Latest / The HighDive / Ep. 15 | Finding Lasting Security in Christ

Transcript

Ep. 15 | Finding Lasting Security in Christ · The HighDive

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever noticed how we build our lives pretty quickly and seemingly confidently on things that seem secure.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: They seem secure because they look secure.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: They seem secure because culture says, oh, this is the thing that's going to give you stability.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's like, listen, you got to go to college and get a good job and you'll be able to take care of yourself and everything will be fine.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or listen, if you'll just get married and find that other person, that that relationship's going to give you some sense of security.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or, hey, listen, when you get that job, be sure to save and build up that nest egg so your rainy day fund or your retirement can be great.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe, maybe it's more short-sighted and it's like, hey, my ability to create or craft or control my own plans gives me some sense of security.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: None of those things in and of themselves are wrong.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you are saving for retirement.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you do have a healthy marriage and you have your person.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you do have a stable career that doesn't just provide for your family but gives you meaning and purpose to show the love of God and build the kingdom.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: All those things in and of themselves are good.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: The challenge, though, is when they become the foundation of my life, where I'm kind of putting my sense of security, at the end of the day, something unexpected is going to happen.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is Murphy's Law.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like as Dave Ramsey says, Murphy shows up at your door.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And when those things invariably happen, suddenly the world begins to shake.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: My sense of identity begins to crumble.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Can you relate?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 118 pushes us to answer a question that every person should consider, every believer must consider.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's simply this What is the foundation that you're building your life on?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it Christ or is it something else?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the surprising answer to that is that God often will accomplish his work through things that the world rejects or in ways that don't necessarily make sense because God's ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts, his value system is built differently.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the challenge that we have is to learn that and align ourselves with it.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Ricky Smith.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have the honor of pastoring Calvary Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia, and here you are on the High Dive Podcast.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So the High Dive Podcast is a ministry of Calvary Baptist Church.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our objective is not to reteach the sermon that we studied this past week, but it is to take either the text or some principles that we studied in that sermon on Sunday and help ourselves, myself included, better implement that into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in our everyday life.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So if this is your first time with us, we're grateful that you found us.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Please click like, subscribe, share, all the things.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal today is not to repeat the sermon.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you're welcome to go on our website, our social media channels.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can watch the whole sermon or listen to the whole service in its entirety.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I do want to remind ourselves of a big idea that was shared this past week.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is good and because God's steadfast love endures forever, believers, we can be and remain confident to build our lives on Jesus as our firm foundation.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when the storms come, we can hold fast.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Before we do, though, I do I do want to maybe give a brief recap.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So firstly, God's steadfast love sustains people through trouble.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Psalms 118 opens and ends with this reminder.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a declaration, really, and it points back to God's Hasid, his faithful covenant keeping love.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a that's such a powerful word that keeps coming back up.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a difficult word because truthfully, we don't have a word in our English language that even comes close.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh covenant love, loyal love, faithful love, all those things kind of help to start getting the idea.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: But um that's the anchor for our life.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, because of that, uh, the kind of theological center of Psalm 118 is seemingly a familiar verse.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what uh what first describes God's surprising deliverance ultimately points to Jesus.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the psalmist is, as I've said on Sunday, kind of going back and forth into what God is doing in my life now and who God is, uh, how God is present in my individual circumstances for freedom of deliverance, victory over the enemies, uh, God's character and nature.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a beautiful kind of reflection back and forth.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, also, Psalm 118, these are very familiar.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: If uh even if you don't come to church often, but you show up at Easter time, like Palm Sunday, like Jesus comes into Jerusalem and the crowd, they're there for Passover, they are shouting Psalm 118.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hosanna, which means save me now, deliver me, or rescue me now.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: In their mind, they were linking back to the promise of Psalm 118.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: They were close, but they kind of missed it.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: They were looking, they were more concerned with deliverance from their immediate oppressive political, geopolitical, economic crisis, and not clearly looking for deliverance over their sin, uh, redeeming their failures, and into relationship with God.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I mentioned a couple of threads.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've got some notes here in front of me to keep me on track.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So uh here's the first thread that I want to look at.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's interesting that Psalm 118 starts and ends the same way.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Three times in the first, I think, two verses, we hear this statement: His steadfast love endures forever.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: His steadfast love endures forever.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the very end, it ends with the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Psalms is poetry.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I could quickly uh just pass that off as poetic repetition.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think if I do that, I'm missing the point.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is really functioning like a bookend.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of this declaration of God's character, his steadfast love endures forever, in the middle of Psalm 118, there are statements about distress, about victory, about rejection, about discipline, about celebration.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: All those highs and lows in life, every mountain and valley, every plan that works, every plan that fails, sometimes it's because of the enemy attacking and what others are doing to me.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's in my own sin and what I've reaped upon myself.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: In the midst of all those is the character of God.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the challenge for us to think then that means our circumstances never define God's character.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And there's oftentimes this temptation that we um try to manipulate or um define God to fit into our box rather than allowing our life to fit into God's.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um how can we learn to interpret our circumstances through the lens of God's character?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture certainly helps with that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, let me give you, I'm gonna give you a couple of references if you want to study these on your own.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Exodus 34, 6 and 7, Lamentations 3, 22 and 23, Romans 8, 31 through 39.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a second thread.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we see this in verse 22, which I think is like the theological center of Psalm 118.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: He is the cornerstone, like uh the stone that was rejected has become the cornerstone.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is referred to in the New Testament.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's spoken of here initially.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and this may be this may be hard for us to really get because we don't build things out of stone anymore.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I am not a construction guy, uh, I didn't get that gift.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I do enjoy, like when we're going to Mexico and we're building these houses for people, I am learning more the importance of getting things square.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And what I have learned the hard way is when I'm trying to build something with wood and it's not square, I oftentimes don't know that until I start to build out or up more.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the further I go out or the further I go up, the more exposed I am that wow, I'm not square.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if we take that concept, which we all see, we can see when it's a little crooked, uh, and we we go back then into the ancient context of building with stone, like every wall, every doorway, every angle was tied back to and dependent on that first stone being set right and it being square.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I think I think Jesus then, he in Matthew 21, he refers to Psalm 118 speaking to himself.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he, I don't, I don't think he is simply saying, hey, I'm really important.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think what he is saying is I need you to understand who I am.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: I determine the fit and the structure of God's kingdom on earth.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: It it anchors in me.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think when we apply that to our Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever the day of the week you're listening to, this, every life, every human life, every mind and heart either aligns to Christ as our foundation or remains crooked.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times in the emotion of the moment, we may not be able to clearly see that, but the more our life builds out, or the more our life builds up, it will get exposed.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you, uh, I think that's one of the key questions that Psalm 118 is pulling us back into.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do I see who God is?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: He is good and his steadfast love endures forever.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is my life centered on him?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Here's some verses that you can think through.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew 21, 42 through 46, Acts 4, 11 and 12, Ephesians 2, 19 and 22, and 1 Peter 2, 4 and 8.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thread 3.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: When you when you go back through Psalm 118, then in response to God's goodness and what he's done and his faithfulness, in response to him being the cornerstone, then we get to this well-known verse because it's either stated, you see this in Hobby Lobby, or it's the song that's commonly sung.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is the day that the Lord has made.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think that song is great to give me a peppy, joyful attitude and outlook on life.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think joy oftentimes is a perspective and isn't a choice.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: What is noteworthy though, the day in the context of 118, this is pointing to the day that Jesus secured our salvation and our victory.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: The stone that was the builders rejected became the cornerstone through his death, burial, and resurrection.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's the day that anchored our salvation.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's the day that celebrates God's saving victory.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so our joy or our attitude of joy is not built on a song.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's not critically dependent on pleasant circumstances.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Our joy and the attitude of our heart is rooted in the reality of a risen Savior.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that changes the perspective that we as believers have in seasons of success and in seasons of suffering.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is the day the Lord has made.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I can sing that with joy and the good days and the bad.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is the day the Lord has made.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's so short-sighted.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: He was offering freedom from sin, freedom from death, freedom from God's eternal judgment.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the salvation that God gives.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's often deeper than the salvation that we request.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you find yourself on this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday praying a bold prayer, asking God to change your circumstances.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And he may.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or he may not.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Whether I think it's I think it's totally appropriate for you to ask God if it's his will to change your circumstances.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Pray that prayer.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: But ask God to change your heart.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh regardless of if the circumstances change, ask the Lord to shape your heart to look more like his.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Reveal in me a way that I need to become more like you.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Would you have the courage on this day to pray that kind of a prayer?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I think I think as we as we strive to apply all these thoughts and these different threads to our heart and our life, uh there's certainly the opportunity that I could have some honest self-assessment, ask some very poignant personal questions to see if my foundation is truthfully rooted in Christ.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, here's a question.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I have the the willingness to ask honest honestly, where have I begun to trust something or someone more than Christ?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what foundation am I putting some stock or security in?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it can never fail when in reality it could go away like that.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times we we don't want to ask those questions, but they're helpful to ask.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe here's a harder one.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, am I resting on the goodness and the steadfast, faithful, loyal love of God, or on my own abilities and performance?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can do this, I can fix this, I can just grid it out and grind it out further.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just not sure that's the way God wants us to live.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So these are some thoughts.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm asking more questions today than I'm giving answers, but uh my prayer is for you that it would lead you to a path of just some honest conversations with yourself, more importantly, some honest prayers to God.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um to re-evaluate, uh, to confess to the Lord that maybe you are putting putting your security in something other than Him.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe, maybe that means God gets to show you how He wants to redeem your failure.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, I pray that you would have the courage to ask the question, to seek the Lord in it, and learn how to live this out today.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, thanks for giving some time to this episode of the High Dive Podcast.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this journey through Psalms.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's been amazing as we've kind of looked at some key psalms and some application of them.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: We've navigated through our stories of hope.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Really excited, a little bit of a teaser of what is to come.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, our next episode, we will begin our journey through Genesis.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't wait.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're gonna ask some really big questions, um, not only about what Genesis is all about, and that is the foundation of our faith that's established, especially in those first 11 or 12 verses, excuse me, chapters.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna dig through all of that.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the podcast, we're gonna talk through some really fun things about man, how how old is the earth?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Were there dinosaurs?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, when did angels get kicked out of heaven?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, was it really a snake that came to Adam and Eve?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Did they eat an apple?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk through all those things and a whole lot more.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Follow link, subscribe to the podcast so you'll be notified when those things come up.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe even take some time to leave us a friendly review.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: All that is beneficial to us because it helps more people hear and know that this podcast exists as a resource for you and for them.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, have a great day.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.