The Amen

I Will Sing of the Mercies of the LORD Forever

Vance Havner used to say that nothing is more dangerous to faith than a familiarity with spiritual things from childhood. As we just sang of God’s mercy and faithfulness, what are we really saying about God? For I promise you that when trouble comes into our lives, we begin to second guess and doubt the promises and goodness of God!

Psalm 89:1–6 “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, And build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?”

Psalm 89:14 “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: Mercy and truth shall go before thy face.”

Psalm 89:24 “But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: And in my name shall his horn be exalted.”

Psalm 89:28 “My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, And my covenant shall stand fast with him.”

Psalm 89:33 “Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.”

Psalm 89:49 “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, Which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?”

OUR WORD today is emet. Here, it is translated “truth.” It means stability…reliability…trustworthiness— faithfulness.

Israel in battle: Exodus 17:12 “But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

Appointment of leaders: Exodus 18:21 “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:”

to believe; to trust; Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

THE QUESTION TODAY IS THIS: Can God be trusted? Is He reliable? Can He be a steady influence in our lives? Is He faithful?

WHAT EMET IS NOT:

our emet is not that nothing evil will ever happen in our lives

that our life will be free from problems

never suffer loss

endure hardness

go without

WHAT EMET IS

presence- I will be with you

Exodus 33:14 “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”

pardon- I will forgive you

Exodus 34:7 “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…

precept- I will inform you

Exodus 34:1 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

THE AMEN PROMISES

DAVID WALKED IN EMET- 1 Kings 3:6 “And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.”

GOD’S PROMISE OF A FUTURE KING…A KING WHO WALKS IN EMET- 2 Samuel 7:16 “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

Isaiah 9:6–7 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, To order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice From henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” -No King -Close OT -Open NT Matthew 1:1 “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Romans 15:8–9 “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.”

FAITHFULNESS IS LONG OBEDIENCE IN THE SAME DIRECTION IN AN AGE OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION!

THE AMEN PARDONS—

Psalm 85:10 “Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

Adapted from Max Lucado's book No Wonder they Call Him the Savior

Maria and her daughter lived in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of a Brazilian village. Maria's husband had died when Christian was an infant and Maria never remarried. Times were tough but the two of them managed to survive. Christian often talked about going to the city. She dreamed of trading her dusty neighborhood for exciting avenues and the city life. Just the thought of that horrified her mother, who knew exactly what Christian would have to do for a living if she lived in Rio de Janeiro. That's why her heart broke when one morning when awoke to find her daughter's bed empty. She quickly packed, took all the money she had and left for Rio herself. On her way she stopped at a drugstore. She entered the small photo booth and took dozens of cheap pictures of herself. With her purse full of black & White photos, she boarded the bus to Rio. Maria knew her daughter had no money. She also knew her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human being will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for streetwalkers. She went to them all. And at each place Maria left her photo taped to a bathroom mirror, talked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner telephone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note. When her pictures and her money ran out, Maria went home. A few weeks later young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her dreams had become a nightmare. But as she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She blinked and looked again-there on a lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina's eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the photo. Written on the back was a compelling invitation - "Whatever you've done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home.”

The gospel is better than that! For it’s not just the story of Maria’s who come home. It’s about the story of a Savior who left a sinless haven and invaded our Rio de Janeiro’s with love and grace. He lived in our world, pursuing the one lost sheep! He came, He died, He was buried, and He rose again!

Where should mercy and truth— chesed and emet— ever meet?

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong

Who holds our days within His hand? What comes, apart from His command And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand

Oh, sing hallelujah Our hope springs eternal Oh, sing hallelujah Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope in life and death

What truth can calm the troubled soul? God is good, God is good Where is His grace and goodness known? In our great Redeemer's blood

Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trial? Who sends the waves that bring us nigh Unto the shore? The rock of Christ

THE AMEN PROVIDES

Exodus 32….

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN GOD WAS REALLY ANGRY?

Deuteronomy 9:21 “And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.”

Israel’s sin

Moses’ atonement

he took the golden calf

melted it

stamped it

ground it to powder

put it on the water

he made a chemical solution with the gold colloid

MR DeHaan in his book The Chemistry of the Blood states that scientific records suggest that colloidal gold in water is a rose-red color when the particles are of 10 micron size in a dilution of 1 to 100,000. Thus, gold in dust size will color water blood red.

made the children of Israel drink it

the blood-red stream flowing out of the mountain from God served to atone for their sins!

Exodus 32:26–28 prove that all but 3,000 drank of the water and were spared God’s wrath. “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.”

OUR WORSHIP OF GOD

God’s little law book

GOD RENEWS THE COVENANT:

Ex. 20:2-17- eternal decalogue

34:12-26- a “ritual”

not a full repetition

a little law book, governing worship

Exodus 34:12–17 “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.”

THREE THINGS HE REQUIRES:

do not worship foreign gods- 34:12-17

honor Yahweh throughout the year- 34:18-24

regulate worship- 34:25-26

These three stressed loyalty to God and faithfulness in worship and approach to Him

Turning to Small Things

a face- Ex. 32.

food- twice

Exodus 16:3 “And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Numbers 11:31–34 “And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.”

water- Exodus 17:1 “And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.”

uncertainty- Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

impatience- Exodus 32:1 “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”

unbelief- Num. 13-14…

Inherent in all of their complaining is the nature of the God who satisifes!

you want to know His face? His goodness passes by!

you are complaining about bread? He’s the bread of Life (Matthew 4:4 “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” )

you are bickering about water? He’s the water of life!

you are uncertain about tomorrow? He is the eternal God!

you are not believing His power? He is the God of the impossible!

Turning to Idols

Our false views of God always lead us into the worship of false gods!

He never promised that you would have needs; He just promised to supply them. He didn’t promise you that you would never have to fight; He just promised that He would fight for you! He never promised that it was easy; but that all things are possible with God!

15:26- never promised that you’d never get sick…but that He is a great physician!

EMET IS FAITHFULNESS, RELIABLE, AND ALWAYS PRESENT!

What is an idol?

Anything that we rely on for blessing, help, or guidance, rather than relying on the true and living God!

HOW, THEN, DID THEY TURN TO IDOLS?

a people chosen by God- Gen. 12…

a people set free by God- Ex. 14…

a people turning from God…how does that happen?

WE MISUNDERSTAND GOD…we do not WORSHIP GOD…we TURN TO IDOLS.

Turning to God

ILL. Ortberg

Austalian Tradition: How do you keep cattle on the ranch?

build a huge fence that keeps them in

you dig a deep well around which they center their lives

John 6:66–68 “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Our faithfulness is determined by the fulness of our recognition of God’s faithfulness to us!