For a Despairing Heart

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.759 You may be seated and let's turn to psalm forty two. This morning, 2 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:28.780 Psalm Forty two, let's give our attention to God's word, and I'm going 3 00:00:28.899 --> 00:00:37.570 to focus my sermon this morning on the last verse, Verse Eleven. Let's 4 00:00:37.570 --> 00:00:44.490 hear the whole song, Psalm Forty two. As a deer pants for flowing 5 00:00:44.530 --> 00:00:49.490 streams, so my soul pants, my soul for you, Oh God. 6 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:54.560 My Soul Thirst for God, for the Living God. When shall I come 7 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:59.960 and appear before God? My tears have been my food, day and night, 8 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.399 while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 9 00:01:03.430 --> 00:01:07.629 These things I remember as I pour out my soul. How I would 10 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:11.989 go with the throng and lead them in procession to the House of God, 11 00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:18.510 with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are 12 00:01:18.549 --> 00:01:22.980 you cast down, Oh my soul, and why are you in turmoil within 13 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:27.459 me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation 14 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:34.329 and my God. My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I 15 00:01:34.489 --> 00:01:40.209 remember you from the land of Jordan and Herman, from Mountain Tazar. Deep 16 00:01:40.370 --> 00:01:45.049 calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your 17 00:01:45.090 --> 00:01:49.519 waves have gone over me. By Day, the Lord Commands his steadfast love, 18 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:52.560 and at night his song is with me. A prayer to the god 19 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:56.719 of my life. I say to God, My Rock, why have you 20 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.549 forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy, 21 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:05.870 as with a deadly wound in my bones? My adversaries taunt me, 22 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:08.669 while they say to me all the day long, where is your God? 23 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:15.780 Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil 24 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:20.620 within me? Hope in God, for I shall again prais him, my 25 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:29.740 salvation and my God. Amen. Was We look back on the year behind 26 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:32.370 us. We have a lot to reflect on, a lot to think about, 27 00:02:32.490 --> 00:02:36.650 and I hope that you do some of that and have the opportunity to 28 00:02:36.770 --> 00:02:39.409 do some of that. We have a lot to be thankful for, a 29 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:44.680 lot of things that God has blessed us with, but the most important thing 30 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.159 that God has given to us over this year and over our whole lives, 31 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:53.759 indeed the whole history of the world, is Christ himself. It's him who 32 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:59.550 is with us, Emmanual, and it's Christ who promise is never to leave 33 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:02.349 us. As we think back on the things that we have received the things 34 00:03:02.389 --> 00:03:07.830 that have been helpful and stabilized us and kept us well. Jesus is number 35 00:03:07.949 --> 00:03:13.939 one and he will be number one in the future. It's something you can 36 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:20.099 guarantee, something God has promised to us. If you are a Christian, 37 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:27.330 Christ is where you find true peace for your soul. It's not the candy 38 00:03:27.449 --> 00:03:30.849 or the music, or the presence or the friends. These things are all 39 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:37.810 lovely and sweet, they are good holiday comforts, but they're not what we 40 00:03:37.969 --> 00:03:44.319 settle our souls on. They're not the rock of our salvation. We find 41 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:49.960 our peace in Christ alone. Do you remember what the Angel said when they 42 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.159 announced his birth? They said glory to God in the highest heaven and on 43 00:03:54.360 --> 00:04:00.150 Earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. That's at the beginning 44 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:01.949 of it is life. And at the end of his life. Do you 45 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:05.629 remember what Jesus said to his disciples as he was about to leave them, 46 00:04:06.310 --> 00:04:12.020 as he was about to die and then rise and ascend into heaven? He 47 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:15.620 said to his disciples and to us as well, peace I leave with you. 48 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:21.180 My peace. I give you not as the world gives. Do I 49 00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:28.009 give you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid 50 00:04:28.129 --> 00:04:32.209 aid. That's John Fourteen twenty seven. And so we see in the scriptures. 51 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:36.689 We are minded of this fact that it's it's not toys or wrapping paper 52 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:42.600 that quiets our souls and encourages us in the face of trouble. It is 53 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.279 Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, he is our Savior, he is 54 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:55.670 our peace. And so as we come to psalm forty two, we are 55 00:04:55.949 --> 00:05:00.870 reminded of this, that God is our hope, he is our salvation, 56 00:05:01.149 --> 00:05:08.060 he is our God and he comes to us in a world that is hard, 57 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:13.420 really hard. Sometimes. As we look back on the last year, 58 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:17.180 as you perhaps look forward on the future year, as you experience your life 59 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:24.490 right now, there are difficult things and I know that some of you struggle 60 00:05:24.569 --> 00:05:30.689 and great ways. I want to speak to you today. I want to 61 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:35.319 speak to those of you who find yourselves in a difficult place or perhaps will 62 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:40.920 in the coming year, those of you who, for one reason another, 63 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.120 feel as though a dark cloud has filled your mind or your heart, the 64 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:54.029 kind of shadow hanging over you. Maybe it's a partial shadow and maybe it's 65 00:05:54.430 --> 00:05:59.949 feels as black as night. This picture of a cloud is a picture that 66 00:06:00.069 --> 00:06:03.269 has stuck with me among a number of other thoughts, I'd like to share 67 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:06.540 to you day from a collection of sermons that I've been reading from the Puritan 68 00:06:06.660 --> 00:06:13.300 William Bridge. He was one of the members of the Westminster Assembly, Godly 69 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:17.500 Man who wrote a nice collection of sermons that's banner of truth put together, 70 00:06:18.050 --> 00:06:23.129 called a lifting up for the downcast, and it's there that bridge compares the 71 00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:30.689 trouble of the Christian's heart to that of a dark cloud. Do you know 72 00:06:30.730 --> 00:06:35.040 what I mean by a dark cloud? A kind of ominous foreboding, a 73 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:41.800 dread and anxiety that swallows, oh swallows up hope, a kind of dark 74 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:46.269 cloud where it feels like it's nighttime. The day has gone away on the 75 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:50.589 sun, which brings joy and gladness and health and life, it's gone and 76 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:58.709 it's just dark and scary. If you feel that dark cloud in your life, 77 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:04.540 perhaps you can name it. Maybe for you it's called grades, maybe 78 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:13.540 it's called guilt, maybe it's called failure or sickness or divorce or grief, 79 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:17.850 or perhaps you don't know what to name it. You just find yourself discouraged, 80 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:25.129 agitated, anxious, spinning and you're not sure why. You can't figure 81 00:07:25.170 --> 00:07:30.959 out what the winds are that rock the boat of your soul. And then 82 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.920 there are some of you who feel ashamed to say the name of that dark 83 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:41.680 cloud out loud because you know that the thing you dread is something that you 84 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:49.750 ought to love, like church or the Bible or even God himself. Maybe 85 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:55.550 you feel like David, God's Good King and faithful servant, who was brave 86 00:07:56.269 --> 00:08:01.060 and holy when he wrote these lines in Psalm seventy seven three. When I 87 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:13.129 remember God, I Moan, when I meditate, my spirit faints, or 88 00:08:13.209 --> 00:08:16.689 in the verse before that, when he says my soul refuses to be comforted. 89 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:26.649 We hear about Dad God's anguish, even over meditation, even over being 90 00:08:26.689 --> 00:08:31.360 in worship, even over God himself. We don't find happiness, we don't 91 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:37.320 rejoice in these awful feelings that he's facing. But perhaps you can identify with 92 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.429 them. Perhaps you know what it feels like to dread opening the Bible or 93 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:50.470 going to church or even praying and talking to God. David, God's holy 94 00:08:50.590 --> 00:08:56.580 word describes these very feelings. He also describes this dark place of the soul, 95 00:08:56.740 --> 00:09:01.220 and Psalm two eleven are verse. Today. There's twice in this psalm 96 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:09.049 he describes his soul as being cast down, as being in turmoil. When 97 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:16.450 he says cast down, the Hebrew means something like dissolving, like melting away. 98 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:20.970 His soul is no longer solid. It can't hold anything, it can't 99 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:26.559 hold weight. He feels like he's becoming a nothing. But he's not going 100 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.720 quietly into the night. He says he's in turmoil. It's a word that's 101 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:37.789 used for noisy crowds, crashing waves, roaring animals, agitation, even moaning. 102 00:09:39.909 --> 00:09:43.350 The word is him and it even sounds like moaning or crying. Hi 103 00:09:43.429 --> 00:09:48.870 Mahi, Mahime. It's a sad word. It means that has that kind 104 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:54.340 of agitation and Moan to it. Of course I know what that feels like, 105 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:58.100 and you do to all of us, at some point or another, 106 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:03.740 knows what it feels like to be in that dark place. And you know 107 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:09.690 what Jesus felt it too. As a man, in the deepest part of 108 00:10:09.889 --> 00:10:15.169 his soul, Jesus felt and knew that dark cloud. He knew what it 109 00:10:15.250 --> 00:10:18.970 felt like to have his soul cast down, his soul in turmoil. We 110 00:10:18.049 --> 00:10:24.440 have his words. He says, my God, my God, why have 111 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:31.320 you forsaken me? That's what Jesus says. If Jesus can feel abandoned by 112 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:37.789 God. Surely his servants might feel this way from time to time and to 113 00:10:37.950 --> 00:10:46.990 one degree or another. But this changing that happens in our life, these 114 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:52.139 this sense that these dark clouds roll and roll out, there's something that's very 115 00:10:52.179 --> 00:10:58.419 encouraging about that, a reality that clues us into an encouragement and it points 116 00:10:58.580 --> 00:11:03.970 because it points us to the fact the feelings can change. And that's what 117 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:11.009 David is after here in our psalm. He recognizes what is going on inside 118 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:16.129 his heart, he sees where he's at and he seeks to move to some 119 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:22.080 better place. He says to himself, he's self talk right, he's talking 120 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.639 to himself, and he says, why are you cast down on my soul? 121 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.000 Why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I 122 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:35.110 shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. This teaches us something. 123 00:11:35.830 --> 00:11:41.230 It teaches us that while anxiety and discouragement are experienced by God's children, 124 00:11:43.070 --> 00:11:48.700 his most beloved children, it's not the end of the story. You may 125 00:11:48.860 --> 00:11:54.860 be experiencing a dark cloud, but it is just a cloud. The Sun 126 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:58.980 may be covered up, it may be as dark as night, but it 127 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:03.809 is not night. The Sun, though covered for a time, is still 128 00:12:03.809 --> 00:12:07.769 there, still shining away, and as soon as the cloud will move, 129 00:12:09.450 --> 00:12:13.169 the reins will be the rays of the Sun will be felt again, because 130 00:12:13.250 --> 00:12:20.840 a cloud is just a cloud. They move, they change. The God 131 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:26.159 and his love does not. But in the meantime, when you're feeling those 132 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:33.950 that dark cloud, when you're feeling this casting down and turmoil in your soul, 133 00:12:35.230 --> 00:12:39.470 what can you do? What can you do? Well, we can 134 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:45.820 learn, I think, a few things from David's example. The first thing 135 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:50.259 is that we ought to take time to notice how we're feeling. David can 136 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:56.500 address what's going on in his soul because he's paying attention to it. He 137 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:00.529 knows what's going on in his heart. He can name and he can describe 138 00:13:00.809 --> 00:13:05.730 the state of his soul, his emotions. Many of us cannot. Frankly, 139 00:13:07.730 --> 00:13:11.529 we have a very limited vocabulary to describe how we're feeling. Mad, 140 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:20.159 sad, glad and, I don't know, something else. These big, 141 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:28.590 big humongs, categories the capture so many things. I heard an interview this 142 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:31.710 week with the popular sociologist Bern a brown. She recently wrote a book called 143 00:13:31.750 --> 00:13:37.789 the Atlas of the heart, which she names eighty seven different emotions. How 144 00:13:37.830 --> 00:13:43.100 many emotions do you think there are? How many can you name? Now? 145 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:46.379 There's no one answer to this. She hasn't figured it all out. 146 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:52.100 But the point is that it's difficult to deal with a heart if you don't 147 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:56.129 know what's going on inside, if you don't have language and vocabulary to describe 148 00:13:56.169 --> 00:14:03.970 it. Perhaps you remember, or you listen to that old show. Suppose 149 00:14:03.049 --> 00:14:09.330 they do reruns now. Car Talk Right, right, okay, and and 150 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:13.440 sometimes they joke right about the the warning lights that come on. You just 151 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:20.159 put a piece of black tape over it right on your dashboard. That's how 152 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.240 we, some of us, deal with our emotions. We just put a 153 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:26.029 piece of black papers. I don't have to worry about that anymore. But 154 00:14:26.149 --> 00:14:28.509 the light, the warning lights, still on right, they're still telling you 155 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:35.629 something, and it doesn't turn out well when you ignore the dashboard, when 156 00:14:35.629 --> 00:14:41.259 you're getting information. David doesn't ignore how he's feeling. He doesn't just wipe 157 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:48.179 it away or pretend it's not there. We ought to train ourselves to be 158 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.490 honest and specific as much as we can, because the better we get it 159 00:14:52.769 --> 00:14:58.009 ignosing, the better we get a curing helps to know what's going on. 160 00:14:58.289 --> 00:15:03.289 So we know what to do. David knows what's going on, he knows 161 00:15:03.330 --> 00:15:07.009 that his soul is cast down, he knows that his soul is in turmoil 162 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:13.000 and he speaks truthfully and honestly about it. The second thing I think we 163 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:18.200 can learn from David and this holy scriptures here is that whenever we can, 164 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:24.389 we ought to nip discouragement in the bud. Naming is good, but it's 165 00:15:24.429 --> 00:15:28.230 not enough, and one of the best things you can do is to not 166 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:33.990 let your worries and your fears and a downcast soul go unchecked. I know 167 00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:39.860 this is hard, but it's still important to say. When you see a 168 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:43.259 fly in your house, do you wait for a full on plague before you 169 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:48.700 finally shut the door? No, you see a fly to your house, 170 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:52.370 you go somebody shot that are or you go shut the door. And so 171 00:15:52.690 --> 00:15:58.450 also, with the buzzing of anxiety in us, the gnawing of despair, 172 00:16:00.370 --> 00:16:06.559 when you see trouble in your heart, deal with it right away. NIP 173 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:11.039 IT in the bud. Don't let discouragement and worries and troubles grow and grow 174 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:18.120 and grow. And you do that by talking to yourself from the truth of 175 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:21.909 God's word. You set your heart on a different path. You say, 176 00:16:21.950 --> 00:16:26.309 Hey, soul, why are you so cast down? Why are you in 177 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:32.750 turmoil? Hoping God, hoping God. And if you don't do that, 178 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:36.740 you'll find, as I have found, that worrying will wear you out, 179 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:42.659 and it's kind of foolish to if I'm honest about it. What does Jesus 180 00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:45.940 say in Matthew Six, twenty and seventy? Says which of you, by 181 00:16:47.019 --> 00:16:53.330 being anxious, can add a single hour to his lifespan? Being anxious doesn't 182 00:16:53.370 --> 00:16:59.129 give us any benefit. If you worry for one hour, let's say, 183 00:17:00.049 --> 00:17:04.960 do you gain an hour? No, you lose one. That's what Jesus 184 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:11.000 says. And you know what, brothers the sisters, that includes being anxious 185 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.869 about being anxious. Do you know what I mean? Think about it. 186 00:17:15.910 --> 00:17:22.750 Will worrying about worrying suddenly make you not worry? No, you're just entering 187 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:30.099 more into it. Sometimes the only way to stop a bear is to shoot 188 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:36.660 it, but most of the time you just don't feed it. Most of 189 00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:41.500 the time you don't feed the bears, you don't give them the ant, 190 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:44.849 the the food that they need. And our anxieties are like that. When 191 00:17:44.890 --> 00:17:48.890 we feed our anxieties, especially with more anxiety. We get all tied up. 192 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:53.089 William Bridge, who I mentioned earlier, he uses this example. He 193 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:56.329 says, as the bird in the net, the more it strives, the 194 00:17:56.450 --> 00:18:03.359 more it is entangled. So also with you. Are you sorrowful? Leave 195 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:07.759 it to God, and that's what David does here. Notice what his plan 196 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.630 is for dealing with his troubled heart, his very, very troubled art. 197 00:18:14.430 --> 00:18:18.470 His plan is really simple. He says to himself, hope in God. 198 00:18:21.190 --> 00:18:26.029 Notice what David's plan is not. David's plan is not to figure out how 199 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:30.059 to feel better and then hope in God. It's just hope in God. 200 00:18:30.140 --> 00:18:33.859 David's plan isn't a hope in God for a little bit, see if it 201 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:37.460 works and he feels better, and then hoping God some more. It's just 202 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:44.490 hopeing God. David's plan isn't too hope in God for a little bit, 203 00:18:44.690 --> 00:18:48.410 see if it works and then to try something else. It's just hopeing God. 204 00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:55.569 Bridge, William Bridge, suggests a pair of prayer, which all pray 205 00:18:55.690 --> 00:19:00.480 of pair of phrase. Whether I'm he's, this is the prayer. Okay, 206 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:07.960 whether I'm forever in this bad state or not, it's none of my 207 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:11.509 business. Lord simply, let me serve you. That's the only thing I 208 00:19:11.670 --> 00:19:18.390 want. Let me see you as you please and when you please. I 209 00:19:18.589 --> 00:19:26.059 know that in your time you will answer and I shall praise you. That's 210 00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:30.420 a prayer that doesn't worry. That's a prayer that's recognizes the anxiety in the 211 00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:36.259 worries in our hearts and just says, there it is, I'm going to 212 00:19:36.299 --> 00:19:40.490 hope in God, no matter what happens, even if the anxiety stays, 213 00:19:41.250 --> 00:19:45.170 even if the worrying stays, we just simply choose to hope in God and 214 00:19:45.369 --> 00:19:52.839 put our hope in that. This really is the best antidote for a troubled 215 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:57.759 soul, a soul in turmoil, soil, a soul melting away and being 216 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:04.559 cast down. And the final thing I'll say this morning is this. We 217 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:10.029 also learn from this passage that true peace comes only from the true God. 218 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:15.190 It will do you no good to put your hope in a god of your 219 00:20:15.269 --> 00:20:22.339 imagination or in yourself or are most certainly, in your circumstances. There is 220 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:29.140 such a thing as false peace and many, many people attain it. They 221 00:20:29.180 --> 00:20:33.539 get it, they find it false peace. That is so, how do 222 00:20:33.660 --> 00:20:41.609 you know if the peace you've found is false or at best temporary. Well, 223 00:20:41.730 --> 00:20:45.250 you know it this way because you found it apart from God. You 224 00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:51.200 found it in yourself or in someone else or in some circumstance. Imagine your 225 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:55.839 hungry. We find, let's say, an apple on the ground. Hooray, 226 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.079 you found an apple. This happened to me once, by the way. 227 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:02.759 We do all that. Were walking, we were hungry and there are 228 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:07.349 some bananas and we had the bananas and they were good. That's those great 229 00:21:07.390 --> 00:21:12.109 right. You are so how your hunger is satisfied, but it only lasts 230 00:21:12.150 --> 00:21:17.589 for a moment, right. Soon you're hungry again. What you need to 231 00:21:17.670 --> 00:21:21.740 find is an apple tree and a whole garden around it, and then you 232 00:21:21.819 --> 00:21:26.140 build your house next to it. That's what we need from God. What 233 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:32.890 I'm saying is that the only lasting source of peace is our God, who 234 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:37.089 is everlasting, and God tells us in his word how it is we can 235 00:21:37.170 --> 00:21:41.809 enjoy that peace. We have it, he says, when we trust in 236 00:21:41.890 --> 00:21:48.519 Jesus. We have it when we trust in him to speak peace in our 237 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:52.039 lives as a prophet. We have it in Jesus when we trust him to 238 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:59.400 forgive our sins. As a priest and reconcile us to God, and we 239 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:03.029 have peace in Jesus when we trust him to defend our enemies, both the 240 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:10.230 internal ones and the external ones. As Prophet, as priest, as King 241 00:22:10.509 --> 00:22:14.829 we trust Jesus. We hope in God and in each and every single one 242 00:22:14.910 --> 00:22:18.660 of these points, and a thousand under each of those categories. Jesus gives 243 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:26.740 us his peace. He offers US himself as the full and complete and everlasting 244 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:32.369 solution to every problem, every condition, every trouble that we find ourselves in. 245 00:22:33.210 --> 00:22:37.329 Jesus, the Bible says, it's like a second Adam, but instead 246 00:22:37.329 --> 00:22:42.170 of getting US kicked out of the garden and losing access to the tree of 247 00:22:42.289 --> 00:22:48.319 life, he secures the way to heaven itself, and the tree of life 248 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.680 is never to be lost again, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans five. 249 00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:00.109 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with 250 00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:08.549 God. The peace of Christ given to his saints is objective. It's his 251 00:23:08.950 --> 00:23:15.339 promise, Jesus says. This is what he says. He says, come 252 00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:18.900 to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 253 00:23:18.940 --> 00:23:23.500 you rest. Take my yoke upon you, take my yoke upon you and 254 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:27.529 learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you 255 00:23:27.569 --> 00:23:33.410 will find rest for your souls. My Yoke is easy and my burden is 256 00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:42.160 light. Do not doubt that truth. Jesus said it, he died for 257 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:47.880 it, he came into the world form it, angels proclaimed it and he 258 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:52.559 said as I began with and his Jesus ended with my peace. I lad 259 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:56.630 with you, not as the world gives, but my peace I leave with 260 00:23:56.750 --> 00:24:04.190 you. Don't let your hearts be troubled. So don't doubt him, even 261 00:24:04.390 --> 00:24:11.019 when you don't sense that peace for the time being. Don't doubt him because, 262 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:18.299 like The Sun, Jesus Christ is shining and working even when you don't 263 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:23.930 see him. The clouds, they come and go, the conditions of life 264 00:24:25.329 --> 00:24:32.009 they change, but God does not, and his promise is sure. So 265 00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:37.690 don't put your faith in the circumstances of your life, don't put your faith 266 00:24:37.769 --> 00:24:42.079 in your feelings, but put your faith in God, hope in him and 267 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:47.519 in him alone. Tell your soul what to do when it's feeling down. 268 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:55.750 Tell your soul hope in God, for God has conquered sin and death and 269 00:24:55.910 --> 00:25:00.869 Satan himself for you. God calls you his friend and that doesn't change. 270 00:25:00.910 --> 00:25:07.259 He is your praise, he is your salvation and no little cloud is going 271 00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:14.299 to stop him from shining down on you. So let no little cloud stop 272 00:25:14.420 --> 00:25:18.660 you from believing in him. Let's pray