You Created Me
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Near the end of his life, Jean-Paul Sartre told Pierre Victor: "I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God."
Protested fellow philosopher and long-time companion Simone de Beauvoir: "How should one explain the senile act of a turncoat?"
The reality of creation of everything. Including you and me. An important and obvious piece to found our context to understand our passage today. We know we were created by God… everyone knows this(Romans 1) but do we really understand all the implications of it. To know this helps us to understand all that comes with it and sufficiently answers all the questions we have about meaning of life stuff and purpose. But we struggle with this because of sin and the continued crafted lies of the arrogant and unfeeling used as weapons against us. We become confused as to who we are and as to why we are here. Things like evolution, quantum physics, alien creation, and anti-theists have infiltrated so much and has achieved a platform to propagate the message that creates disillusion and confusion. Confidence in the scriptures become weakened. It is turly amazing just how many professing Christians attack the Bible which causes even more confusion. Why are those who depend on the scriptures attcking their very foundation? But remember our true standard is not the scripture it is our culture thats why we think we are ok when trust in the scriptures is diminished. This is a primary problem with modern evangelicalism. We are deceived into thinking that our foundation is the Bible when it is not. Our passage will help us with this today. Lets take a look. The golden aphabet … letter Yod.
You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word.
I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair;
you disciplined me because I needed it.
Now let your unfailing love comfort me,
just as you promised me, your servant.
Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live,
for your instructions are my delight.
Bring disgrace upon the arrogant people who lied about me;
meanwhile, I will concentrate on your commandments.
Let me be united with all who fear you,
with those who know your laws.
May I be blameless in keeping your decrees;
then I will never be ashamed.
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever
Creation
Cause for Joy
Discipline
The first thing we will look at today is the reality and purpose of our creation by the living God. Second, we will see the joy that comes from the life of one who puts his hope in the Word of God. Finally, we will see why we needed discipline and why we got it instead of eternal condemnation.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to lose sight and hope in the scriptures, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will cause us to see that Christ and His Word is a true cause for Joy.
I. Creation
- To Him who is able.
A. It should not be misunderstood. We are not the product of random moments of chemical reactions and ramming molecules and matter colliding in empty space. We are just so much more. A better explanation than evolution...
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
B. And we see more than just creation. A purpose. He did not just give us life, but gave us something to do. We have purpose.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
C. And this is the reason our psalmist prays for God to give him sense or understanding. Yes Lord you have made me body and soul and so now grant me the grace to know your will and the strength to accomplish it.
The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
D. And so our psalmist prays that the Lord who is able will not indeed abandon us without understanding.
Spurgeon writes, “A man without a mind is an idiot − the mere mockery of a man, and a mind without grace is wicked − the sad perversion of a mind. We pray that we will not be left without spiritual judgment or understanding.”
II. Cause for Joy
- You need it and your neighbor needs it.
A. When I was a young man in Bible College, not seminary, there was a very wise Christian Lutheran woman counseling instructor who shook me out of some real self-centeredness in our lives as a Christians. I was personally going through some real issues and I kept focusing on what it is that God is doing for me. I need to make sure that I learn all that the Lord is teaching me. I need to go through all that the Lord wants me to experience and make sure I get it all. I wanna be obedience to get all the grace and blessing that the Lord has for me.
B. Well Shane let me give you another perspective… maybe God has you where you are for the benefit of someone else. We constantly think that the road we are on and all that we go through is always for our benefit when you could be there for the benefit of someone else. Even the suffering that we endure… we selfishly think that we endure it for our benefit, but what if we are there to suffer and sacrifice for someone else?
C. Even when it comes to church our overall context as to why we go. Why do we go to church. It is the Law. You need it. Your neighbor needs it. We need to see others here. We need to see others worshipping the Lord. We need to see others making church a priority. When you wake up and you don’t feel like going to church and we say… its ok I don’t think I need to go today. I’m doing good. But maybe we need to go to encourage and help someone else. Maybe someone else needs you there.
D. But even if you are blessed, it is important for others to see the blessing. Even if you are fighting it is important for others to see you fight. If you are suffering, it is important for others to see you overcome suffering. This is the point of our psalmist in verse 74.
May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,
for I have put my hope in your word.
D. Spurgeon writes, “When a man of God obtains grace for himself, he becomes a blessing to others – especially if that grace has made him a man of sound understanding and holy knowledge. God-fearing people are encouraged when they meet with experienced believers. A hopeful man is a gift sent by God when things are going downhill or when he is in danger. When the hopes of one believer are fulfilled, his companions are made glad, strengthened, and led to hope also.”
E. Many times when we come together we come to share each others burdens but we are also here to share in each others joy. But can we share in each others joys? Or is our reaction… well God got them through their stuff when is He gonna get me through my stuff? That is one of the big problems we have in the church is the snares of jealousy and envy. Sometimes in the church because of the real influence the culture has on us that we even ruin the great things the Lord does to bring us blessings and joy. But it becomes hard when the stuff we really want to make us happy are in the end gonna bring destruction. Because maybe the reason why God has not lifted the suffering, is because we have not learned what we needed to learn yet. Discipline is there because we needed it. Sin is a true reality.
III. Discipline
- God disciplines those He loves.
A. Our psalmist sees the discipline of the Lord as a good thing … because He needed it. The reality of sin as Christians is the always possibility that we needed it. Because we still have to deal with the flesh. We have to deal with our sin nature. And when we ask the Lord for help, this is how we are helped. God did not help David defeat Goliath by making Goliath disappear… He helped David defeat him. Sin makes us want to hit the eject button.
B. That is the reality of sin and it affects us all. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. The wages of sin is death. Condemnation is coming. Wrath is here. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Eternal darkness. Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But before the discipline came… salvation came.
C. We can be saved from this because of what Christ has done. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Jesus came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
D. And the promises continue. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
E.