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Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP240005S
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00:01 It's that time again; time for 3ABN's Sabbath School Panel.
00:05 We are studying the book of Psalms. 00:08 Today's lesson is, Singing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land. 00:13 If you do not yet have your copy of the adult Bible study guide, 00:19 you can go to 3abnSabbathSchoolPanel.com 00:23 and download a copy. 00:25 Or go to your nearest Seventh-day Adventist Church; 00:29 they'll be happy to provide you a copy, and you can 00:31 study in their fellowship. 00:33 Right now we're just glad you're joining us, because 00:37 it's our privilege to study these lessons to share with you. 00:42 We'll be back in just a moment. 01:14 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn. 01:16 We are so glad you are joining us 01:18 for 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 01:20 Today we're on lesson five, Singing the Lord's Song 01:26 in a Strange Land. 01:28 We're going to look at how we can learn to praise 01:32 in the midst of the evil and the turmoil 01:35 that's going on even in our world today. 01:39 Let me introduce my brothers sitting at the table. 01:42 We're so thankful that each one of you 01:46 have taken this time to study. 01:48 Pastor John Dinzey, so glad you're here. 01:51 It's a blessing to be here. 01:52 And it's a topic for Monday that comes to everyone: 01:56 At Death's Door. 01:57 Yeah, wished it didn't. 02:00 And then we have Pastor Ryan Day. 02:03 Amen, I have Tuesday's lesson entitled, Where is God? 02:08 And boy, that question is asked quite a bit. 02:10 Ah, one of our favorites, Pastor James Rafferty. 02:14 ~ Good to be here, Shelley. 02:15 I have Wednesday's lesson which is entitled, 02:17 Has His Promise Failed Forevermore? 02:20 Oh, we know the answer to that though. 02:23 And we have Professor Daniel Perrin with us. 02:27 Thank you. I've got Thursday's lesson which is, 02:30 Lest the Righteous be Tempted. 02:33 How about you start us off with a prayer, Daniel. 02:38 Our loving heavenly Father, it is with joy 02:41 that we come to Your Word. 02:43 We may not always feel it, but Lord, You place it there. 02:46 And we're thankful that as we look at Your Word, 02:49 You give us reason to have hope, courage, and thankfulness. 02:52 I ask Your blessing upon all the comments that are made 02:55 and all the study that goes on from this lesson. 02:57 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 03:00 ~ Thank you so much. 03:02 Lesson 5, our memory text is... 03:08 ...which says, "How shall we sing the Lord's song 03:14 in a strange land?" 03:16 This is a rhetorical question, but what's happening 03:20 is Israel was very distressed. 03:23 They were disheartened, and they're lamenting 03:27 because they are living in Babylonian captivity. 03:31 So you're going to find they expressed bitter resentment 03:37 against their enemy. 03:39 Have you ever uttered words like that? 03:41 They're crying out that God would judge these people 03:47 and He would repay them evil for evil. 03:51 You know, that is a biblical principle found in Obadiah 1:15. 03:56 Let me read it. 04:00 "For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations. 04:04 As you have done, it shall be done to you; 04:09 your dealings will return upon your own head." 04:14 So these people are crying out for this. 04:17 What we'll see, many of the psalms are responding 04:23 to God's presence. 04:25 They feel it, they know it. 04:27 But many psalms, the psalmists are responding 04:32 to their perceived sense of God's absence. 04:38 And they're crying out, "Why, God? 04:42 Where are you, God? 04:44 How long, oh Lord?" 04:47 How many of us have ever asked these same questions? 04:52 You know, it's interesting that, aren't we happy 04:56 when God is patient with us? 05:00 When He shows us loving kindness and mercy? 05:03 He gives us time to... 05:05 He graciously holds back His judgment from us. 05:09 He woos us by His love. 05:11 And then He gives us time to turn back to Him in repentance. 05:16 Oh, aren't we thankful? 05:19 But it's interesting, you know, Romans 2:4 says 05:23 it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. 05:28 Be thankful for that. 05:30 But at the same time, we're glad when God is extending 05:35 His mercy to us. 05:37 But how often do we cry out, and when it comes to our enemies, 05:43 "Strike them down, Lord, now." 05:47 And that's the way humanity is. 05:50 We will... 05:52 If He doesn't work in our time schedule, 05:56 quite often what do we feel? 05:59 God's not present. 06:04 "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies 06:08 are over all His works." 06:11 So let's look at Sunday. 06:14 And we are so often... 06:17 Sunday, we're going to turn to, we'll begin with Psalm 74. 06:22 This is called, The Days of Evil. 06:26 God created a perfect environment; 06:31 a garden of pleasure, that's what Eden means, 06:34 into which He brought Adam and Eve when He created them. 06:40 Now, something happened. 06:43 Sin entered His sphere of righteousness, 06:47 and then there was a proliferation 06:50 of evil and suffering. 06:52 And the psalmists feel like they are in a strange land. 06:57 They don't recognize this. 06:59 So our question that we're answering today is, 07:01 how do we live by faith in a strange land? 07:11 I will read from the Amplified. 07:14 The psalmist is crying out for vindication. 07:17 He's calling on the Lord to remember 07:21 the covenant made with Abraham. 07:24 And in verse 22 he says, "Arise, O God, 07:28 plead Your own cause; 07:32 earnestly remember how the foolish and impious scoffs 07:38 and reproaches You day after day and all day long." 07:44 Now let's look at Psalm 79, and we're going to look 07:49 at verse 5, we'll actually go to 5-13 in this one. 07:54 So you may want to turn there. 07:56 Psalm 79:5 07:59 The psalmist says, "How long, Lord? 08:04 Will You be angry forever? 08:08 Will Your jealousy burn like fire?" 08:12 You know, when we're talking about God's jealousy, 08:15 God will not endure a divided allegiance. 08:20 He is jealous for our benefit. 08:23 He doesn't want us turning after idols. 08:27 And then he says, "Pour out Your wrath on the nations 08:30 that do not know You, and on the kingdoms 08:34 that do not call on Your name. 08:35 For they have devoured Jacob, 08:37 and laid waste to his dwelling place." 08:42 The psalmist is having difficulty understanding the 08:46 great controversy between the God of heaven 08:51 and the powers of evil. 08:54 Haven't we all felt like that before? 08:56 He points to God's infinite wisdom, His power, 09:02 but he's questioning God's self-restraint. 09:06 It's kind of like, "Hey, Your patience with the enemy 09:10 is incapable of understanding." 09:13 So he sees the enemy, and the enemies invasion, 09:18 as threatening God's divine purpose for the covenant people. 09:23 The people of Israel were God's inheritance. 09:27 Oh, they were proud of that. 09:29 But the end-time dimension has to be added in there. 09:33 And that is, that God planned for all believers 09:39 from all nations to become His inheritance. 09:43 So let's look at verse 8. 09:46 This is Psalm 79:8. 09:51 The psalmist says, "Oh, do not remember 09:55 former iniquities against us." 09:58 Now isn't that funny. 10:00 He's just said, "Strike down those guys that were here 10:03 who were saying, 'Oh Lord, don't remember 10:05 former iniquities against us.'" 10:07 "Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, 10:11 for we have been brought very low." 10:14 So at least he's acknowledging the sins of the people. 10:20 They had corrupted their covenant 10:24 relationship with the Lord. 10:26 They were not following His will. 10:30 They brought all of these consequences upon themselves. 10:33 So he says in verse 9, "Help us, O God of our salvation, 10:38 help for the glory of Your name; 10:42 and deliver us and provide atonement for our sins, 10:49 for Your name's sake." 10:52 When he calls on the God of salvation, 10:55 the God of our salvation, this is, he knows he is calling out 11:01 on the faithfulness of the covenant making, 11:05 covenant keeping God. 11:07 The people's survival depended entirely 11:11 upon God's intervention in their circumstances, 11:15 His restoration of the covenant bond between them. 11:22 How? Through the atonement of sin. 11:26 More important than the restoration of Israel's fortunes 11:31 though, to the psalmist, is the defense of God's character 11:36 throughout the world. 11:38 You know, today if you call yourself a Christian... 11:44 We all call ourselves Christians. 11:46 ...our sins, our backsliding, our covenant breaking, 11:52 brings the same shame and dishonor on God 11:56 as did theirs. 11:58 Many people have turned away from faith in Christ Jesus 12:04 because of what they see Christians do, 12:10 the wrong actions of those who profess to be Christians. 12:14 I love this from, The Desire of Ages, page 671, 12:20 Ellen White says, "The honor of God, 12:23 the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection 12:29 of the character of His people." 12:31 We've got to remember, we might be the only letter 12:35 from Christ that anybody ever reads. 12:38 And if we are acting wrong, we are casting aspersions 12:44 on His character. 12:45 So verse 10 goes on and says, "Why should the nations 12:51 say, 'Where is their God?' 12:52 Let there be known among the nations in our sight 12:55 the avenging of the blood of Your servants 12:58 which has been shed." 13:00 So he's thinking that if these sins go unpunished, 13:06 that God's name, the nations are going to think 13:10 God is powerless, and that He doesn't care. 13:14 So then he goes on in verses 11 and he says, 13:16 "Let the groaning of the prisoner come to You; 13:19 according to the greatness of Your power 13:21 preserve those who are appointed to die; 13:25 and return to our neighbors sevenfold in their bosom 13:29 the reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord. 13:35 So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, 13:40 will give You thanks forever. 13:42 We will show forth Your praise to all generations." 13:47 So we see how conflicted the psalmist is. 13:51 He wants mercy for them, but he wants God 13:55 to judge them now and to save His reputation. 14:00 Amen. Praise the Lord. 14:03 Well we now are on Monday's portion. 14:05 And my name is John Dinzey. 14:07 And the title for this lesson is, At Death's Door. 14:12 I remember when about 4 or 5 years old, 14:14 I don't remember the exact age, but I woke up and everyone 14:19 in the house was weeping and weeping. 14:21 And I did not understand. 14:23 I had to ask, "Why is everyone weeping?" 14:26 And they said a name of a member of the family 14:29 that I had not met yet, and everyone was weeping. 14:32 I did not understand what death was, but I knew it was something 14:37 that was terrible. 14:39 I also began to weep because of the sorrow 14:42 the family was experiencing. 14:44 Death is an enemy. 14:46 And everyone on this planet earth will have to face it 14:50 at one point or another, either because of a friend 14:53 or family, or even eventually yourself 14:56 if the Lord Jesus Christ tarries. 15:00 This day of Monday takes us at death's door. 15:05 How God's people experience this time of difficulty. 15:10 We begin with Psalm 41:1, "Blessed is he who considers 15:15 the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." 15:20 So there's benefit in being kind to the poor. 15:24 Verse 2, "The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, 15:29 and he will be blessed on the earth; 15:31 You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies." 15:36 So as we move through this Psalm 41, we see that 15:40 the Lord blesses those that are faithful, 15:42 blesses those that consider others. 15:45 I'd like to point out Psalm 105, three verses that help us 15:49 understand that the Lord delivers us from things that 15:52 we may not even know. 15:55 Let's look at verse 13. 15:56 "When they went from one nation to another..." 15:59 That's the people of Israel. 16:00 "...from one kingdom to another people, 16:03 He permitted no one to do them wrong; 16:07 yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, 16:10 saying, 'Do not touch My anointed ones, 16:14 and do My prophets no harm.'" 16:17 We do not know from how many things 16:20 the Lord has saved us from. 16:23 Because we know that there's a devil and he wants to do us harm 16:26 each and every day. 16:28 God has protected us from untold number of things. 16:32 So we should be grateful to the Lord for each day 16:37 that we are kept alive by the Lord. 16:39 Psalm 41:3, "Now the Lord will strengthen him 16:43 on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed." 16:47 So here we have a promise that we can look at 16:51 and say, wow, even in the time of sickness, 16:54 because of one reason or another we become sick, 16:58 the Lord will be with us. 17:01 He will strengthen us even in those difficult times. 17:04 It could be worse than it actually is because the Lord 17:10 is strengthening us. 17:12 "I said, 'Lord, be merciful to me; 17:14 heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.'" 17:17 Here we have in this psalm the expression of someone that is 17:20 going through death's door. 17:23 And he is calling out for the Lord to heal him. 17:27 You know, we will all have to face some kind of trouble, 17:29 and death is one of the, of course, worse things to face. 17:34 We will have to face life threatening sickness. 17:38 In Psalm 88:1 we have these words: 17:40 "O Lord, God of my salvation, 17:42 I have cried out day and night before You. 17:45 Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry." 17:51 You know, some people are looking at death 17:56 at a moment that they feel they're not prepared. 17:59 And they may cry out to the Lord, "Heal me, Lord." 18:02 It may be that the Lord will heal them, but it may be that 18:05 the time for them to rest has come. 18:08 And we should understand that God is our God of salvation, 18:13 we should place ourselves in His hands, 18:16 because we do not know if the Lord will deliver us. 18:19 We must look at the death as it appears to be coming 18:25 as a point in time that we should make peace with the Lord. 18:28 Make sure that we are in complete harmony, 18:30 confess your sins before Him, and ask the Lord 18:33 to extend mercy to you. 18:35 Psalm 88:3, "For my soul is full of troubles, 18:40 and my life draws near to the grave. 18:43 I am counted with those who go down to the pit; 18:46 I am like a man who has no strength, 18:49 adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, 18:53 whom you remember no more, and who are cut off from Your hand." 18:58 And so, we have here the expression, somebody, you know, 19:02 the psalmist is expressing the time of trouble 19:05 that he's going through. 19:07 And he sees, understands that death is drawing near. 19:11 And of course, you know, those can be desperate times, 19:16 desperate times. 19:17 So we have to understand that God loves us so much, 19:21 even in this difficult time. 19:23 Hang on to Him. 19:25 It says in verse 6, "You have laid me in the lowest pit, 19:29 in darkness and in the depths. 19:31 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and You have afflicted me 19:34 with all Your waves. Selah." 19:37 This is a musical rest, as I understand it. 19:40 And this was a song that was sung, 19:44 and can still be sung today. 19:47 Understanding that it is a time of confusion 19:50 when we come to the moment of darkness appearing, 19:54 that we are about to breathe our last breath. 19:59 Notice verse 8, "You have put away my acquaintances 20:02 far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; 20:05 I am shut up, and I cannot get out; 20:07 my eye wastes away because of affliction. 20:10 Lord, I have called daily upon You; 20:13 I have stretched out my hands to You. 20:15 Will You work wonders for the dead? 20:18 Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah." 20:22 So again, we have here the moment that person is thinking, 20:28 "I'm going to die. Lord, don't let me die. 20:31 The dead don't praise You. 20:32 Let me be alive so that I can praise You." 20:35 And this may be the experience of some people 20:37 that are not ready to rest. 20:41 "Shall Your loving kindness be declared in the grave? 20:44 Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? 20:46 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? 20:49 And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" 20:54 You know, we have all seen someone die 20:59 at one point or another in our lives. 21:02 And I've seen some people that are ready to rest. 21:05 They have made their peace with the Lord. 21:07 They are at peace with the understanding that 21:11 their time to pass away has come, and they are at peace. 21:15 And I've seen some people desperate, and they are, 21:20 they want to continue living. 21:22 But we do not know. 21:23 We're not even promised one second 21:26 beyond this second of life. 21:28 And we should be grateful for every moment that we are alive. 21:31 So, this is one verse that is of great encouragement 21:35 to me, and I hope it is to you. 21:37 I will begin to quote it, 21:38 and some of you may be able to finish. 21:40 "And we know that all things work together for good 21:44 to those who love God, to those who are the called 21:48 according to His purpose." 21:49 Even in the moment of darkness and approaching of death, 21:53 it may be that it is for your benefit. 21:57 Because you may not know, you don't know what may lie ahead. 22:01 And the Lord in His mercy may be laying you to rest. 22:06 We do not know. 22:08 We should commit ourselves to the Lord so that if that 22:10 moments comes, we will be ready. 22:12 Psalm 102, we're going to read a few verses here. 22:17 Beginning actually in verse 1. 22:20 "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You. 22:22 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; 22:26 incline Your ear to me; in the day that I call, 22:30 answer me speedily. 22:32 For my days are consumed like smoke, 22:34 and my bones are burned like a hearth. 22:39 My heart is stricken and withered like grass, 22:41 so that I forget to eat bread. 22:44 Because of the sound of my groaning 22:46 my bones cling to my skin." 22:49 This is a trying, difficult moment. 22:53 And this is a moment to be completely 22:56 in the hands of the Lord. 22:59 I have to jump over here now to Psalm 102. 23:05 Let's begin in verse 9. 23:07 "For I have eaten ashes like bread, 23:09 and mingled my drink with weeping. 23:11 because of Your indignation and Your wrath; 23:13 for You have lifted me up and cast me away. 23:16 My days are like a shadow that lengthens, 23:19 and I wither away like grass. 23:22 You know, we are living in a world, because of sin 23:27 death has to come to our life in one way or another. 23:33 And I want to encourage you to once again, put yourself 23:37 in the hands of the Lord. 23:39 Because He loves you, gave His Son to die for you. 23:45 And if you are seeing a moment that death is approaching, 23:49 you must remember that this may not be your final moment. 23:54 Because Jesus promises eternal life. 23:58 So I encourage you to place yourself 24:00 in the hands of the Lord. 24:02 Whatever sickness you may have, whatever weakness you may have, 24:05 it will all be eliminated if you happen to pass away. 24:09 And you can rejoice in the first resurrection, that 24:12 this mortal shall put on immortality. 24:16 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 24:19 ~ Amen and amen. 24:20 ~ We are going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. 24:28 Ever wish you could study more deeply along with the 24:30 3ABN Sabbath School Panel members? 24:32 Well, now you can. 24:34 Just send an email request to ssp@3abn.org 24:38 and we'll email you the Sabbath School panelists notes 24:41 on a weekly basis to enhance your own study of God's Word. 24:44 That address again is... 24:48 We'd love to send you the notes just as they prepared them. 24:51 Thank you for watching. 24:58 I want to mention to you that we are now making 25:04 the panelist notes available to you. 25:07 Some are going to be great notes, 25:08 some are going to be skimpier notes. 25:10 But everything that's addressed on this panel, 25:13 and there's a lot that we don't get to, 25:16 but they'll still be on our notes, you can email us at... 25:28 ...and get those notes. 25:30 Now we go on to Tuesday's lesson, Ryan Day. 25:35 I'm Ryan Day, I have Tuesday's lesson. 25:38 And my notes will probably fall under the skimpier category. 25:41 But nonetheless, they will be there. 25:44 And I hope that they bless someone. 25:46 I have Tuesday's lesson entitled, Where Is God? 25:51 And of course, it's still continuing on this theme 25:54 that we have seen through Sunday's lesson 25:56 and Monday's lesson. 25:57 And the question that the lesson is opening up with is, 26:02 what causes great pain to the psalmist? 26:04 And we're going to start in Psalm chapter 42 26:07 and we're going to read verses 1-3. 26:08 You'll find some of these psalms we have already read. 26:12 For instance, I'm going to be also dipping into Psalm 102:1-7, 26:16 which apparently I think Pastor Dinzey had as well. 26:19 But we'll focusing our attention just now going a little deeper 26:22 into what is it that they're pained about? 26:25 And then, what was the response? 26:27 And that we should glean some lessons from this ourself 26:30 as to when we're going through these dark, despairing, 26:32 difficult, and trying times, what should our response be? 26:39 And these opening words 26:41 are going to definitely sound familiar. 26:42 It says, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, 26:45 so pants my soul for You, O God. 26:49 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 26:53 When shall I come and appear before God?" 26:55 I just want to back up and just highlight this. 26:57 When it says therein the beginning of verse 2, 26:59 "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." 27:02 You can sense this person's agony, this person's, 27:07 just the deep sorrow that they're going through. 27:10 Because you can just hear it in their voice, like, 27:12 "You know what, I need a living God to show up for me right now. 27:16 I don't need some silent God, I don't need some distant God. 27:20 I need the living God to show up right now in my life." 27:23 Have you ever been there? 27:24 I know I've been there a few times. 27:26 Lord, it seems like sometimes we receive silence in moments 27:30 when we really need God to show up. 27:31 But it's not that God is ignoring us. 27:33 It's not that God is so far away. 27:35 Sometimes, as we have learned, and as we will probably restate 27:38 this over and over, we fall into various trials 27:42 because God allows us to. 27:44 And sometimes He will remain silent on purpose because 27:48 He's teaching us. 27:50 He's teaching us endurance, He's teaching us patience. 27:53 There's something that we must go through in order to grow. 27:56 And yes, in the moment we kick and scream and fight 27:59 because we don't like what it is that we're experiencing. 28:01 And clearly, not to make light of it, but the psalmist 28:05 is in that state, a very deep, dark, despairing state. 28:09 So much that, "You know what? 28:10 I need a living God to show up right now." 28:13 Verse 3 in Psalm 42, "My tears have been my food day and night, 28:18 while they continually say to me, 'Where is your God?'" 28:23 And so, I know I have been here many times. 28:25 I have found myself a few times in my life 28:28 where I've been in very, very difficult situations. 28:30 And it's like, "Lord, where are You? 28:32 Do You hear me? Do You care?" 28:33 In our humanity sometimes we can have those emotions, 28:36 we can have those feelings, we can express them even. 28:39 There's times I even call out to God, 28:41 and I almost seem borderline blasphemist to even 28:44 speak to Him in that way. 28:45 But I find myself going, "God, where are You? 28:47 Do You even hear me? Do you care? 28:48 Have I done something to drive You so far away? 28:51 Lord, please, hear my cry. Hear my call, Lord. 28:54 Answer this prayer in time of need." 28:56 This is especially what is going through the mind 28:59 and heart of the psalmist at this moment. 29:01 We're going to jump over to Psalm 63:1. 29:06 And again, this same mentality, this same experience. 29:10 It says in Psalm 63:1, "O God, You are my God; 29:13 early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; 29:17 my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land 29:21 where there is no water." 29:23 So this person is going through 29:24 a desert of a situation in their life. 29:26 They're going through a moment where they're saying, 29:28 "God, I need the nourishment, I need You to quench my thirst. 29:31 I need You to show up and let me know that You're still there, 29:34 that You care." 29:36 And of course, we read a few of these verses earlier. 29:40 It says, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, 29:42 and let my cry come to You. 29:44 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; 29:47 incline Your ear to me; 29:49 in the day that I call You, answer me speedily." 29:52 And I love the humanity here coming out. 29:54 Because when we're going through these trials, 29:57 we want answers now. 29:59 Not tomorrow, not the next day, not 10 minutes from now. 30:02 "Lord, I need You now. 30:04 I need You to show up and bring deliverance in my life 30:07 at this very moment." 30:09 You sense this coming from the psalmists heart here 30:11 as he clearly says, "Answer me speedily. 30:14 Right now, Lord." 30:15 It goes on to say, "For my days are consumed like smoke, 30:18 and my bones are burned like a hearth. 30:20 My heart is stricken and withered like grass, 30:22 so that I forget to eat my bread." 30:24 This person is so distressed and so oppressed in this situation 30:28 that they feel, they're not even 30:31 being reminded that they need to eat. 30:32 I've been in a situation like this before. 30:34 I went days without eating not even... 30:36 Because I had no appetite. 30:37 Because of what I was going through in my life. 30:39 And that's essentially what this psalmist is 30:41 going through as well. 30:42 It goes on to say, "My heart is stricken and withered like grass 30:44 that I forget to eat my bread." 30:46 Verse 5, "Because of the sound of my groaning 30:48 my bones cling to my skin." 30:50 They've lost a little bit of weight. 30:51 They're going through some stuff. 30:53 "I am like a pelican in the wilderness; 30:56 I am like an owl of the desert. 30:58 I lie awake, and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop." 31:04 And the lesson brings out, from what we've just read, 31:07 especially from Psalm 102 here, the lesson brings out and says 31:10 the mention of wilderness highlights 31:12 the sense of isolate from God. 31:14 Have you ever felt isolated from God? 31:16 I know I have. 31:17 Not that it's God's fault. 31:19 Not that God purposefully or even at any moment 31:21 isolates Himself from you. 31:23 But certainly, I have felt that way because of whatever 31:26 situation or whatever particular situation I was dealing with 31:30 in my life, I've certainly felt those feelings. 31:33 A bird alone on a housetop is outside of its nest, 31:37 its resting place. 31:38 The psalmist cries to God out of the depths, 31:40 as if being engulfed by the mighty waters 31:43 sinking into a deep mire. 31:46 These images depict an oppressive situation 31:49 from which there is no escape, 31:51 except by, of course, divine intervention. 31:54 We've all been there, we've experienced it. 31:56 If you haven't, if you're watching and you're saying, 31:57 "Well, I can't relate to this, Ryan. 31:59 I've never really went through anything like that." 32:01 As you grow in God, you will. 32:03 It's going to come, it's going to happen. 32:05 These are moments in time in which we will experience 32:08 at some point in our walk with the Lord. 32:11 And of course, the lesson goes on to ask, 32:13 how does the psalmist respond to God's apparent absence? 32:16 And love Psalm 10:12. 32:19 When you find these psalmists often finding 32:22 themselves or expressing how they're in these deep moments 32:25 of despair and difficulty and challenge, 32:27 you also find their amazing response to the difficulties 32:31 and challenges that they have experienced. 32:33 Psalm 10:12, "Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! 32:37 Do not forget the humble." 32:39 They're quick to remind God of His promises. 32:41 "Lord, You've promised that if I'm humble, 32:43 if I live a life of humility, if I put my hand in Your hand, 32:47 You will hear me." 32:48 God wants you to remind Him of His promises. 32:51 And I know I do often. "Lord, You promised this." 32:53 I hold God to His promise. 32:54 Because the Bible says He cannot and will not lie. 32:57 Psalm 22:1, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? 33:00 Why are You so far from helping Me, 33:02 and from the words of My groaning?" 33:04 Sometimes it may seem as we're reading this, like, man! 33:08 But God is not far from you at all. 33:10 God hasn't forsaken you at all. 33:12 Why is this person speaking like this? 33:14 Well, that's because in our humanity, sometimes 33:17 we find ourselves completely... 33:19 We want to be transparent with God. 33:21 "Lord, this is how I feel. 33:22 I can't help it; I'm going through this. 33:23 This is what I'm going through. 33:25 But I need You, Lord, to show up. 33:27 And I need You to hear me." 33:29 Psalm 27:9, "Do not hide Your face from me; 33:32 do not turn Your servant away in anger; 33:35 You have been my help; 33:37 do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation." 33:40 So what's the response? 33:42 "Lord, I'm holding You to it. 33:44 I'm still looking forward to You showing up 33:46 and being my God and coming through for me 33:49 during this time of trouble." 33:51 Psalm 39:12, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; 33:55 do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, 33:58 a sojourner, as all my fathers were." 34:02 And so, the lesson brings out the occasions of God's silence 34:05 caused the psalmist to examine themselves 34:08 and to go seek God. 34:10 Do you know God sometimes will allow you to go through 34:12 that pit, to slide into that dark pit, to go through 34:18 that time of trouble, to go through that challenge 34:21 because maybe He wants you to examine yourself. 34:23 Maybe there's something He's trying to get to in your life. 34:26 And that's what the lesson is bringing out here. 34:28 It says but with confession and humble petitions. 34:32 We still seek and approach God in humility. 34:35 They know that God will not remain silent forever. 34:37 And I love that. 34:39 I know that no matter how much I cry out to God 34:40 in the moment of my pain, in the moment of my suffering, 34:43 and it seems I'm not getting the speedy answer that I need, 34:46 I know that at some point He will answer. 34:49 Because He is a God of Promises. 34:52 The psalms demonstrate that, of course, 34:53 that communication with God must go on. 34:56 That's the key. 34:58 Don't allow the pain and the suffering you're going through 35:01 to bring you to a point where you sever 35:03 the connection with the Lord. 35:04 Where you stop talking to Him. 35:06 Where you give up and say, "Well God's not listening to me. 35:07 He's not answering my prayer 35:09 in the time that I need Him to answer it. 35:10 And so, obviously God does not care for me." 35:14 We should not allow ourselves to be brought to that point. 35:16 Desire of Ages, page 528, I love this quote. 35:19 "To all who are reaching out to feel the guiding hand of God, 35:22 the moment of greatest discouragement is the time when 35:26 divine help is nearest. 35:28 They will look back with thankfulness 35:30 upon the darkest part of their way." 35:33 And I can tell you, in my very short and, yes, young life, 35:36 I have experienced some dark moments. 35:38 And I look back on those dark moments, 35:40 and this particular quote rings true. 35:42 God is faithful. 35:43 And He does want to lead you, He does want to guide you. 35:45 Never give up, keep pressing forward, 35:48 and call out on the name of the Lord. 35:50 ~ Amen, amen. 35:51 I really love that statement. 35:53 To look back on our darkest moments 35:55 and see them as a blessing. 35:58 Yeah, and that is definitely the experience 35:59 that the psalmist is having here. 36:01 My name is James Rafferty, and I have Wednesday's lesson. 36:04 And it's entitled, Has His Promise Failed Forevermore? 36:09 Has His Promise Failed Forevermore? 36:11 So we're looking primarily at Psalm 77. 36:15 Wednesday's lesson, Psalm 77. 36:17 We're not going to be jumping all over the place. 36:19 I just have this one psalm that has been given to me to look at. 36:22 And in the lesson study this week, it begins by saying, 36:27 what is the experience that the psalmist is going through here? 36:32 Psalm 77 begins with a plea to God for help that is filled with 36:37 lament and painful remembering the past. 36:40 So let's just begin with verse 1. 36:42 It says, "I cried unto God with my voice, 36:44 even unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me. 36:48 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; 36:50 my sore ran down in the night and ceased not; 36:53 my soul refused to be comforted. 36:56 I remembered God, and was troubled; 36:59 I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah." 37:03 So think about that. 37:04 "I remembered God and I was troubled; 37:06 I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed." 37:09 Normally when we think about God as Christians and believers, 37:12 when we think about the Lord in our troubles, 37:14 we're comforted, not troubled. 37:17 And normally when we complain, we let out our complaint to God, 37:22 we're looking for some comfort, some consolation. 37:25 But he says, "My spirit was overwhelmed 37:28 when I complained to God. 37:29 I felt overwhelmed. 37:30 And a lot of that is because as has already been shared, 37:34 many times we go through trials, we want it to end very soon. 37:38 And it seems like a long time. 37:40 In fact, whenever you're in an uncomfortable situation, 37:42 it seems like it's taking forever. 37:44 You know, Jonah went into the belly of the 37:46 fish for three days and three nights. 37:48 He said, "I've been down here forever and it's like 37:49 I'm in hell, I feel like I'm in hell right now." 37:52 And it's taking forever. 37:54 This whole experience is taking forever. 37:57 The only thing that I can think of that, I absolutely abhor 38:01 is sitting in traffic. 38:03 Sitting in traffic, lock-grid traffic just... 38:06 You know, you can be there for 30 minutes or an hour, 38:08 it seems like you've been wasting your 38:10 whole day sitting in traffic. 38:12 And this is the expression 38:13 I think that David is revealing here. 38:17 He says, in verse 4, "You hold my eyes waking; 38:21 I am so troubled I cannot speak." 38:23 He can't sleep, he can't speak. 38:25 He is overwhelmed with anxiety, 38:28 he's overwhelmed with his trouble with his trial. 38:31 "I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 38:34 I call to remembrance my song in the night; 38:36 I commune in my own heart, 38:38 and my spirit makes diligent search." 38:40 So he's doing everything he can, everything in his power, 38:43 he's doing everything he can. 38:45 He's going through his file of resources, so to speak. 38:48 You know, as we grow in Christ, we grow in experience 38:51 and we grow in wisdom, you know, we try this 38:54 and we try that, and we seek for counsel, 38:56 and we seek for help here and for help there. 38:58 We're trying to navigate our present situation. 39:02 Perhaps it's like nothing we've ever been through. 39:04 Off course, David went through a lot of various experiences. 39:08 You know, he was up and he was down. 39:09 His emotions were all over the place. 39:11 And we see that all through the Psalms. 39:13 His emotions were all over the place. 39:15 The quarterly goes on to say, the lesson study goes on to say 39:17 that David's whole being is mournfully turned to God. 39:21 He refuses to be comforted by any relief except 39:24 the one coming from God. 39:26 However, remembering God 39:28 appears to intensify his anguish. 39:30 "When I remember God, I moan." Psalm 77:3. 39:33 And that's the ESV. 39:35 The Hebrew, hamah, "moan," often depicts 39:37 the roar of raging waters. Psalm 46:3. 39:42 Similarly, David's whole being is in a state of intense unrest. 39:48 Have you ever felt intensely like you can't 39:52 find any rest whatsoever. 39:53 You're just anxious, anxious, anxious. 39:56 How can remembering God produce such 39:58 strong feelings of distress? 40:00 A series of troubling questions betray the cause of his anguish. 40:06 He begins to ask these troubling questions. 40:10 Like, has God changed? 40:11 Can God possibly be betraying His covenant? 40:15 Verse 7, "Will the Lord cast of forever? 40:17 Will He be favorable no more? 40:19 Is His mercy clean gone forever? 40:24 Does His promise fail forevermore? 40:27 Has God," verse 9, "forgotten to be gracious? 40:30 Has He, in anger, shut up His tender mercies? Selah." 40:36 So think about this. 40:38 David is feeling as though the tender mercies of God 40:42 are shut up. 40:43 Almost like probation has closed. 40:45 Like there's no more intercession. 40:47 Like there's no mercy, there is no grace, there's nothing. 40:50 Like it's just dark, it's formidable, 40:53 it's overwhelming to him. 40:55 In fact, if you look at this statement, it's found in the 40:58 writings of Ellen White, Christ Triumphant, page 153, 41:01 she says here, "The psalmist David in his experience had 41:04 many changes of mind. 41:06 At times as he obtained views of God's will and ways, 41:10 he was highly exalted. 41:12 Then as he caught sight of the reverse of God's mercy 41:15 and changeless love," the reverse of those, 41:17 "everything seemed to be shrouded in a cloud of darkness. 41:21 But through the darkness he obtained a view 41:23 of the attributes of God, which gave him confidence 41:26 and strengthened his faith. 41:27 But when he meditated upon the difficulties and 41:30 dangers of life, they looked so forbidding, and he 41:33 thought himself abandoned by God because of his sins." 41:37 So you see, he's going back and forth. 41:39 Have you ever had that in your experience? 41:41 Have you ever had these times when you're just 41:43 praising God and you're just feeling like, 41:45 "Yes, God is with me and everything is going well." 41:47 And then a week later, two weeks later, a month later, 41:50 everything seems to be dark. 41:51 And nothing really seems to have changed in your life. 41:53 You feel like you've just been going along. 41:55 But everything is dark all of a sudden. 41:56 You're thinking, "What happened? 41:57 Where is God right now?" 41:59 David is going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. 42:02 He sees through the darkness, he has confidence and strength, 42:06 he has faith, and then he meditates about his difficulties 42:09 and the dangers in his life, and they look so forbidding 42:12 that he thinks himself abandoned by God because of his sins. 42:15 And of course, it comes down to the way that we see ourselves 42:20 in contrast to God's goodness and love. 42:22 In contrast to His perfection we see ourselves, 42:25 and we're overwhelmed. 42:27 Daniel was overwhelmed when he saw, you know, Christ. 42:29 John was overwhelmed on the isle of Patmos when 42:31 Jesus came to visit him; he just felt like a dead man. 42:34 And when we see Christ... 42:35 Just understand this, friend, that as you walk with the Lord, 42:40 your repentance is going to deepen. 42:42 You're going to have these moments where a thrill of 42:46 darkness comes over you, and you feel overwhelmed 42:48 because you see yourself in contrast with Christ. 42:50 And you look back on your life and you think, 42:52 "I've always been this way, haven't I? 42:53 I've always had this selfishness, 42:55 I've always had this thing in me where I want to be number one. 42:58 I've always had these things inside of me." 43:00 They're just contrary to what it means to be like Christ. 43:04 Don't be overwhelmed with that. 43:08 God understands that. He knows that. 43:09 He knows your heart, He knows what you're going through. 43:12 David went through these experiences. 43:14 The statement goes on, and it says here, 43:16 "He viewed his sin in such a strong light 43:19 that he exclaimed, 'Will the Lord cast off forever? 43:23 Will He be favorable no more?'" 43:25 And again, that's, Christ Triumphant, page 153. 43:28 So the lesson quarterly goes on to say, 43:30 the stark contrast between God's saving acts 43:34 in the past God's absence in the present 43:37 caused David to feel abandoned by God. 43:41 If God has changed, then David has no hope, 43:45 a conclusion that he struggles to reject. 43:50 He's wrestling with this conclusion, 43:51 He's struggling with this conclusion. 43:53 Meanwhile, David cannot sleep because 43:55 the Lord keeps him awake. 43:57 This makes him recall biblical, or this gives us recall to 44:02 biblical characters who couldn't sleep. 44:03 Remember, Pharaoh couldn't sleep. 44:05 He had a dream, you know, of the seven ears of corn, 44:08 and the seven fat cattle and lean cattle. 44:17 And we have others like Nebuchadnezzar. 44:20 He had a dream, you know, of an image, 44:22 and sleep went from him. 44:23 Of course, he couldn't remember the dream, 44:24 and that was God's plan. 44:26 But you see these dreams; David is talking about 44:28 these dreams that many times come to us 44:30 to try to get us to awaken to our need of God, 44:35 or perhaps to a deeper relationship 44:38 or experience with God. 44:40 So we see again in verse 10, "And I said, 44:43 'This is my infirmity; but I will remember the years 44:46 of the right hand of the Most High.'" 44:48 This is my weakness. 44:50 This is a weakness that we all have. 44:51 But we're going to carry this weakness with us. 44:53 We've got to remember God. 44:55 We've got to remember the blessings at His right hand. 44:58 The assurance that David receives from God 45:02 does not consist of explanations about his personal situation, 45:05 but rather a confirmation of God's faithfulness 45:09 and trustworthiness. Right. 45:11 "I remember the works of the Lord, " verse 11, 45:13 "surely I remember Your wonders of old. 45:15 I will meditate also on all Your work, and talk of Thy doings. 45:19 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary; 45:21 who is so great a God as our God?" 45:25 The sanctuary is the answer for David. 45:28 It is the centerpiece of this psalm of David. 45:31 Psalm 77:13 directs the reader, it directs all of us to God's 45:37 sanctuary, to God's Old Testament message of grace, 45:40 to God's Old Testament message of mercy. 45:43 The gospel was laid out in the types and shadows 45:45 of this Old Testament sanctuary service. 45:48 If you want to know where the gospel is in the Old Testament, 45:51 it's in the sanctuary. 45:53 Often sacred ordinances were used in what we could describe 45:57 in New Testament language as turning the grace of God 45:59 into a license to sin. 46:00 "I'm so sick of your sacrifices." 46:02 Because they don't produce obedience. 46:04 The animal sacrifices representing the great sacrifice 46:07 of Messiah were made without impacting the heart, 46:10 and therefore failing to change the direction of 46:12 the life away from sin. 46:14 But David goes again to the sanctuary because 46:16 nevertheless the Old Testament sanctuary 46:18 service was the gospel in types. 46:21 The New Testament reality is Jesus Christ, 46:23 the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 46:26 Therefore, the everlasting gospel, the great love, 46:30 the great faithfulness, the great hesed 46:32 of these great sacrifices is the sacrifice made 46:36 by God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. 46:39 Go there, flee there, stay there, rest there, 46:42 Rest there in Jesus Christ. 46:45 Thank you so much. 46:46 I'm not going to disappoint you, because we're going to 46:47 stay in the sanctuary here. 46:49 I'm Daniel Perrin, and I have Thursday's lesson; 46:51 Les the Righteous be Tempted. 46:54 The lesson begins by pointing out a contrast. 46:57 Psalm 125:3, "the scepter of wickedness," 47:02 versus Psalm 45:6, "the scepter of righteousness." 47:07 Two scepters. 47:08 A scepter is held by a king, so two kingdoms, 47:12 two thrones, two wills. 47:15 And it looks like one kingdom's scepter, 47:18 throne, or will is winning because it's in the majority. 47:22 It seems to have the wealth and prosperity. 47:25 And so to some people God's promises, 47:28 the scepter of righteousness, can look like they have failed. 47:32 And so we ask the question, does it pay? 47:35 Is it worth it? 47:36 By following God's will, am I going to come out on top? 47:40 And so we do something that we call a cost benefit analysis. 47:44 We look at the projections for income, 47:46 and the cost of goods sold, and the receipts, 47:49 and all the numbers. 47:51 We crunch the numbers and we say, 47:53 is following Jesus going to be worth the cost? 47:58 And so the psalmist David here was in this position 48:01 in Psalms 73. 48:02 Go there with me. 48:04 Psalm 73 48:07 I'm going to read verses 1-14 with you right now. 48:10 Starting really strong here, "Truly God is good to Israel, 48:15 to such as are pure in heart." 48:17 Here's our starting place and it's going to be the 48:19 the anchor we return to. 48:21 "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; 48:25 my steps has nearly slipped." 48:27 In other words, "I almost gave up on God. 48:31 I came this close. 48:32 I was just about to my limit, and I was going to quit it all." 48:37 "For I was envious of the boastful 48:39 when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." 48:42 And so he looks out at the prosperity of the wicked 48:45 and he says, "Things don't appear to be adding up. 48:48 What I see around me does not seem to make sense 48:51 with the promises I know of God's character." 48:53 Verse 4, "For there are no pangs in their death, 48:56 but their strength is firm. 48:58 They are not in trouble as other men, 49:00 nor are they plagued like other men. 49:03 Therefore, pride serves as their necklace; 49:05 violence covers them like a garment. 49:07 Their eyes bulge with abundance; 49:10 they have more than heart could wish. 49:11 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; 49:15 they speak loftily. 49:17 They set their mouth against the heavens, 49:20 and their tongue walks through the earth. 49:23 Therefore, his people return here, 49:25 and waters of a full cup are drained by them. 49:28 And they say, 'How does God know? 49:31 And is there knowledge in the Most High?' 49:33 Behold, these are the ungodly who are always at ease; 49:37 they increase in riches. 49:39 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, 49:44 and washed my hands in innocence. 49:46 For all day long I have been plagued, 49:48 and chastened every morning." 49:50 "The weight of it all presses down and I almost quit." 49:54 On the one hand, there's a prayer of desperation that says, 49:57 "Lord, if You save me, I'll serve You forever." 50:00 And some follow through with it. 50:02 On the other hand, there's a prayer that goes like this: 50:05 "Lord, if You don't come through for me, I'm done. 50:08 That's it, that's it." 50:10 In a cost benefit analysis, it doesn't seem to pay. 50:14 Kids don't do a cost benefit analysis, 50:16 but they know how to say, "No fair. 50:18 The naughty kids should stay in and the good kids 50:21 should go out to have recess, not the other way around." 50:24 You've probably struggled with this. 50:26 You look around and you say, "Hey, I'm honest. 50:29 I didn't lie about this. 50:30 They lied and they got away with it. 50:32 And they actually got praised, and they got lifted up 50:36 and recognized in front of people." 50:38 Or, "They cheated in order to preserve their 4.0 50:41 to make sure they get their scholarship. 50:44 I didn't cheat, so I got a lower grade. 50:46 And I didn't get a 4.0, and I didn't get the scholarship. 50:49 And the rest of the course of my life is different. 50:52 But they got away with it." 50:55 "I don't listen to the world's music. 50:57 I don't watch the world's movies. 50:59 And so when the friends invite me over, I say, 51:02 'Sorry, I can't come.' 51:04 And then on Monday, they're all talking about the 51:06 great time they had. 51:07 They're sharing the pictures. 51:09 And I don't get invited to stuff anymore. 51:11 And they've got all the fun, and I'm kind of here alone. 51:15 I don't have anything to do." 51:17 Or we look around and we say, 51:19 "They don't seem to have a problem. 51:21 They're just going along blissfully. 51:23 And yet the Lord is surgically removing idols from my life. 51:27 And He's pressing upon my conscience. 51:29 And I'm feeling the weight of sin. 51:31 And they don't seem to have any problem whatsoever." 51:34 Psalm 102, Psalm 77, "They're not having that experience, 51:38 but here I am, and I'm going through this deep struggle 51:40 as God is laying upon me burdens." 51:43 Psalm 42:3, "Tears have been my food day and night..." 51:48 "And nobody else seems to be in this situation. 51:50 I miss out, I stand out, my soul is afflicted, 51:54 and this has been years of this. 51:56 And Lord, I'm just not seeing the benefit any longer." 52:00 This is the temptation of the righteous. 52:02 To question the divine order, and then to give up too soon 52:08 because the story is not done. 52:10 And this is a real temptation. 52:11 And this psalm is not the only expression of that. 52:14 Here are two; Job. 52:16 And you can see why Job might think this. 52:21 "The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke 52:25 God are secure, in what God provides by His hand." 52:29 "God, you're supplying them, and they're getting away with it." 52:33 Jeremiah 12:1, I like this. 52:35 Listen how honest he is. 52:36 "Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead for You; 52:40 yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. 52:43 Why does the way of the wicked prosper? 52:46 Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?" 52:50 And then the answer is given, and we saw it from the start. 52:52 He said God is good. 52:54 We get to verse 15, "If I had said, 'I will speak thus...'" 52:59 "If I just let that all out." 53:00 "...behold, I would have been untrue to the 53:02 generation of Your children. 53:04 When I thought how to understand this, 53:06 it was too painful for me," 53:08 verse 17, "...until I went into the sanctuary of God; 53:14 then I understood their end." 53:18 He doesn't just glance at the sanctuary, 53:20 doesn't just see a model or a PowerPoint image. 53:22 He has a personal experience going in 53:25 as God through the Holy Spirit guides him into 53:28 what happens in the sanctuary. 53:30 And he begins to see the big picture. 53:32 He begins to see the wicked the way God sees them. 53:36 He begins to see the whole story from start to finish 53:39 and what the conclusion is going to be to each path. 53:42 Not just what it looks like right here. 53:44 He begins to see the big picture. 53:47 What is it that he sees? 53:50 Well, he sees the sacrifice, and the sins placed on that 53:53 sacrificial animal. 53:55 And then that sacrificial animal is consumed to ashes. 53:59 And whoever does not place their sin 54:02 upon that sacrificial animal, upon Christ, 54:05 consumed completely, they bear it. 54:08 And they will be the ones who are completely consumed 54:12 to ashes, to destruction. 54:13 Here's what he sees, verse 18. 54:16 "Surely You set them in slippery places; 54:19 You cast them down to destruction. 54:21 Oh how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment." 54:25 This is the final destruction, final death. 54:28 "They are utterly consumed with terrors. 54:32 As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake 54:35 You shall despise their image." 54:37 And then he says, verse 21, "Thus my heart was grieved, 54:42 and I was vexed in my mind. 54:44 I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 54:49 Nevertheless, I am continually with You." 54:52 I think of the prodigal son and the other brother, 54:55 and the father says, "You've been with me the whole time. 54:58 Don't worry about the conclusion of other people's story, 55:01 for what they're going to go through, 55:03 what they're going through now." 55:05 "You hold me by my right hand. 55:07 You will guide me with Your counsel, 55:09 and afterward, receive me to Your glory." 55:12 And so now as the big picture opens to him, 55:15 he begins to weep for the lost. 55:18 He begins to grieve for their spiritual condition, 55:22 as well as his own for not trusting God, 55:24 that He's faithful and that He's good. 55:27 So now when he's abused by people, 55:29 when he sees other people getting away with stuff, 55:32 he begins to see their spiritual danger 55:34 and he begins to intercede for them. 55:37 And isn't this what Jesus did on the cross? 55:40 "Father, forgive them. 55:42 They don't know what they're doing." 55:45 He realizes that what he's been claiming all along 55:48 is that God is not just and He's not going to keep His promise. 55:53 But he had not, until he goes into the sanctuary, 55:56 recognized the character of God. 55:59 His grace and mercy. 56:01 "I'm preserving them because I want them to have 56:04 the opportunity to do what you've done. 56:07 To go into the sanctuary, to let their sins be born 56:10 by the sin bearer and be consumed there 56:13 so that they are not consumed. 56:15 So David realizes now, "I've been like Jonah. 56:19 I was cheering on, desiring the destruction of the wicked, 56:22 looking forward to the police officer to pull someone over." 56:25 And this is what Satan tempts us to do. 56:28 He says, "I want you to judge by physical criteria, 56:31 but I don't want you to see things spiritually." 56:34 The spiritual warfare that is going on, 56:36 and people's lives are in the balance. 56:38 And there's going to come a day of judgment. 56:41 Wrath is being saved up for the day of wrath. 56:44 But right now pray for the lost. 56:46 Pray for those who do you wrong. 56:48 Because God desires for them to 56:50 have the salvation that you have. 56:52 In the final cost-benefit analysis here's what 56:54 Jesus says in John 16:33. 56:56 "In the world you will have tribulation; 57:00 but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." 57:03 ~ Amen and amen. 57:05 We have only about 45 seconds. 57:08 Does somebody have something that's burning in their heart? 57:12 James 1:2-3, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall 57:15 into various trials, knowing that the testing 57:18 of your faith produces patience." 57:20 ~ Amen. 57:21 Well, I just want to thank you, we all thank you 57:24 for joining us today. 57:25 Our study has been, Singing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land. 57:32 Sometimes we are in such, surrounded by such evil 57:37 we won't know how we can live a life of faith; 57:41 wondering where God might be. 57:42 But He's always there, my friend. 57:44 You've got to keep your eyes focused on your Lord and Savior. 57:48 And we hope that you'll be joining us next week. 57:52 The program will be, I Will Arise. 57:57 Until then, may the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 58:00 the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 58:04 be with you always. |
Revised 2024-06-04