WEBINAR 352 - Surely

if you've been here for the  uh last few weeks you know   that i've been um dipping into david's mindset  david's spirit at the worst time of his life   when absolutely everything came home to  roost and his life was falling apart and   at such a time he gave us uh the psalms that  most people know it's very interesting if you   say psalm 23 everybody knows that psalm  27 the lord is my light and my salvation   psalm 3 you are my glory in the lifter of my head  those psalms and others were written at that time   david was probably in his 50s and that's pretty  old for people in those days and everything has   fallen apart absalom uh his son is leading  a very angry force of people to murder him   and he's fled for his life as a refugee and at  that time we've seen him once already psalm 3 but   he said he wrote psalm 23. we've got this image  a little shepherd boy playing twang tran twang   to his goats and whatever no he was a king who  was a refugee fleeing from his son his life was   in the balance and well more than in the  balance it looked like it was going to be   over very quickly and at that time he wrote psalm  23 and i set out to speak about psalm 23 verse 6   surely goodness and loving-kindness shall  follow me or better shall relentlessly pursue me   all the days of my life well as i  prepared it i got as far as the first word   and so i want to talk about surely  uh it's it's a word we do use today   but i think we've missed totally what it means  in the scripture surely you know why didn't he   simply say goodness and loving kindness will  follow me why does he preface it by saying   surely this word is very important in scripture it  is a covenant word when persons made covenant then   they would use this word to describe the promises  and commitments they've made to each other   you could actually place it into our  wedding service the wedding ceremony   which is the only thing left in the west which is  a covenant but if you said in the wedding service   surely for better for worse surely in sickness and  in health that that would get the idea it means   i am committed to this come hell or high water  come death or life surely that that's it and you   never use the word casually it was always with  that understanding even if you didn't use it   absolutely covenantally it was always back there  that this is a solemn word this is a word which is   declaring the promises i've made commitments  i've made terms of life that i've laid down   they are now accomplished they're done and they're  functioning it's happening and it so it's we   speaks to the oath uh in in the marriage service  that i just referenced that is an oath you're   taking before god well that's what this word  speaks to it it speaks to the oath of covenant   when the maker of the covenant says so help me  god unto life or to death i will keep my word   and you used it um it would be like the the person  entering covenant would say surely i am with you   it's the the word you can tell you're saying  you can take this one to the bank you know   there's no doubt about this this is the way  things are and the uh as i said here in the   west we know nothing about covenant we are the  blindest deafest mutest people in the world   because wherever else you go in the world they  know about covenant they still do it um we don't   uh we we are so shallow we're so self-centered  in the west we've turned it deliberately turn the   word into contract and a contract is the absolute  reverse of covenant if i make a contract with you   it's because i don't trust you as far as i can  see you it means if i say surely i'm saying you'd   better do this or i'll get you uh and it's got  all these ifs in it if you do this i'll do that if   if uh that's a contract it's a terrible document  it's got nothing to do with love nothing to do   with trust it's everything to do with protecting  me against you because i don't trust you   covenant is nothing well it's the  polar opposite it is that i now   without boundaries within the scope of these  promises i make i give myself totally to you   in order that i might be for you all you need me  to be and that is for life or for death there's no   ifs in it it's not if you're a good boy it is i'm  going to be with you whatever happens wherever you   go whatever you get yourself into i will never  leave you i'll never forsake you it will be   until death it may be that to keep this covenant  i will have to die for you well so be it and so   they would actually cut their hand or their arm  and with the blood running down they would say   until death doers part it's it's life or  death that's a covenant and that's the   word that dominates the entire bible  old testament should be old covenant   the word testimony on earth do they put that i  don't know it should be covenant and new covenant   and it's as i say all through the old testament  you have covenants that are made that come to the   grand finale in the blood of jesus being shared  which is called the new covenant so what am i   saying is the unspeakable really if you haven't  heard it before god has made covenant with us   now after what i've just said about covenant it  means god has given himself away to us literally   he said i will be your god i am giving myself to  you and in giving myself to you i ask nothing of   you because i know you would break it anyway  so i'm taking my part in giving but i'm also   taking your part and this this i am the personal  guarantee of this covenant i am going to do this   all you do is rest into me and say thank you  it's my gift it's the covenant and he prefaces   the covenant with surely now just just to think  for a minute i said there's a covenant oath   when when we make a covenant we call upon god and  say so help me god and watch over this covenant   that i keep it well who does god call out to if  god makes a covenant who does he say i swear by   his god and the bible makes a lot of  that that when he made covenant with us   he couldn't swear by any greater for he is god  so therefore he swore upon his own being as god   and was saying that if i don't keep this  covenant then god himself will cease to exist   and if god ceases then the whole creation puffs is  gone that's the solemnity that is behind this word   surely he's saying god has sworn on his  own being and why does he make a covenant   why can't he just say it well he could he does  not need a covenant to make sure he'll keep it   and that's how human beings do it uh i love  you but i know my weakness and so we'll make   a covenant and bind ourselves to keep this  well god's not going to forget the covenant   god's not going to forget what he said nor is  he going to change his mind so why does he do it   and he says he does it for us because  we are so used to people letting us down   we are so used to words that don't mean anything  that he said just for you i've given you my word   but now i'm going to add to that a covenant  so that by these two things you will know   i can never let you down i can never lie  to you i could never alter what i say   and let let me read it to you in hebrews 6 13  it says for when god made the promise to abraham   now here remember i've just said since he could  swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying   i will surely that's the word i will surely bless  you and will surely multiply you and so abraham   patiently waited obtained the promise for men  swear by one greater than themselves and with them   an oath given as confirmation is an end of every  dispute you made the oath that's the end of it   we're not going to talk about it anymore it's  done in the same way god desiring even more to   show to the heirs of promise the unchangeableness  of his purpose put there an oath so that by two   unchangeable things his word and the covenant  in which it's impossible for god to lie   we who have taken refuge have strong  encouragement and the amplified um is   a little easier maybe i'll quickly read it  men indeed swear by a greater than themselves   with them in all disputes the oath taken for  confirmation is the final it's the ending   accordingly god also in his desire to show more  convincingly and beyond any doubt to those who   were to inherit the promise he's showing them  the unchangeableness of his purpose and plan   he intervened mediated with an oath this was  so that by two unchangeable things his promise   and his covenant oath in which it's impossible  for god ever to prove false or to deceive us   it's impossible that's all  wrapped up in the word surely   when you say surely that's what you're  referring to and just one more uh david   was given god spoke to david about the covenant in  psalm 89 33 and he says to david i will not break   off my loving kindness or my covenant from  him nor deal deal falsely in my faithfulness   my covenant i will not violate nor will i  alter the utterance of my lips that is you're   not going to turn to scripture and say there's a  promise and god say well we changed that in 1800   it's i'm sorry you didn't get the memo no as it  was written so it is he says that that it's um   done i will not alter the utterance of my lips  once i have sworn by my holiness i will not lie okay and of course as i said all these covenants  pointed to jesus when god himself became man when   god joined with us to perfection that is he was  100 man as you and i he took our place yet never   cease to be god and so in him god and man joined  together and shedding his blood indeed to death he   carried us to the father and seated us inside his  incredible love and goodness and loving-kindness   so i i can't say any more than that i think that  establishes what this word surely is rooted in   when you said surely it's the most solemn word  you can ever say surely in fact let me say this   to reverse it let's say we'll reverse it  god is not good god it does not exercise   his loving kindness toward you well for you to  say that and and have some effect it would mean   that we have to reverse the resurrection jesus  has got to go back into death and not get out   well actually no it's worse than that he he's got  to um go back to the incarnation go back into the   womb of the virgin mary and back and then be a  stillborn and nothing and well if that happens   then the very purpose of god from the beginning  falls apart everything falls apart i want you   to feel the seriousness i i wasn't just kind of  joking there i mean it to reverse the word surely   you have to reverse the resurrection and reverse  the incarnation and to leave us with a no god   that's pretty strong now what is goodness surely  goodness goodness without taking the whole hour on   it is the glory of god do you remember in exodus  moses said show me your glory and when he did   remember he says i will cause my goodness to pass  before you and so the goodness of god is the glory   of god and we've talked before that the very word  glory one of its first meanings is opinion and and   therefore the opinion of god toward us that's his  glory search every nook and cranny of the universe   you will never find a god invented by humans that  has any opinion about you that is love and that's   why that's the touchstone when you you come up  against religion and religion does not worship the   gods who came to us in jesus christ even though  the word christian might be outside the church   religion has created a god whose opinion of us  is dirt and now we come to the god who comes to   us in jesus and his opinion of us is nothing but  goodness that is he's committed that's his opinion   that he is going to reveal to us over and over  and over again what is it what is that goodness   jesus likened it to a good father if you remember  he went back there more than once and said that   you give good gifts to your children and he says  you you're not really much of fathers anyway   he said you you being evil yet you do  as fathers know how to give good gifts   how much more your heavenly father is the ultimate  good he is the he is the good and delights to give   to us and he goes on at that time to say something  that's very upsetting to a lot of people where he   says your father is so good he gives rain upon the  fields of the just and the unjust so apparently   he's not ordering his goodness according to the  behavior of humans no it's all part of that surely   god says you can't influence me by how you behave  you don't don't think you can say something and   i'll go off in a pouting huff no he says i am who  i am and i do what i do because i am who i am not   because of who you are so i bless the just  and i bless the unjust and i give good gifts   goodness he's watching over us you could almost  say the words that are used almost i'm not saying   this is the best translation i'm just saying  almost you could say he fusses over us um   he cares for you that's what he says but care has  in it the idea of fuss it means he's watching for   everything that you need everything that will  make you filled with joy and going out of his   way to wonderfully surprise you he's good father  he's a good dad that's what jesus was saying his goodness is revealed in his ever-present love  goodness loving-kindness well that's a word that's   joined to covenant when a covenant is made  thereafter you live in this state called loving   kindness which is that in every day it's it's  it's sort of the workhorse of the covenant it's   it's when the covenant is seven days a week  uh 24 7. it's it's what's happening to you   and you're going to meet loving kindness all  the time he's always there saying remember i   made covenant i made covenant i'm with you i'm  with you i'll never leave you and this is where   you go from here and this is where you go from  here is never leaving us but vitally involved   in on our lives that's loving kindness which  spills into the new testament as grace you   won't find the word grace very much in the old  testament that the word grace in the old testament   is loving-kindness and in the new testament  it says grace this unlimited giving of god   to us for it says that jesus is grace grace is not  some you know fuzzy white thing that comes on us   when we need help um nor is it what's that i  think they say that the grace is uh god you know   undeserved faith that's so is so shallow that  grace means that god gives his very self to us   and that giving is in jesus who is god with us   and so he is the source of all grace all giving  and he never quits he says grace upon grace which   is almost like the waves of the sea and one wave  comes in another follows and the other follows   every time he gives grace replaces grace replaces  you never without it grace loving kindness   okay it says in lamentations um jeremiah says  i recall this to mind therefore i have hope the   lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease his  compassions never fail they are new every morning   great is your faithfulness that is saying what  i've been trying to say for the last 20 minutes   the and he says surely that would be  enough but he said says my goodness   and my loving kindness and of course i i already  corrected it when we read it our bibles say   follow which is very weak translation the word  there is used very specifically of a relentlessly   pursuing it means that nothing nothing will stop  him coming after us to to be that to us and so   every promise everything god has ever  said there it is handed to us with surely   a god who never quits giving to us surely  the the word let me quickly give some other   possibilities to the word because they might  help i tell you where it shows up in our modern   language is assurance ah sure and um assurance  is another covenant word it means that you have   sworn to me in oath to never leave me nor  forsake me therefore i have i'm assured   assured that that would be this word surely  but it means certain feel these words   they're not we don't use them much in english  anymore there's nothing certain but you come   to god and you expect him to be as uncertain as  washington is but no feel it when god says certain   as we've seen he means life and death i can never  never forsake you i'm certain it means unfailing   it means infallible it means what i have  said is secure beyond all possibility   of failing or being altered or being adjusted or  being broken being forgotten that's all impossible   this is an infallible word words there'll  never be a day when god will fail   in keeping his word to us so it means  unshakable it means permanent surely and i'm going to say this more than once  i think that surely does not apply to   us but it applies to the father and son and holy  spirit that is i don't have to grope inside of me   and say to god surely god i meant my decision no that's why people get saved  on tuesday wednesday and thursday   because it never works uh your decision is not  worth the breath that you speak it in sorry but   that includes me we're frail we're weak and  god knows that you are dust and right from   the beginning he never called upon us to say to  him surely he says to us surely this is a surely   an unfailing word gift of himself that  comes to us from god without calling on us okay did i you got that um it's a word that  points to the trinity never to us now that i   said that pretty quickly that was pretty easy  to say could take us a week to work it out   because it means there's nothing i  can do for god and that that's kind of   upsetting to my flesh i was kind of proud of what  i did for god but there's no i can't do anything   if it's grace then grace at its heart means a  gift that flows unconditional from the giver   well if i come along and say  how much is that going to cost   that it's no longer a gift in fact i have insulted  the giver right you tried that on christmas day   you know oh it's very nice how much did it cost  what do i owe you it's no it's ridiculous and   yet that is the meaning of religion religion  is where they assess the cost of god and you   you've got to buy him um but this is the settled  knowledge that he cannot lie it's because of who   he is it's because the very meaning of agape god  love is that passion that divine must in which   god must do us good for that is his being he must  exercise covenant loving kindness that's who he   is he is the kind of god that's going to surprise  you today because he's into that sort of stuff   he's good he's a good dad and he just loves to  look on your face when he surprises you with good   you didn't think you were better than god  in looking after your kids did you i mean really jesus use these illustrations i'm only   putting them into a little more  modern it's the character of god   god's character is he's the ultimate giver who  delights in giving and his gift is goodness that's his character that's who  he is it's the kind of god he is   and when we talk of god he doesn't  have anything he always is it   so he doesn't have goodness because then it could  be less tomorrow than it is today but if he is it   that he's the original fountain of all giving and  of all goodness and of all love and all kindness   and and and you've got you've got to be amazed of  that that makes us stand outside ourselves we lose   our mind for a minute it's a wonder it's beyond  our comprehension because i guarantee that 99.9 of   you listening on zoom and those of you listening  on the webinar as well as here this has been our   life this is not hidden in the corner we've been  trained to think of god as anything but that   you don't don't wake up in the morning say  i wonder how he's going to surprise me with   goodness today no over breakfast i wonder what  loving kindness is going to look like today   no we're cowering before that  monstrosity that they've given to us   who's obsessed with sin he is  obsessed with sin the god of religion   he's continually upset with you continually that's  why he created you to be annoyed with you forever and he's forever finding a new  threat to separate you away from him   this god i mean do i make sense here that i i'm  getting to the point of speechless here this god   surely this god is going to go to the  death in order to surround you and   fill your life with his goodness and loving  kindness and that's who he is as his character so david knows that even though absalom is  pressing down on him with intent to murder his own   father david is saying this is my life i'm like  a cork that floats at a vast ocean of goodness   and loving kindness and that  stands between me and absalom   truly as i said it's the declaration surely  okay now we don't have to talk about anymore   you've just said that's it  it's done we don't have to   work out the details you said surely i give my  word it's done it's now functioning it's ratified   now is is now always in the present tense  is now which i think is something that   we need to consider just that simple fact like is  now is now at this very moment that is this isn't   something i'm saying and you say well that's a  jolly good idea i'll go home and think about that   no i'm telling you right at this minute the  goodness of god the loving kindness of god   that is rooted and grounded in his  sworn oath of the blood of jesus   is right now as the [ __ ] ticks right now is  you don't have to go home and think about it   don't have to wait for me to give an appeal  because i won't give one um it's it's right   now it's right now is that that's the meaning of  surely it's done don't have to ask questions about   it anymore there's no possib all my thoughts  and all my imaginations concerning my past   and my present and the future are all governed  by this ultimate fact when my mind goes back to   stuff done in the past the holy spirit brings  me back and says surely don't don't go back   there surely is now goodness and loving kindness  and and i wander like a lost sheep into tomorrow   which is filled with anxiety and worry and  the holy spirit says surely come back come   back surely goodness there's enough goodness for  today and there'll be enough goodness for tomorrow   that's the way it is it's the ultimate fact and  again forgive me for going here more than usual   but this is so remote from what we're taught in  many churches that i have to keep going back to it   that religion taught me i'm  maybe not you but i could never i couldn't talk to god like this couldn't you you  you had prayer meetings but really you left saying   well i hope so really if you were honest about it  and the way you come back and pray for the same   thing next week it means you last week didn't mean  a thing um and then of course we always try to get   god off the hook because because we know he's not  going to do it you see he's not a faithful god   but we're sorry for him so we give him  an out and we say if it be your will that   every everybody's off the hook now so nothing  happens one didn't expect it it was in his world   there's no surely there it's and even if it  applies to me well then it's always if you do this   and if you do that and do you realize where we're  we're putting ourselves in a corner here that's a   very narrow corner surely means shut up all of  that religious crap and just believe he means   it and he's a faithful god who for our sake gave  us his word and a covenant oath and said surely i i realized that much of my life looked upon the  promises of god as being in the window of the god   store and there was a very high price on all of  it and that the door they reminded me i got to pay   the price and go all the way and all those other  words and um but even then they wouldn't guarantee   i would have enough cash in hand to buy it and  so all the promises of god the whole massive   um sort of the kingdom of god that's  placed in front of us really is a tease   i've got no guarantee it would ever happen  my experience is most of it doesn't anyway   and the way when we go to prayer meetings  is pretty obvious no one expects anything to   happen not yet teddy waves was and  everything that god says he gave us we   are asking for now so i guess he didn't uh do  you understand i'm not trying to be sarcastic   i'm there's something here that has hit me very  deep and it is the utter simplicity surely then   we don't keep asking for this we we act as if it's  true um we go into our day acting as if it's true   because surely means you don't go back and say  let's redo that document of the covenant no   you don't alter it he doesn't all tree  can't be altered it's stained in your blood   no but as i say we've we've been taught that  god's covenant oath in fact in practice means   there are nothing it only means that we now  have got to take over and make it happen   by endless prayer and fasting and claiming  and confessing and doing anything to get there   when he says you're there you're you're here and of course all our anxiety in actual  fact is contradicting god's faithfulness   it's a heavy statement but it's true every time  i'm anxious it means that i'm putting a big dark   question mark over god's faithfulness because i'm  going off into the future and so help me i'm alone   and this is what's going to happen i'm sure and  we get anxious but you've just said god's a liar   he has forsaken me and so on and that that's why  we hesitate over this word surely and the word's   too big and it it destroys too much just flops  on the table and everything else falls apart   all my beautiful religious ways everything all the  sermons we've preached and they all just collapse   surely god said would you stop talking i  said i'd do it end of discussion surely   but we are we want to give god wiggle room  you know we've taught to always be ambiguous   never never go for what the bible says just  sort of skirt around it sounds spiritual always put it in the future tense there's  always a delay you'll get it one day that's why i keep coming back to prayer meetings  because you said last prayer meeting oh god   would you run the heavens and come down well  number one that's a prophecy of the incarnation   so he he has written the heavens and come down  but okay you didn't know that okay i'm sorry   you haven't heard the gospel but okay you're  going to pray that and pray that and pray that   but apparently in the next seven days he  doesn't ruin the heavens and come down because   you're praying the same thing next week  this stupidity that organized religion   has brought about nothing but delay delay delay  and forget what he's done forget what he's done   with this no man's land now of we've got  to try and be better we've got to try and   do good we've got to pray more fast  more read the bible more god says no see if you don't believe you've got this then  you'll always be asking what do i do to get it   once you know it's yours in christ jesus given  by sheer grace well then you don't ask what do   i have to do you just relax into it because  it is so it is so it's very difficult for   us in the west because religion has introduced  to us and etched into our very souls   a god who is unfaithful who never keeps his words  so we have to keep on trying to make it happen   so for such people as me  and i suspect for most of us   the word surely if we've narrowed it down to what  it really means surely means that we are going to   fall with no visible means of support  and land right in the arms of god's love but i have lived my life  with visible means of support   which in actual fact have cancelled out  my ever finding rest in the arms of god   but now the word surely says take away all  the visible means of support is a free-fall   i'm making it clear you we've been raised  on if you if you if you if you and surely   says sweep it all away and just leap into my  arms because i'm a good dad i'm a good father   and i have sworn upon the very life  of the holy trinity that this is yours and so david looked out he was  camped out in the wilderness if you   be somewhere today with where it's called  jordan he crossed over the river and   is out there which in those days was wilderness  and there's just a handful of people with him   absalom knows where he is there's spies in the  camp it's a real cloak and dagger story and he looks out on all that no no visible means  of support the people with him are not enough   really to carry this off any expert on these  military matters would have told him you might as   well just surrender it's you you're wasting your  time everything he looked out on was the reverse   of goodness and loving kindness the reverse  of any god that cared two cents for him   and yet it's almost you could say he snuggled down  between the sheets of surely i mean is there any   fear any anxiety in this entire psalm it's only  six verses this this sums up the whole psalm the   lord is my shepherd i shall not want come on david  do you know where you are are you in super denial i shall not want that's all you have right  now david nothing but a list of wants   what are you looking at he prepares a table before  me in the presence of my we're having a party   in the presence of my enemies and then this   no you see he's not denying david does not deny  and if you read the history of this in the book   of samuel you see he wasn't denying he has to go  and face absalom he knows he's there this is but   he chose to what can i say he fastened  his gaze with that not too poetic he   focused he focused on the surely the impossibility  of god's goodness being absent from his life   you focused on that and in focusing on  that absalom went slightly out of focus   and i think that's why he uses the term which  our translators have totally missed where   surely goodness and loving kindness they  shall follow me sounds like an obedient dog   well the word there in the hebrew language is very  specific word and this is the only time it's used   in this positive way normally this word  that we've translated follow but it's   everywhere else in the old testament is translated  of an enemy force that is descending upon you with   a relentless focused passion and they are going  to destroy you it is a terrifying word the of   of a pursuing enemy who is your superior in  force and they are coming to get you and this   is the only time that word is taken and used of  god's pursuing us it means pursuing with force   energy focus and it means without any sleep you're  you're you're you're coming and he uses it of god   now do you see you could say of absalom he was  relentlessly pursuing david that would be the word   that was used david uses that word and says  ah but there's someone between you and me i   am being relentlessly pursued i  don't know absolutely out there   in between me and absalom i'm being pursued  relentlessly by goodness and loving kindness   i i'm not denying the problems in life i'm  not denying what you've left behind at home to   be here and listen i know what's pushing there  behind you the darkness i know what kind of year   this has been and not only the pandemic but some  of you listening in california with the fires   and some of you down on the louisiana coast  with the hurricanes this has been some year we're not denying that always saying between  you and whatever it is that comes to destroy you   there is the relentless pursuing  of the love of god that is   david said he well what he's showing  us he fastens his eyes on that   it depends where you're looking okay you  could say get out my way god i i think   absolutely's over here rather no absalom is  there but he's slightly out of focus because   the most important thing at this present moment  as i consider the darkness pressing in upon me   is that closer than the darkness is  the goodness the loving kindness of god   so you can say uh david's pillow when he  went to sleep his sleep was the guarantee   he slept on the pillow of the guarantee  of the unalterable covenant oath of god uh   it's referenced i think in psalm 16 8 where he  says i have set the lord continually before me because he's at my right hand i will not be shaken  which is an old testament phrase for anxiety   shaken that means anxiety therefore my heart is  glad my glory rejoices i dwell securely the word   set i have set the lord before me continually  that's an interesting word you'd probably   send an hour on that one of these days  it means to stand on the level with so right now y'all are set before me as  much as we can you all are set before me   um it it means he actually means  equalize i mean it's really eye to eye   it's that other phrase that comes  up sooner or later face to face we we're not groveling david is not saying oh  god help me he says i've set the lord with i   do i face to face we're equal and and the word  also means to agree with that is we we have an   equal understanding of this i know what you  know you know what i know and we're agreed   uh which david is saying uh what you've said i i  know what you've said and i i agree with you and   i'm going to pitch my tent there i'm going to lay  my pillow there that that that's that's what it is   um it means to then be like equal be like  it means god says i say god thinks i think   we're we're the same on  this we're on the same page yeah but just a minute david had asked for this i mean there's enough in  scripture about david you don't have to apologize   his whole life is laid out before you  in the scripture and i gotta be honest   you yeah absalom is coming like a  mad idiot to murder his father but   let me say it again david had asked for this   david was the most dysfunctional  father probably in the old testament uh   he there's i i can't say a good thing about it  really i'm sorry not when he comes to this he   he made a mess of being a father ignored his  kids really too busy doing other things and   when he came to absalom there was a terrible thing  that happened um absalom had a sister that he   loved very much tamar and one of his half-brothers  one of absalom's half-brothers raped his sister   and absalom was raged and went to one  david come and give you're the daddy   david did nothing and that's when all this started  absolutely absolutely lost faith in his father   absalom says you're you're not worth being king  and all those feelings came up and then of course   that whole sordid affair with bathsheba  and the removal of bathsheba's husband   and that was not done in a corner  that everybody knew about that   the people lost faith in him and at this  time in his life everything's falling apart   his family were shot on and he knows it he  knows what he did he knows it's his fault   and he knows about the people no longer  thinking he is what he really was i was   gonna say god's gift to israel what he really  was that was but people don't see that anymore so what do you do with that  and and i speak to people speak to all of us because i'm pretty certain  we've all been there we have many a time   we have screwed up and sometimes big time  and certain things happen because of that and i was taught that now god himself is against  you because like what you did this is the result   of you can't expect god to get you out of this one  you got yourself here you made your bed lay in it   and maybe maybe you'll hear the voice of god  teaching you as he judges you ever heard that so what's happened here i guess that goes back  to his goodness is that he causes rain to fall   upon the chest and the unjust oh i know this is  so upsetting i it really is because the real god   doesn't seem to have what   he doesn't seem to have a problem with  sin could it be because jesus dealt with   it well what a thought what a thought could it be  religion has never heard that jesus dealt with it dare i dare i dare i really look at  my life through the blood of jesus   and say that i am made righteous declared  innocent and i stand before god eye to eye   and call him father and he calls me  son participant in the divine nature and every tutor i had in my youth says but  that's not fair god is just he is just he's   faithful and just to forgive us and  to cleanse us from all unrighteousness   we have projected our court system we  projected all our ideas of fairness unto god   and made a god in our image  and then have him condemn us but i come on this and if you have a better  answer to this this surely goes an awful long way   that when i do not deserve it when i  indeed am the author of my own mess he still doesn't leave me and he doesn't bring up  new words to describe what he's going to do to me   he sticks with goodness and loving kindness   amazing oh by the way you can leave god and  i don't mean that you know that you fall into   endless darkness but you you couldn't walk  away you can this ever heard of lost sheep   and heard that it the shepherd says my  sheep so it was his sheep that wandered off yeah we can it doesn't take a moment  actually just to turn of the head away   from the light then you're in the shadow  of your own darkness and once you're there   you're worrying about tomorrow because that's  intense darkness when you worry about tomorrow   especially when you worry because  you don't see god there at all   so you're accusing him of unfaithfulness yeah we  can we do stop looking at me like a saint you do   we all do we turn away but he never leaves you  so in a sense i have turned away from me i've   turned away from my true self i've turned  away from my real identity in the light   and i've turned away i've forgotten him you  remember the word forgot in the hebrew means   to it's no longer relevant in this case but he  hasn't left me so he's still in with the real me   and he's still being the real god that he  is and so as we talked about in psalm 3   in a split second but and i can turn around to the  light and i'm home and he doesn't scold me and put   me in the basement for four days as a punishment  for walking away he receives me back immediately the the in in the book of hebrews hebrews 13   5. and i'm reading it from the amplified because  it expands on the greek word so perfectly   for he god himself god himself has  said i will not in any way fail you   nor give you up nor leave you without support  i will not i will not i will not in any degree   leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down  nor relax my hold on you i surely not surely not well i i'll say very quickly  this was david's story   something else we've talked about you  you know let me say quickly your emotions   in any given situation whether they be positive  or negative they last now this is science okay   i'm not making this up your emotions  good or bad lasts for about 45 seconds   and anything that makes you deliriously happy  or full of rage it actually lasts for 45 seconds   it's what you tell your  emotions on the 46th second and for the next 40 years that keeps that emotion  alive have you noticed that when someone hurts you   what do you do you tell yourself the  story of how they hurt you again and again   and also at the speed of light so you tell it  to yourself half a million times during the day   he said this can you believe you're talking to  yourself you see can you believe she said that   do you remember how she did it yeah you told me  that five times in the last two seconds but over   and over oh it's a story we tell ourselves and  as i say you can tell that story for 40 years and   that story will control you and shape your face it  will shape your body it would direct your diseases   the story well it works the other way  too and david told himself a story   and it wasn't a story about what a lousy father  he was and it wasn't a story about how he had   taken bathsheba it wasn't the story of his  failures it was a story not about him at all   it's a story surely surely the holy trinity  surely goodness and loving kindness will   relentlessly pursue me all the days of my  life that was his story and he stuck to it that's grace you say well that's being cheap on  sin no because if you say that you say it means   you you haven't visited the blood of jesus for  god to say that for god to make that covenant real   you go through the sufferings of jesus  in which he joined us at our worst and   carried us personally into death that  he might raise us into newness of life   no truth is we haven't taken sin seriously  enough to realize what it cost god to say this but then once you've got that take  that so seriously that you can say this   trouble is we take ourselves seriously i  did this as if it's the end of the world   i said that i should have i ought to  have stop taking yourself so seriously   god himself joined us and carried us to death  and then from death announced the light of his   salvation and carried us in resurrection you  were raised from the dead in the resurrection   of jesus stop taking yourself so seriously  and take god seriously when he says surely confession of sin is telling your sin  about god not telling god about your sin   that was a religious myth that came  up too early in the christian church   the whole bible says that confession is saying  together with god the same way as that set   you you you're saying the same thing you you say  together with god what god is saying about your   sin i don't care what you're saying about your sin  know what their neighbor is saying about your sin   who are they don't take them so seriously   there's only one person you take seriously  and that's the father son and holy spirit   we take him seriously that was we interpret  our life in the light of his truth we expect we expect his truth to be   he said surely it's sworn in the blood of  jesus we anticipate it we're looking for it and we look for it with no reference  to what's happening right now   you don't say well god said this but no that goes  slightly out of focus and we're set we we tell   that's our story the story of my life is god's  story of my life you say well nothing's happening   no does it have to happen yet i i mean it's  settled isn't it this is who god is this is   what he's doing this is what he will do i i don't  have to have a time period or to put it biblically   who through faith and patience inherited the  promises it's the meaning of the word wait so and also boy this almost demands another hour  doesn't it well very quickly we don't rejoice this   is gonna sound trite and that's why i need more  time but we we don't rejoice in god fixing things   this isn't about god fixing things so david is not  rejoicing because god is going to defeat absalom   god david rejoices because this is the kind  of god that is my god and i can't get over it   and so whether he fixes or not i'll go through  it with a god who's good to me every day and if   he fixes it well that's great he's a god who is  good to me every day but if he doesn't fix it   and i have to go through it well i will go through  it upheld by goodness surrounded by lovingkindness   and the joy of god will be in my heart because my  joy is in who god is not something he does for me   did you get that it's kind of too quick  to say it okay acts 16 when paul and silas   the most unbelievable torture  which you might not have heard   but they were beaten and they were their  muscles twisted to the point of screaming   and then locked their inner in a  vice and in the innermost dungeon   and they begin to sing and sing and sing until the  prisoners in the outermost jail could hear them   well what would it do in that that's an  honest question why were they doing that   it doesn't say that they did it because they felt  if they sang to god long enough and loud enough   he would finally get the message that he was an  okay god and then he would knock the prison down   there's no none of that in the boat they  didn't sing in order to knock the prison down   they sang because in this very moment that  i'm in this tortured position god is good   and he fills my life and he is love and he's an  incredible god so i'll sing praise to him and i   think they were as shocked as anybody else when  there was an earthquake in the prison fell down i hope you get that because it's at the center of  it i live in the surely and and the word surely   also means only because if something is sure then  it becomes only there's no room for anything else   and so he's saying only that puts a different  weight on it only only goodness and loving   kindness relentlessly pursue me all the days of  my life only it only is a word with limitations   and marked boundaries only you know  there's there's only four seats left   but don't bring a fifth one in then there's  only it's very limited only and david said only   so if if it's only goodness if it's only  loving kindness i'm not gonna bother   looking at anything else i am going to  realize there's only one possible outcome here   and that is goodness and lovingkindness  if god is for us who can be against us he despaired not his own son shall he not freely  give us all things good questions paul who can   separate us from the love of christ what can  you do to me what can you do to me that will   make the love of christ disappear tribulation  distress persecution famine nakedness peril sword   in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer  through him who keeps on loving us i'm   convinced that neither death nor life nor angels  principalities demons powers height depths or any   created thing will be able to separate us from  the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord   not once does he say that he's going to  throw all these things over and trample   them down so that oh no he's a good god he said  bring it on you can't separate me from god he   will reveal himself in me to me around me under  me over me as the good god of loving kindness there's one thing and i'm done i i was um reading astronomy in in the last  week and very important they they've created   new maps of the universe you all need that  and so they found out that the earth is   much closer to the center of the the galaxy  than we'd we've thought it was well that's   very upsetting i mean built our lives around  the earth is so far away from the center   but as this astronomer is saying it i i mean  it really got to me i forget the details   but but he said now that doesn't mean that doesn't  mean the earth has moved closer to the center   he said it's always been where  it is we just had the wrong map   but he said now we've corrected the map it's the  map that's changed not how we relate to the center   of the galaxy i thought no isn't that interesting  everything i've said this morning always has been but religion had the wrong map and their  map says we were separated by a gazillion   miles from god and god was this and  god was that and we had to try and   well they had the wrong map but it didn't  mean that that's where you really were right at this minute you are in the middle  of surely goodness and loving kindness   does now follow me all the days of my life that's  the map that's where you are if somebody gave you   the wrong map well tough didn't change it  that's the way god was in relation to you   and because there's been  too many of those bad maps   i had to tell you this so you'd realize  who you are and to realize it was a bad map   i've given you god's map this is  who you are this is the way it is and so as we come in a few  moments to celebrate the eucharist   and we hold the bread the body of  christ and the cup the blood of christ surely that's exactly where it fits when you  eat of the body drink of the blood hear the holy   spirit engrave on your heart surely this is  the covenant we say it's the blood of the   new covenant covenant covenant which means  the entirety of the energy of god's surely is placed again and again within  us every time we participate and so now may the blessing of god who  is almighty loving goodness the father   the son and the holy spirit may his  blessing of the holy spirit's enlightenment   fill us that we might with great  delight free fall into your blessing   so i declare the blessing upon you  and declare that is the way it is amen you

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Length: 71min 14sec (4274 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020