Extended break from I Timothy Focus on New

Extended break from “I Timothy” Focus on New Covenant Glories!!! Today from on Old Covenant Passage!!! Psalm 25 Many of you “elderly side of the spectrum” Remember this Psalm from the Maranatha Singers Maranatha was famous for putting Scripture to music! Wonderful thing to do… Melodies keep words in our minds… (Memorize)

Unto Thee O Lord, Do I lift up my voice!(2 x) Oh my God, I trust in Thee, Let me not be ashamed, Let not my enemies triumph over me! IMHO: They did a HUGE disservice to the body of Christ! A cute little ditty…. There is nothing “ditty” about this psalm… ENEMIES! DANGER! DESPERATION! Potential for loss, hurt, grief, sorrow, wound…

Confusion! Scared! Frustrated! Overwhelmed! All of our “battle” “WE ALL KNOW” what we see through eyes of faith: God is good! God loves and cares for us! God promises to deliver us! But WE also “know” what we see = ENEMIES! CALAMITY! Vertical view LIFE AND LOVE OF GOD Horizontal view ENEMIES; loss, sorrow, wound

“We need help! We need to know what and how to do! We need to know that God sees and that He is going to do!” Scott Peck: “Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand accept it, then life is no longer difficult. ” • I don’t know that I would say it that way…. THEN WE RECOGNIZE AND KNOW: 1. That we are not up to the demand of the onslaught against us 2. We must find someone Who is BIGGER!

“NO!” A RESOUNDING “NO” ditty We need to read it as the words: of a real man… in real trouble… … in dire straits… about to go down BUT HE KNOWS GOD!!! CONFIDENCE! v. 1 -21 – GLORY – 21 verses – In the midst of the doom The experience of Divine

DOOM: Enemies! Hatred! Personal sin! Rebelliousness! Traps! Loneliness! Affliction! Troubles! Distress! Hatred! MANY ENEMIES! VIOLENT HATRED! DIVINE: Refuge! Ways of God! Instruction! Teaching! Salvation! Compassion! Lovingkindness! Goodness! Forgiveness! Justice! Prosperity! Deliverance! Ever present stare of God! Grace! Trust! Protection! Preservation! COVENANT! v. 21 -22 Individual to Corporate experience (REFUGE) His experience = OUR EXPERIENCE (potentially)

The “doom” is already all of our story THIS IS NOT EDEN! Loss! Sorrow! Enemies! (WE ALL GET THIS!!!) Potential: - For all of us…. To know and experience the glory of “BUT GOD!” To experience the Divine by sheer exercise of our will to trust Him over and against what we see so as to experience Him in such a dynamic and glorious way… WE WILL NOT BE ASHAMED! Disappointed! Psalm 25: 1 -7 (Three sections) Keep our study simple and practical

In the midst of desperate circumstances one thing we certainly do not need is complexity! THE PSALMS Book of the heart! Passion! Emotion! REALITY! The Psalms are the complete picture of human experience of the fallen world + the fullness of God “DAVID” – (The supreme example) Praising in song……………Soaking pillow w/tears Bi-Polar? David is the total man… Gut level honesty!

David is the man who lives and knows: God is good! / The world is not! “How to live in fallen world in such a “way” that when the storm clouds of life grow dark and ominous… … we will stand confidently and defiantly in darkness! … with the light of God shining in our hearts! NOTE: “way” 4 x “path” 1 x One time in every four verses = GO DOWN THIS ROAD!

v. 4 – teach me v. 5 – teach me v. 8 – instruct me v. 9 – teach me v. 12 – instruct me NOTE: This psalm is directed to a man who is already on the way = HE KNOWS GOD! He knows (v. 3) that God will not… God cannot… EVER abandon Him!

The storms of LIFE (DEATH) can be so devastating, so confusingly contrary to what He knows about God and His goodness… … that he must receive instruction into the “ways” of God! (in order to stay on that road) v. 4 - 5 – LANGUAGE “Make me know Your “ways” Oh Lord!” How do we harmonize Good God / Evil experience NOTE: This is no “small” request! HUGE REQUEST!!!

A. W. Tozer – 1950 “The church in America is a mile wide and an inch deep…” There are “SO MANY” who are content to frolic in the shallows of salvation… SOUNDS SO ________ “Shallows” of Salvation? How can our salvation EVER be considered shallow God Man God = Die! GOD = wounded by his own creation?

There is NOTHING shallow about our salvation! It causes us to sing: Amazing Love, How can it be? That Thou, My God shouldst die for me? Tyndale The Gospel is the good, glad, merry news that will make a man leap for joy! I Peter Angels “marvel” and seek to understand the depths of the love of God for man…

It is going take an eternity and we will still NEVER get the GLORY that God became man to be afflicted by man in order to rescue man… Salvation in Jesus the God Man is so very, very DEEP I personally do not believe we will ever really “Get it!”

AND YET: IT IS THE SHALLOWS! THE “WADING POOL” IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING SALVATION introduces us “into the” “ETERNAL! GOD Who offers Himself as the beginning and the end… GOD Who offers to not just be Savior, but LIFE! He doesn’t just want to be “to” you, but “for” you! ILLUSTRATE: Kids: I love you daddy, can I have an ice cream? (not going to bother me all that much – little kids)

If 30 year old Ben: Dad, I love you, can I have a $50. 00 for a date? THAT IS GOING TO BOTHER ME! I want to be more that just what I do for him… I want to be TO/FOR him… with ALL that I am… I don’t want him coming to me for what I can do for him, I want him to come to be for what I can “BE” to him. I have so much more to offer than “doing” I can offer “being”

This is how it is with God but very few people get this: Cf. Psalm 103: 17 Israel knew God’s acts… (What He does) Moses knew God’s ways!!! (Who He is!) This is what the Psalmist wants! He is not content with knowing “about” God! He knows the reality of life in a fallen world! HE NEEDS GOD HIMSELF! * Help me understand your “paths” (your ways, what up to) * So I can rearrange the way I am thinking…

v. 5 Lead me in YOUR truth Teach me… CLARITY The kind of clarity that will only come through an intimate dependence on the Lord… v. 5 c “For you I WAIT all the day… Wait = Braid cf. Isa 40 Those who braid will exchange their strength Those who braid will exchange their understanding (Think)

v. 6 The first of THREE “remembers” 1. Remember your goodness and lovingkindness v. 6 I NEED THEM DESPERATELY 2. Remember NOT the sins of my youth or my transgressions v. 7 YOUTH = foolish; stupid Things I NEVER do today… TRANSGRESSIONS = Rebellions; Sins of maturity!

3. Remember “ME” Your son! Your daughter! The one you made your own child! The one you adopted (New Covenant Language) The one who loves you so imperfectly… Remember “ME” with your lovingkindness for your goodness sake… NOTE: “me” / I 12 x I am in NEED!!!

v. 8 – 15 He shifts the emphasis from himself and his need… To God as the only One Who can meet His need! v. 1 -7 = “I” or “me 12 x v. 8 -15 = You, Your, God, Lord 14 x!!! v. 8 You are Good and Upright! You teach “sinners” as to the right way v. 9 You guide the meek in what is right You teach the meek Your way

v. 10 All the ways of the Lord are love and truth For those who keep His covenant (Who can do that? Who can keep His covenant? ) v. 11 For THY name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity FOR IT IS GREAT! NOTE: The closer you get to God, the more you feel your inadequacy?

v. 12 -14 The secret of the sweet, satisfying, companionship of the Lord is reserved for those who fear, revere, and worship Him… and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its deep, inner, hidden meaning! The key to finding God in the darkness is to have the correct attitude about God! v. 13 His soul will abide in prosperity!

NOTE: This is not performance…. This is NOT do this and you will be blessed… It is stay on the right path and you will be blessed because blessings are what is found on this path! It is the path of blessing… The path is a Person • Might expect the psalm to end there v. 1 -7 = Enemies! I need deliverance! v. 8 -15 = God delivers and instructs When you seek God YOU FIND GOD! Wonderful!

v. 16 -21 Psalmist REPEATS his cry for deliverance. Situation must be worse than we thought! v. 15 caught in a net v. 16 lonely and afflicted (ALONE) v. 17 Troubles are enlarged

v. 18 – Psalmist CRIES OUT!!! “Look upon my affliction and my trouble” “Deliver me from my trouble? ” v. 19 And FORGIVE ALL MY SINS! I thought that was already dealt with earlier… Then what is the problem? v. 19 My enemies are MANY! They hate me with “violent” hatred

When that happens… When the storm clouds grow dark and scary… It is very easy to forget what we know It is very easy to see the storm cloud and fail to see the One Who sits in the clouds! Cf. John 11 John the Baptist C. 1 “There HE is, the Lamb of God!” C. 11 “Are you the One? ” “Doubts in the Dungeon”

Fear, anxiety, can overrule the mind… and severely and negatively influence the will. (Forgive me/already forgiven) v. 20 Guard my soul (M, E, W) and deliver me… Do not let me be ashamed (DISAPOINTED) for I take refuge in you… YOUR REPUTATION IS AT STAKE! For I “WAIT” for You! “BRAID” / ABIDE / DEPEND

David continued to “braid” until he experienced the deliverance of God! May have been deliverance from the trial (Plan A) May have been deliverance “IN” the trial (Plan B) How do we know that he experienced deliverance? Psalm 26 My feet stand on “level” ground; In the great assembly I will praise the Lord!