Latest / CCC West Covina / Wednesday Evening Message: A Study in Psalms - Psalm 63

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Wednesday Evening Message: A Study in Psalms - Psalm 63 · CCC West Covina

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Welcome to Christ Community Church, and especially welcome
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back to our Summer of Psalms. We've had a break for a couple
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weeks and just a couple announcements tonight.
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Please join us this Saturday in West Wing Two at 7:30 to 10:00
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for our bimonthly prayer meeting.
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Everybody's welcome. And so we hope to see you at
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7:30 for a time of prayer. We pray for the church, our
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neighborhood, our country, all the ministries in the church.
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7:30 this Saturday in the back, there's a bunch of signups.
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Summer's almost over. So the after Labor Day in
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September there's three different new classes, new
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members class you can sign up for evangelism training.
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And we mentioned last week, if you want to go to mission trip,
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don't wait till next year to get an Evangeline training, get in
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it now and then there'll be a soteriology class taught.
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So and there's also a women's event on the 17th.
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So look in the lobby at the signups and and avail yourself
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to that. Last week if you were here, you
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heard the testimonies from nine people that had never been on
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mission trip with Christ Community Church.
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And I mentioned briefly something that I wanted to
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continue tonight. When we went out Saturday, I
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only had three opportunities to share the gospel.
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Saturday it was like it was like West Covina.
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They didn't want to talk, It was cold, they went open the doors,
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lots of dogs. So it wasn't discouraging.
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But we had three. But then Sunday we went to
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church, two different churches, and I preached Sunday morning
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and Sunday afternoon they said we're going to go out and we're
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going to go to a park. And the park was, I can't
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remember, about 20 blocks. We had to walk and then we're
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going to share in the park. So Shane Anderson and I and our
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two interpreters group of about four or five people started to
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walk and we only went about one block.
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And there was a man washing his car when you talked to him.
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His name was John and he stopped washing the car and gave us
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about 1/2 an hour to share with him.
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So that was encouraging. And while I was sharing with
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him, Shane was sharing with a man named Christian who was a
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garbage collector. One of those manual guys walking
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around collecting the garbage. And then even before we left I
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mentioned last week there was a teenage girl named Marion who
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had the iPod ear things and but she stopped and we shared with
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her for about 45 minutes. So it was really encouraging.
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And then I walked around the corner and there were two old
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men. Hector was 75 years old.
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And Felicia, Felicia, if I'm saying it right, was 89 years
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old now. The sun was kind of shining in
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this cold day and you might have seen the remember the picture
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from last week? And they're just their
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countenance was bright and they said, sure, we'd like to talk to
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you. We were there for over an hour,
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sharing with them and. And just that, you know, you
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have somebody interested in your gospel presentation when they're
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asking questions, right? If you're doing all the talking,
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maybe they're not so interested, but they they just wouldn't shut
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up. They kept asking question after
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question after question. So that's always great And but
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when you ask them if they were to die tonight where they would
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spend eternity, I mentioned last week, I could not believe how
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many people told me No one can know, only God knows.
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That was the answer I got. And I didn't realize that
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Argentina is not a Catholic country anymore.
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It's a secular country like America.
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So yeah, they're Catholic in name, but they rarely ever go to
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church, and they certainly don't know much.
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So when they would say that no one can know, it just hit me
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like a ton of bricks. They don't know because of
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course the Catholic Church doesn't teach eternal security
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and they don't even go to church.
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But is there anything more important than internal
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security? Is there anything more important
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than your assurance of salvation?
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I think not. So last our preacher on Sunday,
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Mr. Mason ended up his message with a verse.
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I'll begin with first John 513. I would open up first John 5,
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verse 13, and it says I write in first John.
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I think at least 13 times it says I write or I'm writing or
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I've written 13 times. And then it says, I write these
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things to you who believe in the name of Son of God that you may
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know 32 times in that little book of first John that says no,
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no, no, we can know. And that's what hit me.
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They don't know. The lost world doesn't know, you
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know, I know I have eternal life.
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I know my real home is in heaven and not here.
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I know that any sufferings I have are temporary.
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I know the Bible is the very words of God.
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I know about Jesus. I know about the Holy Spirit,
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who's in me, and I know about God the Father, but when I read
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Psalm 63, I wish I really knew God more.
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I really wish I had the desire, the burning desire that the
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psalmist had in Psalm 63, J Vernon McGee said.
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This is a special song. It's ointment that is poured out
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upon all kinds of sores. It's a bandage for bruises.
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It's a bomb to put upon wounds to help them heal.
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It has been a marvelous song for the church.
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It speaks of the thirst for the water of life.
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Christopher, who was early church father ordained and
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agreed that the Primitive fathers that no day should pass
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without the public singing of this song and the primitive
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church use this song. It was sung every morning or
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every time there was a public gathering, Derek Kinder says.
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There may be other songs that are equal, the outpouring of
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devotion, but there are a few songs that surpass Psalm 63, the
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type of Psalm it is. It's a lament Psalm and I think
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sometimes we forget that it's a lament Psalm.
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Lament psalms expressed the need for God's deliverance.
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So David wrote at least 73 psalms and maybe 30 of them are
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lament psalms asking God for help.
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But this is such a beautiful poetic Psalm that I think when
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you read at least the 1st 8 verses, you forget that David's
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actually crying out. And as a lament, the
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superscription says a Psalm of David when he was in the
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wilderness of Judah. And I'll talk a little bit more
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about that when we get into our message.
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So let's read it and we'll pray. A Psalm of David when he was in
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the wilderness of Judah. Oh God, you are my God.
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Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you, My flesh faints
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for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
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So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power
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and glory, because your steadfast love is better than
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life. My lips will praise you so I
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will bless you as long as I live in your name.
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I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as
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with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with
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joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you
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in the watches of the night. For you have been my health, and
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in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
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My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me, But
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those who seek to destroy my life shall go down to the depths
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of the earth. They shall be given over to the
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power of the sword. They shall be a portion for
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jackals. But the King shall rejoice in
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God. All who swear by him shall
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exult, for the mouth of wires will be stopped.
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Father in heaven, we thank you for another opportunity to open
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up the perfect word of God and to look at one of the most
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special psalms there are. Father, may we leave here
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tonight knowing more of you having that burning desire that
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King David had to know you to be with you in Jesus name.
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Amen. I hope you have an outline.
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There's three simple points. How David long for God versus
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one to three, and how David lived for God versus 4:00 to
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8:00. And then how David looked for
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God versus 9 to 11. Let's begin with point #1.
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How David long for God and point number A there says where he
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was, where he was. Dave begins it by saying that
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beautiful verse. Oh God, you are my God.
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Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you, My flesh faints
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for you, as in a dry and where he land where there is no water.
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So where is David? Well if you look at the
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superscription, it says a Psalm of David when he was in the
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wilderness of Judah. So commentators will debate.
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Most of them will agree upon there's two choices.
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Is he in the desert fleeing from King Saul and that would be
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First Samuel 19 to 31? Or is it when he's fleeing from
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Absalom, his son in Second Samuel 15 to 19?
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Well, if you look at verse 11, it says but the king, the king
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shall rejoice. So it's pretty obvious, and most
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commentators agree, that it's not when he's being chased by
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Saul, but it's when he fled Jerusalem from his own son, King
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Absalom. So because he was not yet the
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king when Saul was chasing him for the most time.
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And you know the story of Absalom.
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He rebelled against David. It's told in Second Samuel, 15
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to 19. Absalom was back in Jerusalem,
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but he was estranged from David and he felt bitter and estranged
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from him. So Absolom spent four years
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winning the hearts of the people.
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He would sit at the gate and he would lie to the people, saying
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there's nobody here to to hear your request, but I'll I'll hear
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them. And it it says that he stole the
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hearts of the people. So when Absalom had the majority
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of the people on his side that he thought he was ready to set
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up a rival Kingdom in near in the nearby city of Hebron.
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And David was completely ignorant or caught off guard.
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And when it was told of him, he feared that there would be a
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bloody and a brutal attack on Jerusalem.
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So David fled and his loyal generals and soldiers fled, and
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they went east towards the Transjordan desert.
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He let the psalmist says he left weeping and crying in the night
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as Absalom moved into Jerusalem. So David crossed the Jordan
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River and he hit somewhere in this desert region, it's called
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the wilderness, while Absolom in the couple days was going to
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come and pursue him. This is supposedly have not been
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there, one of the most barren regions of the earth.
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And David uses this region as a poetic background for his
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condition apart from God. He sees himself thirsting for
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God as a man might thirst in the desert.
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He begins by saying, oh God, you are my God.
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This is a very personal song. If you count the personal
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pronouns I, my and me, you see at least 20 times that how
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personal this song is. David says the name, oh God,
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that's Elohim. That's the name in the Old
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Testament that appears over 2000 times.
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It's first used in the very first verse in the Bible.
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In the beginning, God Elohim created the heavens and the
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earth. You know, you hear that phrase
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today, don't you? Oh God, as a curse word, as a
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blasphemous word in movies. And people say it much like they
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take the name of Jesus. Those people aren't believers.
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They don't know God. But David here, when he says, oh
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God, you can sense the feeling inside of him.
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He goes on to say, oh God, you are my God.
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He's a child of God. He's conscious of the personal
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relationship that he has. He knows his father and he knows
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his father's going to listen to this lament.
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He's crying out. He then continues by saying
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earnestly, I seek you. I don't know if anybody out
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there still uses the King James Bible or the new King James
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Bible, but your translation says, I rise early in the
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morning. So the early translation, the
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Septuagin that was written 200 years before the Old Testament
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for Christ came, says early, I will seek you.
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So this is probably why Chris Lam and the early church fathers
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read this Psalm at every every morning, sang it every morning.
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Because those translations said early, I will seek you.
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Our modern translations say earnestly I will seek you.
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But I was thinking about that this might be the song that you
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need. We talked a lot about the
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wilderness with our study in Job and in Hebrews.
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We talked a lot about it with our study in Moses and Hebrews
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10. Right.
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So this might be the song that you need to read in the morning
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before the troubles of the day to get in the mount up.
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But notice for David though, this is not a last resort.
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He always prays, always continually praying, right?
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Next he says, my soul thirst for you, my flesh faints for you.
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In our poetry this is called the Miriism and it just refers to
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the whole being, the whole body soul.
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He just yearns for God's satisfying presence.
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Much like the sons of Korra said in Psalms 42 as a deer pants for
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the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God, my soul
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thirst for God for the living. God, when shall I come and
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appear before my God. Psalm 42 One and two.
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I like what one commentator said about this.
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Verses 1 Here in In Psalm 63, stranded in an open sea, a man
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was afloat on a small raft, dying without any water.
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His weakened and crumpling body was about to collapse.
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His lips were parched. His eyes were seeing spots.
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His stomach was in knots. There was only one thing he
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wanted water. He had no interest in watching
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television or any desire for amusement or entertainment.
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He was not daydreaming about as many possessions back home, or
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was he fantasizing about the stock market or his favorite
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sports team. He had only one thing in his
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mind water. He had to have water.
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But until he received it, nothing else mattered.
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This is precisely where David was, both physically and
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spiritually. As he wrote Psalm 63, he was in
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a dry and barren wilderness of Judea without water, his body
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ache for liquid replenishing. Yet the deepest thirst of his
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life was for the living water. David's soul yearned for God.
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He did not want money or any material thing.
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He wanted God for who God was. With all his passion, with all
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his soul, he thirsted to know and experience the greatness of
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God. It was David's great desire to
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feel the presence of God. You know, do we thirst like
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that? I'll talk a little bit more
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about that and the application in my life.
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But the mark of a child of God is to have intimate knowledge of
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God and and of God the Father. It's the biggest and most
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important thing in our life. You know, in the New Testament,
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in John we have the story of the woman at the well right in John
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chapter 4. And it says that in John four,
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I'll just paraphrase it real quickly.
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The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, How is it that you, a
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Jew, asked for a drink from me, A woman of Samaria, for Jews
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have no dealings with Samaritans.
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And Jesus answered her and said, If you knew the gift of God and
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who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink.
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You would have asked for him and he would have given you living
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water, The woman said to him. Sir, you have nothing to draw
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water with, and this well is deep.
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Where do you get that living water?
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Are you greater than our father Jacob?
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He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons
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and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who
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drinks of this water will be thirsty again.
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But whoever drinks to the water that I will give him will never
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be thirsty again. The water that I will give him
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will be coming him, a spring of water welling up to eternal
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life. The woman said to him, Sir, give
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me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here
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to draw water. And she got that living water,
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didn't she? Just two chapters later, in John
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635, Jesus said to him, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to
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me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never
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thirst. And just the next chapter in
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John 739 on the last day of the feast, that great day, Jesus
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stood up and cried out. If anyone thirsts, let him come
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to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as
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scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow over livers,
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rivers of living water. Now he said this about the
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Spirit who had not yet whom those who believe in him were
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two received. For as yet the Spirit had not
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been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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And then if you go all the way to the very end of the Bible, to
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the very last chapter, Revelation 22, it says in verse
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17 the Spirit and the bride say, come and let the one who hears
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say come and let the one who is thirsty come.
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Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price.
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Does your soul thirst for God? Does your flesh long for God?
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If that's not your experience now, well, what will it be like
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when you go into the wilderness someday?
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Like David, all earthly satisfactions are ultimately
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unsatisfactory because they're earthly.
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I was thinking tonight of Maui, Hawaii.
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Did you see the pictures? I've been there twice.
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Tomorrow's my anniversary and we first went there, but everywhere
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we were in Maui is gone. Just a wildfire in the wind just
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completely wiped out. It was there yesterday and now
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it's gone. Everything on earth is just
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temporary, isn't it? Everything you see, it could
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just be wiped out in an instant. But living water that Jesus
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gives gives us everlasting eternal life.
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So that's where he was in the wilderness of Judea.
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What did he want? Some point B, verse two and Tim
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Reddit. So I looked upon you in the
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sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
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David had a spiritual appetite. How did you acquire it?
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By worshipping God in the past, at the sanctuary or at the
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Tabernacle before the temple was built.
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It was there where David saw God's presence in the sanctuary,
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is there where David beheld God's glory.
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I think there's a verse that's probably read from this pulpit
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more than any other verse, and it's Psalms 27, four Lance
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quotes that often I've quoted it and I think A J quoted it
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recently. One thing I have asked to the
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Lord that I may seek after that I may dwell in the House of the
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Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the
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Lord, and to inquire in his temple David out of passion, to
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come to the Tabernacle, to to sing the songs, to learn about
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God, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.
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There the sons of Korus, set in Psalms 84 One and two, How
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lovely is your dwelling place. So Lord of Hosts my soul longs,
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yes, feints for the courts of the Lord.
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My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
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And then verse 10 says, For a day in your court is a better
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than 1000 elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper
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in the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked
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and then back to Psalm 42, that wonderful Psalm says in verse
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four. These things I remember as I
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pour out my soul how I would go to the throng and lead them in
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procession to the House of God with glad shouts and songs of
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praise, a multitude keeping festival What?
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Because David had seen God's power and glory in God's house,
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he wanted to experience that in the wilderness, as he had so
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often in the House of God. It was Spurgeon who said a weary
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place and a weary heart make the presence of God more desirable.
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What did David want? He wanted to be in God's
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present. Why?
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Why? He worshipped verse three.
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He says, because your steadfast love is better than life.
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My lips will praise you. We talked about the past in
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verse 2. This is the present David.
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David would say in verse three, your steadfast love is better
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than life, he says. In verse six, when I remember
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you on my bed, he says in verse seven you have been my help.
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He says you're right, him and upholds me.
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And I think that's verse 8. So here even though David is cut
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off from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, God has not cut
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himself off from David. David knew the steadfast love of
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of God was better than anything in life.
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Spurgeon also said there was no desert in David's heart, though
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there was a desert around him. You know, we spent a lot of time
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I mentioned talking about Moses and the wilderness and Job and
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the wilderness these past six months.
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But even before David spent time in the wilderness and Moses,
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Elijah would spend time in the wilderness.
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You know, a true Christian will say, oh God, you are my God.
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Earnestly, I seek you. Many people call themselves
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Christians, right? But when something goes wrong,
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either personally to them or perhaps to their loved ones.
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Their immediate reaction is to say, why has God done this to
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me? And often they turn away from
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God. They're like Job's wife who said
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curse God and die. But a true believer does the
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opposite like David does here in the desert.
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A true Christian is always driven by adversity to God.
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A true Christian is always driven by adversity to God.
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When I like to share with someone who's suffering or going
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through a hard time, I'd like to go to 2nd Corinthians 4 versus
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16 to 18, and you probably know it.
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It says so. We do not lose heart though.
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Our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed
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day by day. And then you have that beautiful
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verse 17 that says for this light and momentary affliction
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is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory behind all
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comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the
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things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are
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transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
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That verse 17 is one of my favorite verses because it
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reminds me, he says that our light momentary troubles,
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they're light momentary. Many years ago in Siliguri,
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India, a preacher came and he was talking about sufferings.
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And he used this first. And he brought a rope and it was
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a really long lope, and it wasn't a big church, probably
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just about this size, but he took the rope and it went all
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around, went out the church and out the church.
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And and the point was that the rope just would kind of go
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forever. And then on that rope he had a,
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he put a piece of black tape, about just about an inch.
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And he said that black tape on that long rope, maybe 100 feet
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or 100 yards, that black tape represents your trials, your
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sufferings, your troubles. But then when you look at that
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rope, someday in heaven, you're going to look back and say,
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yeah, those were light. Those were temporary, momentary
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troubles when you look at eternal life, eternal glory
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forever and ever. And I've never forgot that why
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he worshipped Because David long for the love of God.
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He longed to be with God. Let's go to sub our point #2,
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how David lived for God. And here you have four points.
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He worked for God, he witnessed for God, he waited for God and
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he walked with God. So First off, in verse four he
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worked for God. He says I'll bless you.
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As long as I live in your name, I will lift up my hands.
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David was serious about worshipping working for God.
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You think back about David. He was the king that moved the
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Ark to Jerusalem right now. Incorrectly the first time
22:38
right? And Josiah died.
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But he did get it right the second time.
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David was the one who organized the temple worship.
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He first assembled the Levites. He assigned their duties, their
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divisions in the Tabernacle, which was soon to be the temple.
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Then David assembled the priest to do the temple sacrifices
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every day, and the many types of sacrifices.
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And then he organized the temple worship, the singers, the
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divisions for singing and playing the musical instruments.
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And finally he would assemble the gatekeepers to be the
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soldiers outside and protect the temple.
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And it was also David who would prepare the materials for his
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son Solomon to build the temple, because he says that that
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Solomon was a young man. And David got all the the the,
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the, the, the rocks, the temple, the the gold, everything ready
23:27
to build that temple. David was serious about working
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for God. He loved and valued the things
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of God. So he wanted to work for God.
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It's a good reminder for us. Move on to point number reverse
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five. He witness for God.
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He says My soul will be satisfied.
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As with fat and rich food. My mouth will praise you with
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joyful lips. Now this is just a metaphor for
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joy, a metaphor for greatness, for satisfaction of intimate
23:56
knowledge of God that completely satisfies him.
23:59
God feeds the hungry soul with rich and bountiful food and that
24:04
leads to joyous praise. 1 Commentator says that this
24:08
metaphor is of a royal banquet prepared with the choices to
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food. David probably remembered the
24:14
stately feast he enjoyed as Israel's king.
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With the this regal background. He's reminded in his own heart
24:21
that only God, only God could satisfy the true yearnings of
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his soul. And I like what David says.
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I talked about the past, talked about the present.
24:31
Here I I think of the future. David knew of God's faithfulness
24:35
in the past, present, and now. The future, he says, will be
24:38
satisfied. My soul will praise you because
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of David had a longing passion for God.
24:44
It resulted in him praising God. And many of David's 73 psalms
24:49
are praise psalms. This one is a lament Psalm.
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Then let's look at verses 6 and seven.
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He waited for God and he First off, he says when I remember
24:59
upon my bed, and then we'll talk about meditation .2 The key here
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is that David meditated upon God's faithfulness in the past.
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He says, You know thou have been my help when you remember him.
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The phrase remember you means to recall what God has said and
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done in the past and apply it to our present situation.
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Many of the Psalms talk about that.
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Psalm 7711 says, I will remember the deeds of the Lord.
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Yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
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Psalms 105, which is a history of the The children of Israel,
25:32
says in verses one to five, Give thanks to the Lord.
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Call upon his name, make known as deeds among the people, sing
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to him, sing praises to him, Tell of his wondrous works,
25:42
glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek
25:46
the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord in his strength.
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Seek his presence continually. Remember the wondrous works that
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he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered.
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And in Psalms 11955 says, I remember your name in the night,
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oh Lord, and keep your law, You know, our God is called the
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great. I am not, I was.
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But he must always be recognized in our present situations.
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And that's what David remembered him when he was in the desert,
26:15
remembering those good times. Then he says and meditate upon
26:19
you in the watches of the night. Now the Jews had three watches
26:23
at night, from sunset to 10:00, from 10:00 to 2:00 and from 2:00
26:29
to sunrise. So David saying whenever he
26:31
awoke in the night he's going to remember the Lord.
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Now I believe I mentioned in the last two years when I talked a
26:39
little bit about meditation, I believe the art of spiritual
26:42
meditation has been lost by our current generation.
26:45
Maybe it's because of our social media television or just being
26:49
visit all our gadgets we have. But older Christians used to
26:53
meditate upon scripture. And last summer of Psalms I told
26:57
you if you remember take one verse write it down like today's
27:01
verse for me was I'm in Psalms 86 today.
27:04
So I Psalms 8611 was teach me your way, oh Lord that I may
27:09
walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear a name.
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That was my verse to meditate upon today.
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But why don't you just take the one that we looked at today.
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Psalm 63, verse one. Oh God, you are my God.
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Earnestly I seek you my soul. Thirst for you, My flesh faints
27:25
for you, as in a dry and weary land where there's no water.
27:28
You know, if you would write that down in a on a sticky note
27:31
or a cue card in the morning, and you could memorize it
27:34
literally a minute or two by saying it five times.
27:37
And I bet a lot of you already haven't memorized.
27:40
But then you start to meditate upon it and you ask yourself, is
27:43
he my God? Do I talk about God like David
27:46
does? Do I call him my God?
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Are there any idols in my life that would prevent him from
27:53
being my God? Do I seek him?
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Is there anything that I need to get rid of in my life that I
27:58
would thirst for God like David did and and then has my thirst
28:04
for God diminished since my conversion?
28:05
You know, when someone comes to the Lord, usually they're really
28:08
excited. They're out doing Evangeline to
28:09
Sharon. But as the years progress, it
28:11
seems that they they lose that love.
28:14
Remember in Revelation chapter two and three, five of the seven
28:19
churches, God tells them they need to repent, they need to get
28:21
right with God and then think about it.
28:24
What can I do to restore my relationship?
28:26
What can I align my priorities? So you know, we'll talk more
28:29
about meditation later, but David would meditate upon God in
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the night, and boy do we need to do that.
28:35
He then says, You've been my help, and in the shadow of your
28:38
wings I will sing for joy. Psalm 64 one verse 4 says, Let
28:44
me dwell on your tent forever. Lately, let me take refuge under
28:47
the shelter of your wings. David remembered the past and
28:51
how God had protected him and how and it would cause him to
28:55
sing praises in the present. When and you know when you
28:58
meditate upon Scripture, it should lead you to sing joyous
29:02
praises for God. The more I read the Psalms, the
29:05
more I study the Psalms. There's been some incredible
29:08
amount of music coming out by Sovereign Grace, Music by the
29:11
Gettys, by City of Light, one of my favorite groups.
29:14
There's just so much beautiful worship music out about the
29:17
Psalms now. And so when I, when I and now
29:20
there's even a Grace Community Church has put out a book on
29:23
Psalms and you read the Psalm and they have maybe 1-2 or
29:27
three, four sometimes more songs to sing with that song.
29:31
It's wonderful what's out there now.
29:33
But when you meditate upon the Psalms, it should lead to joyous
29:36
praise for God. You know, when you when you.
29:39
I was thinking about it's not necessarily a Psalm.
29:41
But when when I was reading in John today, you know, I was
29:45
thinking about that when I surveyed the wondrous cross.
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And you know those words there says love, so amazing, so divine
29:53
demands. My soul, my life, my call.
29:57
That's where David was. Let's look at he walked with God
30:01
verse eight, he says. My soul clings to you.
30:04
Your right hand upholds me. You know, there's a phrase.
30:08
It says, Tim read this. We had the song tonight, right?
30:12
God will hold fast to it. But I I've noticed in
30:15
Deuteronomy there's this phrase hold fast to him, Deuteronomy
30:20
4/4 says, But you who held fast to the Lord your God, are alive
30:25
today. Deuteronomy 10/20 says you shall
30:27
serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear
30:33
Deuteronomy 11/22. For if you will be careful to do
30:37
all his commandments that I command you to do, loving the
30:40
Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to
30:44
Him. Deuteronomy 13-4.
30:46
You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep
30:49
His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve him
30:53
and hold fast to him. And finally, Deuteronomy 30,
30:57
verse 20 says, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and
31:03
holding fast to him. For he is your life and length
31:06
of days that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to
31:11
your father's Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
31:13
So what does it mean to hold fast?
31:15
It just means to stick. Stick to him.
31:18
Israel was to clean like David saying here intimately to her
31:22
God. David clung to God in the good
31:24
times and now it prepares him for the bad times which he's in
31:29
right now in this wilderness experience.
31:32
So he walked by with God by holding fast to God.
31:35
In the New Testament we have that verse Galatians 220 that
31:39
says I have been crucified with Christ.
31:41
I no longer live, but I, but Christ lives in me and the life
31:45
I live now in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of
31:49
God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
31:51
We don't live for ourselves, we live for Christ, and we need to
31:54
cling to Him. So you know, in .1 we saw that
31:57
David had this passion for God, and because that passion, he
32:00
would ultimately praise God. And then in .2 we just saw that
32:04
David would pursue God in those four ways.
32:07
Now we're going to move to point #3, and we'll see that the the
32:11
passion, the praise and pursuit leads to protection from God.
32:15
So .3 how David looked for God. Now these there are many
32:19
commentators, liberal ones of course, that don't believe
32:23
verses 910 and 11 belong with verses 1:00 to 8:00, because
32:27
they're not the same poetically. If you just read this verse
32:31
verses 1 to 8, the poetry is just incredible, even in
32:34
English, let alone Hebrew. But when you get the verse nine,
32:37
it changes. But OK, so they're commentators
32:40
who attack this song, but I don't believe that they are
32:43
different poetically. But remember what our
32:46
superscription said, right? A Psalm of David when he was in
32:50
the wilderness of Judah. And we've explained the extreme
32:53
danger that David was in. So Dave is in the wilderness.
32:56
He's fled from Absalom, you know, he's lamenting out to God.
33:00
And finally you get the verse nine.
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We see the first indication of David's distress.
33:06
So two points there. He looked for victory and he
33:09
looked for vindication. So he looked for victory first.
33:12
OK, God is on his side. Absalom is the upsurper.
33:16
So he's looking for victory. So during this song you see
33:20
expressions like better than life in verse three, as long as
33:23
I live in verse four, and here in verse 9, those who seek to
33:29
destroy my life, it reminds us of the danger that David was in,
33:33
the danger of death. Because Absalom, even though
33:36
David had fled Jerusalem, the situation was very dangerous.
33:41
But you know, I think David knew here, even when he's in the
33:44
desert that he was going to win. Because remember what happened
33:47
in in Second Samuel 15, David's leaving Jerusalem.
33:51
His army and soldiers are going with him.
33:53
And the priest come Abathar and Zadit came with the Levi's and
33:56
they brought the arc of the coming of God, and they were
33:59
going to take the arc of the coming of God to be with David.
34:02
But what did David do? He said no.
34:04
He said put the arc of the coming of back where it belongs.
34:07
He says carry the arc of God back into the city.
34:10
If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back
34:15
and let me see it both and its dwelling place.
34:19
I know David knew he was the king and Absalom was the
34:22
Upsurper. And David knows that his foes
34:25
are going to be doomed. Those who would kill him would
34:28
be doomed. Remember he said, I I know he
34:31
had the victory, but he cried to He told Job and told the
34:34
generals, deal gently with my son Absalom.
34:37
Because generally what you need to do in Upsurper, you slaughter
34:40
him, right? And Job didn't listen to David.
34:41
He slaughtered Absolom, but David.
34:43
David didn't have to execute his enemies, but he knew that they
34:47
were doomed. All he had to do was ask God to
34:50
deal with them. Well, David and the believer
34:52
hold fast to the Lord. The wicked will be cast into the
34:55
depths of the earth. So his foes were doomed.
34:58
His foes were also defeated. He says they shall be given over
35:01
to the power of the sword. When you read the story of the
35:05
battle in 2nd Sangle 18 it says that 20,000 men of Absalom were
35:12
killed. But when you get the verse eight
35:15
it says and the battle was spread over the face of the
35:18
country and the forest devoured more people that day than the
35:23
sword. I love that verse.
35:26
I I can't get the thought. It's like that movie, The Lord
35:28
of the Rings, one of my favorite movies.
35:30
And they have those ants, those three people, and they devoured
35:33
all those people. They keep thinking about that
35:35
when I read that verse. So more people, the forest
35:37
devoured, more people than were killed by the sword God killed,
35:40
more people than the soldiers killed, but the foes were
35:44
defeated and the foes were devoured.
35:46
The last part of verse 10 says they shall be a portion for the
35:49
jackals. What this means is they're not
35:51
getting the proper burial, You know, the wicked.
35:54
Their bodies will be left exposed to be eaten by the
35:57
jackals and the birds. No proper burial.
36:00
So then we come to the last verse here, verse 11.
36:03
David, look for vindication. But the king shall rejoice in
36:07
God. All who swear by him shall
36:09
exult, for the mouth of liars will be stopped.
36:12
I said I believe David knew he would win.
36:14
That's why he wanted them to deal gently with absolent.
36:17
But triumph always succeeds over liars.
36:20
Absolom lied to the people, Absolom absurd the throne.
36:23
Absolom lied and he stole the hearts of the men.
36:26
But ultimately he would fail. You know the Bible tells us in
36:30
in Second Samuel and get tonight second to 19 David will go back
36:34
to Jerusalem and it looks like he would have about another 10
36:38
years to reign of that reign. So he was vindicated.
36:42
He would rejoice in God. He would go back to that temple.
36:45
He would repair, he'd go back to the Tabernacle and he would
36:48
prepare the stones, the gold, the iron so that his son solvent
36:51
could build the temple. He would arrange all the the
36:54
things that would have to be done for that temple.
36:57
So tonight just a our apple. You've seen a lot of application
37:01
through this Psalm already but just a couple points.
37:04
Number one, do I see God above all earthly pursuits?
37:09
Do I desire God above all else? The Westminster Shorter
37:12
Catechism says the chief end of man is to glorify God and to
37:17
enjoy him forever. Do I glorify God?
37:20
Do I enjoy him forever? You know, this Psalm 63, so much
37:25
of what I've said just kind of dovetails everything Lance has
37:28
been teaching recently for the last six months.
37:31
We've had a lot of messages, I think at least eight of them on
37:33
the church, its meaning and it's ministry, right, about loving
37:37
God and loving the church and not being away from it.
37:40
And and then do you remember that message?
37:42
One of my favorite messages Lance taught was he said was do
37:45
I adore God, Do you remember that one?
37:47
And Lance gave us seven points there.
37:49
There's an excitation to be with him.
37:52
There's a proclamation about him.
37:53
If you're excited about him, if you adore him, there's a
37:56
meditation upon him. There's a satisfaction with God.
38:00
There's a celebration with him, There's a presentation to him,
38:04
and there's the appreciation of him.
38:06
So do I seek God above all earthly pursuits.
38:08
Our lives are to be like that of the Apostle Paul, who said in
38:11
First Corinthians do too. But I desire to know nothing
38:14
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
38:18
So I hope that when you leave here tonight, you'll have your
38:21
Your earthly pursuits will be temporary, like the all that,
38:25
all the Lana and Maui that burned down.
38:28
You desire God and the number two.
38:30
Do I spend sufficient time meditating upon the character of
38:34
God? You know, I mentioned many
38:36
times, there's five disciplines to scripture, right?
38:39
And hearing the word of God is 1.
38:41
And we do that on Sunday. But let's be honest, most people
38:44
are going to forget 90% of the message by lunchtime unless
38:48
you're taking good notes. So hearing the word of God is
38:50
number 1, #2 is reading the word of God.
38:53
And I trust the Wednesday night crowd is the choir of our
38:56
church. You're reading God in the
38:57
morning and having a quiet time. #3 would be studying the word of
39:01
God. You've got a help book, a
39:02
commentary, maybe MacArthur Bible.
39:05
You're you're studying, what is it?
39:06
What does it say? Maybe reviewing the messages out
39:09
there. Number four, of course, is
39:11
memorizing scripture. And I think we used to have
39:14
Bible, Bible, memory, association.
39:16
We used to have to memorize one verse a day.
39:19
And if we did it for I can't remember how many weeks we got
39:21
to go to summer camp. I don't know if they still do
39:23
that anymore. But you know, we're lucky if we
39:26
can get our kids to memorize one verse a week, But #4 is
39:29
memorizing and the number 5 meditating.
39:32
So I mentioned briefly about meditating, but meditating upon
39:36
scripture is is a lost art, I mentioned.
39:39
And it used to be when we didn't have all the social media, all
39:42
the sporting events, all the things going on.
39:45
And I remember 23 years ago I thought something like that
39:50
right before I went to India, there was a man in our church
39:52
named Omar. Have you any graduate from the
39:55
master seminary and began a church at somewhere out in the
39:58
Riverside. But he taught a sunny school
40:00
class right before I left to go to India and I think maybe Gil
40:04
Martha remember that class. Basically it was a follow up
40:08
from Doctor Ruska about how to pray one of the professors at
40:11
the master seminary and it was an hour prayer and you had a
40:15
chart. You would pray 5 minutes on this
40:18
particular 5 minutes for this, 5 minutes for that five, and you
40:22
went through one hour of prayer. And I took that to India because
40:26
when I went to India, you know, I didn't have a wife, I didn't
40:28
have a daughter, I didn't have a ministry because the pastor that
40:31
I was going to work with was in Manapor and I couldn't go there.
40:35
So he said stay in Syligori, work, stay there for six months,
40:39
I'm coming learn the language, you know.
40:41
But so I show up, I'm, I'm living in a missionary's house.
40:45
Who's not Who's home in America? You know, I don't know the food.
40:47
I don't know anything. I don't know how to cook
40:49
anymore. Finally realized that I need a
40:51
wife. But what was it was the most
40:53
special time of my life, because every morning I would get up and
40:56
I'd go through that prayer for one hour and I would sing songs.
41:00
That was one of the best times of my life.
41:02
And and by the way, at that exact time, Lance was preaching
41:06
in Genesis 24, how to choose a wife.
41:10
Now I left. He only had three of the
41:11
messages done. And so I had to wait to get
41:14
message for, but I I relisten to those cassettes is what we had
41:17
then. But that was a special time
41:19
because I had sufficient time to meditate upon God and marriage
41:24
and all the things of the Bible. And that's what I want to get
41:27
back to. That's what I want you to get
41:29
back to. You know, today, you know, we
41:31
have that saying I'm busier than A1 arm wallpaper hanger, got a
41:35
wife, got a kid, got a ministry doing this, doing that.
41:38
But remember the song Take time to be holy.
41:42
Speak off with the Lord, Abide in him always, and feed upon his
41:46
word. Make friends with God's
41:48
children. Help those who are weak,
41:51
forgetting in nothing. His blessing to seek.
41:54
Verse two says, Take time to be holy.
41:57
The world rushes on. Spend much time in secret with
42:01
Jesus alone by looking to Jesus like him.
42:04
Thou shall be thy friends in thy conduct.
42:08
His likeness shall see. I'm going to pledge myself to
42:12
spend more time meditating upon God and less time upon the
42:17
Dodgers and all the other things in the world that are out there.
42:20
And #3 do I cling to God, and do I depend upon his power to
42:25
uphold me? You know we need to stay so
42:28
close to God that no sin can get between us and God or us and
42:32
Jesus. We need to spend time alone with
42:35
God in the word of God and prayer and cling to God.
42:39
You know, we are all going to have wilderness experiences.
42:42
Maybe you've had them, Maybe you're over them.
42:44
Maybe you're going through that wilderness experience now, and
42:47
maybe you haven't had it. But it will happen in the
42:49
future. And I trust, like David and
42:52
Psalm 63, it will drive you into the arms of our Savior and our
42:56
God the Father. Psalm 63 has taught people for
43:01
centuries how we should deal with ourselves when we find
43:05
ourselves in a wilderness situation.
43:07
So I hope that you will cling to God.
43:10
I hope that you will spend more time meditating upon God.
43:13
And I hope that you will seek God above all earthly pursuits.
43:18
May you leave here tonight saying, oh God, you are my God.
43:22
Earnestly I seek you, my soul thirst for you, my flesh faints
43:26
for you, as in a dry and worry land where there is no water.
43:31
Let's break. Father, may we leave here
43:33
tonight, thirsting for you the living water.
43:36
The Holy Spirit has given us living water if we have Jesus
43:39
Christ and you. But Father, we can get
43:41
distracted like the churches and revelation.
43:44
We can get busy now that we're married, now that we have kids,
43:47
now that we have jobs, now that we have ministry, and sometimes
43:50
that that relationship you is lacking.
43:53
We don't spend time talking to you in prayer.
43:55
We don't spend enough time studying your scriptures and
43:58
growing and knowledge of who you are.
44:00
And we need to spend more time just meditating upon what you
44:03
have done. The miracles of the past and the
44:06
Old Testament. The miracles in the New
44:08
Testament. Father, may we leave here
44:10
tonight trying to do more and more thirsting for you like a
44:16
dying man in the desert. Thirst for water.
44:18
May we thirst for the living water more and more.
44:21
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.