Psalm 129: From the Soil of Our Pain | Douglas Wilson

the text this morning is psalm 129 what we just saying these are the words of god many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may israel now say many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me the plows plowed upon my back they made long their furrows the lord is righteous he hath cut us under the cords of the wicked let them all be confounded and turned back that hate zion let them be as the grass upon the housetops which withereth before it growth up wherewith the mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves sheaves his bosom neither do they which go by say the blessing of the lord be upon you we bless you in the name of the lord our father and gracious god we thank you for your kindness to us we thank you for gathering us here yet again so we can hear your word i pray your spirit would be active in our midst encouraging us as we need to be encouraged teaching and strengthening us we pray in jesus name amen one of scripture's great themes is the theme of deliverance the bible is all about salvation we learn in the first pages of the bible the the sin and ruin that we plunged ourselves into by disobeying god's word and right after that god promises seat of the woman who will come and deliver us and that deliverance that that deliverance is talked about all the way through scripture scripture is all about salvation scripture is all about god's glory in our deliverance god first delivers us from the bondage of our sins we are in chains uh in our own person in our own life in our own our own lusts our own tangle entanglements god first delivers us from the bondage of our sins and then after this he delivers us from the spite and the hate leveled at us by those who hate the fact that we've been delivered from the bondage of our sins in other words not everyone is delivered from sin at the same moment and when people are delivered from sin and others are not yet delivered from sin those who are still in their sins hate those who have been so delivered and so god delivers us both ways god delivers us from our sins and god delivers us from the hatred of those who hate the fact that we have been delivered this is a psalm about that second kind of deliverance this is a psalm about deliverance from the persecutor now this is the way of the world persecution is not an unusual thing this is the way of the world no sooner is the man-child of revelation born but the dragon is after him and his mother revelation 12 13. the history of the world is a history of billions of deaths billy since the day you eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden you shall surely die and we've been dying ever since but it's worth noting that out of all those billions of deaths the very first one was the death of a martyr that was that sort of set the pitch that sort of set the theme or this is going to be that kind of world abel as we're told in luke 11 51 hebrews 11 4 that abel was righteous abel was killed because he was righteous his sacrifice was received and cain hated him for it so the first the first death in this world was the death of a martyr and now as we go through this psalm we're going to be addressing the the subject of persecution and while i will not be making explicit references to our situation here in moscow you are invited to make your own applications for use in your prayers it does apply and the reason i can say it does the reason i can say this applies is because these things always apply there's always antipathy between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent there's always hostility there is always an antithesis and you can't just wave your hand and make it go away it will not go away so these things apply to us and you might say well it's not they i'm not sure they apply because it's not that bad well we're going to get there in a moment the psalmist here refers to in verse 1 many a time those are the first words many a time have they afflicted me from my youth so he's been afflicted many a time and this has been the case from his youth verse one this was true for him and all of israel is invited to join with him in his lament he says many times i've been afflicted and then he says let israel say all right so i've this is true of me it's also true of everyone who is called by the name of the lord let israel now say many a time they have afflicted me he says it again which is to say us so many time they've afflicted me let israel say many time they have afflicted me that is to say us and yet verse 2 they have not prevailed they have not prevailed the image of plowing is then used referring probably to the stripes from a flogging verse 3. so the if someone is flogged the stripes on his back reminded the psalmist of a plowed field verse 3. they made long furrows on his back but the lord is righteous and the lord intervened the lord is righteous and he intervened on behalf of his beloved he cut the traces and cords of the oxen pulling these plows of contempt this machinery of persecution so i think that the image between three and four the plowers plowed and the image in four i don't think he's radically changing the metaphor i think it's all one sustained metaphor the plowers plowed long furrows on my back and then the lord intervened by by cutting the traces and the oxen uh scattered the oxen go off this machinery of persecution is brought to nothing this is then followed by the psalmist's pious wish that those who hate zion be confounded and turned around verse five let them be like grass that grows on rooftops let them be like the grass that grows on rooftops which withers almost immediately verse six let them not be enough grass for a mower even to bother with or a harvester to gather verse 7. let them grow to nothing in other words this last verse implies a likely custom from that day when you walked by a field of abundant grain it was apparently a custom to bless the field oh isn't god good to us blessed a blessing in the name of the lord verse 8 and he says let that not happen with this uh with these persecutors who are growing little tufts of brown rooftop grass the kind of grass that might grow in your rain gutters so you you don't walk by the house and say blessed be the harvest in the name of the lord that's not a harvest that's not that's not worth giving the time of day to now here in the palouse we know what it's like to drive by a field that acre upon hundreds of acres of golden grain we should think gratefully blessing in the name of the lord blessing in the name of the lord that's the kind of thing that god does persecutors however grow to nothing now we're talking about persecution and whenever american christians take note of the first stage of our developing uh persecution which is what this is we ought to take note of it we ought to notice we ought to realize that something bad is coming we are often mocked as being nothing more than pampered whiners do you call that persecution that's not persecution that's paper cut persecution you nobody in the history of the world has ever had it so good as you guys and you think you're persecuted because sitcoms make fun of your kind sitcoms they've got a laugh track that laughs at you you they laugh at you because you believe in jesus they laugh at you because you belo belong to a conservative bible-believing denomination and it's a few chuckles you call that persecution well we are christians right we are christians which means that we should stand back from this kind of taunt and let our lord define what persecution looks like what is persecution how does jesus define persecution now of course when someone is burned at the stake that's persecution when abel is killed by cain that was persecution when martyrs spend years in jail and then die because of how they were imprisoned in north korea or china or elsewhere of course that is vicious violent persecution of course that is persecution but remember that we're christians and jesus defines everything for us scurrilous verbal abuse is most certainly included in what jesus describes as persecution and it's frequently used incidentally you ought to be aware of this that kind of scurrilous abuse is frequently used as the run-up the preparation for uh what's coming next in other words people don't wake up and start persecuting a group of people in their midst that they think the world of and have highly respected until yesterday that's not how it happens you have to be ostracized you have to be dehumanized you have to be mocked for a period of years first you have to be assigned as you're the troublemakers you're the ones causing all the difficulty you're the ones who are being unreasonable and you have to have that go on for some years and then when actual persecution breaks out people are all right with it because well after all those people are the troublemakers we're we're we're finally dealing with the troublemakers that preparatory work that preparatory work is described by the lord as persecution in matthew 5 11 and 12 it says blessed are ye when men shall revile you he says when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say notice how persecution is sandwiched between reviling and saying all right they revile you they persecute you and shall say all manner against you falsely all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you in other words the prophets of the old testament were treated in exactly this same way oftentimes when uh when people end their death with the mar in their life with the martyrdom it that's not the first trouble they encountered jesus died at the end of his life jesus died just before he rose again but there were there was an extended period of time where he was called a glutton and a wine bibber and demon possessed and you you're crazy and you've got a problem and you've got a problem and you've got a problem right the lord defines what it means to be persecuted and we are we are most certainly reviled and we are most certainly lied about but we also have to take care not not to apply just the one half of the passage that because this is a perennial temptation right to apply the half of the passage that applies to the other guy all right we shouldn't just quote matthew 5 11 and 12 because see you're you're reviling and lying and slandering and you're bad and evil and wicked that applies that part applies to them when we are lied about you racists right you white supremacists you evil doers you you know you people a racist is someone who's winning an argument with a liberal so you're winning an argument with a liberal and they haul out the racist tag that ra you're you're a racist you hate black people you are a white supremist now that's just crazy that's bonkers we we reject those sorts of sins from the word of god but when we're lied about in that way what does jesus say to do when you're called a racist what what are you told to do well he says make sure to rejoice jesus says rejoice make sure your response is to be exceedingly glad make sure to overflow with exceeding gladness you overflow with exceeding gladness you don't say the first half of the verse says you shouldn't be calling me that so you must obey your half of the verse while i am stoutly refusing to obey my half of the verse if if we set the model for them let's let's all together disobey matthew 5 11 and 12. then they get to disobey it as much as we do at least as far as we're concerned and that is not how we should be we need to stoutly steadfastly rejoice in the lord when we are lied about it's a good thing it's a design feature when we're lied about god is up to something and i want you to see from this psalm what he is up to some might think that the metaphor of a plowed back is an odd metaphor that's an odd metaphor but although it's striking there is a profound sense to it when per when the persecutors do their thing when persecutors do their work their intention is to grow a crop in the soil of our pain that's what they're doing people who plow are farmers people who plow are intending a crop people who plow are looking for some particular harvest now when you rejoice in our exceeding lead and give praise to god was that the crowd was that the crop they wanted no that's not the crop they wanted that's not the crop they wanted that's not why they did it they got something completely different than what they were intending so but they they thought they were going to get something and they were they were striving for that he purpose that man purposes a crop that means they want to grow something for themselves out of the travail of the saints they want to grow something for themselves out of the travail of the saints they are after something they are after something and our responsibility is to not let our fields yield the crop that they are after they're going to plow our back those are the furrows they're going to scourge us they're going to flog us and they intend to crop and we have the responsibility of not giving them that crop when we return reviling for reviling when we return bitterness for bitterness when we return malice for malice when we return hatred for hatred they are getting the crop they want you are helping them you are helping them don't help them now this is all the more possible because what does god do he allows them to do what they do and then when the time is just right he cuts the traces and their oxen run off so that he lets them plow the field he lets them plow they do plow the field and the pl the field is all plowed and ready and then he cuts the traces and their oxen run off this is because he is making them do the work for a crop but that crop is a crop of his own design and when we look at that crop when we look at that crop which is full abundant rich and golden we can say over the harvest blessed bless you in the name of the lord we can look at that affliction we could look at that persecution we could look at that time of trial and say and see what came from it and say bless you in the name of the lord the devil wants to grow despair in the furrows of your affliction the devil wants to grow despair in the furrows of your affliction god intends to grow a bumper crop of joy and gladness out of those same out of those same furrows god is and god is sovereign the devil knows what he wants and he's striving for what he wants and god is going to overturn it all now this psalm 129 is an imprecatory psalm it's a psalm of imprecation a psalm of cursing this kind of cursing this kind of imprecatory psalm is not a matter of personal vengeance this prayer of cursing is directed in verse 5 is directed at all those who hate zion this is aimed at the enemies of god as the enemies of god david as as the author of most of the psalms in the book of psalms knew what it was to pray prayers to sing psalms of imprecation david knew how to do that but how did david treat his own personal enemy let's say king saul when he had king saul within his reach he could kill he could have killed king saul a couple of times and refused to do it he cut off a corner of his robe and his conscience smote him about that i was i was taking too much on myself he david did not treat king saul as a personal enemy in in a way that he would vindictively take his life but david can utter some fierce fierce curses in the psalms but they are aimed at the enemies of god as the enemies of god that's what we have here those who hate zion imprecatory psalms therefore are no justification for your road rage let's say nor are they to be directed at people who happen to annoy or inconvenience you these psalms are not the pins for a scriptural voodoo doll where you you're trying to get somebody who's getting on your nerves that person's getting on my nerves on my personal nerves not anybody else's but i'm going to i'm going to hunt through the psalms for imprecations no no we stand against those who hate the lord and who hate all of his people because they are his people where imprecatory psalms are reserved for those who hate the lord and who hate god's people because i they are his people this prayer is leveled against the enemies of zion now if it's the and you can here's a little tell for you here's a little indicator that you're doing well in this regard like david with saul how does david treat saul when saul falls into his hands as a personal enemy well he treats him magnanimously he treats him charitably um and how does how is david in battle how's david and his prayers he's he's he's a fearsome warrior how can you tell that you're doing one and not the other if it's the good pleasure of god to destroy an enemy by making him into a friend as he did with the apostle paul this is something that the sons and daughters of zion can readily take as a true and genuine blessing when god destroys an enemy by transforming that enemy into a friend we can take it as a true and an upright blessing in galatians 1 23 and 24 what does paul say about his previous life as a persecutor he says but they had heard but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which he wants which once he destroyed notice that word destroyed and they glorify god in me in acts it says that paul savage saul of tarsus savaged the church and the verb there is the kind of verb you would use a wild animal savaging uh the beast of prey so saul saul was breathing threats and murder saul hated christians he went off to damascus to arrest christians he says in one place that when they were put to death he cast his vote indicating he had a vote indicating he was part of the part of the machinations of this persecution and the and these people in judea glorified god in me paul says they glorified god in me and i want you to imagine being a widow listening to a sermon from a man whose persecuting zeal had led to your husband's death that's the situation we're talking about that's the kind of situation we're in they what did they do they glorified god in me they rejoiced in what they rejoiced in the destruction of an enemy all right isn't that what we're praying for now god destroys his enemies two ways one he transforms them into friends he overthrows them and he as he did with the apostle paul saul of tarsus and he also overthrows his enemies in an old school sort of way god does it both ways but if we're christians we have to glorify god both ways all right if if you if you're so if someone is persecuting zion and you're praying psalms of imprecation and someone tells you you know that he's on this he's going to be converted you know no no i've been praying that he wouldn't i want i want to pray that man into hell no if you're praying that man into hell guess where you're going that's not god's way that's that's not how we're to function so they glorified god in me they they rejoiced in the destruction of an enemy and we rejoice when in the first instance if it's through their transformation their death burial and resurrection in christ into a true friend not only did god make paul into a friend he made him into an apostle and the writer of the majority of the new testament right and we can glorify god in him the same way that widow if there was a widow whoever listened to a sermon from paul and did it without seething with resentment that is the grace of god that's what god is doing in this world it's a broken world it's a messed up world and god's way for overcoming that brokenness is the way now this is the next part if such a triumph through conversion is not the will of our god if god resolves not to convert that persecutor then we should still ask still continue to ask him to undertake on our behalf we are asking god to undertake on behalf of zion that's what we want the glory of god in the preservation of his people the glory of god in the deliverance of his people is what we are interested in it's what we are all about and our preference is that god would transform them into friends but failing that we want him to defend his people regardless spurgeon uh put once put it this way study a chapter he said from the book of martyrs he was referring to fox's book of martyrs study a chapter from the book of martyrs and see if you do not feel inclined to read an imprecatory psalm over bishop bonner and bloody mary bloody mary was mary tudor who persecuted the church savagely for about five years hundreds of martyrs um put to death latimer and ridley uh were burned at the stake thomas cranmer was burned at the stake under bloody mary back to spurgeon it may be no he he said you may be inclined to pray an immigratory prayer over bishop bonner and bloody mary it may be that some wretched 19th century sentimentalist will blame you if so read another over him so so for whatever else you say spurgeon was not a 19th century sentimentalist that we we we are consumed the zeal for zeal for god's house should consume us and but the zeal for god's house includes zeal for god's ways so when god converts his enemies we rejoice in that we glorify god in that but that if that hasn't happened yet we still want we still want god to be glorified now christ is the ultimate persecuted one christ is the ultimate victim of persecution as as with other psalms this psalm is about christ i want you to think for a minute our lord was flogged our lord was flogged and by his stripes we are healed it says isaiah 53 5 by his stripes we are healed first peter 2 24 quotes that by his stripes we are healed what was the devil doing when he had when he inspired the crowds to cry crucified him crucify him what was the devil up to if the ruling paul says if the rulers of this age had known what they were doing they would not have crucified the lord of glory they wouldn't have done what they did when when the devil was egging the soldiers on to flog the lord jesus christ was he doing it so that you would be healed no but what crop was god growing when when the devil plowed the lord's bla the lord's back when the devil plowed the lord's back what crop was he growing he was growing the salvation of the world that's what he was by his stripes we are healed that's the crop that god was growing the devil intended one thing and god used that to bring him down so the lord's suffering is ours the lord's suffering is imputed to us by his stripes we're healed his life is our life his death is our death his burial is our burial his resurrection is our resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of the father is our ascension to the right hand of the father so all of his suffering is on our behalf all of his suffering is imputed to us all of his suffering is reckoned to us but we also learn in scripture that it goes the other way our suffering is also his acts 9 verse 4 and he this is referring to saul and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him saul saul why persecutest thou me jesus is in heaven jesus is at the right hand of god the father saul is breathing threats and murder it says and he's off to damascus with papers for arresting believers he's going to arrest those people he's going to throw them in prison he's going to try to get them to blaspheme he is going he's he describes himself later in his life as a blasphemer and an insolent man he was a piece of work and he's going after the saints in damascus and how does jesus from heaven describe it saul saul why per why persecute us thou me what you do to the body you do to the head what you do to the body you do to the head when when saul was going after christians the lord reckoned it as being done to him the lord reckoned saul's persecution of the body as persecution directed aimed at the head which it was and what is done to the to the least of these is reckoned as done to christ as we see in another context in matthew 25 40-45 the lord looks at what's done to believers as done to him what was done to jesus was done for us what's done to us is done to jesus we have union with christ and because of union with christ everything that everything that is his belongs to us his his uh making satisfaction for all of our sins that's ours in second corinthians 5 20 it says god made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of god you see the transaction everything that we have our iniquity becomes his and then he is crucified on the cross because he he receives our iniquity so that we might become the righteousness of god in him that's the glorious that's the transaction of our salvation our iniquity becomes his and his righteousness becomes ours but it's not just righteousness and unrighteousness it's also affliction and suffering there's a great exchange that's made what's done to the head is done to the body what happens in the body is reckoned to the head in different ways according to the in according to what it is if it's an affliction it's reckoned one way if it's iniquity it's reckoned another so jesus is our head we have union with him so remember that you're not being persecuted when you are persecuted you are not being persecuted for your failures are you're very aware of your failures you're very aware of your faults you and you know that if god were to mark iniquities no no not one of us could stand if god were to take one the the the term paper of this last week this last week of your life if god were to take that paper and grade it strictly we all know there'd be red ink all over it we know that in our own name in our own efforts in our own being we're a mess we're still a mess we still have all sorts of remaining corruptions and faults and failings we know that but when we are persecuted that's not that's not why we are being persecuted when we are persecuted the enemy will often use our failings against us but they don't care about our failings they're up to their neck and the same kind of failings they don't care about your failings they will use your failings on you but that's not the reason for the persecution the reason for the persecution is because of your connection to christ what what failings you do carry around with you as we all have to deal with are overcome in the grace of the gospel god contextualizes your failings for you you don't get to rationalize your failings you don't get to rationalize your sins just admit them just acknowledge them don't explain them away god is the only one who can who can contextualize your failings and he contextualizes them in the grace of the gospel so before you even think about turning around to face a persecutor or before you even think about preparing yourself for the coming persecution remember this is something you have to you have to anchor yourself in you have to embrace you have to hold yourself to this this is what you must know remember that the grace of god is more than adequate to deal with all of your shortcomings the grace of god is more than adequate to deal with all of your shortcomings never forget as the great puritan richard sibs once put it that there's far more grace in christ than there is sin in you let me say that again there's far more grace in christ than there is sin in you not only so but if we take us all here you let me address you all as a gaggle of sinners all of you sinners there's far more grace in christ than there is in all of you put together all of you put together and if we were standing before the throne of gra before the throne of god that last great day that's talked about in revelation and i saw a multitude john says that no one could number a multitude that knowed good number an innumerable host there's more grace in christ than there is sin and all of them all of us there is more grace available ready and applied god's grace overcomes god's grace triumphs god's grace deals with it and that means you don't have to listen to the you don't have to listen to the whispers of the slanderer you're you know you're you're trying to stand up for what's right and the devil comes up he's at your elbow right away and he's whispering to you you're a big fat sinner you know you're a failure you're a bunch of nothing you you look at you go you righteous person you i saw you yesterday i saw how quickly you snatched that temptation that i offered you you thought yesterday was pretty succulent and now today you're going to be mr righteous man you're going to spank your kid for doing the same thing you did what a what a stinking hypocrite what do you say to charges like that the devil is the accuser of the brethren who accuses them day and night before the throne the holy spirit is the comforter the devil's the accuser listen to the holy spirit don't listen to the devil now there's two things when the devil lies about you when the devil comes at you and lies and says you did this you know i saw you shoplifting at tri-state and you said i've not been in tri-state you know the devil's lying right you can just laugh rejoice be exceedingly glad all right but when the suppose he comes at you with something that you say you know there's there's more than an element of truth and that yeah i did i do sit in that area i do stumble in that area what do you say that you say guilty is charged guilty as charged but i've got bad news for you i've already been crucified for that in jesus christ that sin that offense was nailed to the cross and i was nailed to the cross in christ and buried in the grave for three days and then came back from the dead without any sin the sin was left in the grave and i came out of it so you you got the right guy wrong time right guy wrong time never forget there's a another great puritan thomas goodwin this time said that christ could not love you any more than he does christ could not love you any more than he does god's love for you in christ cannot be improved upon god's love for you in christ god's mercy toward you god's grace extended toward you cannot grow cannot god's not getting used to you you're not an acquired taste god is he loved you before the foundation of the world he set his love on you he knew what he was getting into when he when he chose you he knew all about it and so consequently he doesn't have to grow or get accustomed to god's love for you does not grow cannot be improved upon there's infinitely more grace than there is sin in all of us put together and there is there is love adequate to deal with all of us all of us together so your union with christ is a precious gift your union with christ is a precious gift so of course don't abuse it by misidentifying the source of your troubles as peter warns us in first peter 4 15. don't don't get uh don't embezzle at your job for example and after you're caught for embezzling and you get fired don't say well this is all because of cancel culture right you're not fired because of cancer culture because you're embezzling peter says if uh if you're accused of being a murderer an embezzler anything like that make sure it's not true all right don't don't suffer that sort of thing but what does he say in the next verse in verse 16 yet if any man suffer as a christian now christians have faults christians have blind spots christians have things that they need to deal with but there are genuine christians in the world if you suffer as a christian what does what does peter say let him not be ashamed let him not be ashamed but let him glorify god on his behalf let him glorify god on his behalf this is because christ is in all of it christ surrounds you christ is the context in which you live it is in him that we live and move and have our being christ is in all of it the crop that god intends is a crop that will glorify him the crop that god intends is a crop that will glorify him and you can truly say over every furrow on your back cut by every lying plow we bless you in the name of christ you're walking by an abundant field you're walking by a field that's growing a rich golden harvest and it was all it all grew in the in the furrows of your affliction all of it grew there and so you bless god for the crop you bless him for the crop and you you don't have to bless him for what the devil wanted to do but you can bless him for what he god did in fact do so why does all of this happen christ is everything christ is all christ is the farmer and christ is the soil and christ is the seed and christ is the rain and christ is the son and we are in him he purposes a crop he purposes a crop our gracious god and father we thank you for your kindness to us we thank you for this psalm we thank you for this word we thank you for this day we thank you for the opportunity that we have to worship you in this way today we offer it all back to you in the name of jesus who taught us to pray in this way occasionally folks wonder what it means when we confess that we believe in the holy catholic church in the apostles creed wait i thought we were protestants we're not catholics are we well it's true that we're not roman catholics which is why if you check our bulletin we don't capitalize catholic we're not under the bishop of rome the pope or hold to the peculiar doctrines of that church but the word catholic by itself simply means universal it comes from two greek words which literally mean concerning the whole so we do believe in the universal church and because the universal church is the bride of christ it is holy it is sanctified it's set apart to jesus when we say we believe in the holy catholic church we mean that we believe that jesus has set apart people to himself all over the world throughout history everyone who confesses that jesus christ is lord and believes that god raised him from the dead is part of this universal church baptism is the sign of membership in that one catholic church and the lord's supper is our communion in the body of christ and we mean body in at least two ways we mean body of christ in the sense that christ himself feeds all of us with his own life and that's what this bread represents but we also mean body of christ in the sense that all who believe are part of christ all who believe are in christ and therefore they are his body they belong to him it's no accident that the creed put several things together there at the very end the holy ghost the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting all of it goes together all who trust in jesus as their savior receive his holy spirit and that holy spirit unites us to god and one another and this is what it means to be part of the holy catholic church and the communion of saints we have this communion with all true christians fundamentally because we have communion with god and because our sins have been forgiven and we're all waiting together for the resurrection of the body and everlasting life together with christ and one another so do you believe then come are you baptized then come are your sins all forgiven then come are you part of the body then come there's bread for all who are bread does the spirit yearn inside of you for the resurrection and for everlasting life then come you're very welcome do you love the saints here do you love the saints around the world then come come and welcome to jesus christ and the night in which he was betrayed jesus took bread and he gave thanks so let's give thanks together our god and father we praise you and thank you that through your son's death and resurrection and ascension and the pouring out of his spirit you are making a people for yourself throughout the whole world and throughout all of history father thank you for knitting us into that great body father thank you for the saints that we don't even know thank you for the saints that we will someday meet thank you for the saints that we miss and we look forward to seeing again father we thank you in jesus name amen let me just remind you to look for someone new to meet this morning there are a lot of new faces a lot of new people meet somebody new and as you meditate on these things that you've heard proclaimed this morning if the gospel weren't enough and it is but if that were not enough god begins the whole story of the bible in genesis with the story of joseph and remember joseph had every reason to hate his enemies sold by his brothers into slavery lied about and sent to jail falsely accused by potiphar's wife forgotten about in prison for years and years and then of course remember those great words at the very end of his life at the end of genesis after jacob's died his brothers come to him and think for sure now you're going to get revenge and joseph said no no no don't you know that what man meant for evil god intended for good what man intends for evil god over rights in history what man plows in his hatred god is planting in his love so believe that believe the gospel and receive this blessing now the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up his counts upon you and grant you his peace and amen [Music] you

Channel: Christ Kirk

Views: 966

Rating: 4.826087 out of 5

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Id: eERNI8bkCbI

Length: 42min 38sec (2558 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021