Salvation Is Near To Those That Fear Him
Eight Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt July 14, 2024
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 85: 7-13
I read a list the other day that I thought was spot on as well as amusing. I’m only going to share with you the portion I found most relevant.
Age 60 might be the new 40, but 9:00 pm is the new midnight.
It's the start of a brand-new day, and I'm off like a herd of turtles.
The older I get, the earlier it gets late.
When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.
I remember being able to get up without making sound effects.
When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.
I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.
I run like the winded.
When you do squats, are your knees supposed to sound like a goat chewing on an aluminum can stuffed with celery?
I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.
I shared the full list on my Facebook page if you want to see the entire list. I thought these were very funny because I totally recognized them, and they felt right for what I want to share with you today. However I did add this brief comment on Facebook.
“The only thing I would add is through all of this God has been so kind, merciful, compassionate, and faithful. My body is older but so is my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Getting older means I'm another step closer to beholding my Lord face to face. “
1 Corinthians 13:12,
”For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Most of you know that I’m going to have surgery tomorrow morning to remove a tumor on my left kidney. My urologist, our brother Doug Ludeman and the surgeon that he sent me to concur that there is an 85% chance that it’s cancer. Once the tumor is removed another surgeon will step in and repair two hernias on the same side. Sort of like buy 1 get 2 for less than buying them separately. One of the issues that will be dealt with is whether or not the tumor is indeed cancer and has it spread elsewhere.
Right now, all I can do is wait for whatever God is doing in all of this. For the last month we’ve waited for the day when the surgery will be performed, and tomorrow - unless something changes - it will happen. Throughout the waiting I haven’t felt only curious as to what God has planned.
Over the years I’m fairly certain that we’ve all known friends, family, or just acquaintances who have had cancer. It’s very common nowadays. Some are now cancer free, some are still dealing with it, and some have passed away.
In the past I have wondered what it would feel like when the doctor said, “you have cancer” or in my case “you likely have cancer”.
I admit that I was surprised a bit but not anxious. So for the last month or so I have praying into the question, God, what are you doing in this. Whatever it is please let me be found faithful. Actually, truth be told I have several issues going on in my body at the same time. Some more serious than others but all a nuisance.
Also, many of us are concerned about the state of our nation and our world. As Christians we know that the Lord reacts to both to sin and obedience. If we are faithful to God and his word, we should anticipate blessings, and if we live in sin and willful disobedience to God we should expect judgment. The reality is that even those who are seeking to honor the Lord will be affected in the judgment that God pours out on nations for their godlessness. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus pointed out this truth in Matthew 5:45,
“For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Sin is rampant and the moral decline in our culture is extraordinary. Frankly, we should be willing to admit that the cause of physical suffering can also be the result of how we have treated the earth. What we eat, drink, and breathe can play a big role as our bodies reject those elements, like preservatives, poisons in the ground, in the air that we breathe, in the water we drink. All these are consequences that inevitably serve to make us sick. Anxiety and fear play a negative role in how we think and therefore how we feel. Clearly, there’s a lot going on all around us. I know, you’re thinking enough already! You’re depressing me!
I wanted to lay out the obvious truth that we are in trouble, all of us, and there is only one solution that promises to never fail us. So, with that in mind this morning we’ll be considering Psalm 85: 1-13.
Our goal this morning is to seek a deeper understanding of God’s sovereign purposes for us as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. Hopefully, it will help us not live in fear or anxiety no matter the situation in which we find ourselves. If we can better grasp what God is offering us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ I believe this should change our bondage to fear and anxiety.
Psalm 85 reflects back on the past with thanksgiving for salvation and looks ahead to the future with confidence, all while dealing with God’s wrath in the present. This Psalm is a lament, a crying out to God for revival. The Psalmist begins by remembering a time when Israel suffered because they turned their backs on God and the result was His judgment being poured out on them. The Psalmist doesn’t really point back to any singular event that brought them under the wrath of God. He does remind them that their situation was directly connected to their sin. Forgiveness of sin was the only way to stay the wrath of God, but it was all based on the grace of God, on His character and nature.
The Psalmist (one of the sons of Korah) reminds them that God once intervened and brought prosperity and happiness back to the house of Jacob (Israel) their namesake. He set aside his wrath and his fierce anger inviting them to live according to what his law pointed them to, which was a relationship with Him, on his terms.
You’ll notice that in verses 4-7 that the Psalmist reminds Israel of the past mercies of God. The Psalmist seems to be reminding both Israel and God that He alone could change the nations fortunes. He was encouraging them to remember the stories in the Books of Moses and the prophets that had been told to them over and over. It was because they stopped teaching these stories, God’s law, which meant they stopped remembering God and his word and replaced the word of God with the traditions and teaching of pagan gods. In every instance when the word was delivered to them there was always the dual emphasis where they could choose to obey and be blessed or to reject the word and pay the consequences of being cursed.
I love the way the Psalmist turns the focus on the mercies of God inviting Him to revive them and restore his unfailing love, granting them salvation. This love was for those who were in covenant with Him. The psalmist is encouraging them to pray for revival, and in the context he explains why it was time to do so. In verses 1-3 they should pray for revival when they remembered the great things that God had done in the past.
Then in verses 4-5 he encourages God’s people to pray for revival because they were forced to acknowledge that they are under a cloud of God’s judgment clearly understood through the evidence of a lack of God’s blessing.
Years ago I was having lunch with a pastor/friend who had been asking Teresa and I to join his church because he felt we were needed. He made the comment that they were experiencing a real move of the Holy Spirit in their midst. That surprised me, so I asked him what that looked like to him. His answer made me sad,
“Well everyone in our church is employed and we had been praying for a youth leader and God sent one our way.” Then he stopped and smiled at me letting me know that was his answer. I thought about for a moment or two then my reply was to ask him how long it had been since he had seen a real move of God’s Spirit. What he claimed as a real move of the Spirit actually were certainly blessings from God but not a powerful life transforming move of the Holy Spirit. I knew that there wasn’t any real sign of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in that church.
James Montgomery Boice points out,
“This prayer for revival “…implies that the people were alive once, have died in a spiritual sense, and now need to be given spiritual life again. This is what the church almost always needs, and it is how revivals come.”
The psalmist gives them examples of what praying for revival means. It should be the heart felt hunger that God’s work among His people would cause them to find their joy in nothing else than in Him.
Listen to Psalm 85:5-6,
“Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”
One of the important points is that the psalmist is inviting Israel to remember their God and all that He had done for them as a nation. He had set them apart from all the other nations first and foremost for His glory, honor and praise which would lead to their salvation. If they would only remember the character and nature, the power and the glory of the God of Israel that alone would change everything.
He reminds them that they should be full of confidence, knowing that God can revive. Full of boldness, pleading with God for revival. Full of humility, desiring God’s glory and praise.
So what was the Psalmist asking the people of God to do? How would they change the direction of their lives? Well, I believe that it starts with a fuller understanding what God was inviting them into. If you miss that, you miss everything.
If I were to ask you what brings God the greatest joy and happiness what would you say? Some may answer that God’s greatest joy is when a sinner comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ. After all Luke 15:10 tells us,
“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
That’s true of angels and certainly God rejoices when a sinner comes to Jesus Christ by faith and repentance. That is good news but once brought into the kingdom of God what is to be this sinner’s highest purpose and joy?
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism begins with question number 1, “What is the chief and highest end of man?”
Answer: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully enjoy him forever.”
Most are accustomed to assuming that God’s greatest joy is to redeem the world, save sinners, or maybe to restore creation to its original pre-fall condition. Surely God’s greatest joy it has something to do with us. Nope, the truth is that all these things he restores for something greater, the enjoyment He has in glorifying Himself.
John Piper in his book, “Desiring God” writes,
“But God’s saving designs are penultimate, not ultimate. Redemption, salvation, and restoration are not God’s ultimate goal. These He performs for the sake of something greater: namely, the enjoyment He has in glorifying Himself, The bedrock foundation of Christian Hedonism is not God’s allegiance to us, but to himself.”
Some may find this alarming and disturbing that God’s greatest delight is that He be glorified. Remember that God is not like us. He is holy, pure, glorious. He is worthy to be praised, honored, and glorified. When we live for the glory and honor of our creator we are doing the very thing we were made for. When that is our focus then we find our greatest joy and fulfillment. It’s when we fight against our created purpose that we find ourselves living in misery, disillusionment, and fear. The remedy is living in such a way that God is held in the highest honor, and our lives are seeking God’s delight before our own. I’m well aware that for many this sounds like a foreign concept but listen to 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
I think it a common problem we often use words to describe God without considering the implications. We often speak of God as sovereign meaning that He is the ultimate ruler over all things, all of creation. Consider Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” This indicates that God does whatever He wants, whatever brings him joy. His goal is to bring glory to himself and that should be our goal too.
Psalm 33:10-11,
“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”
Whatever God decides he does, his plans are not undone by anyone or anything else. The sheer fact that God is God implies that His purposes cannot be denied Him or ignored. God speaking through Isaiah says,
“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure…”
One of my favorite stories is in the Book of Daniel chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon thought very highly of himself. As he looked out over his kingdom he proclaimed,
“Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?”
A voice spoke to him declaring that because of his arrogance God was driving him out from among people and he would dwell with animals, a become like one of them eating grass like an ox for seven years. At the end of that period God restores him and he responded,
“ I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account, But He does according to His will among the army of heaven, And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can fend off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’
Frankly, I could go on for a long time pointing that the purposes of God have always been and will always that He is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. We were created for that very purpose but when our first parents decided to act according to their own desire to be like God, knowing good and evil their sin brought calamity to all mankind and all creation. As you know the good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to make a way for man to return to a relationship with God. That is such good news, but to what end, for what purpose are we restored?
I love Romans 11:33-36,
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Understanding that our highest purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever really is the remedy for overcoming fear and anxiety. If God’s glory is our highest purpose then everything we do from the time we wake up to the time we lay our head down in the evening should be committed to God that he might be glorified. When we are suffering, or being persecuted, or even we lose someone we love to death we invite the Lord to help us find the way glorify him even in those troubling times.
I believe that years ago when I began to pray that God would do whatever he wanted in my life that a burden was lifted off of my shoulders. Please don’t misunderstand, I have to focus on this purpose because there are times when I struggle with my sin and hardheadedness. It’s when I refocus on God that I find peace in the middle of the storm.
One of my favorite contemporary Christian music songs is “No Longer Slaves”. Part of the refrain is, “I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.”
Finally, the psalmist points to the promise of Israel returning to God. If they are faithful God will respond by speaking peace to His people, His saints, but he warns them that to return to sin bring a response. He will bring salvation to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in their land. The Lord will bless the land and it will yield it’s increase. There will be harmony of life in covenant with God consisting of love, friendship, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace. In other words, if want to live a life of peace with God, and the joy of His Holy Spirit we must join him in what brings Him the greatest delight, His glory.
Tomorrow morning I’ll go into surgery asking God to be glorified in this and yet I’ll trust Him to choose what that looks like.
Let’s pray.
