Waiting for the King

Psalm of the day: Psalm 119:9-16

Psalm 119:9–16 ESV

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Scripture Memorization: Psalm 121:1-2

Psalm 121:1–2 ESV

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Advent Reading: The Spences

Sermon:

1

Speaker 1

00:00

Well once again, and as always, good morning church. I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord, especially this the first Sunday. In advent. We know it's the first Sunday in Advent because we've litten. Linton is not a word lit exactly one candle, the first Advent candle.

00:24

And we set aside this time. To prepare our hearts. For the coming King. I think sometimes we we get lost in Tradition. We get lost in these thoughts. What is Advent? What is the purpose of Advent? And the thought goes like this. The King has come. Jesus has come some 2000 years ago, born to the Virgin Mary in a stable.

00:52

The Angels sung his Praises. The Shepherds came and honored him the the wise men brought their gifts. The King has come, and yet we know and Proclaim because he promised. The king will also return. And so Advent is this beautiful season where we look back and see God's goodness on display as Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity condescended down into creation.

01:19

God became man, his divinity, thinly veiled by human flesh. He came, he lived. He ministered. He performed Miracles. He taught, he suffered. He died because he was crucified on the cross. On the third day, he rose again in glorious Victory. And then, spending time showing himself and continuing to teach the apostles and disciples he ascended into heaven.

01:49

And it is from there when the trumps shall ReSound that he shall come. He will come to tread out the wine press of the wrath of God Almighty. He will come to rule the nations with a rod of iron, he will come, and every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

02:06

The king is. Coming. And so Advent is, this time, we look back and see the humble infant King who has come, and we look forward to see the Conquering Victorious King who will come. And so, our hearts. Maybe inclined towards him? And so this year as I I pondered, okay, we always do an Advent series.

02:30

I think it's good we've been preaching through Genesis since January, we've had 44 sermons in Genesis. It's good every now and again to do something a little different. And we do something a little different by doing something we do every year, which is a series. And for me, I get the joy of okay, well, what are we going to preach?

02:50

What thoughts in the past we've done? Jesus is better and looked at the book of Hebrews, we've looked at songs that are in the Book of Luke. We've looked at the character traits of who Jesus is. But this year, I wanted to do something. A little different. Maybe I want to focus on?

03:12

There's a group of 15 Psalms in the book of Psalms Psalm 120 through Psalm 134. They're known as the Psalms of ascent. That they are called the Psalms of ascent because they were sung as you were ascending up the hill. To the Royal City to Jerusalem. When exactly they were brought together, we don't know.

03:34

It's a bit of a historical mystery. There's two main camps. The Psalms of ascent were sung either. After the building of the temple, when everyone would be coming to Jerusalem. To worship there at the temple. And so these songs would be sung to prepare our hearts. To see and know and understand.

03:56

What's going to happen here? Whatever Feast it was? The second thought this is the camp Eileen more towards if I'm being honest. Is it? These Psalms were collected as the people returned from Exile. And the people of Israel. Since we're in Genesis, we just see Abraham. They will grow into a nation.

04:17

God will bless that Nation. They will take over the promised land, though, not as well as they should. They will rebel against God. God will punish them, and they will get taken off into captivity. To Babylonian captivity. Where God will still be with them, though they are facing his judgment, but they will return.

04:35

And as they are returning, there's this important thought. We, we are going back to. God's holy city. Let us make sure our hearts are in the right place. Let us make sure our minds are in the right place. Let us make sure we do not make the same mistakes that we have made.

04:54

In the past, we spent our time in Exile. We spent our time facing God's judgment. Let's never go back there again instead. As we approach God's holy city, let us sing this song. And so my thought process here is, as we look forward to the coming of the king.

05:14

It's a very similar. We're approaching the holy city, or we're waiting for the king, who will reign in the holy city. As we prepare our hearts to see this coming King. As we look at these songs that our hearts can sing, May they prepare us for worship and honor the Splendor of the king, the king, who is.

05:35

Returning. So, we will be looking at just four of the Psalms of ascent. I'm cheating a little bit, the grace points that I'll write each week will be a different Psalm of ascent than we've preached. So, we're going to get to cover eight of the 15 total, you'll have some homework.

05:50

I guess the other seven that we don't get to cover either in Grace points or in sermons? They are wonderful. They're beautiful. My, this is my. I know, I say this all the time, and so these words lose some of their weight. So, we try to re-emphasize here. The Psalms of ascent might be my favorite portion of my favorite book to preach from, so they're worth your time and attention.

06:14

We will be looking at. We're not going to do this in any sort of order. We're just looking at Psalms. To stir our hearts as we wait and watch for the king. So today, we will start by reading Psalm 13. Psalm 130, a song of a sense. Out of the depths, I cry to You, O Lord.

06:37

Oh Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my plea to the voice of my please for Mercy. If You, O Lord, should Mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? But with you, there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul Waits, and in his word, I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than Watchmen for the morning more than Watchmen for the morning.

07:07

O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful Redemption, and he will redeem Israel from. His iniquities. These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open our time together with a word of prayer.

07:27

Lord, Our Lord, How Majestic is your name in all the Earth? We thank you and praise you for your wondrous Deeds. We thank you and praise you for you have been attentive to our cries. You have heard. We do Proclaim, like, the psalmist, if you should Mark iniquities, who could stand, but with you, there is forgiveness.

07:49

We thank you for give for the Forgiveness that you offer to us through the work of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. We thank you. As though the price was high. The cost was great. You sent your son. He willingly endured. What was set before him, and then you have sent to us the Holy?

08:11

To work in our lives and hearts. We ask that you would. Indoellas give us wisdom and insight and discernment. Prepare our hearts. As we praise your son, our savior, Jesus Christ, it's in his name that we pray. Amen. And amen.

08:31

What a beautiful. Beautiful!

08:37

The Psalms are for many reasons. Many peoples favorite. It's the the hymn book. Of God's people, is what the book of Psalms is often called. And the beauty of the Psalms. One of the beauties of the Psalms. Is, it gives words to emotions and feelings that we all feel. But either feel like we shouldn't feel. I feel like we should move past feeling them. Or feel like we shouldn't say that. We feel this way the book of Psalms gives. Gives words. And gives hearts and gives Credence and gives affirmation to the way we often feel.

09:24

So, we start our Psalm out of the depths.

09:30

The sorrow. The difficulty. The long wait? The depths here. Are the same thought. That will read elsewhere in the Psalms. How long, O Lord? There's difficulty in trial. For us as we sit here. In between the two Advents, Christ has come, he will return. And we see the Brokenness and the difficulty and the pain of the world. We Face the trials and troubles. We feel it in our own self. We see those we love and care for suffering and dealing with difficulties. We feel the weight of the world. We feel the weight of our sin. We feel the weight pressing upon us. We are in the depths we look out. It's broken and painful and difficult. What do we do?

10:29

You sing a song? We praise the Lord. As we wait for the return of the King, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who will rule with a rod of iron, who will trample out the wine press of the wrath of God Almighty, the one who will come to judge the living and the dead, the one who will return as we wait.

10:51

We may find ourselves in the depths. So, what do we do? Your first exhortation is to cry out to the Lord. For here is our promise. He hears out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, O Lord. Hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my please for Mercy.

11:19

The psalmist Cries Out. In particular, they cry for Mercy. These sorts of Psalms are why I personally believe the Psalms of ascent were written as the people or were collected rather as the people were coming back from Exile. Because they've seen the weight of their sin, they've seen the weight of pain they've seen. What happens when we rebel against God and His good commands. They've seen what happens when we turn our backs on him, though we are his people. They rejected that they worshiped false Idols. They put their hope in elsewhere. And so they faced judgment.

12:01

So they cry out to God for Mercy.

12:07

Here's your first exhortation, though we should cry out.

12:13

I was speaking. This was a while back to someone. We're talking about the difficulty of the world. And. They were being much more kind than this, but this was the basic gist. Our conversation. It was, it was kind, but to boil it down to the the brass tax, it doesn't maybe sound so kind. I was telling them you have no hope. Your life is fruitless, pointless, hopeless, nothing. And they said. Your God is a crutch. Man up bases.

12:53

The point of this song is.

12:57

Maybe God is a crutch? Not a negative way. But I have crutches. They're sitting in my office from the last time I tried to do something that I probably shouldn't athletically and hurt myself and needed to use crutches so that I wasn't putting pressure on my ankle and or knee at the time. Sometimes, we're not strong enough. Good enough, and we need someone. We need the Lord. You should cry out to him. When we're in the depths when we're in the the muck and the mire? When life is difficult. We often pray, and I am grateful that this church we do care for and understand that, this time, what we call the holiday season.

13:47

Were we saying that everything is joyous and wonderful because Jesus has come is also a difficult, painful time? And so we find ourselves in the depths we find ourselves in times of sorrow and pain and difficulty. We find ourselves here, and this is the psalmist cry. Cry out to the Lord for the Lord will hear. This is our plea. Let your ears be attentive. The word here attentive isn't just that God will hear. Like, I often hear, but I'm on my phone or watching the basketball game and not really registering. He's attentive, fully engaged with the ones that he loves, the Lord will hear.

14:29

So, cry out. As we wait for the coming of the king. Know that God hears.

14:39

And he will have mercy. The next two verses verses three and four. If You, O Lord, should Mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? That's an important question. If God were to sit and count all of our sins, who could stand before a holy God? The answer is no one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If God. We're to hold against us. Every sin, everything that we have ever done to throw off his Rule, and his command, if God were to ever. Show us the detailed tally of everything we've ever done wrong. We would be doomed.

15:21

But with you, there is forgiveness that you may be fear. Here's your next command. Fear the Lord. For, he forgives. This is an interesting juxtaposition here. This is interesting, putting two things together. But with you, there is verse 4 forgiveness. That you may be. Fear. This sounds a little backwards to us if we don't think through it in the right ways. Well, God has forgiven us. What more do I have to fear? That's true. For those, God has forgiven. He removes our sins from us as far as the East is from the West. We stand before him, clothe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

16:15

And so we no longer fear. Condemnation. We no longer fear God's judgments. We no longer fear. That we somehow may move outside of God's grace and goodness. We are held in Jesus Christ.

16:36

But yet, God himself is to be feared. For, he is great and greatly to be praised. He is the high king of. Fear here doesn't mean trembling and quaking for fear of our own. Self fear here means humble awe and reverence and trembling. Because God is so great and greatly to be praised, and because we have received forgiveness, we are now ushered into the throne room of God. Which is? All inspiring. And should bring to us humble reverent fear and adoration.

17:18

We should fear Him. Because he forgets? Because we see his awesome works on display. We should fear him because we know that he has forgiven, and so he will come to rule, and he will come to Reign, and he will sit on the throne. So, we fear Him. With. In our hearts.

17:51

When we see the Splendor of God, will he go to the New Testament to the birth announcements of Jesus?

17:59

The Angels came to bring the Shepherds. Good news of great joy! But yeah, when the Angels appeared, bringing good news of great joy. What do the Angels do? They were terrified. They were terrified because these angels come, and around the Angels shines glory and Splendor. And this is not even God's glory in splendor. This is just the glory and Splendor of the heavenlies that shines forth, and this brings to the Shepherds fear they Quake. Even though the news is good news of great joy, they fear. Because God is awesome. And Powerful. Moses in the book of Exodus is dealing with a stiff-necked, stubborn people.

18:47

And he's he's gotten to the end of his rope. He says, God, I can't do this. But for one thing, I need this from you, God. God, let me just let me just see your glory that will get me through. God's response to Moses, his beloved servant, Moses who God meet with, and the burning bush. Moses was chosen used by God, a very profound and particular way Moses. One of the most important and beloved people by God in all of the Old Testament. God looks to Moses and says, you can't see me. You will die. No one can see me and live.

19:23

So, God hides Moses in the cleft of The Rock. God walks by Moses, and as God walks by, he removes his hand, and Moses catches a a fleeting glimpse of the the tail of the train of the robe of God's glory as God walks by. And Moses is profoundly changed. His face now shines, such that he has to wear a veil for the rest of his life, because when people see him, they're like Moses, you're doing that face shiny thing because you saw God's glory again. You're freaking us out. And so, though there is forgiveness and love and care.

19:59

God is still great and powerful, and in fact, our forgiveness, it says, is what leads us to fearing him. But with you, there is forgiveness that you may be feared, so that in order that. The reason we have forgiveness is that we have a right and proper fear of God. For the king is coming. So we cry out in our distress. We see the reverence and we we are filled with awe and wonder. A holy fear stirs in our hearts. So, what do we do?

20:35

We wait. Just wait.

20:43

I wait for the Lord, my soul Waits, and in his word, I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than Watchmen for the morning more than Watchmen for the morning.

20:53

We wait.

20:58

There's there's reduplication in this portion of the psalm, such that it almost sounds redundant. I wait for the Lord, my soul Waits. What's what am I doing? I'm waiting. What's myself doing? It's waiting. My soul waits for the Lord, verse six. I wait for the Lord, my soul Waits. My soul waits for the Lord more than Watchmen for the morning more than Watchmen for the morning. When I'm saying that, I'm not just repeating it, it's not like a CD trial. It's written twice.

21:25

Because here's the point, we wait.

21:30

In our body, our mind, our soul waits for the Lord. The deepest part of?

21:40

And we wait with an eager. Expectation.

21:47

Even though they're around us is full uncertainty. This is a difficult picture. The Watchman waiting for the morning for us. Because we're often not Watchmen. And, and watching even looks different for us. Everyone. If I were to like, think, like? Okay, let's suppose I'm in the military, and there's some something happening. What would my watching look like it wouldn't be staring? At the the Horizon, hoping to see, or maybe not, even hoping fearing to see some torch some sign of some incoming Army. We'd be like looking at radar screens and pulling up. What are they called? Intelligence briefings and things like this?

22:37

This is an old picture, but an important one. The Watchmen would sit on the walls. In the picture here is is. Maybe it's an overcast night? It's a new moon. So, there's not much light to be had. And your goal. Watchman your job, your state of duty. Is to sit and watch and wait and watch. If you see something. Say something.

23:12

Look out. If you can't see much? And your eyes might start playing tricks on you. And it's difficult. And maybe you're tired? You drew the fourth watch, the last one. It's darkest right before the dawn. It's painful. Because it's cold and difficult, and you're sitting there waiting.

23:40

What are you gonna do?

23:44

You're waiting for morning for two things. One is you're waiting for morning, because then someone's going to come. Tap your shoulder and you get to go take a few hours of sleep since you stayed up all night watching. While someone else can watch? But you wait for mourning? Because when the Sun rises and its light shines upon everything, one of two things is happening. One you look out and see, okay? I was right. No one did come. Or. Onto the cover of Darkness. Something has happened, but now you can see clearly. The way the light has revealed.

24:23

What is true? So, we wait. Just wait. Can't do anything?

24:35

We pray. God, your kingdom come, though we cannot hasten it in our own strength. And might we wait, like, watchmen, wait for the morning? We look to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the name of the Lord.

24:55

We look, and we wait. King is coming.

25:03

We do our job. We're Watchmen. We watch. We wait. You watch? And we wait. But what do we do? While we wait. We are crying out to the Lord, and we knowing he hears we fear the lord because of his great forgiveness. We wait, and we wait. And we wait. And we wait. And in his word, we read in verse 5, I hope. And then, in verse seven, this command is repeated again. Oh, Israel. Hope in the Lord.

25:36

Hoping. For, he redeems. Verse 7 oh, Israel hope in the Lord. For with the Lord, there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful. Redemption. He will redeem Israel from all. His iniquities. God will redeem. As we think about Redemption, there's there's levels to this. This is the beauty of God and why we should. Fear Him in his awesome power and might for when he works. He works and ways beyond our even ability to know or understand or comprehend his goodness and Grace and power.

26:20

He doesn't Mark our iniquities. He's redeemed. He will. Be here, and so we watch. He will redeem our time of watching. There's plentiful Redemption. There's steadfast love. He cares for us.

26:39

The king is. The king is coming.

26:49

The psalmist writes, looking forward. He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. We read this looking back.

27:02

King of Club.

27:07

The Watchmen.

27:14

What happened? When the fullness of time was come, he was born. To a virgin. Born under the law to redeem us from the curse of the law. We've seen it. You've. The Advent of the king? So, how do we know God hears? Because God. Became man.

27:48

Jesus Christ.

27:53

Conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary. God was born. How do we know he hears the writer of Hebrews? Tell us, we know, he hears. Because we have a great high priest who lives forever to intercede on our behalf. Because fully God and fully man, he is able to bridge the gap being God. He has the power and authority to hear our prayers, and he lives to intercede for us. Being man, he can come and relate to us.

28:27

He's not a high priest removed from us in such a way that we have no access even to him.

28:35

Jesus Christ, Our Lord, he hears. He forgives. Because God poured out the Wrath that my sins deserved on Jesus Christ. The perfect lamb was slain and purchased for us forgiveness by his stripes. We are healed. It forgives.

29:00

And so we wait.

29:03

But it's, it's even different how we wait. Because we've seen the king, we know he's come, and so we know he will return. And so, where our waiting is being about the business of the king. He's coming back. We don't know when. And so we wait for him to come while we do the work he's set before us. We hope. Hope in him.

29:32

We hope. In his word, I hope.

29:39

In him. We hope. This is what it looks like to. It's okay. Just cry. I'm waiting. From fearing? Waiting. Hoping. I'm waiting. But one day. The. Will come.