August03_2023_Psalm65_Luke17

August 3rd, 2023. Treasures in Christ. Psalm 65. Jehovah, Kephar, Esher. Our Lord God who forgives transgressions. Psalm 65. Iniquities and much buried guilt prevailed against me, yet as for our transgressions, you forgive and purge them away. Make atonement for them and cover them out of your sight. O Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful for another day. We're thankful that you brought us into this new day, Father God. For you have a very purposeful will for each of our lives to operate in the kingdom. And so as we come in sacrificial worship this morning, O Father God, we offer all that we are to be transformed by you. And we know it's a process, Father God. It's a process that involves our failures and our mishaps and our mistakes. But you're right there waiting. You're right there waiting with that mercy and grace to cover those sins and wash them away. Purge them and bring the forgiveness that we need to operate without condemnation today. We thank you for this truth, Father God. We thank you for the work of the cross that gives us access into this very place. And we thank you for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit today that is moving in each of your children to transform us into his very image. So we thank you for this truth, Father God. Transform us by it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, I'm encouraged this morning as I start looking through Psalm 65. What a beautiful psalm. You know, they're all beautiful, but this one's pretty, pretty darn cool. So we're going to take a look at that real quick, and then we're going to just take a quick peek at Luke to see some of this intangible, practical, this forgiveness of God. What our role is in the kingdom when it comes to these things. It's just an amazing truth. So let's take a look and see what it says. It's a psalm of David, and it just says a psalm in verse 65, verse 1. It says, To you belongs silence. You know, he's talking to God here. To you belongs silence, the submissive wonder of reverence, which bursts forth into praise. And he's taught us this already. We already know that sacrificial worship is this place of submission under his powerful hand. You know, as we wait on the Lord, you know, we wait on the Lord for him to fight for us, for him to do the things he does for us. And as he operates in our lives, it pours forth praise. And that's what he's saying here. To you belongs silence, the submissive wonder of reverence, which bursts forth into praise. And praise is due and fitting to you, O God. That's the overlying will and purpose of the kingdom in Zion, the body of Christ. And to you shall the vow be performed. See, you know, it's that commitment of the heart to God. We discovered this the other day, where David was talking about the vows, you know, and this is a constant thing we have to do because the flesh wants to go its own way. So we have to constantly be committing our heart to God, constantly be coming back in those places where we've gone astray. Verse 2, O you who hear our prayer, to you shall all flesh come. See, at the end of the day, God is the creator, sustainer, the very holder of all things. At the end of the day, everything will bow at the throne of Christ. So we know everything and nothing is exempt from this. And our connection in it is this place of prayer, this communication, this intimate place of communication. And we want to be in right alignment. We want to be operating in the kingdom for our prayers to be responded to. We know that God can physically hear everything because he's omniscient, omnipresent. And this is a more intimate reflection that God's available to all things. It's not just a limited number of people, you know. There's not just, you know, those that God wants a relationship with and then knows he doesn't because we know he wants none to perish but all to come to repentance. And we're going to see as we read on, I think, how repentance plays a role in this process. David goes on in verse 3 to say, Iniquities and much buried guilt prevail against me. See, David's not a sugar-coater. He's not trying to come back like he's to hide. David is always in this place of sacrificial worship. And he's always in this place of recognizing God, his need for God. Especially when it comes to his mistakes that he makes. And he's just reminding us of this in verse 3. That iniquities and much buried guilt prevail against me. That's a personal thing. Yet as for our transgressions, see, because at the end of the day the kingdom of God is a unified body of Christ. It's not a singularity. I mean, it is with all of us combined. It's not an individual thing. It's a group thing. All of creation God wants relationship with. David is just confessing his own iniquities and his own guilt. And the fact that we're going to make these mistakes. But this is the beautiful thing about God. It's not how perfect we are. It's our heart's direction. And we see David's heart is directed correctly in the beginning of the passage here. He's submitted in all of these things. He's submitted in all of these things. And he's vowing to continue to commit his heart, his whole life to God. And stay connected to God. Relying on God for his help. And when he gets to the place of actual confession in 3. Confessing for himself and confessing for the entire extent of humanity. We see the outpouring of God's grace and mercy coming in the second half. You forgive and purge them away. So we have the forgiveness of God. We have the blood of Christ that covers us and gives us the righteousness of Christ. The forgiveness of sins. But there's a purging that has to happen. And purge them away. And make atonement for them and cover them out of your sight. Now the blood of Christ covers. But there's a purging that's required. And this is where the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. Verse 4. You see, this is a good place to be. You don't want to come in the body of Christ thinking that we're never going to make mistakes. We want to just come into that place of submission in this. Because God's not just a fun sucker who wants to utterly destroy us. He wants to redeem us. Anything we know about God is a redeemer. And this is why he makes a reference to the courts. Because in the courts we know that the perfect judgment of God. The perfect authority. The perfect power above all things is what the court is talking about. You know, this is the place where our sins are rectified. You know, where we can come and we can confess and God can remove from us those deeds of the flesh. As we walk in a way that pleases the Holy Spirit. See, and this is why we see this. You know, it's a blessing. You want to live a blessed life? This is how you do it. You choose to come near to God and dwell in his courts. That's what David just said. That is the blessing. It's not earthly things. And he's giving you some symbolism as we go on. That's in reference to the human realm. So we can understand. But he's only going to be talking about spiritual things. Because why would God get us all in up to do about things that are temporal. That are just going to go away when we die. That sounds like a fun sucking God to me. And I know God is just not that way. So when we come into this place of sacrificial worship. Willing to come at the court at the feet of grace. At the throne of grace and mercy to get these sins and transgressions purged away. We have the forgiveness because of the blood of Christ. But the purging is a process of us walking in obedience to the Holy Spirit. So we can put to death the deeds of the flesh. This is the court he's talking about. And I love how he goes into the next intimate part of it. And what our heart and our attitude I guess I should say is in the process. So the second half of verse 4 he says we shall be satisfied. So there's this degree of contentment in the process. And we see this all throughout the scriptures as we read them. That as God fulfills promises in our life. And we're filled with the joy of the Lord. Fourth is praise and gratitude. See gratitude comes in because of the satisfaction that we find in the presence of God. And the satisfaction we find in the purging work of the Holy Spirit. As he's putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Now if we're only operating with flesh goals on. That's not very pleasant. That's not anything we're going to you know. We're not thinking gratitude in that area if we're thinking with flesh goals on. But when we're thinking with God goals on. That God's preparing us for an eternal home in heaven with him. Then it brings a gratitude, a satisfaction, a contentment with the process. And the process is this very thing. It says we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. See this brings it intimate when we see the house mentioned. We're in the goodness of God and the kingdom of God. This is the intimacy of the kingdom that we are in. And your holy temple which is symbolic of several things. Obviously we know the holiness of God. We know that he is holy. And he lives in our body which is the temple of God. And so there's that duality of it. There's that connection of heaven and earth. That's that binding of us and God in this place. But the holiness just doesn't come because we raise our hand one day. The holiness comes because the Holy Spirit is setting us apart. Sanctifying us, making us holy. As he is holy. And I love this beautiful poetic way he does this next verse. Be fearful, I'm sorry not be. By fearful and glorious things. By fearful and glorious things that terrify the wicked. But make the godly sing praises. Do you answer us in righteousness, rightness and justice. O God of our salvation. You who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas. And this is just a great illustration that it's all mankind that God wants to operate and work in. And it's that reverent fear and awe of God that brings us into that sacrificial worship. And as God puts to death the deeds of the flesh. I'm going to read it in context. You know he's talking about his iniquities and his guilt and his transgressions. The forgiveness and the purging of them. And that in his presence in the kingdom. There's a satisfaction and gratitude that comes because the goodness of God did not want to just utterly destroy us. But yet set us apart and make us holy and sanctify us. And these are the fearful and then the glorious. And the fearful is the sacrificial worship. And the glorious things are the things that shine through us. The light of Christ that shines through us as he does this process. We learned the other day it was so beautiful that we become the arrow of God. That when God polishes us by the working power of the Holy Spirit. We become the arrow hidden in his quiver. It's not we're going to go out and smash somebody with the scriptures. We're going to just be in the quiver of God hidden. So that when the time is right he'll send that arrow out. And it'll be able to break that stony heart that's coming against us. That's rejecting the relationship. And this is what we're reminded. Do you answer? It says be fearful by fearful and glorious things. This is the things he's doing in our life as we're in sacrificial worship. Things that are destroying. That's why it says that terror of the wicked but make the godly sing praises. Because if we're walking outside the kingdom the discipline of God that comes in is terrifying. It's not this satisfaction and goodness that we find when we're in the secret place. But that's why it makes the godly sing praises. And who are the godly? Those being transformed. We know. It's not no godliness that we can do on our own. It's a process. We see it in the New Testament. Patience and all these things. Love and all of this that God is working in us that works out this godliness which is simply a reflection of God. So when we're operating and we're starting to reflect our Father, Heavenly Father, this is what he's talking about when he says godly. Not because we're some kind of hiety-tiety. Remember, we've got to keep it in context. He's talking about his iniquities and great guilt. So he's not talking about his perfection. He's talking about God's redemption and God's sanctification process here. Holification process. And the fact that we are in that secret place and he's working in us and that light of God shines through us as he puts to death those deeds of the flesh. You know, maybe I normally would act this way towards somebody when they did this and I would come right out and be just nasty and pretentious. But now I don't and I'm patient and I'm forgiving and I'm kind. You see, it's that light, that glorious thing that's coming forth. And as God is operating in us from our standpoint, when we're in the kingdom of God, his joy, his promises are being fulfilled and we're filled with his joy. And it's going to pour forth praises as we walk and follow Jesus. Do you answer us in righteousness and rightness and justice? You see, God is just. He's a just God and his righteousness prevails. Jesus is our righteousness. And this is the answer we receive. We receive this answer. It's not how perfect we are. It's not our righteousness. He's not mentioning his own righteousness anywhere here. It's God coming back in those moments of iniquity and guilt as he's purging us and doing these things. And we're dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and he's transforming us. And we're walking in reverent fear and awe of God and his powerful hand. And he's working in our life and the glory of God is pouring through us and out from us. But to the wicked, it's a terrifying thing because they're walking to please the flesh. They're not walking to please God. But we're walking to please God, which is what makes us the godly. And we're singing praises because the promises are being fulfilled of his grace and mercy, the righteousness of God, the covering of the blood of Christ. To cover these iniquities and guilt and to purge us from these. And this is why he kind of summarizes it in the middle of the verse, O God of our salvation. And again, it's the overlaying kingdom when he says God versus Lord. He's talking about the purpose of the kingdom, the will of the kingdom is to save. And this is the God of our salvation. That is his purpose and will for the kingdom that none would perish but all would come into repentance. And he's reflecting on that here. And it's pouring forth. If we want to think about it, this is the praise right here. Because God's been doing wonderful things, fearful and wonderful things as he's working in us, transforming us. And it's pouring forth praise because it's the righteousness of Christ and all of his grace and mercy. And the fact that at the end of the day, his purpose is salvation. And David's going to go even more on this. You who are the confidence. See where we put in our confidence? Is it how cool I am? Is it what book I read? Is it what church I go to? Is it what counseling I'm attending? Is it what recovery program I'm in? You who are the confidence and hope. This is the expected outcome. Hope is things not seen. It's things that are expected as we walk in faith from God. This is what it is. It's the driving factor to keep us propelled forward as we walk in faith. Not seeing the outcome, but knowing the purpose, knowing the intent of God's outcome. Gives us confidence. This gives us the direction we have to be walking. We have to put our hope, trust and confidence in God. And this is the challenge. Because our flesh wants to have the confidence. It wants to be in charge. But this is why he's talking about the bobbin here. If we're going to walk outside of this place, it's going to just terrify us. This is not a place we want to be when God's powerful hand is coming down. And we're choosing to walk our own way. This is what will come. And the beautiful thing at the end of the day. It's coming in righteousness and justice. And it's coming to bring salvation. So even though there's iniquities and guilt. There's no fear here. Because perfect love casts out fear. Now if we're getting whooped for something we're doing wrong. That's one thing. But when we realize it's that discipline to bring us back into relationship. This is where our hope and confidence is at. It's in the goodness of God. This is just so poetic the way he says it. You who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas. He's covering every angle. Land or sea. I mean there's no other option, right? Everybody. This is a hope and a confidence and a place of restoration and salvation. This is a hope and a confidence and a place of restoration and salvation. Where the righteousness of God can come and purge us from these things. And bring us the goodness and satisfaction of being in his presence. That brings forth the praises for his glorious things that he's doing in our life. This applies to everyone. No one is exact. Verse 6. Who by your might have founded the mountains being girded with power. So David wants to get our mind securely around the aspect of God's authority and sovereignty. He reaches all mankind and he is the highest mountain girded with power. He founded the mountains. We just look at the mountains and we can be overwhelmed. But the thinking that God founded them and decided at that very place, that very spot, that very way that mountain would be there. Anchored right there in that spot. Girded with power. God who spoke it into existence. It's God who did it all. And he's going to use some more symbolism in nature. We want to get, don't get distracted. It's not about mountains. And it's not about seas. Because when we die, mountains and seas will no longer be. But it's good symbolism for the power of God. The authority of God. That it is above all things. That it's the highest power. It's the power that actually put everything we see that's powerful in its very place. Verse 7. Who still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of the peoples. There's a lot of descriptives right here. So if we think about it, the roaring of the seas, no man can tame, right? And the roaring of the waves, ever try to stop a wave standing on a beach? That's not going to happen. And the tumult of the peoples even goes beyond to give us a human example. He's kind of going from big to little. That's what he's doing here. So we've got the roaring seas, which is all out in the ocean, which is just going. And then there's the waves that are coming in, crashing into the seashore, which are also very powerful. But when you're out in the middle of the sea, I mean, that's not the place to be. You know, that's just... Yeah, that's a... You think of that movie in the boat, where there's a fishing boat. And they go out and they have those waves that are, you know, 20 stories tall. And this poor boat is only one story tall. So, you know, that's what the roaring seas can do. And then we know when we get to the shoreline, we see waves. We can see some very large waves as well hitting the seashore. But imagine, you know, but at least you have land on one side. So the wave may crash your boat, but it's going to smash you onto land. So it's, yes, the power of the sea, but it's the power of the sea where land connects. And then we go into the land and we see the tumult of the people. We see the wars and the fights and the battles. We see just the conflict among the peoples. But God has the capacity to still all of these things. He can put all of these things to rest. While our mind can't comprehend that fully, it's the truth. I mean, He founded the mountains and girded them with power, being girded with power. And He stills the roaring seas, the roaring of the waves and the tumult of the people. He can do all of these things using the things in His powerful hand. So that those who dwell in the Earth's farthest parts are afraid of nature's signs of your presence. You see, think about tornadoes and hurricanes. You think about earthquakes and all of these things. Floods and lightning storms. Nobody is exempt. You see, you know, I was thinking about it yesterday. I was looking up at the rain clouds. I wonder if there's anybody who just drives around following rain clouds. Because they like rain, you know. And then I was thinking, but I'm so limited. We're so limited because we have to drive on the road. But the storm is not assigned to the road. The storm won't necessarily just go along the road. So I'm limited. I would be limited to be able to only follow it as far as the road allows me. So I'm very limited here. And just a beautiful symbolism. Now keep in mind, read it in context. What we're talking about. Memory, iniquities and guilt. This is what we're talking about. And staying in the secret place, we're talking about God purging from us and forgiving us of these sins. He's trying to give us an illustration of the authority and power of God. And as a reminder of God's presence, when we see the hand of nature. When God's hand comes down to nature and brings the lightning storm and the hurricane and the tornado and the earthquakes. I mean, these are the hand of God. And they're signs of his presence. It says, you make the places where morning and evening have birth to shout for joy. He makes the sun come up and he makes it go down. He determines the very spot that it's coming up and the very spot that it's going down. These are the few of the things in God's hand. Is he able to purge our sin and forgive our iniquity? David's trying to give us an illustration. He's far more powerful than we need. His power far exceeds what's required to give us forgiveness and purging of sin. As we look at nature and see the amazing power of God at work. You visit the earth and saturate it with water. And I was talking about the rains. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them with rain when you have so prepared the earth. You think about it, all the birds and all the bugs that God sends to move the pollen to replant the earth. All the rain that comes and the river waters that feed, the water sources that feed. It's just amazing that God is doing all of that. You water the fields furrows abundantly. You settle the ridges of it. You make the soil soft with showers, blessing the sprouting of its vegetation. He causes the food to grow. He brings the growth. And he uses it as symbolism to show the power of God and what God does. And the life he brings onto the earth. And all of the things, these powerful things that he's in charge of. You crown the year with your bounty and goodness. And the tracks of your chariot will drift with fatness. And I was thinking about that chariot wheel as it's going along. You crown the year with your bounty and goodness as we receive crops from the earth and food on a year-to-year basis. It just kind of crowns off God's authority. And it's the tracks of his chariot wheels. We think the chariot is that powerful vehicle. But I like what's happening. It's the wheels, the tracks that it's making as it goes through the earth is dripping with fatness. That's a reflection of productivity. When the fattened calf is fattened, there's a fatness there. There's a growth. There's a blessing of production. There's an increase. And these are the things that God does from his throne in heaven. It says, the luxuriant pastures in the uncultivated country drip with moisture. The hills gird themselves with joy. The meadows are clothed with flux. These are the things God does with his powerful hand. The valleys are covered with rain. They shout for joy and sing together. Why do we keep hearing shouting for joy? Why is nature shouting for joy? Because God's promise of bringing this up and setting it is coming to fruition. Because God is bringing life and abundancy from the creation, and so therefore it sings and shouts for joy together. Because his promises are being fulfilled. Which, if we go back to the passage, if we go back to the context, he's given us a very poetic view of the goodness and greatness of God and his ability to bring to us his goodness as he purges away and forgives us from the iniquities and the transgressions. What a beautiful passage and a beautiful way to show God's ability and powerful hand of this process. But what is our role? What's a practical for the body of Christ? So I've just taken to Luke 17 as I went into going deeper, and I thought, what a beautiful passage this is. So this is how, you know, what's our role in all this? You know, obviously we have to be in that sacrificial worship where we're allowing God to transform us and put the depth and deep of our flesh and purge and dwell over these things. We have to be operating here, but it's not just about us. Because, remember, we go back to Psalm, David says, As for our transgressions, because we know we're all going to fall short. So let's just see what Jesus had to say about this topic. It says in Luke 17, 1, And Jesus said to his disciples, Temptations, snares, traps set to entice to sin are sure to come. But woe to him by or through whom they come. See, he's talking about us bringing in the temptation to sin. Us bringing in this aspect. He's not talking about us falling victim to it. We're going to see a little more about how this operates here. But we do want to know that we don't want to be responsible for bringing these temptations in. Verse 2, he's telling us why right here. Because it would be more profitable for him if a milestone, a millstone, were hung around his neck and he were hurled into the sea, that he should cause to sin or be a snare to one of these little ones, lowly and rancid or infant. And this little ones can mean a lot of things. Let's look at the symbolism here for what little ones could potentially mean. It could mean children, absolutely. It could mean children of God that are babes in the Lord, particularly. And this is why we have to be very conscious that we're staying in spirit and in truth in everything that we do. Because once we go off and on to our own agenda, and we start pushing our own agenda, we come out of that sacrificial worship, and we start to lead others astray. He's not just talking about murder and robbery and things like that. He's not just talking about obvious things. He's talking about anything that takes us out of the secret place. So he's not just talking about children. He's not just talking about poor people. He's talking about anybody who is like a little one would symbolize, young in the faith, young in life, young or lowly in position, whatever it might be, all of the above. So he's going to give us some pro tips here. Pay attention and always be on guard. Doing what? Doing what? I like to have a fight here. Looking out for one another. See, you know, the thing is sin, once we give it a foothold, it begins to grow and enlarge in our lives. And this is why God has enlisted the body of Christ, to rebuke, correct, and encourage each other. I know a lot of people, a rebuke is not an easy thing to get. But if it's done in love and it comes in the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, it's the place we want to be because it brings us to that turning point to stay in that secret place, right? Because we've gone astray. So he's telling us to pay attention and always be on guard. Looking out for one another. How beautiful is that? You know, it's the body of Christ after all. And it says, if your brother sins or misses the mark, solemnly tell him so and reprove him. Okay? So this is our, we start to see our role now. We're kind of our brother's keeper, right? You know, that's kind of what we hear. And this is what he's saying. This is how we help carry one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. If we see a brother missing the mark in sin, we solemnly, we go earnestly and tell him so and reprove him and solemnly, we're like grievous. I'm thinking solemn like grievous too because, you know, we're not going like an authoritative whooping. We're going in like a grieving of this taking place because it's coming in and it's affecting the kingdom. It's affecting the body of Christ and it has a way of luring away and tempting away. And this is not a place we want to be. We just read. He said you might as well throw a millstone around your neck and jump into the ocean. We don't want that, right? So we solemnly tell him so and reprove him. And here's the key here. It's not going around pistol whipping people with the Bible. This is not what he's saying here. Because we've got to understand the heart of God, the intent of God, is for redemption, right? It always is. And we're going to see it right here. You know, it's a trap to just want to go around Bible beating, Bible bashing, picking at sins and just bashing them with the Scriptures. But the reason why we go with this solemnity, why we go with this grievous, sad, solemn persona is because there's an outcome that God wants from it. And it's not just to be sad. And it's not just to reprove them. It goes on to say in verse 3, And if he repents, now we're starting to get to the brass tacks of what God desires. And remember, God doesn't ask us to do anything he hasn't done for us. So we think about our own life where God has come to reprove us. And it's to bring us to that turning point. That's what he's shown us. His discipline is not just to be a fun sucker. It's to give us the turning point. And what does it look like in the turning point? We change our mind. We change our heart. We change our direction. It's called repentance. And this is the type of repentance God's looking for. And if he repents and feels sorry for having sinned, remember how we've been studying, God's been showing us our sin is to start to grieve us. We should start to have a grief that comes from our sin. And this is what he's talking about. And if he repents and feels sorry for having sinned, what is our role? To forgive him. If only it were that easy. We're going to be faced with some bigger challenges as we see in verse 4. And even Jesus says, now, our Lord is telling us this. This is a command. And even if he sins against you, now, see, it's interesting, up in verse 3, we're looking out for one another. You know, we're helping each other. We're looking out for one another. We're saying, oh, he's missing the mark here. She's missing the mark here. Oh, that's grievous. We don't want to let sin come into the body of Christ. And let's go in there and here's the scriptures. Here's the spirit that's going to help bring you into that place of repentance. And now they're turning in repentance. And then we forgive them. It doesn't really say in verse 3 that it's coming directly against you. It's just saying that if a brother misses the mark, maybe he was a little short-tempered. Okay, so I guess in some fashion, it is against you in that sense that he was a little short-tempered or was not patient and kind or loving or any of these things were called to do. But now, verse 4 makes it more personal. And if he sins against you, so now he switches it around from a brother missing the mark, which could have an effect on us in the kingdom. And so there's always that forgiving heart. Here we see that even if he sins against you, so now it's coming directly against us. And Jesus says, even if he does this seven times a day and turns to you seven times and says, and now notice what's happening here, and turns to you seven times and says, and turns to you seven times and says, who's causing the turning? Not us, it's the Holy Spirit's convicting in the causing because there's a reproof that's come. There's been the rebuke and correction from the Scriptures and from the Spirit that there's this turning. We're not guilt tripping in here. This is not a guilt trip we're doing. We've already went solemnly. We've already went in a very distraught kind of a fashion, bringing the truth of God and allowing the Spirit of God to go in and set the table for repentance. But it's interesting how this, so that we see that in that second part, and turns to you seven times and says, so that means he's turning not on because of something you're doing. He's turning because of what the Holy Spirit's doing to conviction and the power of God's Word. And he knows what to do because he's going into repentance, right? And so he says, if he turns to you seven times and says, I repent, I'm sorry, you must forgive him. Jesus could give his command right here. You must forgive him. And give up resentment and consider the offense as recalled in an old. You know what it doesn't say? It doesn't say forget. We get so caught up with trying to think, oh, I can't, I keep this in my mind. Well, yeah, it's probably not going to go away, especially if it hurts. That cutting thing is going to probably stay with you. It's probably not going to leave you. But it's your choice to forgive him and give up the resentment and consider the offense as recalled in an old because it's covered by the blood of Christ. Now, this is a hard thing. We can gloss over this passage and, you know, while we want God to forgive us, right? And purge from us all of our iniquities as David was showing us in Psalm, this becomes a hard thing. We can see it in the Apostle's response. It says in verse 5, The Apostle said to the Lord, Increase our faith, that trust and confidence that spring from our belief in God. You see, because this is a place where we're operating without seeing. When somebody comes directly against us and God is working them to repentance, our position is to forgive and give up any resentment and consider the offense as recalled in an old. Just consider it taken out by the blood of Christ. And we go back up to Psalm and we see it's the forgiveness and the purging away. Consider it forgiven and purged away, purged away, washed, moved away out of the place where resentment can reside. And this requires faith because we're not seeing any outcome here. We have to trust in the Lord and this is why I like the word Lord was used here. The Apostle said to the Lord. Okay? That's the leader. This is the one showing us how to walk. This is the brass tacks. This is where the rubber meets the road. We need to have our faith increased in this space because our flesh is going to see somebody who keeps coming against us, keeps coming against us, keeps coming against us but they keep coming back and are grieved and are operating in repentance, changing the way that they're doing. It's like, you know, I don't know. I can't. You hear it all the time when it comes to addictions or verbal or physical abuse and, you know, there's a grief for the wrong and there's a repentance from the wrong and there's a limit. People put a limit on, well, they can, some can, put a limit on how many times they'll do that. You've gone on, you've started running on drugs and alcohol three times, now that's too many. I need to divorce you. I need you out of my life. But see, we've given a command here that there is a, there is no limit to this. And we know the other passage, it says even seven times seventy. So, there is no limit. Seven is the perfect number that puts man and God together because the only way we can do this is with God and the fact that God has done it for us. And you can see what God wants from us in this place where we talk in the purging and all of this that David was talking about. We have to be in a repentant heart. We have to be grieved over our sin. And this is why, but that's why it's a terror to those who are not godly. And it's not, it's a joy and a praise to those who are walking in sacrificial worship. To the apostles, say to the Lord, the leader, show us the way, increase our faith, the trust and confidence that spring from our belief in God and his purpose and his kingdom. And the Lord answered, if you had faith, trust and confidence in the ruler of the kingdom, even so small like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea and he would obey you. And I love the way he did that description. It's not about uprooting trees and planting them in the sea. He's giving you the illustration of the greatness of the challenge. Now, a tree can be uprooted. You can kill a tree in the uprooting and then to be replanted in the sea, well, it might be overwatered at that point and over salted at that point. But the reality is, if you think about taking the tree all the way to the bottom, digging the hole, putting the tree in it and putting the dirt, that's a lot of God requirements. And this is where faith comes into play. He's just reminding them that faith is a place you operate where the king of kings lives. This is why when we read the last eight, nine verses of Psalm, it's all about the power and the goodness of God to do this very thing. He has the capacity. And he's given us an illustration that puts that symbolism of God's awesomeness at that next level. Just kicks it up a notch. He's going to pull a tree up from the earth and he's going to go to the sea and he's going to plant it on the bottom of the sea. Now we as humans can't even go to the bottom of the sea. But God can go to the bottom of the sea. He put the bottom of the sea there. He built it and created it just that very way. He girded it with the power of the mountains and the valleys. And it's interesting because let's think about this rooting for a minute too. So he builds it up by the roots. If you had faith, like a grain of mustard seed, you could save this mulberry tree. Be pulled up by the roots. See, now you're rooting things. God has the power to get at the root of the matter. When we go back, what are we talking about in context? We're talking about sin. We're talking about brothers and sisters in Christ that are coming against us in our place and command to forgive them. Well, unforgiveness is roots of bitterness. And so when we operate in this place, when we walk in faith, when we bring the forgiveness, the root of bitterness gets uprooted. I just love the symbolism there, the roots. Because a lot of time we go after the fruit and not the root. See, when somebody's coming against us in sin, and there's issues between us, the root of it is meeting with someone else and I have an issue now. And I'm feeling some kind of way, as I like to say. The root of the problem is my unforgiveness. I may have said I forgive you, but maybe I need to say it some more. And consider the offense as recalled in an old, because God has covered it, just like He covered all my offenses. And give up the resentment that is the root of bitterness. See, when we start to resent others because of what they've done towards us, that is a resentment, and that brings bitterness and gives bitterness a chance to root. But the thing is, if we're only coming out here and we're looking at the fruit, which is the resentment, we never get to the root of the problem, which is unforgiveness. See? And so this is why it's such a beautiful illustration, and I love the fact that he used the tree, because in the process of operating in this place where we give up the resentment and that contention we have with them now that I feel some kind of way coming out, and because we have this unforgiveness, because he's talking about forgiveness here, this is what he's talking about, we must forgive them. That's what he says, that's a command. And so when we're not operating under God's command, under the lordship of our Lord, which is why the apostles go right into verse 5 where the word Lord is used, and the issue is our unforgiveness, and the tool required to cut that root out is faith and trust in God. And so this is why they're asking for faith, they're asking for the right thing. It's perfect. And the Lord answered, if you had faith, and he's just telling them, you have the faith you need. We just have to cut it out at the root and get rid of that unforgiveness, because then that allows us to give up the resentment and consider the offense as we call it an unknowing. We can't operate in obedience if we have an unforgiving heart. And we see a lot about that. It's another topic to go into, unforgiveness, because there's a lot of scripture about it, and it's an amazing thing. Even just the Lord's Prayer, if you just look at that, it says, Forgiving my sins as I forgive those who sin against me, as I've forgiven those who sin against me. In fact, Matthew goes on to say, and your sins will not be forgiven if you don't forgive others. And he's telling us here, it doesn't matter how many times. You just bring that forgiveness, because if you don't, it's going to let bitterness take root, and you're going to start having resentment, and there's going to be that abrasion. And you're operating outside of the kingdom, because you're not facing reality. The fact that God has forgiven you, God's forgiven me, I'm starting to not face reality when I get into this pious place where I refuse to forgive them. They've done that four times against me, and I'm done. I won't do it no more. But Jesus said, Seventy been seven times, and they're passing seven times seventy. And it's a perfect God and man. It has to be a God and man combination for this to have any operation, or else it's just lip service. Because how can somebody who has no God in them truly forgive somebody? Because they've never known true forgiveness. It's amazing. Amazing truth. God is a good God. He gives us everything we need for life and doneness. That's why we have the faith in us already to do this. But the disciples were like, Man, this is a hard thing, man. We're going to need some boost on this. And Jesus said, But you already got it, man. You already got it. If you've got faith in God, like a mustard seed, God will grow and expound it and get done the very things. It may just start with, I forgive you, Lord. That may be where it starts. And then pretty soon, you have to do it two or three times. And you commit to doing it as often as you need to do it. And I learned that when I was going through a recovery program and when I was making amends and whatnot. And those that had hurt me, I had to forgive. And then if they were still alive, see, it didn't dawn on me. We went away on a retreat and did all kinds of writing and journaling. And I offered forgiveness. I just laid it down, Lord. I just bring the forgiveness in. But the ones that were still alive, it didn't dawn on me that if they hurt me before, they would probably hurt me again. And I wasn't prepared for that. But God prepared me with His Scripture. See, if I would have had to put the Scripture to heart, knowing that it was coming against me again, then I would have been prepared just to keep bringing that forgiveness. And it caught me off guard at first, but I just got back on track and realized I just have to keep forgiving. You know, I have to keep going because now I see God has commanded it. And this is just the work of the Kingdom. This is why it's such a beautiful thing. The next few verses are going to show us this is just the standard operating procedure. This is not some weird, out of the blue thing we've got to do. Because man and God is operating together. We have the capacity to do it because we've been given the faith and we have the forgiveness already so that we can offer forgiveness. Right? And I like the next part where He gives us some symbolism of this fact that it's just standard operating procedures. It says, Will any man of you who has a servant plowing or tending sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, Come at once and take your place at the table? Will he not instead tell him, Get up my supper ready, encourage yourself in serving while I eat and drink? Then afterward, you yourself shall eat and drink. Is He grateful? Does He praise the servant because He did what He was ordered to do? Even so, on your part, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded, you say, We are unworthy servants possessing no merit for we have not gone beyond our obligation. We have merely done what was our duty to do. And this is just giving us the brass tackle. This is just our duty. This is not some kind of special thing that we are going to get some kind of special recognition for. Forgiveness is a natural core value of the kingdom of God. That's why I love some of the verses that are just so beautiful. It's like, Love covers a multitude of sins. Well, why would God say that if there weren't going to be a multitude of sins? And we know we love because God first loved us. We have all the tools that we need to operate in the kingdom. And this is basic standard operating procedures. And I think as we throw in the Lord and He transforms us more and more, and the more of our own iniquity that we see Him forgive and we go back to Psalm 60, purge and do these things He does to rectify us and redeem us, that we have that extra zeal and motivation now to do it to those others in the body of Christ. What an amazing truth today. I tell you what, what an encouraging word about forgiveness. You know, it really is. And it's a proof positive that Psalm 65 is a treasure in Christ. And that God is Jehovah Kepar Pesach, our Lord God who forgives transgressions. Oh, Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful for this truth today. Father God, what a transforming truth and a core value in your kingdom. It shows us your heart and who you are. The more we know who you are, Father God, we'll know your way more and we'll know more who you are. Your way is the way of forgiveness. You bring it to us, we give it, pay it forward in the body of Christ. There's no limitations, Father God. Just like you put no limitations on our forgiveness, we put no limitations on others. And I pray this for the body of Christ today to be transformed by this forgiveness doctrine, Father God, that will operate. These will be the standard operating procedures that forgiveness will always rule the day. And you will be able to root out these bitternesses and these things that are displeasing to you in the kingdom as you purge from us the transgression and iniquities that we ourselves commit. And we pay that forward to those in the others in the body of Christ. So we thank you for this truth today, Father God. Thank you for the fact that you are the one that ultimately forgives the transgressions and sins and covers them and nulls them and moves them as far as the east is from the west. And I pray this truth over the body of Christ today. In Jesus' name, amen.