering for any reason. If it's

suffering is suffering. If it's the hand

of some kind of injustice. If you're

experiencing an injustice even that's

relatively small, have you ever had

someone be really unjust towards you?

Maybe they gossiped and destroyed your

reputation with a good friend and you

know it's nowhere near someone being

your mortal enemy, but you're having a

tough time letting it go. You're like,

"That was so wrong. God, why haven't you

brought some kind of consequences in

your life in their life or why did you

let that person believe this enemy of

mine, this friendnemy who said this

about me and now I'm not friends with

them anymore?" So there's lots of

different ways you can experience the

justice injustice. the kids, you'll

often times feel like your parents are

being unfair and maybe they are. You

know, you still need to submit in on to

honor God. And so, you're like, "Well,

that wasn't fair." Or maybe it's an

unfairness between you and a sibling.

And you don't feel like your parents are

judging fairly between you and your

sibling. And it's like stuck in your gut

that this is unfair. Especially if

you're one of these kids like a young

Moses who all his life had a real strong

sense of justice. Isaiah is kind of like

this. So, um Isaiah will get hurt by one

of the children. Um not not physically,

but they'll do something wrong. Um and

it really upsets him. He's got a strong

sense of justice. And and I'll talk to

him like, "Well, uh regardless of

whatever consequence I may give the uh

the kid, the offending kid, I guess, you

still have to forgive them. And you have

to forgive them before they say they're

sorry. You just to be right with God,

you need to forgive early and often."

and he'll sometimes be in tears. He

goes, "It's so hard." And I I tried to

explain to them that I understand what

you mean by that. It's hard, but it's

it's better to say it's impossible. It's

impossible for you in your own power to

forgive them. But with the Holy Spirit,

is the hard for the Holy Spirit. Does it

exhaust anywhere near his power? His

power to help you forgive is infinite.

So, it's what's hard is is surrendering

to the Holy Spirit. The moment you send

the Holy Spirit, you have an infinitely

powerful engine to forgive over and over

and over again. And so what you need to

do is you need to entrust to God that

it's just for you to forgive them and

that he's not just going to let anybody

off the hook. And again,

five, six months from the time that the

injustice was caused, if I asked him,

"Do you remember when you were having a

tough time forgiving so- and so?" He

might say, "Yeah, because that's a tough

experience." that kind of sticks with us

when we're having to surrender to the

Holy Spirit. Do you remember what they

did? No. So, you could say, "Well, that

must not have been that big of unjustice

if he didn't even remember it." Well, it

was meaningful to him. So, I one of the

things I want to convince you of is that

if there's any injustice happening in

your life at the hands of human people

and it is indeed injust, even if it's a

small thing, that doesn't mean it's

insignificant. If it's meaning to you,

meaningful to you, it's meaningful to

God. Maybe you've lost your job because

of it. Maybe you lost so friends because

of it. Maybe you feel like someone has a

misperception about who you are and what

your motives are based on something

that's not even true about you that you

didn't say, that you didn't mean, that

you didn't do, and it's always like this

defiled relationship. Now, uh maybe it's

injustice in relation to some kind of uh

government authority. Uh maybe it's an

injustice uh related to what you feel

like how your parents treated you in the

past, how your parents are treating you

currently, how school administrators are

treating your children. So many

different areas. Be thinking about the

areas like well I wouldn't call it an

injustice like David if it's an

injustice and it's just injustice. It

doesn't have to be uh a mortal enemy.

And then the question I'm going to keep

repeating over and over again is do you

really trust God to be just on earth?

If for 5 years nothing's happened to the

mean person that gossiped about you and

destroyed your reputation, do you still

trust that God is just on earth? Not

just ultimately in heaven, definitely

ultimately in heaven, but just on earth.

And if you don't, can you thank him for

being just? You can force it. You can

white knuckle thank him. I know I'm

supposed to say thank thanks in all

things, you know, but God and you both

know there's this thing stuck in your

heart where you're not really I call

that going through the motions worship

and it's not very I don't know if you

guys experience it. This is very

subjective, but um sometimes in worship

it seems like it's more particularly

powerful than others. And and I'm I'm

like I don't want to even stop. It felt

that way today. Felt that way today. I

forget what song it was, but the Holy

Spir spirit shows up powerfully in in

your and delights in your worship and

inhabits the praises of God's people.

Um, but when you're when there's

something wrong between you, Lord, that

can be interrupted. You might be

quenching the Holy Spirit. You may be

grieving him. So, today is an

opportunity for you to look at, do you

really entrust your life to God as

judge? Let me let me show you the main

point of the psalm before we even get

into it and then we'll start working

through it.

Um I've got the main point up here for

you guys. When we entrust justice to

God, we can worship him uh we can

worship with our whole heart. We can

worship him with our whole heart. When

we entrust justice to God, we can

worship him with our whole heart. If an

injustice is not settled,

it can lead to a wedge between you and

God.

I think people in general

just assume that God is all powerful and

can do anything. So the first thought is

usually why is he not doing something?

This is unjust. And if that thought goes

un dealt with, unsatisfied,

uncompleted,

it's going to affect your worship and in

a negative way because you're like there

still has been no justice. So you come

into church and like, "Oh, thanks for

justice." But it hasn't happened in my

life. It hasn't I haven't experienced

it. You have to deal with that. How do

you deal with unresolved feelings of

injustice that you don't believe God has

taken care of? Um when you truly entrust

justice to God, you can worship him with

your whole heart. You can be thankful.

You can praise him, right? But you got

to deal with the justice. And oh boy,

there's some depth to the sermon. You

know the verse, consider the kindness

and severity of God. Uh some of God's

justice is rightly called severe.

So you can fall off to the left and be

like, "Well, God should be more

gracious."

You can fall off to the right kind of

like Jonah did. God should be more just.

Why isn't he destroying Nineveh? I don't

want to preach repentance to them. I

know you, God. You'll probably forgive

them. I don't want them to be forgiven.

They're evil, right? And they were

indeed evil. horrors of war they would

commit to pregnant women. Evil, evil,

evil Nineveh. And yet God is God's plan

through Jonah through a oneliner, right?

He just preaches a oneliner. I don't

think there's any other prophet that

that you have just a oneliner call to

repentance in all the Bible. But that

was and that's enough for God to use. He

could have done it any way he wanted to,

but that's how he intended to use it.

Calling people to repentance through his

prophets and through his servants. And

they repent in sackcloth and ashes,

right? And then Jonah's angry. So you

might fall off and be like, "God's God's

not just because he forgives people."

And you fall off for an O'ene. He's too

harsh for judging people.

You say those kinds of things, you show

that in your heart, you don't really

entrust yourself to his justice. You

don't trust him as judge. I doubt

there's a whole lot of people in here

that accuse God of being a sinner,

though, right? So he's not corrupt on

the inside. There's no darkness in him

at all. perfectly

good, right, and true in all of his

actions, intentions, and just being all

together. So, if that's true, compare

him to you for a second. You are sinful.

I prove that every single day. Uh you do

sinful things, but you also have a sin

nature that ultimately has to be put to

death, mortified to use the theological

term. And only Holy Spirit can do that.

We have to put the myth put to death the

misdeeds of the body by the spirit and

we will live. put to death the flesh,

mortal enemies, the flesh and the Holy

Spirit, but the spirit's more powerful.

You got to surrender him. Flesh dies.

So, we have this fleshly nature. How do

you know that you're not misperceiving

justice? Have you ever been really angry

at someone you cared about and then the

anger cools down and you just realize

you were wrong altogether?

It's happened to me.

I'm glad that my family doesn't have a

reality TV show where everything I say,

think, and do is on camera. I'm not a

good person. Leave the church if I start

saying I'm a good person. I'm not a good

person. I don't believe any of you are

either because Jesus said so. No one

good but God. Why do you call me good?

The implication is, are you saying that

I'm God? He's teasing this faith out of

of the man that he was talking to. So,

I want you to consider that. Well, if we

have a corrupt nature, then what happens

when even when we're really certain it's

not fair, it's not just what God's

doing, that can't be justice. How can

that be right? Well, I look at I'm I'm

more willing to to uh to doubt my own uh

sense of justice than I am uh doubting

God's. And oh boy, I I my rebellion in

college was primarily about doubting

God's revealed character attributes. His

kindness, his love, his nature as our

healer, his nature as our judge.

You're all powerful. Don't heal me.

You're all powerful. Don't help me. I

I'll worship you. Just stop saying

you're so good. You're not as good as

you say you are. That was my conclusion.

I was very angry. I knew deep down it

wasn't true, but anger will cover over a

bunch of truth in your heart, justify a

bunch of sin. And so I it was really

deep and dark. I I judge God as unjust.

I did. And I regret it. I do. I have

been my guilt has been uh alleviated. My

shame is gone. But if I could do it all

over again, I would not doubt

his nature as judge or that he is always

just and righteous. All the worst things

I ever did, all the worst things that

ever happened to me as a result of the

things that I did happen from doubting

God's revealed character attributes. And

it will be the same with you. So

consider what David's convictions in

Psalm 9 are about justice. Even if the

injustice you've experienced in your

life is not from a mortal enemy, it's

still real. It's still meaningful. Verse

one, uh, I'm in Isaiah. Sorry.

Uh verse one of Psalm 9. Almost there.

Thought I had it marked.

There we go. All right. Uh to the choir

master, according to the Muth Lobin, uh

a psalm of David. We don't know what a

mu lobin is. We assume that it's a

musical term related to choirs and

arrangements. However, I do like to

remind you that that is itself actually

scripture. That's not just a title like

I will recount your wonderful deeds. Um

is a summary of what is actually in the

manuscript but to the choir master

according to Mlabin a psalm of David is

in the manuscript. So that's scripture.

Uh that's important when those little um

headings that are actually in the

manuscript give us context. It's God

giving us context. We don't get any

context here. Meaning we don't know into

what situation he wrote this. Was he

talking about the coup with Abselam and

other people? We don't know. We don't

know what he's talking about. We don't

know at what point in his life he was

talking about these things. We know it's

a psalm, a song and arranged for a

choir. We know that. Um, which I that's

one of the reasons why I think it's so

cool when people write worship songs

that are really closely based on the

words or maybe even just using those

words. Uh, but here's what he says. I

will give thanks to the Lord with my

whole heart. I will recount all of your

wonderful deeds. I will be glad and

exalt in you. I will sing praise to your

name, O most high. I'm gonna ask a

question just for you to evaluate in

your heart. Nobody knows what you're

evaluating your heart except for you and

God. And I don't know either and I'm not

necessarily assuming anything. But when

I say going through the worships mo

going through the motions in worship.

Did you come feeling that way today? And

just because you came feeling that way

today doesn't mean you've been doing it

for weeks and months on end. Maybe you

had a fight with your spouse in the car.

Maybe you're fretting about something

else in your life, like the unfairness

at work or this or that or or just

life's not the way you want it to be.

You're not feeling very fulfilled.

Whatever it is, maybe you're fretting

about something. And so that's what's on

your mind rather than just I maybe

shouldn't call it natural, but a a real

active

enthusiastic

wholehearted desire to worship God and

satisfactioning when it's happening,

right? It's real. You're not having to

manufacture it. Is it is it real right

now or did you come and it's like man I

don't I don't feel like worshiping like

that. I'm still going to but it's not

it's not feeling like the full

experience. He the whole heart is with

with with your innermost being

worshiping him. Yeah. And he's doing

that. I'll recount of all your wonderful

deeds when I was judging God's justice,

judging his nature as judge, saying,

"You're not fair like you say you are.

You don't do anything about half the

stuff that's happening. Um, I don't see

you bringing uh this was so false, but

like justice against my football coaches

uh for my sake, you know, and I'm not

talking about my high school football

coaches. They uh I mean the reality is I

was just always the monster in all

[laughter] those situations, but my

coaches in college did some pretty

pretty immoral stuff and pretty pretty

uh hypocritical stuff. And so some of

that was actually meaningful and real.

Um and I just felt like God wasn't doing

anything. I'll tell you what I what I

believe now uh about how you don't want

God's justice for your life. You want

his mercy. Um but uh you do want his

justice in the sense of when somebody uh

does an injustice against you. And let

me just remind you that the perfected

saints of the martyrs in heaven under

the altar cry out, "When are you going

to avenge our blood on earth?" They

still want justice and they're perfect.

Wanting justice is not does not

necessitate that you're being sinful. It

it doesn't even mean that you couldn't

forgive them, but you want the jud uh do

not avenge yourselves. Vengeance is the

Lord's, but it is the Lord's, right? So,

he will avenge he and you and and the

perfected saints are asking for it.

Bring justice. What they did, they

killed us. They killed our families.

Bring justice. Perfect saints in heaven

say if they're perfect, they're not

unforgiving.

So what I'm trying to show you is that

it is

it is normal to want justice.

So you're going to want it. And if it's

not happening in your life, do you feel

like recounting God's wonderful deeds?

Doesn't an injustice like that,

especially if it's really painful, give

you kind of a myopic view like horse

blinders and like that sort of

everything you can see, this thing is

focused on it. So that's the thing that

has to be resolved between you and God

if you want to get I I believe that

everyone in here would love to

experience the most meaningful, deep,

satisfying and spiritual worship every

single Sunday,

right? And I don't mean like experience

seeking. I mean just real God delighting

worship that encourages you in your

soul. The real deal. You want that.

Well, is it maybe not the real deal? Cuz

something's stuck in your heart. It

wasn't for David. And he had, again, I

don't want to compare, but he had really

bad enemies, right? Sort of maximal evil

enemies.

I'll be glad and exalting you. I will

sing praise to your name, O most High.

Verse three, when my enemies turn back,

they stumble and perish before your

presence, for you have maintained my

just cause. You have sat on the throne

giving righteous judgment. So maybe

maybe you're thinking this. It's like,

well, he did that for David. He was

hunted for a long time by Saul. Treated

like a criminal, like a terrorist,

like just a common fugitive just because

Saul knew he had been anointed as king.

Just because Saul was against God and

therefore against his anointed. You

remember the story in the cave where to

make a point. He's not going to kill

God's anointed. Oh, you could have

easily justified that. This guy's

hunting me to death. He's an enemy of

God. I'm going to kill him. He won't do

it. cuts off the edge of his robe and

then shows it to him. Even Saul's like,

"You're more righteous than me."

So just cause powerful witness. Hunted,

hunted for a long time. You might have

thought, well, once he's anointed the

king, boom, he'll be the king. No,

fugitive first,

you know, long time. So, so David knows

what it's like when an injustice is

happening, when people are betraying him

and he's not seeing the justice

accomplished on earth. That's the man,

the one who experienced those things

that's saying, "When my enemies turn

back, they stumble and perish before

your presence. For you have maintained

my just cause, you have sat on the

throne giving righteous judgment."

Let's just say hypothetically, I don't

know, so don't put a whole lot of weight

on this. He wrote this before Absalom's

coup and all of so many friends just

abandon him and turn against him and

rebel against him. Um I believe David

would have read those words back and

then remembered this is who God is even

if I haven't yet experienced God's

justice in this case. On top of he was

humble enough to recognize that the

turmoil in his family was largely in

part of God's discipline for his sin in

his life.

Right. So yeah, the the enemy is being

an enemy, but God may be using them to

discipline you. So they're not off the

hook for their guilt of being a total

enemy, but you still may need to be

humble and realize maybe some of these

things are happening in my life because

God's after something that I'm not

willing to let go or after something

that I'm not willing to take up.

Something he wants me to do that I'm not

willing to. Right? Doesn't just have

Jonah swallowed by a fish for no reason.

So

that's that's the real deal. It's not

just untempered worship. He knows what

it's like to see injustice go years

without accomplishment. And yet he says

this verse 5, "You have rebuked the n

rebuked the nations. You have made the

wicked perish. You have blotted out

their name forever and ever. The enemy

came to an end in everlasting ruins.

Their cities you rooted out. The very

memory of them has perished."

I don't know exactly what city he is

thinking about. Hard to believe he

wasn't thinking at least of Sodom and

Gomorrah. Well-known story that God did

that too. I mentioned that as an example

because that's not even a holy war per

se. That's not God using Israel to wipe

out a nation. That's God just doing it

supernaturally, fire and brimstone

style, right? This God's active action

to destroy a nation. Here we need to

examine. remember to the to the right of

the podium um God I think it was God is

just never accomplishing justice to the

left of the podium when he accomplished

justice he's like genocide that's evil

we're actually talking about blotting

out nations forever

their memory forgotten

God even says that's what he's doing I

will wipe them off the face of the earth

I told you we'll go

Right. So, here's you. There's a lot of

people that hear that and think God's a

the God of the Old Testament is a

genocidal maniac. That's not just

genocide is wrong. I know that. I'm not

wrong. That's wrong. I won't worship a

God like that. Okay.

So, without even explanation, let me

just ask you, have you resolved the fact

consider God's kindness? Consider his

severity. Wiping out nations is severe.

It is. Is it unjust? Is it wrong?

Without any explanation,

do you just automatically trust God that

if he wants to take a nation out of

existence, he can do so? And if he does

so, it was just that's where we want to

get. It's even more. It's even further

along the road we want to get. We David

is worshiping him because he's that

just. He's not just accepting it. and in

his heart sort of wishing like, well, I

wish he didn't do that. It's just so

severe. It makes me look weird in front

of my friends when I agree with him on

it. You know, I get it. I get the

feeling. I was there. I'm not judging

you for it. My my goal, I think David's

goal, I think God's goal here is to help

you entrust yourself to justice, God's

justice, even when it's that severe.

Okay. Uh let me just ask you this.

If it was that nation that had destroyed

your entire family, siege warfare, horri

famine, people dying. I I don't even

want to talk about how evil the horrors

of war can be that are perpetrated by

evil nations against Israel, against

other nations. You see modern examples

of that as well. They're real horrors.

They're real evil. Can't be explained

away. What if your family got caught up

in that evil?

just brutally murdered right in front of

your eyes,

then do you want God to wipe that nation

off the face of the earth?

And then if you do, which I'll tell you,

I know that's how I would feel if

someone killed all my six children and

my wife like that, like if someone

nation came in and just wiped out Oregon

and did that and I was left surviving,

I would probably pray that, right? And

then what if God doesn't do it? What if

he decides he's going to treat that

nation like Nineveh? All of a sudden,

Jonah doesn't seem so silly because my

my children are murdered.

Bring justice, Lord. So when when

injustice comes knocking on your door,

Satan's temptation is God's not going to

do anything about it.

When you see God judge just justly and

severely, but that injustice wasn't

knocking on your door. He begged, "Look

how harsh God is. That can't be right.

Trust your own sense of justice, not

God's revealed justice, which includes

wiping out nations. You saw it with your

own eyes." Let me read it. But the Lord

sits enthroned. Oh, excuse me, verse 5.

You have rebuked the nations. You have

made the wicked perish. You have blotted

out their name forever and ever. The

enemy came to an end in everlasting

ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The

very memory of them has perished. And I

give you two examples of the cities. Let

me give a lot more. And ones after

David, too.

So there comes a point when a nation can

be so evil that God will judge them and

he will execute his judgment on earth.

Okay. I want to say show you something

else that God has revealed to us about

his nature. He does not do so

indiscriminately.

Meaning, okay, there might be like a

whole pocket of righteous people here

that are not participating in the evil

of that nation and he's just going to

wipe them off the face of the earth with

it. Let me show you that without a

shadow of doubt that God never does

that. That is not part of his nature.

Let's And he revealed this to Moses and

to us in Exodus 32. Now, this is not

about actually wiping all nation off the

face of the earth, but it's wiping off a

group of people within that nation. It's

a golden calf incident. Okay? And this

is Exodus 32:30. The next day, Moses

Exodus 32:30

said to the people, "You have sinned, a

great sin, and now I will go up to the

Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for

your sin." Moses understands how severe

the sin is. He's hoping that somehow God

will forgive them for it. a good like um

when Moses said, "God will send you

another prophet like me." Moses is being

Christlike in this way, right? Uh it's a

powerful thing. Um verse 31, so Moses

returned to the Lord and said, "Alas,

this people has sinned a great sin. They

have made for themselves gods of gold.

But now, if you will forgive their sin,

but if not, please blot me out of your

book that you have written.

I I believe Moses meant that. First of

all, just for the weight of this, it's

it's it's making me emotional to think

about offering that to the Lord for

people who do not deserve it

nonetheless. And yes, I believe I don't

deserve it either, but I'm like, I have

it by his mercy. I can't explain why,

but he gave it to me, and I don't want

to lose it.

So, and and and I don't know if Moses

knew when Paul said, "I wish I could be

a curse for their sake." His his

kindred, Israel, who rejected Christ. I

believe Paul knew very well that he

can't actually be a curse for them.

Moses met face to face with God. He was

at the time at least God said he was the

most humble man that ever lived. Very

close. He may have known that it's not

possible, but I'm not so sure that he

knew that wasn't possible. That he could

be a substitute for them. Maybe a real

offer.

I mean, you know, when Paul says, I'll

have to paraphrase, but um people might

be willing to die for a righteous

person, but who's willing to die for a

unrighteous, for a sinner?

Moses was very Christlike. He's offering

up his own salvation for their sake.

Basically deep stuff. Blot me out of the

book that you have written. But the Lord

said to Moses, "Whoever sinned against

me, I will blot out of my book. But now

go lead the people to the place about

which I have spoken to you. Behold, my

angel shall go with you. Nevertheless,

in the day when I visit, I will visit

their sin upon them." And the Lord sent

a plague on the people because they had

made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

So he's not just indiscriminately. We

know the story. And it's not just the

plague. He sends the Levites to go and

fight against those that refuse to

repent of their idol worship. So these

are idol worshippers.

And these are the people that God's

saying, "I'm going to blot out." So even

though it's a group of people within the

nation of Israel, the judgment is

individually applied. I would even call

it hyperindividualistic

in the sense even though it's part of a

group, he's looking at who's actually

guilty before him. Okay? Who's actually

guilty before him? So when he wipes out

an entire nation, he's never in judgment

ever once and will never wipe out a

person who's righteous before them.

Before him. Okay? Is anybody ever

righteous before God because they're

better than other people? No. Good

enough? No. It's just by faith in Jesus

sacrifice being good enough. If we

confess our sin, he is faithful and just

to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us

all from all unrighteousness. It's just

for God to forgive you because Christ

has made the atonement.

Okay?

But it's because of what Jesus did.

That's the only reason. So if God

doesn't destroy a certain amount of

individuals in a nation while he's

wiping this nation off the face of the

earth, it's because they are righteous

by faith. Period. They ought not to

claim we're better than these people and

that's why you didn't. That's the

Pharisee heart. But that still means God

does not hold you accountable for the

sin of other people. Son shall not be

put to death for his father's sin, nor a

father for his son's sin. it is

individual even when it's in a group. So

that's a very big limitation

and and one of the reasons I want to say

this is when you see that God does

indeed blot people out as in judge them

and kill them

and supernaturally so and through the

means of human actors. Uh he used Israel

over and over again in that way. Um and

Israel wasn't always right with them in

the way they did it. So also to the

shock of Israel, God sends Assyria to

destroy northern Israel. Tells them to

stop at Jerusalem. They don't. And so he

has the angel destroy 185,000 of them.

But the idea that God would use a

country as evil as Assyria to judge

Israel was a shock even to the prophets.

Okay? So those are things God does do.

Um it doesn't mean that it's okay. He he

also judged Assyria for going beyond the

boundaries that he set for the justice.

But you have to we have to deal with

these things. Is God just just if he

decides to destroy a nation? Now I

believe that the primary wedge that

Satan gets in between you is God good?

Is God all powerful? Is God good? Is he

just? Is he merciful? And is he just?

Like wants to split any one of these

attributes away. Because if he you can

get you to say that God's not all

powerful, he can interrupt your worship.

If he can get you to say God's not good,

he can interrupt your worship. I believe

that the thing that will always help you

to recognize that God is always just is

aligning your view of the utter

sinfulness of sin with his. Okay? Before

I even tell you of some of these types

of sins that triggered God's wiping out,

wiping off the face of the earth, if

you're not aligned with God's view of

how sinful sin is and what it deserves,

then it is very difficult to accept that

what he did is just, maybe even

impossible. Okay, so it was things like

child sacrifice, burning your children

in the fire. If you get to meet little

Noah, I just He's such a cute little

boy. Even at four, he hasn't lost his

cuteness. Uh not to me, at least yet. Um

he's not always cute. You born a sinner.

So, um I was I don't think I was ever

cute. [laughter]

My my parents might say, "I don't

remember ever being cute." Uh but he is.

And uh you're gonna you're gonna kill

him and burn him in the fire to a demon

god. How wicked can you get? And even

those nations while they were starting

to do that, God says the sin of the

Amorites, which was a nation that did

evil things like this, and not just

that, flagrant sexual immorality, often

times the cause of um these ancient

abortions basically, right? flagrant

sexual immorality, uh, child sacrifice,

and then grinding the face of the poor,

treating orphans and widows like

absolute dirt for your own advantage.

Those are the three big ones. God is

patient. God is slow to anger, it does

not mean he never pours out his wrath on

earth.

He's cold honey. But if you want to warm

up the honey so that his wrath flows

faster and his patience runs out sooner,

grind the face of the poor, sacrifice

children,

and be flagrantly, unrepentantly

sexually immoral. The more you're

student of the Bible, the more you read

it, the more you see that pattern. So

when you when you look at Sodom

Gomorrah, which was it for them? Well,

it's stated explicitly it was their

flagrant sexual immorality, the

abominations, and how they treated the

poor.

It's in Ezekiel. I forget which chapter,

maybe 49. Don't quote me on that, but he

actually mentions it there. And then you

can also read the story,

smoke and ashes. He does not, he's not

patient with wickedness forever. But he

actually says, "The sin of the Amorites

has not reached its full measure yet,

and they were already so wicked." What's

the full measure? If you're living on

earth at that time and the Amorites had

uh done something terribly unjust to you

and then you hear God, the sin of the

Amorites has not yet reached its full

measure and you're looking at them at

committing abominations already, you're

like, well, when is it going to Lord,

God will scandalize you with your mercy

if you're not aligned with his spirit.

And he will scandalize you with his

justice, too, if you're not aligned.

Justice will seem too harsh. Mercy will

seem too deep. you just fall off both

sides. There's like this this line you

can fall off. God's not just. Uh God's

too merciful. Uh God is too harsh. And

and you know what you're really saying?

And I mean this to be convicting. Uh I'm

the judge.

It's it's really the like primordial

sin. I'm the judge.

Okay. So you you are confronted with the

scriptures actually saying what I'm you

see it with your own eyes right but it's

not indiscriminate

and so like well do do you believe that

people who sacrifice their children in

the fire who grind the face of the poor

and are flagrantly sexually immoral

deserve to die? That's what the Bible

says.

We'll go beyond that. But do you at

least that group do they deserve to die?

Yeah. So then when God kills them,

didn't you do what you already agreed

with? I'm not smiling because it's

funny. Uh

it's intense. You know, sometimes your

emotions are like almost the exact

opposite of the thing you're actually

feeling.

So

you willing to align yourself with that?

Are you willing to let God hate

wickedness actively? Are you willing to

let him do something about it? Oo, I bet

when injustice comes to your step,

you're going to want it faster.

So, he really is kind and he really is

severe. Let's continue though. Um,

there we go. Lost my notes there. Okay.

So, what about though I think if you're

agreeing with me, and I hope you are,

but you can be deeply contemplating

these things on your own. I can't force

you to agree with me anyways. There's no

point in applying any force. I'm showing

you what the scriptures say. I hope

you're convinced. I hope the spirit's

convincing you. But maybe maybe you're

falling off a different cliff where it's

like, "What if he blotss me out?"

You know, what if what if I'm one of the

wicked ones and he blotss me out? So

God's, if you knew me before I had

repented of my sins, I had no pastoral

heart. Quite the opposite. uh and then I

repented and uh oh God changed me so

dramatically. Now I have a pastoral

heart. So I'm concerned that you would

be afraid that God might blot you out.

So I want to we call it assurance of

salvation. I want to show you some

scriptures and I hope your conviction

becomes deeper that he will never do

that to you as long as you're repentant.

It's impossible God would have to lie.

Let's go to Revelation 3 1-5.

If you think Revelation is kind of a

wild book and you don't understand it,

uh, you're in good company with Bible

scholars and pastors along. It is a

there's a lot there, right? But there's

also some things that are unbelievably

clear and

not even apocalyptic as in angels with

eyes and different faces and is this

symbolic? Is this historical? Is this

literal? And what does this mean? What's

the sequence of things here? Lots of

deep questions. This is simpler. It's to

the church in Sardis.

And this is what is said by Jesus. And

to the angel of the church in Sardis,

write the words of him who has the seven

spirits of God and the seven stars. I

know your works. You have a the

reputation of being alive, but you are

dead. Wake up. Strengthen what remains

and what is about to die. For I have not

found your works complete in the sight

of God.

Remember then what you received and

heard. keep it and repent. What's the

solution to having sinned against God by

by disobeying and not doing the works he

prepared for you in advance? What's the

solution? Do better? No. Repent. Admit

that you failed. That's the gospel

solution. Repent. Now listen to what's

said. If you will not wake up, I will

come like a thief and you will not know

at what hour I will come against you.

Yet you have still a few names in

sardis. People have not soiled their

garments, and they will walk with me in

white, for they are worthy. When Jesus

said worthy, what's he referring to? The

repentant. What did the repentant have

to admit? That they failed and that

they're sinful. So they're worthy by

their repentant faith in the crucifixion

of Christ as atoning for their sin.

alien righteousness, superimposed

righteousness, superimposed worthiness.

Christ accomplished anybody's worthy if

they're worthy in God's eyes. Okay? The

one who conquers will be clothed thus in

white garments. And I will never blot

his name out of the book of life. Never

blot his name out of the book of life. I

will confess his name before my father

and before his angels. He who has an

ear, let him hear what the spirit says

to the churches. So the first step

towards assurance of salvation, remember

that God promised the repentant will

never be blotted out of the book of

life. Also notice the people that are

being blot out of the book of life are

not repentant in the first place.

If they're being blotted out of any type

of book, what is happening there is that

they were never repentant in the first

place. It is not a proof text saying you

can lose your salvation. None of them

had it. What it's saying is that you

will not be blotted out

if you're repentant. So, be repentant.

But then you might still be saying,

"Well, isn't there kind of a in

the armor of that assurance? Because

what if I stop being repentant?

I've done it before. I've sinned. Took

me a long time to repent. What if I die

while I'm sinning and being hard-hearted

towards God? What What is this proof?

It's not ironclad. Okay, I get it. Let's

continue. Let's go to 1 John 54-5.

Honestly,

with maybe the exception of Romans 8, if

God is for us, who can be against us?

What can separate us from the love of

God? And then Paul lists literally

everything that cannot. And it's

everything, angels, nor powers, you

know, sword or famine. Nothing can

separate us from the love of God. We're

more than conquerors in not being

separated from the love of God. And it's

him that makes us those conquerors. And

how? Listen to this. 1 John 5:4. For

1 John 5:4

everyone who has been born of God

overcomes the world. Let's stop right

there. Everyone who has been born of God

overcomes the world. Remember the

parable of the sewer? There's seed

thrown on the path. There's seed on the

rocky soil. And there's seed uh there's

there's one other sort. There's seed

that gets taken by the ravens. That's

demons according to Jesus. There's seed

that gets choked out by the sun. And

there's seed that gets choked out by

weeds. Right? And Jesus explains that

those things that choke out the seeds,

even though they seem to be rooted, they

seem to spring up. They seem to be saved

are actually choked out by the cares and

pleasures of this world. That's one of

the examples of things. So overcoming

the world means not having your faith

choked out,

right?

It's it's overcoming unto salvation

that's being talked about. For everyone

who has been born of God overcomes the

world overcomes the world. That means

that no one that has been born of God

doesn't overcome the world. Are you with

me?

Now let's let's talk about um what this

means. And this is the victory that has

overcome the world. Our faith. Who is it

that overcomes the world except the one

who believes that Jesus is the son of

God? Okay, so you may have heard we're

going to get into some theology here. I

do not want you to get lost in the

weeds. Not that theology is weeds, but

basically I'm asking you to pay

attention closely for the next 5 to 10

minutes. And we're we're close to

closing. We'll finish through the psalm

here. And and what I'm trying to prove

to you is that you cannot lose your

salvation. Um, don't raise your hand cuz

I'm not I'm not trying to like expose

what you believe or don't believe on

these things, but in your head, think

about this. If you have genuine faith,

are you born again?

The answer is 100% yes. Okay, 100%.

People who are born again have genuine

faith. People who have faith are

genuinely born again. And what does it

say about if you're genuinely born

again, you will overcome the world.

Period. Now, let me ask you, did you

make yourself born again?

Was it some kind of power within you?

Was it related to your anything related

to your willpower? So, what is what is

born again? What is regeneration? You

also hear it as the new creation. In the

simplest terms possible, it's the Holy

Spirit coming to indwell you

permanently.

Bible words sign, seal, and guarantee of

our inheritance. Inheritance, salvation,

same thing. Not entirely synonyms. They

mean more. They mean different things to

each other, but the same idea, right?

You're going to inherit eternal life.

Salvation means you're going to inherit

eternal life.

So, you can't not inherit eternal life,

which means what? It's overcome. If you

are regenerated, if you are born again,

if you are made a new creation,

which means you are indwelt permanently

by the Holy Spirit. Sign, seal,

guarantee. What's a guarantee if you can

lose it? Who maintains your status as a

new creation, as being born again and

regenerated? The answer has to be God

biblically. And it is. And I want to

show you that.

So when we talk about the concept of the

perseverance of the saints and the

reason why you cannot be separated from

God, the reason is God's promise and

power over you and for you by the

indwelling Holy Spirit. He is indwelling

us. We say it's the spirit of Christ. We

say it's the spirit of God. He is

himself God and he is living in us. He's

claimed us. Sign, seal, guarantee. Okay.

I don't believe you can lose your

salvation at all. But I want to show you

about something you will hear. This is

where the like deep theology comes in.

You will hear faith precedes

regeneration. You will hear regeneration

precedes faith. It is our view at Boon

Fairy that regeneration precedes faith.

What is being talked about is not

chronological time. I believe that the

moment regeneration happens, faith is

present. Okay? So it's not that you

could be regenerated and not have faith.

What we're pointing to is who causes the

person to believe. This is a very

controversial doctrine. You will not be

pressured to believe as I do or as the

elders do. But I want to introduce you

to what I believe is one of the most uh

clear passages for how regeneration

precedes faith. Meaning that you cannot

come to faith in God in a saving way

unless God does something first. Okay?

And why am I going just want to be

controversial? No. I believe this is the

most ironclad assurance of salvation

that you can have.

God will not unregenerate you. Okay?

Can you become unborn again? No such

verse. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

2. And this is where we're going to have

to listen closely. I know that some of

you absolutely geek out on biblical

theology like this. So, you won't even

have to be trying. I think that's

sometimes gift based, right? You get the

gift of knowledge. Uh you have certain

gifts. you're a certain part of the

body. So, I know that also some of you

are different body parts of the body and

have different functions and that you

may have to make a little take a little

bit more energy to focus in right now.

That's all fine, but let's do it. Okay,

we're at 1 Corinthians 2 6-16. Yet among

the mature, we do impart wisdom.

Although it is not a wisdom of this age

or rulers of this age who are doomed to

pass away, but we impart a secret and

hidden wisdom of God. First thing we're

talking about the gospel specifically

verse two of chapter 2. For I decided to

know nothing among you except Jesus

Christ and him crucified. It's the

gospel. That's the secret and hidden

wisdom that the rulers of this age did

not perceive which God decreed before

the ages for our glory. None of the

rulers of this age understood this. For

if they had, they would not have

crucified the Lord of glory. But as it

is written, what no eye has seen, no ear

has heard, no heart imagined, what God

has prepared for those who love him. Let

me, you've probably read that many

times. I want to restore the

magnificence of the passage by helping

like what is being said is that there's

been plenty of rulers, plenty of

philosophers. We have their writings.

Socrates, Aristotle, all kinds of

different people that have recognized

there's something wrong with human

beings. They keep doing evil things and

they have different solutions for the

anthropology. Why is it that they keep

doing it? Are they inherently sinful?

Are they not? Can they choose good? Can

they not? Is their nature enslaved to

sin? All kinds of philosophizing, right?

And it spins in circles and different

ages have they come there's nothing new

under the sun. So there's like not going

to be a new philosophy. You'll find it

already. It's just rewarmed up.

Reffried. Is that reffried beans?

Refried philosophy is what I think all

philosophy is ultimately. Otherwise,

there's something new under the sun. So,

don't think so. Man can't get there.

It's secret. It's hidden. It's not

revealed to them. That's what's being

said. However, it is revealed to us

believers. Listen to this. These things

God has revealed to us through the

spirit. For the spirit searches

everything, even the depths of God.

There's no secrets to God the Spirit. He

knows. For who knows a person's thought

except the spirit of that person which

is in him. So also, no one comprehends

the thoughts of God except the spirit of

God. Okay. So again, he can take those

secret secret and hidden things and

effectively reveal them to some. Okay.

Now, who is he revealing them to? That's

that's the allimp important question on

for me as a biblical interpretive

student of the Bible. And I'm literally

on a stage. But don't put me on a stage.

I'm just another sinner interpreting the

Bible. Yeah, I've had training. Yeah,

I've been doing it for a long time. I am

not saying that I think I'm wrong. I'm

confident about this view. You need to

decide. Is what the preacher is saying

actually true? And then what does that

mean? This may be very different than

you thought. Look at this. Now we've

received not the spirit of the world but

the spirit who is from God that we might

understand the things freely given to

us. Spirit received before you

understand the things freely forgive you

forgive you. Okay. What I think it's a

great definition that regeneration is

the indwell permanent indwelling of the

Holy Spirit. Without that, you don't

have it. That's path rocky soil,

sunscorched soil. Right? And I know

nobody here is saying that you were good

soil. That's why the gospel took root in

you. Who made you the good soil? So the

spirits received that you might

understand the things freely given to

us. What are the things freely given to

us? Supernatural revelation about what?

What did the philosophers say? Well, we

got to do better. We got to atone for

our sins. We have to do something. Then

we can reach up to God. Did anybody ever

even think, you know what, God who's

perfect

could be made sin who knew no sin so

that in him we could become the

righteousness of God. In other words,

God, why don't you die for our sin? No

one ever thought that. That was secret

and hidden, scandalizing, a stumbling

block to the Jews and folly to the

Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles comprise all

nations. One specific, one blanket,

right?

None of them could see it. None of them

even thought it. Who would in their

right mind be like God who's perfect?

You know what? We're not. So why don't

you die for us?

What?

Listen to this. We impart this in words

not taught by human wisdom, but taught

by the spirit, interpreting spiritual

truth to those who are spiritual.

For the natural person does not accept

the things of the spirit. Who is the

natural person? This word spiritual

person pneumaticos very clear in the um

in Paul's writings and here a person

that's permanently indwelt with the

spirit. You are not a pneumatic a

spiritual person until you have received

the holy spirit which he's already said

in context in these words. So how on

earth can anybody be saved

if natural people cannot understand the

saving message?

Well, they have to be made a spiritual

person first.

That this verse I think is probably one

of the most clear verses about the idea

that God has to do something first

inside of you before you can even accept

the things of the gospel. And again, I

think they're stacked right on top of

each other. When I say regeneration

precedes faith, the moment God makes you

born again, you believe. There's never a

time where you're born again, don't have

faith, right? And you already know

pretty much all I ever do is preach

about repentance. So, you will not have

repentance absent from regeneration

either. We're talking about where the

arrows coming from. Is it something we

did or is it something God did? So, then

if God chooses to regenerate some some

of the rulers of age, he didn't. He

didn't.

Some of us he did. Why? Because of me. I

say all the reasons for why I was saved.

All the arrows for all the reasons for

why I'm saved point to God and none

point back to me. I believe that.

You may say, "Oh, no. I think one arrow

points back to our free will." I'm

saying God, when I say when I see the

scriptures teach that faith is a gift, I

believe it's something that God gives

us. I believe our will is enslaved to

sin. And God has to break it free first.

And I don't know why he broke my will

free of sin. I never deserved it.

But if he's the one that maintains my

generation, my regeneration, if he's the

one that made me born again, and that's

the reason why I understand and why I'm

like, "Yeah, yes, you died for my sin,

and it's just for me to be forgiven

now." and my guilt is gone because

that's how worthy your sacrifice is,

Jesus. You want to know how God chose

you? Paul says we can know. Paul says we

can know. It's first Thessalonians. I

don't have it marked. I'm going there

spur of the moment. I got to find it

quick. 1 Thessalonians

uh chapter 1 verse 4, I think. For we

know, brothers, loved by God that he has

chosen us. How? How? Paul,

he actually says chosen you. How do you

know that God chose them? And it says

this, because our gospel came to you not

only in word, not just mental ascent,

but also in power and in the Holy Spirit

and with full conviction.

Power, Holy Spirit, full conviction,

word, all those things. If you believe

in your heart that uh Christ um died and

that God rose him from the dead. If you

confess with your mouth that Jesus is

Lord and believe in your heart that God

raised him from the dead. I just showed

you you can't even believe that if

you're not born again. It's not

possible. The natural person does not

accept the things of God and the things

of God in that context of the gospel.

Find me a verse that says God will

unregenerate you. that he will take back

your b your your your your status. I'll

show you the verse that says you're

guaranteed sign sealed guaranteed by the

Holy Spirit.

And that means if you go back to first

John

5 4-5,

you're born again. You have to overcome

because every born again Christian

overcomes. That's what it says.

I don't know any other greater salvation

than pointing to God. He did it. I

wouldn't even believe if he didn't.

Okay. I can't mess it up.

Still says that there must you must

remain repentant. I just believe God

keeps me repentant. He he's the

conqueror, not me. So, he will persevere

my faith and I just have to trust him.

Why did I belabor that? Because I want

us to believe when we entrust justice to

God, we can worship him with a whole

heart. You know, one justice you have to

entrust to God is the justice of the

cross for your sin. Let's go to Psalm 9

and finish it out and then apply it to

those situations in our lives where

we're like, "This is an injustice. I'm

feeling like God, are you really just or

are you just way too harsh? Let's

continue."

But the Lord sits in throne forever. He

has established the throne for justice.

He judges the world with righteousness.

He judges the people with uprightness.

The Lord is a stronghold for the

oppressed, a stronghold in times of

trouble. And those who know your name

put their trust in you. For you, oh

Lord, have not forsaken those who seek

you. Sing praises to the Lord who sits

enthroned on Zion, another name for

Jerusalem. Tell among the peoples his

deeds, for he who avenges blood is

mindful of them. He does not forget the

cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me,

O Lord. See my affliction for those who

hate me. Oh you who lift me up from the

gates of death that I may recount all

your praises that in the gates of the

daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your

salvation. The nations have sunk in the

pit they have made and the net that they

hid. Their foot has been caught. The

Lord has made himself known. He has

executed judgment. The wicked are snared

in the work of their own hands. Higayion

Salah. I do not know what Haggion means.

I have found no satisfying answers.

probably another medical or not a

medical musical term a musical

instruction. Salah almost certainly

means pause for reflection. What are we

to pause for reflection on?

I think this main point is a good

summary of it. When we entrust justice

to God, we can worship him with our

whole hearts. Meditate on that. Is that

true?

The wicked shall return to Shaol, all

the nations that forget God. For the

needy shall not always be forgotten.

There's more evidence that sometimes you

feel like you've been forgotten by God.

David's saying, "No, and the hope of the

poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O

Lord. Let not man prevail." He's not

saying, "Let not males prevail." He's

saying, "Let not humans prevail. Let not

man prevail. Let not the nations be

judged before you. Put them in fear, O

Lord. Let the nations know that they are

but men.

From

dust you came till dust you shall

return, God says. And yet he values this

thing he's formed out of the dust. These

image bearsers, you and me

enough to send his only son to pay for

our sin.

Again, if if if God does not do

something in your heart for you to

understand, it's either a stumbling

block or absolute folly. Cosmic child

abuse. Some people say

nonsense. Other people say no different

than the flying spaghetti monster.

Believe in that. Believing in Man in the

Sky. Same thing.

Is that true? Is that true for you? Has

it been revealed?

I think the focus is wrong. We ought to

settle in our hearts that God is just

and we are not.

If you want God's justice, you just

heard all about it. If you want his

mercy, Christ gets the justice.

What?

The only one that's perfect, that's

always loved, God, perfect from

everlasting, never created, always God

in perfect fellowship with him forever,

pleasing and glorious, peerless in

value. And he's going to receive the

just wrath of God and be condemned for

you. No one's ever heard it. Secret has

to be revealed. And that is what

communion is about. When we come to

communion, it's a time to realign

ourselves with God's justice. And what

did Paul say about God's justice? I

resolve to know nothing but Christ and

him crucified.

As painful it is, you have to let Christ

take the justice and you'll get the

mercy. It was for the joy set before him

that he endured the scorn of the cross.

And so as you come to communion today,

listen to the words of Peter. Listen to

the words of First Peter chapter 4. And

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

let's examine ourselves. I want your

wounds where you have been allowed in

your heart to be divided from actually

worshiping God. Not just because you've

have a neutral opinion about his

justice, but because of his justice,

because he's so just, because of the

cross, I I want to worship together with

you in that power. And so we're going to

1st Peter 4:6 because God says something

about judgment. Verse f of 1 Peter 4:17.

1 Peter 4:17

For it is time for judgment to begin at

the household of God.

It scary. For it's time to judgment to

begin at the household of God. And if it

begins with us, what will be the outcome

for those who do not obey the gospel of

God? And if the righteous is scarcely

saved, what will become of the ungodly

and the sinner? Therefore, let those who

suffer according to God's will entrust

their souls to a faithful creator while

doing good. If you are suffering at the

hands of somebody else or some kind of

injustice, what does he say?

Examine yourself. Don't start doubting

God's justice. Worship him anyway.

Therefore, let those who suffer

according to God's will entrust their

souls to a faithful creator.

I don't know where you're at, but

communion can reconcile you to the kind

of worship that trusts God's justice

completely. And that justice is the

cross. Let me pray. Heavenly Father,

thank you for this message. Thank you

for these eager students of the Bible

and they're listening. They're they're

nodding their heads. They're smiling

eyes and the just the souls that you've

redeemed. Thank you for our

regeneration. Thank you for the gift of

faith. Thank you for saving us. Thank

you for applying our certainty that you

will never lie, which means you will

never take away our salvation. You've

guaranteed it by the Holy Spirit. We can

be absolutely certain of that. And yet,

we need you to maintain our faith and

maintain our repentance all the same.

So, I pray that you would bring the

repentant to the table today. I pray

these things in Jesus name. Amen.