The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - How To Wait Upon The Lord ｜ Psalm 33

00:00:00.000 Big news, really big news.

00:00:03.200 Our next Right Response Conference is in the works.

00:00:06.620 We've got a number of things already lined up

00:00:08.800 and organized.

00:00:09.960 This is what we've got so far.

00:00:11.380 The whole conference, three days long

00:00:13.920 on post-millennialism and theonomy.

00:00:17.020 And the speakers, Dr. James White,

00:00:20.140 Dr. Joseph Boot, Gary DeMar,

00:00:22.960 and of course, yours truly, Pastor Joel Webin.

00:00:25.700 We've got a great lineup.

00:00:27.620 We've got great topics.

00:00:28.680 If you want to find out dates and location and registration and anything else, go and

00:00:34.860 visit our website, rightresponseconference.com, rightresponseconference.com.

00:00:41.700 One final time, our text for this Lord's Day is Psalm chapter 33.

00:00:45.940 The Bible says this, Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous.

00:00:50.940 Praise befits the upright.

00:00:53.480 Give thanks to the Lord with a lyre.

00:00:55.520 Make melody to him with a harp of ten strings.

00:00:59.260 Sing to him a new song.

00:01:01.120 Play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts.

00:01:04.300 For the word of the Lord is upright and all his work is done in faithfulness.

00:01:08.900 He loves righteousness and justice.

00:01:11.380 The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

00:01:14.920 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.

00:01:17.520 And by the breath of his mouth all their host.

00:01:20.720 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap.

00:01:23.320 He puts the deeps in storehouses.

00:01:26.460 Let all the earth fear the Lord.

00:01:28.460 Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

00:01:32.260 For he spoke and it came to be.

00:01:34.740 He commanded and it stood firm.

00:01:37.560 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

00:01:40.740 He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

00:01:43.680 The counsel of the Lord stands forever.

00:01:46.400 The plans of his heart to all generations.

00:01:49.580 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

00:01:52.220 the people whom he has chosen as his heritage the lord looks down from heaven he sees all the

00:01:58.380 children of man from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth

00:02:04.520 he who fashioned the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds the king is not saved

00:02:12.580 by his great army a warrior is not delivered by his great strength the war horse is a false hope

00:02:19.120 for salvation and by its great might it cannot rescue behold the eye of the Lord is on those

00:02:25.460 who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love that he may deliver their soul from death

00:02:31.580 and keep them alive in famine our soul waits for the Lord he is our help and our shield for our

00:02:39.040 heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name let your steadfast love oh Lord be upon us

00:02:46.460 even as we hope in you.

00:02:48.880 This is the word of the Lord.

00:02:50.660 Thanks be to God.

00:02:51.920 All right, please be seated and join me as I pray once more.

00:02:55.140 Father, we pray that indeed through the preaching of your word

00:02:58.120 that your people gathered here today

00:03:00.040 would arrive at a greater, more faithful, more accurate,

00:03:03.920 more biblical knowledge of who you are,

00:03:07.020 of what you've done,

00:03:08.100 and what it is that you require from us as a right response.

00:03:12.180 And Father, we pray that this knowledge

00:03:13.560 would not serve as an end in itself,

00:03:15.340 but rather the necessary means propelling your people

00:03:18.420 into right love and obedience.

00:03:21.320 The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.

00:03:24.460 And so today, Lord, we pray that you would fill our minds

00:03:27.060 with the truth of your word, that we would know you rightly.

00:03:31.260 But Lord, we pray that this knowledge would propel us

00:03:33.880 to love you rightly, that our hearts would come

00:03:37.620 to adore more greatly what we have come to know

00:03:41.280 with our minds through the preaching of your word.

00:03:44.060 And Father, we pray that this love would be demonstrated as you promised it would be through acts of obedience.

00:03:51.200 Jesus Christ himself said, if you love me, you'll obey my commands.

00:03:56.380 So help us through your preached word today and by the power of your spirit to know you with our minds.

00:04:02.920 So that we might love you with our hearts.

00:04:05.620 So that we might obey you with our hands and feet and mouths.

00:04:09.880 We pray these things ultimately that you might be glorified in all the earth, but we also pray these things for the good of those people that you're saving across the globe, in our city, and perhaps if you would be so kind, even in this very room, especially among our children.

00:04:26.300 We pray these things in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

00:04:29.700 All right, there are three primary portions of our text today that I believe perfectly

00:04:36.380 capture the main theme, the predominant theme of Psalm 33.

00:04:41.920 These three portions are as follows, verses 8 through 11, and verses 18 and 19, and then

00:04:48.440 verses 20 through 22.

00:04:50.940 I've taken these three portions and broken them up into three sections of the text, three

00:04:56.740 sections of the sermon.

00:04:58.680 So the first thing that we'll see from verses 8 through 11 is this, the reason for fearing the Lord, the reason for fearing the Lord, why we must fear God.

00:05:10.060 The next thing that we'll see from verses 18 and 19 are the benefits for fearing the Lord.

00:05:16.180 Not only why the Lord is to be feared, but the benefits that we receive by fearing him.

00:05:22.020 And then lastly, the third section that we'll investigate thoroughly is chapter 33, verses 20 through 22, where we'll see the manner of fearing the Lord, meaning the way in which we should fear God.

00:05:35.220 So first we see the reason, the necessity, why we should fear the Lord.

00:05:40.900 Secondly, the benefits that we receive by fearing the Lord.

00:05:44.240 And lastly, how do we fear the Lord?

00:05:47.080 What does it mean to fear God?

00:05:48.880 What manner do we fear Him?

00:05:52.020 So let's begin with verses 8 through 11.

00:05:54.880 The Bible says this.

00:05:56.460 Let all the earth fear the Lord.

00:05:58.220 Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

00:06:01.780 For He spoke and it came to be.

00:06:04.840 God is the only one in all the universe who creates ex nihilo.

00:06:08.400 That is, He creates out of nothing.

00:06:10.500 Because mankind was created by God in His image, we are creators.

00:06:14.760 But that's a lowercase c.

00:06:16.260 We create, we build, we cultivate, but not out of nothing.

00:06:20.060 We create and build and multiply using what God has provided for us.

00:06:25.660 We use substance.

00:06:27.180 We use materials.

00:06:28.500 We use resources, the things that God has generously provided.

00:06:31.980 But God alone is the capital C creator.

00:06:35.000 He creates out of nothing. 0.90

00:06:36.620 And not by the work of his hands, not by the sweat of his brow.

00:06:41.380 God creates by the mere words of his mouth.

00:06:45.120 He spoke and it came to pass.

00:06:47.880 It's the power of our triune God, the creator of all things.

00:06:53.280 He commanded, and not only did it come to pass, but verse 9 finishes by saying, it stood firm.

00:07:00.340 See, we create things, and don't they quickly dwindle?

00:07:03.520 They quickly break down.

00:07:05.240 From time to time, mankind is able to achieve certain innovations, inventions, and creations that stand the test of time for a period.

00:07:13.080 perhaps for a few decades perhaps for a century or even a few centuries but god creates and it

00:07:19.580 stands firm what god makes he makes by the the mere breath of his mouth and it lasts it endures

00:07:26.760 and it does not fade until he says that it fades uh colossians tells us that the son of god the

00:07:32.860 second member of the eternal trinity that he upholds all things by the word of his power

00:07:38.340 So God not only creates things by his word, he spoke and it came into being, but the son

00:07:44.860 of God upholds these things by the word of his power.

00:07:48.660 Everything at the end of the day, if we were to break down, we have microscopes, high power

00:07:53.120 that we can see, you know, that there aren't just molecules, but within those molecules

00:07:56.940 there are atoms and within them there are protons and electrons and we break it down

00:08:00.800 further and further to isotopes.

00:08:02.520 And if we were really able to see at the very bottom, because we always, we've come

00:08:07.840 up through science we say this is the rudimentary you know building block this is the smallest

00:08:13.100 particle this is what everything is built on no if we could get down to the very bottom of it we'd

00:08:17.960 find it keeps going it keeps going and what's at the very bottom of everything that exists is the

00:08:23.680 word of God not just an atom not just a molecule not some proton or what's at the very bottom

00:08:30.280 sustaining and holding together all things is that God is speaking he's speaking I think of Aslan

00:08:38.320 the great lion in the in the Narnia series of C.S. Lewis that he speaks he's breathing and actually

00:08:44.960 the the illustration that C.S. Lewis uses is that he's singing and as he sings the world Narnia

00:08:52.140 comes into existence and the reality is that our God he sang he spoke and all things came into

00:08:58.900 existence and he is still speaking to this day and by the word of his power all things are being

00:09:04.620 held together it's an amazing thought experiment just to imagine for a moment that the very cross

00:09:11.180 and nails with the son of God Jesus Christ was hanging at Calvary when he was crucified that

00:09:17.320 that every splinter and fiber in that wooden beam in that cross and every molecule of iron in these

00:09:23.960 nails was actually being held together by the one who was hanging there if he stopped speaking

00:09:31.540 if he ceased for a moment to be God it would all disintegrate it would all disappear it all fall

00:09:37.820 apart so the very one who is being crucified is holding together the creation and the people who

00:09:44.700 are crucifying him by the word of his power in him and through him and for him all things exist

00:09:51.600 God is the creator, and he creates, and it stands firm.

00:09:56.180 Verse 10, the Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

00:10:00.960 To nothing.

00:10:02.580 He frustrates their plans.

00:10:06.380 The counsel of the Lord, see by contrast now, verse 11, but his counsel, another word for that would be his strategy, his plans.

00:10:13.640 It's the same concept.

00:10:14.760 So the counsel or the plans, the strategies of the nations, the Lord brings to nothing.

00:10:20.920 But the Lord's counsel, his plans, his strategies, by contrast, stand forever.

00:10:27.860 They endure forever.

00:10:29.740 Now notice his creation, it says, it stands firm.

00:10:32.540 That's the end of verse 9.

00:10:33.720 He commanded and it stood firm.

00:10:36.340 But his plans, not just galaxies, right, not just cosmos, but his plans endure forever.

00:10:45.380 Now, the new heavens and the new earth, I'm not saying that this world would melt away,

00:10:49.160 that this world will cease to exist.

00:10:50.980 I don't believe that.

00:10:52.300 I believe that this world will be restored.

00:10:54.700 The second Peter does talk about

00:10:55.900 the world dissolving like snow, right?

00:10:58.460 We have a well-known hymn that says,

00:11:00.880 the earth will soon dissolve like snow, right?

00:11:04.420 And that is scriptural, but that is analogical.

00:11:09.160 It's not literal.

00:11:10.840 The new heavens and the new earth

00:11:12.220 is going to be this earth restored.

00:11:15.100 That's why the Bible says that creation itself groans

00:11:18.340 with great expectations for what?

00:11:20.920 For the sons of God to be revealed.

00:11:23.820 Now there are some two kingdom theologians today,

00:11:26.300 which I would strongly disagree with,

00:11:28.560 who would say that the earth is groaning,

00:11:31.340 the creation itself is groaning with great expectations

00:11:34.300 to give way to the sons of God,

00:11:37.020 meaning to cease to exist, to dissolve like snow,

00:11:40.940 so that the sons of God might come into this consummation

00:11:44.200 of a new earth, completely new.

00:11:47.480 I don't believe that's what the Bible teaches. 0.99

00:11:49.640 I don't believe that that is biblically faithful. 0.74

00:11:52.420 Rather, the creation is groaning with great expectations for the sons of God to be revealed,

00:11:57.940 not so that the creation can endure a mercy killing from the Lord,

00:12:02.720 but rather because as the sons of God are revealed on that final day,

00:12:06.220 the creation itself will be renewed.

00:12:08.800 Not done away with, not put out to pasture, but restored and renewed.

00:12:14.800 And so the creation, the cosmos, there is a sense in which it endures forever, but it will change.

00:12:22.960 It will undergo transition.

00:12:25.080 But the plans of the Lord, however, his decrees, his determinative will last forever.

00:12:35.600 It endures.

00:12:36.080 It doesn't just stand firm.

00:12:37.580 It stands firm forever.

00:12:39.880 It endures forever.

00:12:41.500 the plans of his heart to all, not just the thousandth generation, but all generations.

00:12:49.600 The will of God, the plans of God do not ever fail. The word of the Lord never returns void,

00:12:57.700 but they also never change. God is not a man that he should change his mind, the scripture says,

00:13:04.080 or that he should lie. What he has determined in eternity past, in the councils of eternity,

00:13:09.480 The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has never altered.

00:13:12.860 It has never been revised.

00:13:14.120 It has never been amended.

00:13:15.160 It has never changed.

00:13:16.660 Not once.

00:13:17.880 God is not in process.

00:13:19.380 He's not coming into new information

00:13:20.960 and changing his plans on the fly.

00:13:24.540 God is the omniscient God.

00:13:26.320 He has known the end from the beginning.

00:13:29.260 He has decreed and it shall come to pass.

00:13:32.860 His plans endure forever.

00:13:35.060 The plans of the peoples, the plans of nations,

00:13:37.620 the Lord brings them to nothing.

00:13:40.380 Any plan that any nation makes

00:13:42.420 that would oppose the plans of God,

00:13:44.960 God will bring them to nothing.

00:13:47.440 It is an exercise of futility.

00:13:50.820 It's a waste because God's plans

00:13:54.100 will not be thwarted by anyone.

00:13:57.800 They endure forever.

00:14:00.060 So God frustrates the plans of men,

00:14:02.140 but the plans of God's heart stand forever.

00:14:04.880 Therefore, those who seek to oppose God

00:14:06.860 will be destroyed. Their opposition is futile. Therefore, let all the peoples of the earth

00:14:13.720 fear the Lord. You can't oppose him. It's meaningless. It's pointless. It's futile.

00:14:20.860 It's impossible. So if you can't oppose him, rather you should fear him. Let all the peoples

00:14:29.000 of the earth fear the Lord rather than oppose him. Let them stand in awe. And here we get in our text

00:14:35.820 a little bit, for a moment, a brief description of what it looks like to fear the Lord.

00:14:42.240 To stand in awe of Him, rather than to stand against Him. There are at least two types of

00:14:51.360 fear that I think we find in these few verses, verses 8 through 11, at least two types of fear

00:14:57.260 in relation to God, in relation to fearing God. And I think we find these two types of fearing God

00:15:04.940 all throughout the scripture,

00:15:07.000 not merely in our text this morning.

00:15:09.440 They are as follows.

00:15:10.500 The fear of dread and the fear of awe.

00:15:15.180 The fear of dread and the fear of awe.

00:15:18.540 See, what causes people to dread the sovereign power of God,

00:15:22.460 to have the fear of dread rather than the fear of awe,

00:15:25.780 is ultimately idolatry.

00:15:28.800 It's sin.

00:15:29.940 It's unbelief.

00:15:31.660 But what causes people to stand in awe of the sovereign power of God

00:15:35.260 is a heart that desires what God desires.

00:15:39.640 See, so the fear of dread, another label that we could give to that category of fear

00:15:44.780 as it relates to God would be the fear of judgment.

00:15:48.100 There is no fear of judgment, the scripture says, for those who are in Christ Jesus.

00:15:53.420 If you're in Christ, no longer will you fear God in the sense of the fear of dread,

00:15:58.860 the fear of judgment, the fear of punishment.

00:16:02.540 But the Christian, even into eternity,

00:16:05.040 will always fear God in the sense of reverence and awe.

00:16:09.280 Not to stand in dread of him, but to stand in awe of him.

00:16:14.980 And what is the determinative factor between the two?

00:16:18.600 What makes the difference in your fear in relation to God

00:16:22.160 or whether or not you stand in dread of God

00:16:24.860 or stand in awe of God?

00:16:27.380 This is what it comes down to.

00:16:28.860 your desire? Do you have idolatrous desire or righteous desire? See, the people who dread God

00:16:39.460 are the people who don't want what God does. Think of it like this. I mean, obviously this is

00:16:45.480 an argument going from the greater all the way down to the lesser, infinitely so. But imagine

00:16:52.200 Michael Jordan. I'm going to use Michael Jordan as an example, not LeBron James, because I don't

00:16:56.120 like that guy. That guy has horrible cultural views. So we're going to go to Michael Jordan.

00:17:00.680 All right. So imagine Michael Jordan. If you're a Bulls fan, you stand in awe, right? It's the

00:17:08.840 fear of awe. You're watching a national, you know, final, final game. It's the national championship

00:17:15.440 and Michael Jordan's on the court and you are just, I mean, he's putting 70, 78 points up on

00:17:21.200 the board and you are just sitting there and there is this sense of like reverence. Now,

00:17:25.580 obviously nothing compared to what we should have for God.

00:17:27.980 It's an argument from the greater to the lesser.

00:17:30.160 But my point is, there's this sense of awe.

00:17:32.700 You're just sitting back and you're just like,

00:17:34.480 you're just watching what this guy is just born to do.

00:17:37.380 You know, you're watching the game

00:17:39.420 and you've literally got like Space Jam going in your head.

00:17:41.640 I believe I can fly.

00:17:43.080 You can fly, Jordan.

00:17:44.520 You can.

00:17:45.200 I'm seeing it happen right now.

00:17:46.320 And you're just in awe watching him do what he does so well.

00:17:51.200 So incredibly well.

00:17:52.280 if you are a fan of the other team that Jordan's playing you have the fear of dread you're not

00:18:02.320 sitting back watching Jordan in awe you're watching him in dread you're like oh no right you know

00:18:09.600 you like the famous game where when he had he had like the flu you're like finally thank goodness

00:18:15.120 there's a God in heaven we've got a chance and then with the flu with like a blanket wrapped

00:18:19.880 around him, you know, and sweating, and he's still just dominating, and there's just the fear of

00:18:24.620 dread. Oh my gosh, he can't be stopped. He's invulnerable. He's invincible. What is, that's

00:18:30.300 what it is with God. See, if you oppose him, if you're rooting for the other team, namely the

00:18:36.660 autonomous team, namely the team of man, your team, then it's the fear of dread, because he can't be

00:18:45.260 stopped. He can't be thwarted. He cannot be opposed. But if God is your champion, if you're

00:18:53.140 on his team, then you sit back and there's still this fear and wonder, reverence and amazement

00:19:01.060 and awe. But it's a positive sensation. It's this sense of he's fighting for me.

00:19:10.280 right now he's upholding galaxies and planets for me he's orchestrating every thought and deed of

00:19:19.320 man for me he's my champion this is my team he's my captain he's my god and i'm his people

00:19:29.140 and so i watch his power with with the kind of fear of watching like a a giant thunderstorm

00:19:37.120 like we've had recently, where the lightning, I mean, I've never seen anything like it in the

00:19:41.620 last few months where, you know, it's one thing where you're like, you're waiting with anticipation

00:19:44.840 for the lightning, right? And it takes a couple minutes each time. You're like, whoa, that was a

00:19:48.820 big one. Whoa, that was cool. But we've had some storms lately where it's like every two or three

00:19:53.520 seconds, just boom, boom, boom, boom. It's like, it's like the 4th of July. You know, it's like

00:19:59.800 firework show. And it's just constant. And you're just amazed. And every now and then there's such

00:20:04.900 a distinct, thick, visible bolt.

00:20:08.880 I mean, it's just insane.

00:20:11.000 And you're watching with this sense of awe, reverence, meaning I don't want to get too

00:20:16.300 close to that.

00:20:18.640 Right?

00:20:18.980 Again, the 1689 in Westminster, they say that God is the most pure spirit without body,

00:20:23.460 parts, and passions, and he dwells in unapproachable light.

00:20:28.600 Right?

00:20:29.120 I think of Hebrews, it says, without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

00:20:34.900 This, this brilliance, the Westminster in 1689, they go further to say that, that Christ will

00:20:42.540 destroy when he returns, he will destroy, completely destroy his enemies with what? It

00:20:48.660 actually says what, what, what tool, what weapon he'll wield in order to accomplish the destruction

00:20:54.360 of his foes. You know what it says? With the brilliance of his coming. Isn't that insane?

00:21:00.880 It doesn't just say he's going to go ham, you know, like wielding a sword and do, I mean, 0.87

00:21:04.360 there is a sword coming out of his mouth.

00:21:05.980 Revelation gives us that description, right?

00:21:08.460 This robe dripped in blood,

00:21:10.480 riding on a white horse, a tattoo on his side.

00:21:13.000 So there is this image of Christ,

00:21:14.760 but the reality is he's going to completely

00:21:17.620 dominate his foes

00:21:20.060 by just the brilliance of his coming.

00:21:23.080 I think of Gandalf.

00:21:24.000 I'm going back through the Lord of the Rings right now

00:21:26.920 and the Fellowship of the Ring,

00:21:27.840 and I think of Gandalf,

00:21:29.460 those moments where he's not even wielding a sword

00:21:32.240 or beating someone down with his staff

00:21:34.200 for even necessarily casting a specific spell,

00:21:37.060 but it's just the brilliance of his coming

00:21:39.660 when he goes from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White.

00:21:42.540 And by the way, no spoiler alerts.

00:21:44.280 I feel no guilt whatsoever.

00:21:45.840 This is a book that's been out for decades.

00:21:47.740 If you haven't gotten there by now, that's on you.

00:21:50.100 You know, so anyways, but Gandalf is the brilliance,

00:21:52.920 you know, when he sheds,

00:21:53.920 remember when he goes to Rohan 1.00

00:21:55.280 and the king is taken over by Saruman

00:21:57.800 and there's a spell on him and he's like decrepit.

00:22:00.740 And you know, in the movies, it gives this line of,

00:22:02.600 you know you have no power here and it's like this mocking ridiculing laugh and scoff and then

00:22:09.080 Gandalf throws out he's already transformed to Gandalf the white but nobody knows and he throws

00:22:13.580 off his outer robe and it's the brilliance and all of a sudden the king who's basically like

00:22:18.680 demonically possessed in that moment by Saruman the wicked wizard he's taken aback and Gandalf

00:22:24.560 doesn't even touch him but it's the brilliance of Gandalf in that moment so too Jesus it's the

00:22:30.240 brilliance of his coming that will dismantle and dominate every foe. And my point is this,

00:22:36.160 like lightning in the distance, there's an awe, there's a reverence, but there's a fear.

00:22:43.200 I don't want to get too close. I mean, everyone who encountered God in the scripture, a theophany,

00:22:49.580 like Moses in the burning bush, or let's just, again, argument from the greater to the lesser,

00:22:53.260 everyone who encountered even a mere angel what is their immediate response it's to fall down

00:22:59.800 prostrate on the ground in fear in trembling they have to be they have to be encouraged and affirmed

00:23:09.780 by the angel take heart and angels would have to beg people even righteous people like Joshua

00:23:15.160 don't worship me I'm not God I'm merely a messenger don't fall down don't worship me

00:23:21.460 don't fear me stand up have courage right don't allow your knees to buckle take heart I have a

00:23:28.960 message from God there's this reverence this fear this awe and so and these are for the people who

00:23:36.240 love God these are instances of of the righteous who desire the things that God desires who want

00:23:44.120 to see God's will come to pass and who are working for God's will in obedience to come to pass and

00:23:50.520 even these individuals, there's a holy terror that comes upon them. But it's not dread. See,

00:24:02.000 there's a difference in, oh my goodness, I'm terrified. I am terrified versus dread. Oh no.

00:24:11.300 Please don't let this be. No, see the fear of the Lord, the fear of awe rather than the fear of

00:24:16.680 dread, the fear of reverence rather than the fear of judgment. That fear, this fear of the Lord,

00:24:23.840 the righteous fear of the Lord, it's, I think R.C. Sproul once said, it's like, it's like you come

00:24:32.680 into the presence of God and you can't stand to be there, but you wouldn't ever dare to leave.

00:24:39.100 It's, it's just, he's holy. There's no other word for it. I mean, that is the biblical, he's holy,

00:24:44.880 holy holy and and this sensation just just engulfs you when you're in the presence of god he's holy

00:24:56.580 and and it's like i i i can't bear to look at him like the sun it's blinding his brilliance

00:25:03.380 but at the same time i can't bear to look away this sensation of of

00:25:09.400 everything in me wants, wants this to stop. I can't take, I can't bear it. It's too much.

00:25:19.060 And yet everything in me would never dare leave. That's the fear of awe. That's the proper

00:25:26.540 righteous fear of the Lord. That's not the fear of dread. The fear of dread is, oh no.

00:25:34.500 oh no I am confronted by the sheer sovereign power the efficacy of God and it is my doom

00:25:46.660 because I know now that I cannot oppose him and win and I do not want what he wants

00:25:55.040 see what makes God wonderful the determining factor between the two fear of dread fear of all

00:26:02.100 is desire.

00:26:04.700 Do you want what God wants?

00:26:07.600 See, it's the heart.

00:26:09.340 Do you have a heart that's harboring idolatry,

00:26:12.500 wanting your own plans, your own devices,

00:26:15.900 your own will to come to pass?

00:26:17.600 Or do you, in your heart of hearts,

00:26:20.840 in the deepest way, desire nothing

00:26:24.920 but thy will be done?

00:26:28.280 See, the person who truly longs

00:26:30.380 for the will of God to be done

00:26:31.840 on earth as it is in heaven,

00:26:34.260 who trusts in the character of God

00:26:36.040 that all things he does are for his glory

00:26:38.680 and for our eternal good,

00:26:41.120 that person has no dread.

00:26:43.520 Still a terror, a holy terror,

00:26:47.020 an awe, but not dread.

00:26:50.140 You're taken aback, you're overwhelmed,

00:26:52.180 and yet you're rooting for God

00:26:53.520 at the very same time.

00:26:55.460 Yes.

00:26:56.620 Yes, Lord.

00:26:57.500 Yes.

00:26:58.580 As the church says,

00:26:59.720 and the final chapters of the book of Revelation,

00:27:03.040 let the spirit of the bride say, come.

00:27:06.600 That's the heart of the church.

00:27:08.760 This brilliance that's terrifying,

00:27:10.940 and yet, let it come.

00:27:12.700 Let him come.

00:27:14.260 Come, Lord Jesus.

00:27:15.320 Do not tarry.

00:27:16.300 Come quickly.

00:27:18.140 I want you.

00:27:19.720 I long to be in your presence that's overwhelming,

00:27:22.800 that scares me half to death,

00:27:25.100 and yet, there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

00:27:28.580 That's the fear of awe.

00:27:30.500 And again, the determining factor between dread and awe is desire.

00:27:36.080 A heart full of idolatry is a heart full of dread.

00:27:40.480 But a heart full of love for God above all things, above anything else,

00:27:47.340 seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,

00:27:50.540 that heart still fears the Lord but with awe, not with dread.

00:27:56.140 The benefits of fearing the Lord,

00:27:57.640 Psalm chapter 33, verses 18 and 19 says this,

00:28:00.620 behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

00:28:04.020 on those who hope in his steadfast love

00:28:06.480 that he may deliver their soul from death

00:28:09.660 and keep them alive in famine.

00:28:12.680 See, the benefits of fearing the Lord

00:28:14.300 is that those who stand in awe of God's sovereign power

00:28:17.240 are assured that all that power

00:28:20.460 is being orchestrated for their good.

00:28:23.720 it's not just that God is sovereign it is that God is sovereignly working for your good Romans

00:28:32.020 chapter 8 verse 28 says this and we know that those who love God all things work together for

00:28:38.060 good for those who are called according to his purpose back to the text verse 18 behold the eye

00:28:45.620 of the Lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love his constant love his

00:28:52.360 covenanting love they trust his character that he is faithful even when we're faithless he remains

00:28:59.300 faithful for he cannot deny himself he is steadfast he is constant he is credible reliable he is

00:29:06.740 worthy of our hope that he may do what his eye is on those who fear him he is steadfast in his love

00:29:15.620 therefore worthy of our hope and what he does is delivers our soul from death and sustains us

00:29:24.740 in famine that is trial tribulation and difficulty he delivers the soul from death he is the savior

00:29:32.160 the deliverer and the eternal sense and he is the preserver the sustainer the protector even here

00:29:40.340 in this life. Nothing can harm you that the Lord does not allow. And if he allows it, he works all

00:29:48.380 things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So if it hurts

00:29:52.800 now, it's only because it's going to benefit you in the greatest possible way, eternally. In the

00:29:59.120 same way that a father disciplines his children, Hebrews 12 says, discipline is not pleasant for

00:30:03.700 the time but there's a long-term fruit there's a long-term reward and so too in God's providence

00:30:12.600 he allows us to be to be refined like gold through trials tribulation difficulty disease

00:30:22.140 death of a loved one all these things financial hardships the Lord at times allows us to be

00:30:28.400 refined like gold but only for our good it's never for the people of god it is never judgment

00:30:35.360 it is never ultimately condemnation it is merely discipline training refining for our ultimate good

00:30:45.480 and and hear this because sometimes you just you hear these pithy you know theological biblical

00:30:50.240 statements for our good when i say good think happiness happiness did you god is literally

00:30:57.260 everything he's doing. It's first and foremost for his glory. But secondly, and these two are

00:31:02.460 one and the same, God gains glory for himself by being faithful and good to his people.

00:31:07.220 Among other things, God also glorifies himself by, in his justice, punishing the wicked.

00:31:12.240 God gains glory for himself by his creation, by what he has made. He gains glory for himself by

00:31:16.580 his angels and cherubim and seraphim. But one of the ways, and I would argue one of the chief ways

00:31:20.720 that God gains glory for himself, that he garnishes his praise, is by his faithfulness,

00:31:26.220 his steadfast goodness to his people, to those who love him and have been called according to

00:31:32.180 his purpose. So God's goal is to gain glory for himself, but also do good to you. And what is it

00:31:38.180 for God to do good to you? It is to do everything in his sovereign power to orchestrate your long

00:31:45.520 term. And when I say long term, I mean eternal highest capacity of joy. Everything he's doing,

00:31:53.400 think about that. The next time you're in a moment where you're suffering, where you're

00:31:58.180 overwhelmed with anxiety or depression or dread, the next time that you're in pain and it's

00:32:05.340 agonizing, remember this, that God is only allowing that so that you can be happier in the long run.

00:32:13.660 Everything he's doing is so that you can be so incredibly, overwhelmingly happy forever.

00:32:20.840 Forever.

00:32:22.780 Because happy people bring God glory.

00:32:26.220 Happy people make for really good worshipers.

00:32:29.320 Happy people will sing,

00:32:31.060 holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty

00:32:32.880 who was and is and is to come.

00:32:36.680 God is doing everything for his glory

00:32:38.360 and for your good.

00:32:40.200 So why do we fear the Lord?

00:32:42.020 Because there's two types of fear.

00:32:45.240 Fear of all, the good fear of the Lord,

00:32:47.500 and fear of dread, the wicked fear of the Lord.

00:32:49.840 Why do we fear him?

00:32:51.020 Because those who fear him with dread,

00:32:53.200 who have idolatrous hearts, who oppose the Lord,

00:32:56.260 their opposition is pointless.

00:32:59.340 Why do we fear the Lord?

00:33:00.820 Because there is no other way.

00:33:02.100 You cannot run from him.

00:33:05.000 The only hope is to run to him.

00:33:08.680 He's the rock of ages, the cleft, the only hiding place.

00:33:13.880 If you run from him, you will be destroyed.

00:33:17.780 if you run to him you will be saved why do we fear the lord because there is no other alternative

00:33:26.040 everything else is doom destruction and death everything else is an exercise of futility

00:33:33.860 why do we fear the lord because he cannot be thwarted in any of his plans his counsel stands

00:33:40.180 forever his plans endure eternally so we fear the lord in awe in loving trembling and how do we do

00:33:51.780 that what's the difference in fearing the lord through awe versus dread aligning our hearts with

00:33:57.500 his coming through sanctification and through faith which comes by hearing and hearing by the

00:34:04.220 word of God, coming to desire more and more what he desires. Being able to say, as Jesus said in the

00:34:11.740 garden of Gethsemane, not my will but yours be done. And coming to see the will of the Lord, not

00:34:17.940 merely as right, but the rightness of his will being synonymous with its goodness. His will is

00:34:25.200 not just right. We don't support the will of God merely because it's the right thing to do. It's

00:34:30.580 good. It's good. It is our good. And if it's painful in the moment, that's only being allowed

00:34:39.340 in the sovereign banner of God so that we might be happier forever. Forever. Why do we fear the

00:34:46.440 Lord? For those reasons. What are the benefits of fearing the Lord? His eye is upon you.

00:34:53.440 But see, there are other texts in the scripture that say that the Lord's eyes are on the wicked.

00:34:58.500 That nothing is hidden from his eye.

00:35:01.460 Nothing.

00:35:02.760 So what does this mean?

00:35:04.460 Well, the text goes on, it says in verse 18 and 19,

00:35:07.320 the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

00:35:10.000 but in a particular way.

00:35:11.860 His eye is on them lovingly.

00:35:14.860 It is his benevolent eye, not his eye of judgment,

00:35:18.620 not his eye of wrath, but it is his concerned eye.

00:35:22.480 God's eye is on those who fear him

00:35:25.120 in the way that a mother's eye is on her children,

00:35:28.100 wherever they are.

00:35:29.620 Are they okay?

00:35:30.760 Are they in danger?

00:35:32.060 Are they safe?

00:35:33.180 Are they secure?

00:35:35.060 That is the way in which the eye of the Lord

00:35:37.600 is on the righteous, on those who fear him.

00:35:41.300 So we've seen now why we should fear the Lord,

00:35:43.400 and we've seen now the benefits of fearing the Lord,

00:35:45.300 because God's benevolent eye is promised

00:35:47.780 to be on all who fear him,

00:35:49.840 and in his benevolence and concern and attention

00:35:53.500 for those who fear him,

00:35:54.860 he delivers their soul from death

00:35:56.860 and he sustains them through any trial in this life.

00:36:04.200 But how do we fear the Lord?

00:36:06.360 We've already delved into this in some length.

00:36:10.460 To fear the Lord, it's not the fear of dread,

00:36:12.160 it's the fear of awe.

00:36:14.140 But what is the practice?

00:36:16.540 See, that's the big picture, the 30,000 foot view.

00:36:19.180 We fear the Lord with awe,

00:36:20.980 where we're terrified, but we're also rooting for him

00:36:23.440 because we're on his side.

00:36:25.120 So we know that's how we fear the Lord,

00:36:27.060 through awe, not through dread.

00:36:29.120 But in a practical sense, how does this play out?

00:36:33.360 What practices, what Christian practices

00:36:35.800 can we employ as a people of God,

00:36:39.260 as those who fear him, to fear him?

00:36:44.020 How can we practice the fear of the Lord?

00:36:46.660 We know the big picture of what it means

00:36:48.320 in a sense of a sensation.

00:36:51.540 It's the awe of God versus the dread of God.

00:36:54.600 But what do we do?

00:36:57.000 That's what I'm coming to now.

00:36:58.600 How do we do it?

00:37:00.140 What does that look like in terms of what we say?

00:37:02.940 What actions we commit?

00:37:04.840 How we live?

00:37:06.060 What does the life of a person who fears the Lord look like?

00:37:10.760 And that's where we'll conclude today.

00:37:12.620 Verses 20 through 22 of our text says this,

00:37:15.040 our soul waits for the Lord.

00:37:19.080 That's it right there.

00:37:20.900 That's the ticket.

00:37:23.740 And Connor Hensley preached this beautifully a couple weeks ago.

00:37:26.960 What does it mean to wait upon the Lord?

00:37:29.420 He preached this from Psalm 25.

00:37:31.700 And so I just, I want to delve into this a little bit,

00:37:34.440 but I also want to refer you,

00:37:35.800 if you want more on what it means to wait for the Lord,

00:37:38.400 go and listen to Connor's sermon two weeks ago.

00:37:42.680 So I'm going to address a few things that he addressed,

00:37:45.100 but maybe a couple that he didn't.

00:37:47.300 A few aspects of what it means to wait on the Lord.

00:37:49.900 But again, verses 20 through 22, it says, our soul waits for the Lord.

00:37:54.160 He is our help.

00:37:55.540 He is our shield.

00:37:57.040 Our heart is glad.

00:37:58.540 There's the happiness.

00:38:00.160 Good, synonymous with happy.

00:38:02.480 Our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name.

00:38:08.340 So even as we're waiting, even before it comes to pass, even before all the promises are consummated and actualized and experienced and received in full,

00:38:18.360 our heart, notice it doesn't say our heart will be glad

00:38:21.260 once our waiting pays off.

00:38:24.500 No, our heart is glad in the waiting.

00:38:27.680 In the moment of waiting, in the process of waiting,

00:38:30.280 our heart is glad because what?

00:38:31.740 We wait with hope.

00:38:34.200 And this is not hope in the way that our world uses the term hope.

00:38:38.300 I hope I win the lottery, right?

00:38:41.480 It's not wishful thinking.

00:38:43.000 No, this is Christian hope.

00:38:44.380 It is confidence.

00:38:45.360 hope in the christian sense this is the way you can define hope

00:38:49.640 as simply as possible in theological terms hope is future faith

00:38:54.080 that's all it is so faith comes from the word confide it's it's confidence

00:39:00.700 right it's not just this uh well i hope you don't know no i have faith in the lord jesus christ that

00:39:07.080 he is the same yesterday today and forever behold i am the lord i changeth not he is the covenant

00:39:12.620 keeping God, steadfast in his loving kindness, he will prove faithful in all that he has promises,

00:39:20.460 all that he has promised. Faith. Hope is simply living in the moment what you trust will happen

00:39:29.880 in the future. It's future faith. Hope is saying it's not just wishful. Hope, it has, my point is

00:39:36.460 hope, Christian hope has the same strength as Christian faith. And I think a lot of times we

00:39:41.740 may not verbalize it, but I think what we just kind of instinctively think is that in Christian

00:39:47.820 terms, there's faith and there's hope, and that hope is like faith diluted. Like hope is something

00:39:54.420 a little less than faith. Like we have faith when we really believe something's going to happen,

00:39:58.360 and then we have hope when we kind of believe something's. That's not, that is not a Christian 1.00

00:40:03.480 definition of hope or faith. No, faith is trusting, this is happening. And that doesn't mean that you

00:40:10.040 don't have any doubt, right?

00:40:12.180 Like the centurion man who said to Christ, I believe, help my unbelief, right?

00:40:16.500 If we had perfect faith, guess what?

00:40:17.820 We'd have perfect lives.

00:40:19.140 The reason why you sin is because you don't perfectly believe.

00:40:24.580 Every time I've sinned, it's because I was not fully believing what God says.

00:40:30.140 If I fully believed, I'd be fully righteous.

00:40:33.260 I'd fully obey.

00:40:34.600 What is disobedience but something that stems from our unbelief?

00:40:40.040 So when I say faith, I do believe, in the Christian sense, it is confidence.

00:40:45.480 But that doesn't mean that there's no part of your heart that doubts.

00:40:52.880 Think of it like this.

00:40:54.100 Rather than weak faith, think in terms of little faith.

00:40:59.440 So rather than weak and strong, think in terms of small and big.

00:41:04.560 I think of Pilgrim's Progress, one of the characters, Little Faith.

00:41:08.140 Little Faith made it.

00:41:09.040 He made it to the celestial city.

00:41:11.020 The company had to slow down in order for him to make it,

00:41:14.640 but he made it nonetheless.

00:41:16.200 Why?

00:41:16.640 Because there's a difference in little faith and no faith. 1.00

00:41:20.060 Those who will not inherit the kingdom of heaven

00:41:21.920 are not those with little faith.

00:41:24.100 They're those with no faith. 1.00

00:41:26.420 See, the unbeliever, the pagan, 1.00

00:41:28.360 the enemy of God whose counsel is brought to nothing, 0.98

00:41:32.260 as our text says,

00:41:33.760 that's not the person who has some faith in God,

00:41:35.700 that's the person who has no faith.

00:41:37.240 because you cannot have faith but by God's grace.

00:41:42.660 Faith is not merely conjured up by man.

00:41:45.500 It's not a mere work.

00:41:46.500 It is a gift.

00:41:47.360 It is given to those whom God chooses as a gift, as a grace,

00:41:53.300 by grace through faith in Christ.

00:41:55.140 God gives the gift of faith to those whom he has determined to save.

00:42:00.540 And as we steward this gift of faith,

00:42:03.340 As we immerse ourselves in the word of God, our faith grows.

00:42:09.640 But it's not so much weak versus strong, it's little and much.

00:42:14.860 Because whatever faith you have, even if it's little, it's pure.

00:42:18.260 If it's not pure, if it's not real, if it's not strong, it's not faith.

00:42:24.380 So think of it like that.

00:42:25.240 Think of, rather than like gold that's, you know, 30% gold, 30% pure, right?

00:42:32.900 It's a low carat.

00:42:33.940 It's not pure.

00:42:36.440 Rather than thinking of it like that, think of 50 pounds of gold versus an ounce.

00:42:41.620 See, the person who is a Christian, if you're a Christian, you have gold.

00:42:44.580 And the gold that you have, it's pure.

00:42:46.820 It's real.

00:42:48.020 It's real faith.

00:42:49.960 It's either small or it's big. 0.99

00:42:51.800 and the goal of the Christian life

00:42:53.760 through sanctification is that it would grow.

00:42:55.580 I believe, and the part of me that believes

00:42:58.480 really believes.

00:43:00.200 But there's this other part of me that doesn't.

00:43:01.820 Help my unbelief.

00:43:03.820 Help my unbelief.

00:43:05.060 So hope, faith is confidence.

00:43:08.460 It's serious.

00:43:10.200 And hope, likewise, is confidence.

00:43:13.860 It's serious, but it's future-oriented.

00:43:17.020 It's future faith.

00:43:19.140 So our soul waits for the Lord.

00:43:20.480 He is our help and our shield.

00:43:21.460 Our heart is glad in him because we trust.

00:43:24.680 We trust in his holy name.

00:43:26.760 Your steadfast love be upon us.

00:43:28.800 Let your steadfast love be upon us, even as we hope in you.

00:43:33.120 Again, all that back to the beginning of verse 21.

00:43:35.620 Our heart is glad in him.

00:43:37.780 You're waiting, but with confidence.

00:43:40.780 You're waiting, but you know it's already in the bag.

00:43:44.160 It's as good as done.

00:43:46.100 It's like what 1 John says, where it says,

00:43:49.940 whatever we pray in his name, if we pray in his name,

00:43:53.220 we know that we have already received what we have asked,

00:43:57.240 even if it hasn't come yet.

00:43:59.300 Now, to pray in Jesus' name, it's not like a Harry Potter spell.

00:44:01.920 It's not like, oh, I asked for a Ferrari,

00:44:04.040 and according to 1 John, it's not in my driveway yet,

00:44:06.780 but it's on its way because I said specifically

00:44:09.280 at the end of my prayer, in Jesus' name, amen.

00:44:12.260 That's not, no, to pray in Jesus' name means

00:44:14.060 to pray in accordance with his will.

00:44:16.920 And so long as we,

00:44:18.020 and that goes back to the beginning

00:44:19.080 of the sermon, right?

00:44:22.320 The determining factor is what?

00:44:23.760 It's desire.

00:44:24.500 Do you want what he wants?

00:44:26.080 Is your heart further and further

00:44:27.660 being aligned with his will?

00:44:29.700 See, those who love God and obey God,

00:44:32.260 they desire what God desires.

00:44:33.940 They recognize more and more

00:44:35.280 that he knows best,

00:44:37.100 that his plans are better than your plans.

00:44:39.460 And not just better for him,

00:44:40.940 better for you.

00:44:42.040 and so to pray in jesus name is to pray in accordance with jesus will and to pray in

00:44:49.880 accordance with jesus will is a guarantee that the prayer will be answered so we can trust that

00:44:55.260 we already have what we've asked even if it has not yet arrived so too that's the same kind of

00:45:00.400 principle that we see in verses 20 through 22 our soul is waiting for the lord waiting for deliverance

00:45:07.200 waiting for salvation there's something that we're waiting for all of us are waiting for that ultimate

00:45:11.880 that ultimate consummation, to see him as he is, to be with the Lord and commune with him

00:45:17.260 forever. But in this life, there are even situational moments that we're waiting upon

00:45:22.320 the Lord through a trial, through a difficulty, for vindication, right? For whatever it might be,

00:45:30.720 we're waiting for the Lord, for provision. Our soul waits for the Lord because he is our shield.

00:45:38.280 He is our help.

00:45:40.500 There's nothing else that ultimately we answer.

00:45:42.460 Remember, this is coming on the heels of the text

00:45:44.720 where it says horses, a war horse is a false hope.

00:45:49.220 It's a false hope, right?

00:45:51.720 The kings and all their strength, it's not enough.

00:45:55.640 The only true help, the only true shield,

00:45:58.840 help being he can provide, shield he can protect.

00:46:02.040 The only true provision and protection is the Lord.

00:46:05.760 Do not trust in chariots.

00:46:07.660 Do not trust in princes.

00:46:09.660 Do not trust in politicians, my goodness,

00:46:12.340 but trust in the Lord.

00:46:14.000 It's the hope that does not disappoint.

00:46:16.480 Elsewhere in the scripture,

00:46:17.560 it speaks about how Christian hope

00:46:18.800 does not put us to shame.

00:46:21.600 No one who hopes in the Lord will ever be embarrassed.

00:46:25.800 All of us have hoped for things

00:46:27.640 and been embarrassed later on

00:46:30.400 because we've all experienced as sinners unrighteous hope,

00:46:35.080 non-Christian hope. 1.00

00:46:36.000 I really think this is going to happen, right? 1.00

00:46:38.880 And then it doesn't.

00:46:40.660 And we have to walk it back.

00:46:42.400 Or we do what most leaders in our nation do.

00:46:44.480 We never walk it back.

00:46:45.340 We deny, deny, deny.

00:46:46.520 And then eventually people think,

00:46:47.640 well, he must have not ever said that.

00:46:49.060 Because surely, you know.

00:46:50.800 But if you're a Christian and you're humble, 0.87

00:46:53.700 you walk it back. 1.00

00:46:54.480 I got that wrong.

00:46:55.620 I missed it.

00:46:56.960 I was hoping in something that did not come to pass.

00:47:01.740 It didn't come to pass.

00:47:03.560 You were put to shame.

00:47:04.200 Your hope embarrassed you.

00:47:06.000 Your hope disappointed.

00:47:07.540 It didn't just disappoint.

00:47:08.560 It didn't just let you down, but it shamed you.

00:47:11.560 As many people as you voiced your hope to,

00:47:15.020 you were put to shame in their presence.

00:47:17.600 Your hope didn't just disappoint you.

00:47:19.680 It betrayed you.

00:47:20.840 It embarrassed you. 1.00

00:47:22.600 Christian hope never will.

00:47:24.860 Hope does not disappoint.

00:47:26.520 Romans 5 talks about that.

00:47:28.380 Christian hope.

00:47:29.580 And it does not put us to shame.

00:47:32.460 It doesn't disappoint us.

00:47:34.700 and it doesn't embarrass us.

00:47:37.240 We hope upon the Lord.

00:47:39.180 He's the only true help, the true provision.

00:47:42.640 And he's the only true shield, the true protection.

00:47:46.840 And as we wait, as our soul waits upon him,

00:47:50.680 as we are hoping in him, our heart is glad.

00:47:55.440 We have to wait for some things to come to pass.

00:48:00.220 But brothers and sisters, if you're in Christ,

00:48:02.040 you do not have to wait to be happy.

00:48:04.700 You don't have to wait for your heart to be glad.

00:48:08.000 That's a choice.

00:48:10.360 You can be glad today.

00:48:13.000 Before it comes to pass,

00:48:14.860 the deliverance, the protection,

00:48:16.740 the provision that you're waiting upon the Lord,

00:48:19.000 your soul is waiting for,

00:48:20.700 you don't have to have that come

00:48:22.780 in order for your heart to be glad.

00:48:25.340 That's a lie.

00:48:27.020 Your heart can be glad as you wait upon the Lord.

00:48:30.200 Elsewhere in the scripture it says

00:48:31.240 that we are strengthened as we wait upon the Lord.

00:48:35.640 Right?

00:48:36.600 There's so many things in this world,

00:48:38.140 in a worldly sense,

00:48:39.020 that the more you wait upon it,

00:48:41.220 the longer it takes,

00:48:42.700 is what I'm saying.

00:48:44.020 It's like,

00:48:45.560 the weaker you get,

00:48:48.300 the sadder you get,

00:48:50.120 the more anxious you get.

00:48:52.400 The Proverbs say that hope deferred

00:48:54.780 makes the heart sick. 0.99

00:48:58.040 But that's not Christian hope

00:49:00.940 that's being referenced there.

00:49:03.580 So there's so many hopes that they disappoint.

00:49:06.800 They don't come to pass.

00:49:08.080 And when they do, they don't only disappoint,

00:49:09.840 they embarrass us.

00:49:12.040 They cause us shame.

00:49:13.860 And they cause us to weaken.

00:49:17.100 They rot the bone.

00:49:19.260 They make the heart sick.

00:49:21.380 So they don't just disappoint,

00:49:22.940 and they don't just shame,

00:49:24.220 but they also make you weaker and weaker

00:49:27.620 and more and more sad and miserable.

00:49:31.720 But Christian hope, those whose souls wait upon the Lord for his help, his shield, that is his provision, his protection,

00:49:40.500 in the ultimate sense of salvation, but even in this life, those who wait upon the Lord, who hope in him,

00:49:46.720 that hope doesn't disappoint, it doesn't put you to shame, and as you wait, you're getting stronger.

00:49:53.440 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but Christian hope, as you hope, as you wait, you're strengthened.

00:50:01.740 You grow in faith.

00:50:05.180 The battle belongs to the Lord.

00:50:06.900 God is sovereignly orchestrating all things

00:50:09.040 in accordance with his good pleasure.

00:50:11.260 Our only responsibility is to wait upon the Lord.

00:50:14.600 And here's my final argument.

00:50:16.520 To wait upon the Lord is to fear him.

00:50:20.500 So what we've seen, three parts in our text is this.

00:50:23.380 Those who do not fear the Lord,

00:50:25.420 in the Christian sense, the fear of awe,

00:50:27.680 but rather they fear him with dread,

00:50:30.760 With dread, all their plans are made to be nothing.

00:50:37.480 Their opposition is futile, and ultimately, their end is destruction

00:50:41.100 by the brilliance of his coming.

00:50:44.500 But for those who fear the Lord with awe and reverence,

00:50:48.340 God's eye is on them.

00:50:49.820 That's the benefit.

00:50:51.040 The benefit is the eye of the Lord is upon you,

00:50:52.980 and that is his benevolent, caring, paternal eye.

00:50:58.440 And he provides, he delivers, he protects.

00:51:03.000 And because we know this, what do we do?

00:51:06.640 If we fear the Lord, we know his eyes upon us

00:51:08.780 and that he will provide.

00:51:10.460 So what do we do?

00:51:11.600 We wait.

00:51:13.020 We count it as good as done.

00:51:16.200 We have hope, Christian hope, faith, confidence,

00:51:19.580 and we wait.

00:51:20.540 We simply wait.

00:51:21.480 And as we wait, our hearts are glad.

00:51:25.400 As we wake, we rise up as on wings of eagles.

00:51:29.640 We're strengthened.

00:51:31.180 Our hope makes us stronger, not weaker.

00:51:36.320 And to wait upon the Lord is to fear him.

00:51:42.520 See, to fear the Lord, what does it look like?

00:51:46.460 That's what I asked earlier.

00:51:47.800 I said the last thing we want to do is the manner of fearing the Lord.

00:51:50.820 How to fear the Lord in a practical sense.

00:51:53.820 what does it look like to fear the Lord?

00:51:55.880 It looks like waiting on him.

00:51:57.800 It looks like waiting on the Lord

00:51:59.360 with Christian faith and Christian hope

00:52:02.000 and a glad heart.

00:52:03.880 And a glad heart.

00:52:04.780 It looks like waiting upon the Lord.

00:52:06.540 Those who fear him are the ones whose souls wait for him.

00:52:11.040 See, the ones who do not fear the Lord,

00:52:13.980 they don't wait on him.

00:52:15.980 They just, they count it as a loss.

00:52:18.400 They say there is no help from the Lord.

00:52:20.480 He's not a shield.

00:52:21.880 He's not a help.

00:52:22.960 and they go about and make their own plans,

00:52:25.440 which the Lord ultimately frustrates,

00:52:27.100 the plans of the nations, the plans of the people. 0.84

00:52:29.480 See, the reason why the pagan plans

00:52:32.160 and makes all these councils and all these things

00:52:33.920 is because he doesn't fear the Lord.

00:52:35.780 He doesn't hope for the Lord.

00:52:37.220 He's not waiting on the Lord.

00:52:39.080 He doesn't believe that the Lord exists.

00:52:40.780 And even if he does,

00:52:41.820 he doesn't believe that the Lord is good.

00:52:44.220 He doesn't believe the Lord is worth waiting for.

00:52:47.620 But those who fear the Lord

00:52:49.240 are those who believe in his character.

00:52:51.880 They believe that he is a help,

00:52:53.800 that he is a shield,

00:52:54.980 and that he's worth waiting for.

00:52:57.900 That they don't merely have to strive

00:52:59.560 in their own strength

00:53:00.680 to accomplish their own plans,

00:53:02.620 but rather they pray,

00:53:03.720 not my will be done,

00:53:04.780 but yours, O God.

00:53:06.120 Further sanctify me.

00:53:07.740 Help me to desire your kingdom

00:53:09.720 above all other things,

00:53:12.340 first and foremost.

00:53:13.460 Align my heart with you

00:53:15.080 and help me to trust and wait for you.

00:53:19.920 So I just wrote briefly four things

00:53:22.380 of how to wait on the Lord,

00:53:24.440 which I believe to wait on the Lord

00:53:25.820 is one of the chief ways in which we fear him.

00:53:30.020 So how should we wait?

00:53:31.780 We should wait humbly.

00:53:33.880 Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 13 through 14 says this,

00:53:36.920 consider the work of God who can make straight

00:53:39.060 what he has made crooked.

00:53:40.660 In the day of prosperity, be joyful.

00:53:42.740 And in the day of adversity,

00:53:44.080 consider God has made the one as well as the other

00:53:46.440 so that man may not find out anything

00:53:49.460 that will be after him.

00:53:52.560 Who can make straight what he has made crooked?

00:53:56.460 Now notice, you would think it would say,

00:53:58.860 who can make crooked what he has made straight?

00:54:02.120 Which is also true.

00:54:03.780 And the scripture speaks to that principle elsewhere.

00:54:07.200 But in Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 13 and 14,

00:54:09.800 it says, who can make straight what he has made crooked?

00:54:13.080 See, that's what we typically do.

00:54:15.740 We don't try to make things crooked

00:54:16.920 that God has made straight.

00:54:18.720 We try to make straight the things that God has decided

00:54:21.440 in his sovereignty to make crooked.

00:54:24.500 The things that we feel,

00:54:25.740 this is not how it's supposed to be.

00:54:28.120 That's what the text is saying.

00:54:29.460 It's not really crooked in the sense of God's design,

00:54:34.200 in the sense of God's eternal plan.

00:54:36.160 He does all things well.

00:54:37.540 But in our human perspective,

00:54:39.580 something is not as it should be, according to us.

00:54:42.820 something's off it's not this wasn't supposed to happen this wasn't supposed to be like this

00:54:50.540 or this other thing was supposed to come to pass why hasn't it my life was supposed to be like

00:54:56.540 this this is broken it's off it's crooked it's crooked but ecclesiastes 7 13 says consider

00:55:06.540 the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked? Now, that doesn't mean that we

00:55:13.540 don't even try. That doesn't mean that we just succumb to not even having any effort in life,

00:55:19.080 just being, you know, lazy and apathetic and nihilist. That's not what it's saying. But what

00:55:25.800 it is saying is that there's a humility. There's a humility. It says, at the end of the day, God is

00:55:31.060 sovereign over all things. I see this as being crooked, but at the end of the day, nothing is

00:55:37.640 that God has not done. And whatever he has done at the end of the day, I can't change it. I can't.

00:55:44.620 And so I'm going to, I'm going to seek to ultimately not fix my life, but be obedient to

00:55:49.980 God's words, which lends towards blessing. And I'm going to trust that the blessing will come,

00:55:55.420 that the crooked path will straighten if the Lord intends, but he's going to do it.

00:56:00.220 I'm going to be faithful.

00:56:01.460 I'm just following my marching orders.

00:56:03.520 God is the one who makes crooked lines straight.

00:56:07.080 God's the one, ultimately, who will bring about the victory.

00:56:10.280 I'm going to fight in the battle, but the battle belongs to the Lord.

00:56:13.900 There's a sense of humility.

00:56:15.620 There's a sense of being small.

00:56:18.000 Recognizing just how small you are.

00:56:20.500 And recognizing that the Lord, his ways are higher than our ways.

00:56:23.480 His plans are not our plans.

00:56:25.760 It's a submission.

00:56:26.960 It's submitting your will to his.

00:56:29.700 that he is sovereign, and that he knows best.

00:56:33.600 So we wait humbly, we wait quietly as well.

00:56:37.100 Limitations chapter three, verse 26 says,

00:56:39.420 it is good that one should wait quietly

00:56:41.420 for the salvation of the Lord.

00:56:43.940 Psalm chapter 65, verse five says this,

00:56:46.440 for God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence,

00:56:50.160 for my hope is from him.

00:56:52.320 Psalm chapter 46, verse one through three says this,

00:56:55.140 God is our refuge and strength,

00:56:57.040 a very present help in times of trouble.

00:56:59.700 Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

00:57:11.120 What does it mean to wait quietly?

00:57:13.920 It's a quietness of heart.

00:57:16.800 What it means to wait quietly is to wait, really, you wouldn't think this.

00:57:21.400 It almost sounds ironic, but I believe it's true in a faithful exegesis.

00:57:25.960 To wait quietly is to wait courageously.

00:57:27.680 it's the one who fears

00:57:30.740 who's incessantly talking

00:57:33.140 it's the one who's anxious

00:57:36.800 who worries

00:57:38.000 who can't stop talking

00:57:40.200 about the thing that they worry about

00:57:41.780 they're having the same conversation

00:57:43.800 again and again and again

00:57:44.740 and I know this

00:57:45.680 I'm a sinner

00:57:46.820 I've done this

00:57:47.600 it's the thing that you feel powerless with

00:57:49.720 the thing that you dread

00:57:51.100 the thing that you're afraid of

00:57:52.700 it's not courage

00:57:54.160 it's fear

00:57:55.120 that causes us to run over a problem again and again and again.

00:57:59.200 Our head, our wheels in our head constantly turning,

00:58:02.640 thinking about it, discussing it,

00:58:04.560 talking about it again and again and again.

00:58:06.820 You see, the quiet heart to wait on the Lord in silence

00:58:10.580 is to wait with a sense of security.

00:58:13.380 It's to wait with courage.

00:58:15.580 It's the courageous who can be silent.

00:58:18.140 Think of Jesus, the model of courage,

00:58:20.100 the great general of our faith.

00:58:22.420 He stood before Pontius Pilate silent.

00:58:25.120 Like a lamb led before the slaughter, he was silent before his accusers.

00:58:33.440 See, courageous people, courageous people can be silent.

00:58:38.220 The fearful are not silent.

00:58:40.300 What would a fearful person do if they're led before the slaughter?

00:58:44.360 Well, what does a fearful person do in the presence of their accusers?

00:58:49.200 They talk.

00:58:51.180 They're frantic.

00:58:53.140 They're frantic.

00:58:54.920 Defense after defense and this after that

00:58:57.140 and excuse that and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

00:59:00.620 Fearful people are not quiet people.

00:59:04.300 No, to wait on the Lord in silence

00:59:06.120 is to wait on the Lord in courage.

00:59:09.700 It's to submit that situation,

00:59:12.760 that problem, that trial to the Lord.

00:59:15.360 It belongs to you.

00:59:17.040 The Lord vindicates the righteous.

00:59:19.320 Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.

00:59:21.700 I give it to you.

00:59:23.920 I don't have to talk about it.

00:59:25.460 I don't have to always think about it.

00:59:27.440 It doesn't need to be the first thing on my mind

00:59:29.180 and the last thing on my mind

00:59:30.140 when I lay my head on my pillow at night.

00:59:32.280 No, I don't have to obsess about this.

00:59:36.180 There's a stillness that comes with courageous trust.

00:59:40.740 When we really trust, when we really have courage

00:59:43.480 in the character of God and his promises,

00:59:46.380 we can be still.

00:59:48.180 We can wait quietly.

00:59:49.580 So wait humbly, recognizing that ultimately

00:59:51.760 the Lord is sovereign.

00:59:52.620 We can't make straight what he has made crooked.

00:59:55.900 Wait humbly.

00:59:56.520 Realize that he is big and that you are small.

00:59:59.280 Wait quietly.

01:00:00.060 That is with a stillness that comes not from weakness,

01:00:04.300 but actually from courage.

01:00:06.620 And wait obediently.

01:00:08.520 So this goes back to, it doesn't just mean apathetic.

01:00:10.720 It doesn't mean don't do anything.

01:00:11.940 But what are you doing?

01:00:13.720 What he says.

01:00:16.000 So it's not like as you're waiting for deliverance

01:00:18.120 or waiting for provision that you can't do anything.

01:00:19.920 It doesn't mean like the only way to wait on the Lord

01:00:22.120 is to do nothing.

01:00:22.860 I'm just waiting on God, right?

01:00:24.960 For provision, have you applied for a job?

01:00:27.240 No, I'm just waiting on the Lord.

01:00:28.980 No, that's not what it means.

01:00:31.740 So what does it mean to wait on the Lord?

01:00:33.160 It means wait humbly, wait quietly,

01:00:34.980 that is courageously, and wait obediently.

01:00:38.260 So you're active.

01:00:40.480 You're active, you're doing something.

01:00:42.120 But what are you doing?

01:00:43.280 You're doing what he commands.

01:00:46.120 Not your plan, his.

01:00:48.780 So I don't know every aspect of his plan.

01:00:50.900 Yeah, the secret things belong to the Lord.

01:00:52.900 But those which he has revealed belong to us and our children forever.

01:00:56.780 So yeah, you don't know every tenant of his plan as far as what vocation or what person to marry.

01:01:02.260 But you know what?

01:01:02.840 There's a lot that you can know.

01:01:04.320 It's a big book with lots of instruction.

01:01:09.040 So wait obediently.

01:01:10.880 Get to work.

01:01:12.100 Do this.

01:01:13.280 And trust that as we obey his commands, that he will bring about our deliverance.

01:01:18.880 We wait obediently.

01:01:20.220 Last, we wait expectantly.

01:01:22.760 And that's what we've already seen in verses 20 through 22.

01:01:25.160 That's the hope piece again.

01:01:27.280 We wait expectantly.

01:01:29.760 Proverbs chapter 20, verse 22 says this,

01:01:32.340 do not say I will repay evil,

01:01:34.560 but wait for the Lord and he will deliver you.

01:01:38.300 We trust that God is just.

01:01:41.500 And it's not even just a matter of,

01:01:43.060 I can wait expectantly believing that this will come to pass

01:01:45.940 because of God's goodness towards me.

01:01:48.520 We know that's true.

01:01:49.240 but it's also because of God's steadfast covenant with himself.

01:01:54.840 It's because of God's own justice, right?

01:01:58.460 God, I think of the scripture that says this,

01:02:00.460 God will not be mocked.

01:02:01.660 A man will reap what he sows.

01:02:04.640 Why does a man reap what he sows? 0.98

01:02:06.520 Because it's the right thing for the man?

01:02:08.160 Yeah, and because God won't be mocked.

01:02:11.780 Because God's not a liar.

01:02:15.020 Because no one flies under his radar.

01:02:18.120 No one gets away with offending me without God punishing them.

01:02:24.320 No, no, no.

01:02:24.880 No one gets away with offending God.

01:02:28.040 See, that's the ticket.

01:02:30.580 And any offense towards you, anyone who's oppressing you or hurting you or wronged you or betrayed you,

01:02:38.580 that you're crying out to the Lord for vindication, deliver me from those who wronged me.

01:02:44.660 Set the record straight, O God.

01:02:48.040 Here's the deal.

01:02:48.780 If it really was an offense against you,

01:02:51.060 then it really was an offense against God.

01:02:53.760 And that's the greater offense.

01:02:55.040 And that offense, he will write.

01:02:57.480 He will write.

01:02:59.400 It's just a matter of time.

01:03:00.920 God will not be mocked.

01:03:03.440 He won't.

01:03:05.040 And if the person does actually get away with it,

01:03:08.100 sometimes it seems like they get away with it,

01:03:09.620 but they don't in an objective, real sense.

01:03:11.580 But even if they do get away with it,

01:03:12.920 you know what that means?

01:03:14.020 It means it wasn't an offense towards God.

01:03:15.780 it was just an offense towards you

01:03:18.540 meaning it wasn't a real offense

01:03:21.500 you took up an offense

01:03:23.140 that you shouldn't have taken

01:03:23.960 they actually didn't do anything wrong

01:03:27.980 you were actually the victimizer

01:03:29.800 you thought you were the victim

01:03:31.140 you were actually the victimizer

01:03:32.900 you were actually the oppressor

01:03:35.280 you were bearing false witness

01:03:37.940 you thought so highly of yourself

01:03:40.720 that you just couldn't even believe

01:03:42.900 that it would be ethical or moral or right

01:03:45.000 for this to happen to you?

01:03:47.880 According to possible, no, no, no, no.

01:03:49.740 But really, it wasn't because

01:03:51.060 they actually did something offensive.

01:03:52.380 They actually did something

01:03:53.160 that was immoral against God's law.

01:03:55.020 No, it was because you were fostering 0.99

01:03:56.580 and harboring this ridiculous, 1.00

01:03:59.200 arrogant view of yourself 0.99

01:04:00.340 that makes anything an offense.

01:04:02.420 That makes someone who actually

01:04:03.680 corrects you in love,

01:04:05.880 according to your standard,

01:04:07.060 an offense because you're beyond correction.

01:04:09.360 No one could correct me righteously.

01:04:10.800 There's no way to righteously correct me

01:04:12.660 because I'm fantastic.

01:04:17.360 So the point is this, God will set everything right.

01:04:20.640 We wait expectantly.

01:04:22.140 We know he'll do this because he loves us.

01:04:24.480 He's promised to be good to us.

01:04:26.280 He's committed to our eternal happiness.

01:04:28.120 But more than all that, he's committed to his own self,

01:04:30.620 his own reputation, his own glory.

01:04:33.140 He will not be mocked.

01:04:34.820 He will not be misrepresented.

01:04:37.060 Not forever.

01:04:37.940 He's long suffering.

01:04:39.060 He's slow in anger,

01:04:39.960 but he will not allow these things to happen indefinitely.

01:04:43.820 And if he does, it's because it wasn't actually sin.

01:04:46.940 You were the one who sinned in taking up a wrong offense.

01:04:51.100 So how do we wait for the Lord?

01:04:53.040 Humbly, quietly, that's courageously,

01:04:55.860 obediently, so actively,

01:04:57.480 but active to what God commands and with hope.

01:05:01.140 We wait with hope, we wait expectantly.

01:05:03.340 And what is it to wait on the Lord?

01:05:04.960 For our soul to wait on the Lord?

01:05:06.720 It's to fear him.

01:05:08.160 And why do we fear him?

01:05:09.960 because you can only run to him.

01:05:11.400 There is no running from him.

01:05:13.060 Those who do not fear the Lord reverently,

01:05:15.520 who fear him with dread and not with awe,

01:05:17.480 will be put to shame.

01:05:18.720 Their plans will be thwarted.

01:05:20.120 And what's the benefit of fearing the Lord?

01:05:22.260 His benevolent, loving eye is upon you

01:05:25.320 to deliver you, to provide, and to protect.

01:05:28.920 And that's Psalm 33.

01:05:30.160 Let's pray.

01:05:31.160 Father God, thank you for your word.

01:05:32.840 Thank you for the blessing and the gift that it is to us.

01:05:35.960 And Father, we pray that you would empower us now

01:05:37.500 to worship you through song,

01:05:38.620 that you might be pleased.

01:05:40.340 We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

01:05:42.680 Thanks so much for listening.

01:05:43.960 But real quick, before you go, do us a small favor,

01:05:47.160 take a moment and leave us a five-star review

01:05:49.560 if you enjoyed the show.

01:05:51.160 This is undoubtedly the best way

01:05:53.500 that you can help us get this biblically faithful content

01:05:56.400 to as many people as possible.

01:05:58.540 Thanks so much.

The NXR Podcast - September 18, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - How To Wait Upon The Lord ｜ Psalm 33

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript