Today we’ll be in Psalm 126. We’ve all seen the home makeover shows where a crew comes onto a property and surprises the owner with the home of their dreams…and as the reveal comes, they keep repeating in shock, “I can’t believe it!” They wonder if it’s real or if they’re dreaming. If you’ve ever felt like something must be too good to be true, then you’ll understand the feeling behind verse 1: “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed”  (Psalm 126:1). We were like those who dreamed. It was surreal. A little background first…The Israelites had been put in time out by God for 70 years by the Babylonian empire. God had allowed them to be carried away to Babylon to teach them to repent of idolatry. It all turned around in one night. Years later, 70 years later, the Persians took the impregnable city fortress of Babylon, by damming up the river and slipping under the walls. And when they took power, they decreed that the Israelites could go back home to Israel.It was like a dream. They couldn’t believe the reversal of fortunes. They got to go home! So, on the way back, they kept pinching themselves. And it was all they could talk about. Not just talk about, laugh about, and sing about.   “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.””  (Psalm 126:2). Laughter, joy, but also wonder. It wasn’t just the Israelites who were singing God’s praises. The surrounding nations couldn’t stop talking about it.  “The Lord has done great things for them”  (Psalm 126:2). It was a testimony to the nations. 
Throughout history, God keeps restoring the fortunes of this tiny nation, called Israel, because they’re His people. Sure, they’ve seen tough times, and yet, it seems as if God keeps bringing them back to this little plot of real estate in the Middle East, just like he did at the end of World War 2. And the nations are still talking about it today. They may not see it as the Lord having done it, but if you were to talk to someone back in those days, they might have said “that wasn’t God, it was King Cyrus. Nowadays, if you were to talk to someone who didn’t believe the Bible and they asked you why you did, the first thing that you might point out to them is Israel not being wiped off the face of the earth, despite intense efforts by so many multiple peoples throughout the world to do so in history. Even if it was a Persian king's decree that brought them back to their land, the Psalmist repeats in verse 3 that it was God who did this. “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy”  (Psalm 126:3). The joy the Israelites feel is that they get to return, not just to their land, but to worshipping God again. And after being ripped out of the land because of idolatry, worshipping God was the one thing they couldn’t get to fast enough. But filled with joy? I know you’re thinking. You have been telling us that these Psalms of ascent start off with a descent, and Psalm 126 is the first Psalm in this three Psalm cycle. So it should be a descent, down the hill, right? So why is there joy here? Keep reading, verse 4: “Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev”  (Psalm 126:4). The streams in Negev were streams in the desert. When the Israelites made that journey back to the promised land, they passed through the wilderness or desert of Negev. Those streams would form immediately as the thunderstorms rolled in and dumped the pregnant waters in a gushing downpour. Where there had only been dust and sand, now water, refreshment, LIFE! This is how they felt when they returned…they had nothing. They’d been captives for seventy years, and now they feel as if they’re in a personal desert, but those streams…if God could do that to a desert, why not to their lives? Perhaps you’re walking in a desert? Perhaps your life seems dried up today. Your prospects barren. You seem to only clench dust in your hands,and even that falls through their fingers, and the dry heat wastes your soul away and saps your life… And you groan with the Psalmist,  “Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev…”  (Psalm 126:4). It was Jesus who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest. Come to me and you will find refreshment for your souls.”   A desert one second, but then, coming to Jesus, and crumpling in an exhausted heap at his feet, and finding refreshment for your soul… They were traveling, make no mistake…and they weren’t home, not yet. Verse 5 tells us this was the return journey…the outward journey had been much worse. “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy”  (Psalm 126:5). Coming back to Israel may have been like a dream, but leaving had been a nightmare. Jerusalem had been burned, the city destroyed by the Bablyonians, and now 70 years later, as they pass through this barren land, and wait for the reaping of their new life. Jerusalem had been burned, the city destroyed by the Babalonians, and now 70 years later they pass through this barren desert land and wait for the reaping of their new life. As they’d left the promised land, their tears of regret, watered the land, and over time, 70 years to be exact, their repentance grew under the surface, and now, as they walk back through the land, the songs of joy are beginning to break up through that soil. The difference between sowing and reaping is just a matter of time. When you have the seed of repentance, and have watered it with your tears, that sorrow that leads to repentance, sometimes, it’s just takes a little more time. Waiting for God to restore your fortunes…to restore your life back to you again. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve screwed up. You could be listening to this today in prison. You could be at the end of a messy divorce, it may even be your fault. You may be in the desert…you’ve repented…you’ve wept on your bed before drifting off to sleep. You’ve balled your eyes out in the waking hours when nobody is around, except for God, and God sees… verse 6: “Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them”  (Psalm 126:6). What a promise. Mark this verse. Memorize it. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy. Note that he doesn’t say that your circumstances all magically reverse, like a false promising Pollyanna; no, this is a Psalm of ascent, and being the first in the cycle of 3, it’s a descent. And you, like this Psalm, may need to journey for yet some time on the downward trek. But you  will  return with songs of joy. That’s the harvest. Even if your circumstances don’t change,  you  will! The Lord  will  restore your fortunes. It may be a deeper maturity. A lasting peace. An enduring hope. The experience of his limitless love.  “Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them”  (Psalm 126:6). This, my friends, is the Psalm that reminds us to trace the small steps that we see in our lives as they begin to change. At first, they were  released from bondage. They can’t believe it. They are like those who dream…but there’s still a journey. A walk. A descent. So they keep walking. Jerusalem is ahead of them, and so they keep walking knowing that they will reap songs of joy.  So no matter where you are today, my friend, keep walking. Sing through the tears. The streams of Negev are there, and at any moment they may appear to refresh you. Streams of refreshment as you continue your journey with God, through the word.

Hello friends, and welcome to Psalm 7. This one is a prayer for rescue, and for justice—for righteous judgment, and for  vindication .  "Save and deliver me." "Bring to an end the violence of the wicked."  Have you ever prayed that prayer? Have you ever  sung  that prayer? There is a power in song—an ability to draw out the heart, to help us cry out to God from our anger, angst and anguish. David knew that power. He wrote this psalm, and the opening words tell us that he sang it "to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite." From the context, it appears that Cush has  slandered  David. Some of you know what it's like to be  slandered. Falsely accused.  You try to do right, and someone starts telling everyone else you did wrong. Suddenly people are talking about you. Your reputation is on the line, your good name muddied. People don't look at you the same—don't  trust  you the same. Now that's a rough trial for anyone, but for someone entrusted to lead like David, slander like that can undermine everything he does. So to read this psalm well, you've gotta put your heart in that place: slandered, desperate for vindication. That's an important word here in the psalms. See slander is tricky. Try to defend yourself, and they just challenge you more. What you really need is someone who  knows everything  and who  everyone trusts  to step up and tell them you're  innocent!  What you  really  want is for  God  to tell the world, " He didn't do it!"  That's vindication. David steps up to the great Judge of all the earth and asks him: " Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness"  (Psalm 9:8). Okay, pause there. Some of us have a serious problem with this one.  David, you're not righteous. None of us are, except Jesus, and you're not him.  This is going to come up repeatedly in Psalms, so let's deal with it now. Some scholars address the difficulty by agreeing:  Jesus is righteous.  And he took our sin so that we could become God's righteousness. So when we pray in Jesus' name, we are righteous! Makes sense. Others take it a step further, asking the question:  How would this psalm sound if Jesus were the one praying it?  That's an intriguing challenge for every psalm. The New Testament often quotes the psalms and puts many of the words  in Jesus' mouth,  as if he is the one speaking. Prophetic passages work that way sometimes. And do you recall that Jesus was slandered? Have you ever thought about how that  felt?  Standing there, bound and beaten, a spectacle for all, accusations  hurled  at him. Before the Sanhedrin. Again before Pilate! Mocked and ridiculed, accused of nonsense. So I think that reading this from Jesus' view is valid, but I also think David's plea is valid on its own. CS Lewis offers a fantastic insight here in his  Reflections of the Psalms.  Great book. Lewis points out that Christians tend to read references to  justice and judgment  differently than Jews. Christians often think first of  God's final judgment,  whereas Jews—particularly here in psalms—are concerned with  earthly judgment,  like a civil case where one person has wronged another. To be  righteous  in God's final judgement is to be  truly and completely good  in God's sight. But to be  righteous  in a civil case simply means to be right and innocent in the matter at hand. David was certainly guilty on other counts, but he did not do the things that Cush accused him of! And that  matters . Earthly justice  matters  a great deal to God—for one person, and for all peoples. Both will be considered in this psalm. So let's get into it. My soundtrack for study time was songs of the Civil Rights Movement. It's no coincidence that great movements of justice have had gospel songs for their anthems. The introductory words call this a  shiggaion  of David. Verse 1: "Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me"  (Psalm 7:1-2). Refuge is a mighty word. It's used often here in the psalms. It's a very personal word for David. He was a hunted man. He knew precisely how it felt to hide silently in a cave, waiting and hoping for danger to pass.  "Lord my God, I take refuge -  in you "  (Psalm 7:1a). David pours out a desperate cry. Lord, they're tracking me down like lions, ready to rip me to shreds. Slander  threatens your name, your character,  shredded.  Verse 3 is a clue of what they accused him of: "Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands—if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe"  (Psalm 7:3-4). Now knowing that it was a  Benjamite  accusing David, this was probably related to King Saul. Most Benjamites sided with Saul in his rift with David, though David didn't even  want  a rift. Many held a grudge against David, and spread  lies  to undermine his Kingship. Here they likely accused him of betraying Saul—turning on his  ally —the reverse of the truth.  "Lord if I'm guilty"... verse 5: "then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust"  (Psalm 7:5). For David, loyalty is paramount.  If I betrayed, take me out God. I would deserve it.  Verse 6: "Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice"  (Psalm 7:6). Watch David's response carefully. His enemies  rage  against him. He doesn't slander back. He doesn't let anger get the best of him. Man's anger doesn't produce God's righteousness. He calls on  God's  anger.  Arise Lord! Awake my God! Decree justice! Those words are crucial to the heart-cry of the psalms:  Lord, decree justice.  Verse 7: "Let the assembled peoples gather around you, while you sit enthroned over them on high"  (Psalm 7:7). David's imagination grows vivid here. Sick and tired of slander and gossip swaying opinions, he envisions all the peoples gathered to God's throne. Let the Lord sit enthroned, let him declare. In verse 8: "Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High"  (Psalm 7:9). Now remember, David is not claiming to be sinless. He is claiming to be  innocent  in this matter. That's valid. Just as it's valid for  you  to want your name  cleared  of accusations  you didn't do,  even though you're not perfect. But I do wonder about this verse—if there isn't a pre-echo of something greater, a longing for vindication far greater—one that we cannot possibly earn or deserve, but nonetheless desire. To stand before God Almighty and be declared  righteous.  To  have  integrity, to fend off every slanderer, even our own guilty conscience. Hmmm. But maybe that's my own heart reading into it. For his part, David takes his plea to another lofty goal. Verse 9: "Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure—you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts"  (Psalm 9:9). Now there is a noble prayer:  end the violence.  The Hebrew word simply means evil. End it Lord. End it. And David looks to God:  you are righteous, you probe minds and hearts.  Slander and gossip can make it so hard to know who's right, who's fake, who's true. God knows. Verse 10: "My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart"  (Psalm 7:10).  I love that picture. Slander is like arrows. My shield is God. Just try to get through this. Verse 11: "God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows"  (Psalm 7:11-13). David's image of God may surprise you, but it is thoroughly Biblical. I can't help but wonder if David has been meditating on Exodus 15—Moses' victory song. "The Lord is a warrior" (Exodus 15:3). David is not seeking his own vengeance, he is looking to the true avenger. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay" (Romans 12:9). And to further talk himself  out  of taking his own revenge, David reminds himself in verse 14: "Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads"  (Psalm 7:14). David's heart finds rest in the knowledge that evil deeds have a boomerang effect. Justice. God does that. And with his heart at peace once again, David closes with verse 17: "I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High"  (Psalm 7:17).

We’ll be in Psalm 32 on our journey through the Word. Have you ever done something that you were so ashamed of, that you didn’t want to be around anyone? You felt vulnerable, and exposed, as if everyone knew what you did? The burden of guilt you carried, even made it hard to look at yourself in the mirror? No matter how hard we try to stuff feelings like those down, they keep coming up, like a bad case of heartburn. David had done something terrible; He’d taken advantage of a young married woman named Bathsheba, spying her bathing on her rooftop. He misused his power to take advantage of her, got her pregnant, and tried to cover it up by having her husband killed on the field of battle so he could take her as another one of his wives.It ’s the stuff of soap operas, and tell-all tabloids, but that was the problem, David moved on like nothing ever happened…and for that entire time refused to speak about it, and he was miserable. Walking around with your guilt eating away at you from the inside is like carrying a curse everywhere you go. This is why David focuses, in verse 1, on feeling blessed, when he finally breaks, and breaks his silence … to confess God what he’s done. Verse 1, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven,
 whose sins are covered”  (Psalm 32:1). David had covered up his heinous sins, but that didn’t help things. It made them worse. But there is a difference between covering up your own sins, and having them covered by God. Blessed are those whose sins are covered. To understand what David means here by having our sins covered, we have to go way back into the Old Testament when God told his people how they could be forgiven. You see they had to take an innocent animal into the temple, confess their sins over it, and allow the priest to slay it, in cold blood.  The sin was said to be transferred to the innocent animal; the innocent paying for the guilty.That’s what the word forgiven means, literally given away, given to someone else. Someone else has taken the blame. Someone else has paid the price. Someone innocent. The lamb of God would come to take away the sins of the world, but he had not yet appeared, so when the priest performed that sacrifice, he would take the blood of that lamb, and cover the person with it, hiding that person under the blood. Covering them. “Blessed is the one whose transgressions …. are covered ” (Psalm 32:1). And the word transgression means a sin that you committed when you knew better. In self defense of our actions, we often plea, “But I didn’t know…”  But David knew better…that made it all the harder to accept that God might actually forgive him. Perhaps David couldn’t forgive himself, so he locked it away, moved on, like nothing had happened. But in verse 2 he continues,  “Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit”  (Psalm 32:2). The word “Blessed” what a contrast to the curse David had been carrying around. He pens this psalm after the pus of his sin has festered, and built up over time…but not that zit of his guilt has popped, and he finally feels relief. That’s the only good thing about a zit. But there’s nothing good about sin. God has intervened with his grace, and David is experiencing the blessedness of grace. And David goes on to say, “And in whose Spirit is no deceit”  (Psalm 32:2).  Even that feels good. If you’ve ever lived in deceit, or an elaborate cover up to hide what you’ve done, living a lie is no fun. Bathsheeba’s belly has been swelling, and with it, his shame, growing silently under the surface, becoming increasingly harder to hide. But now that he’s confessed, and he feels the deceit of his lies, leave his system like poison leaving his blood stream. And…it feels…good. Verse 3 “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
 as in the heat of summer”  (Psalm 32:3-4). The title of this Psalm tells us that it’s a maskil. We don’t know what a maskil is, but it appears to be a word that involves teaching, telling, or talking… But telling or talking is exactly what David refused to do these last 9 months as his guilt internally gnaws at him, snapping him “day and night, your hand heavy on me”, he says. This is the difference, by the way,  between letting God bear your sin for you, or trying to bear it yourself. Bearing it yourself, leads to a tortured existence, staggering under the weight of what you’ve done…it’s a type of  hell on earth. Confession is the only thing that will make the difference. “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess
 my ansgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
 the guilt of my sin. SELAH “  (Psalm 32:5).   Acknowledging that sin before God, is the first step to being right with God. It shows how much David has been trying to put it behind him, bury the evidence. Allowing God to take that sin, getting it out into the open is like vomiting when you’ve been nauseous for hours; not a pleasant experience admitally, but such a relief when it’s all out. David’s spiritual nausea is over…better out than in I always say. Twice in these verses, David outlines how his confession led to God forgiving him. “I confessed” you forgave the guilt of my sin. And even now, David pauses and pens the word, SELAH. A word that appears in the Psalm of David, which doesn’t exactly have an English translation, but a word that scholars believe means, “Pause. Meditate. Think about this.” Selah…as if David is still blown away by the graciousness of God. But why should David be forgiven for what he did. It was pretty terrible? Why should I? Why should you? David knows he’s no special case, verse 6: “Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
 will not reach them. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance. SELAH”  (Psalm 32:6-7).   There is that word again. Stop. Meditate. Ponder. David says, “Let all the faithful pray to you…” David had NOT been faithful, but he was faithful here to return to God…finally. David does not take for granted that God forgave him. Note the phrase “while you may be found”… as if there’s no guarantee that we can’t go beyond help,by stubbornly refusing to turn back. David feels that the rising waters of his guilt, and shame came close, as if he barely escaped the flood. David sings like a survivor, who has been rescued. But what a statement. YOU ARE MY HIDING PLACE. David had thought that he could hide what he’d done. Like Adam hiding in the bushes, but there was no refuge in running from his actions. Like Moses, trying to bury the Egyptian he murdered in the sand. How ironic, David finds that God is his hiding place…. The only safety he can find from what he’s done is in God, and there, confessing his sin, God surrounds him with songs of deliverance after 9 months of tortured silence. Stop. Pause. Meditate. And count your lucky stars? No. Thank your gracious God. In verse 8, in response to David finally spitting out what he’s done, God breaks the silence on his end “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
 or they will not come to you”  (Psalm 32:8-9). Nothing described David more during that period than a mule, or a beast. Have you ever rushed into sin, and afterwards thought, “How could I have been so stupid?” No understanding. Like a cow walking into the slaughter pen. Except God says, more than that he was rebellious, having to be controlled by a bit and bridle… “or they will not come to you”. You can almost hear the hurt in God’s voice, he wanted David to simply come to him in his shame, not run from him. But to trust him, to come to him for help,  Forgiveness, guidance. But David refused. He stubbornly kept going in the wrong direction, hurting himself and others even more…until Nathan the Prophet came and confronted him, like putting a bit and bridle in his mouth. Like David we can come to God the easy way or the hard way…and David had chosen the hard way for too long. But in verse 10, speaking from experience David says, “Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him”  (Psalm 32:10).   Thankfully, David knows from experience now, that like his woes multiplied the longer he was on the run from God, so God’s loving kindness, his unfailing love would surround the one who trusts in Him. Before this, David’s guilt slowly suffocated him like someone putting a pillow over his face. But now that’s replaced in an exchange that happens the minute that David turns back from God, that suffocation of guilt is replaced with being surrounded by God’s love. Remember, even if you’ve walked 100 steps away from God, it’s just one step back. All you need to do is turn around. And with the love of God surrounding David, he feels his strength returning, energizing him, causing a song to well up within him. “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart! SELAH”  (Psalm 32:11). And David ends with a final “Selah”. Perhaps because he knows that he’s not been “upright in heart”, but that for the moment, he is. No deception, no secret sin, nothing gnawing at the innards of his soul. Meditate on this…he tells himself. Remember this.  And with that, he invites us to stop. Pause. Ponder this. My friends, stop and ponder this today, and let ponder turn to wonder. And let wonder turn to worship. Jesus bore your sins so that you don’t have to.

Have you ever done something so bad that you wish you could just forget about it, like it never happened? Or you pretend it never happened? Locking sin in the darkest recesses of our mind and heart is like putting sushi in your locker at school. It might seem okay at first, but eventually it's going to cause problems. The title tells us David wrote this when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Let's go back to that moment and retrace David's steps from when he first spied on Bathsheba like a pervert, as she bathed on the roof. David had wives already, but he wanted Bathsheba so badly that he took her forcefully against her will then to cover his tracks, had her soldiering husband brought home to sleep with her to make it look like he got her pregnant. But her husband was such a man of honor that he slept outside Refusing the comforts of home while a soldier suffered on the battlefield without him. So David had him strategically placed on the battlefield Within the range of enemy archers and had his men pull back, leaving him exposed to a certain death.  Well, nine months went by. David hides his sin and the entire time as his illegitimate child grows within Bathsheba's womb, so does his agony of suppressed guilt within his tortured soul, until Nathan the prophet confronts David and reminds him that he can fool people, but he can't fool God. Verse one is the prayer of David cornered, found out, defeated, and finally surrendered.  “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions”  (Psalm 51:1). From the depths of David's soul come the only thing David can say, after nearly a year of silence, the only thing he can say after his crimes-  have mercy on me. And David appeals to God's unfailing love and great compassion because if you've ever been shocked at your own behavior or asked “Who am I? I don't even know anymore.” After something you did was so terrible, you know not to appeal to your own character. God's character is all David has left. His own character is in ruins, in tatters. But David knows God's character is merciful, loving, and compassionate. And David deserves none of it. That's why even after asking God to blot out his transgressions, He asks in verse 2,  “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”  (Psalm 51:2).Blot. Wash away. Cleanse. What does it mean to blot something out? In a day before erasers, blotting something out was covering it over with ink, but David needs more. There's something wrong with him, iniquity, disease, and filth of his sin. This isn't just something David did, it's something deep inside. David's not just praying, take it away from me, he's saying, take it out of me. As a haunted man, David continues his prayer of repentance in verse 3.  “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you're right in your verdict and justified when you judge”  (Psalm 51:3). David was silent for nine months, but he knew his transgression and, and a transgression is when you knew better, but you did it anyways. Thank God he forgives those two. That's why David says, against you, you only have I sinned. What a strange thing to say, David. You raped Bathsheba and killed the man she loved. But above it all was the sin against God. You are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. David knows what he deserves, and God would be right to punish him. That, by the way, is when we know repentance is genuine. When we come into agreement with God about our sin and the nature of it, we begin to believe what God actually says about the sin and about us. We stop fighting him, and we surrender to his judgment, and surrendering to his judgment is necessary before we can surrender to his forgiveness. Verse 5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place”  (Psalm 51:5).  David's argument was, God, when I was born sinful, even then you loved me and put up with me. David clings to that ray of hope that God was with him then, and God may still teach him wisdom just as he did when David didn't know any better as a fetus. Verse seven, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow”  (Psalm 51:7). David's mind goes to the temple, the center point of the worship of God, where God meets with his people and inside of that temple, it's covered in blood. That is where his sin is blotted out. Not by ink, but by blood. He had tried to block his sin out of his mind. But it stayed there, and stained his mind. But in the temple, his sin is blotted out with the blood of innocent animals. Somebody else pays for David's crimes. And in the times where David goes there to symbolize the forgiveness of his sins, an animal would be slain as David, one hand on the animal's head, confesses his own sins, seemingly transferring it to the animal. And as he did so, the priest dipped a hyssop branch into the blood and sprinkled David with the scarlet blood seven times, the number of completion or perfection, showing that David was 100 percent cleared of his crimes. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. What price can you put on a clean conscience? The irony that blood that stains everything else represents what will wipe him clean, make him whiter than white. David longs for the time when his sin and guilt aren't all consuming, and he prays for that release in verse 8. “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me”  (Psalm 51:8).  It's as if David is saying, Don't even waste time with this old heart God. We've all seen what this heart does. Give me a new heart Lord, one that has a steadfast or faithful spirit in it. Without knowing what he's asking. David prays for what one day will be given to every believer in Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's why in verse 11 he prays, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me”  (Psalm 51:11). In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit didn't yet indwell believers. But the Holy Spirit did come upon them. That's what the anointing meant. David was anointed as the king. And as a warrior, the Spirit came upon him to accomplish great feats. David hasn't felt that for a long time. David has been operating in his own strength, under the guilt of his sin, he's felt cast away. He hasn’t felt the power of the Holy Spirit on him the entire time he's locked up sin in his heart and not confessed it. Instead of looking back, David looks forward in verse 12.  “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O god, you who are God my savior and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips lord and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure and burn offerings. My sacrifice O God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise”  (Psalm 51:12-17). David wants to sing loud, sing proud of the Lord again. He lacks the joy of his salvation, that joy in knowing his sins are forgiven. But if he can just get back to God, know that he's forgiven, he says, I will teach transgressors your ways. He will turn sinners back to God. Sinners, like himself. David knows that God doesn't want him to try to earn forgiveness, offer more sacrifices, which don't really cost that much to a king. No, what God wants from David is the same thing he wants from us all. Our heart, a broken spirit, a repentant soul. Those are the acceptable sacrifices of God. And my friend, God will never cast you out. Never will I leave you. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. How do I know? Well, I've known God a long time and I'm still here. God has proven himself gracious to me for many years. And truth be told, I think as a young man, I must have read holes in the page of my Bible where Psalm 51 was. This Psalm was a lifeline to me. If God forgave David, I knew he could forgive me. I am one of those sinners that David taught God's ways to, to give hope. And like David, I found that coming to God with all of it, and just spilling out my soul before Him, not hiding, not bottling up, was a sacrifice that pleased God.  You see, God already poured out the blood of His Son, Jesus, that I could be forgiven, that you could be forgiven. My friend, give him your heart, broken, contrite, as is, and he will receive it.

Hello friends and welcome again to the psalms. Psalm 85 is the second in a pair by the Sons of Korah, both of them psalms of  seeking —and here,  yearning  for God to  restore .  There are four stanzas here in Psalm 85.  Psalm 85, verses 1 to 3:  “You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob . You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger”   So the psalmists praise the Lord for three great things:  favor, forgiveness, and restoration .  God’s favor is a big one. To know God’s favor is not about God liking you  better  than others, it’s just knowing that he  likes you—period.  And when you remember that… it feels amazing to just be his!   It feels like  grace.  Can’t earn it, don’t deserve it, God just loves you because he loves you—grace. And here, God’s grace looks like restoration and forgiveness.   When a friend offers forgiveness, it’s powerful. If you value that relationship, forgiveness changes you. And the psalmists  know  that forgiveness from God. They feel that grace. But notice the  past  tense. They remember that feeling… from back when. Back when God  restored us.  God set aside his wrath many times in Israel’s past. Many of us know what it’s like to look back and remember God’s grace in our life—and  long  to know his goodness again.  “We had it. How did we lose it? Why did we leave it?”  Second stanza, verses 4 to 7. “Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us . Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation”  Restore us again, God. The cry of the heart that longs for revival. Restoration is God’s work—to take the old and make it new again is an act of the Almighty. But when he  doesn’t,  what hope is there? You can feel the hopelessness in every word. Where once they felt God’s  favor,  now they feel displeasure. The feeling when someone likes you is great, but when you know someone is  not  happy with you, it’s lousy. God may still  like  them, but right now, they know he’s  not  happy.  But come on God. This can’t be forever, can it? The psalmists ask if God’s anger will last forever because it  feels  like forever! And it’s hard not to give in to feelings like that. But they  know  God better than that. They plead with the  Lord. and with their own hearts— to trust the Lord!  Pause with me here. Have YOU ever prayed something like this?  Will you not revive us again..  Have you ever needed to have your downcast spirit revived within you? When God brought the Israelites back from exile, the ruins needed restoration, but the people needed  revival .   Waiting can wear on you if you lose sight of the promise. Unexpected tragedy can steal your breath, sap your joy, & bring unwelcomed sorrow and despair. Everyone faces something life-altering. An injury, a terminal diagnosis, loss of a job, or the loss of a loved-one.  Several people I loved passed before, during and after covid. As a behavioral health counselor and pastor dealing with my own trauma and grief and the impact of loss throughout my family, counseling others became nearly impossible. The symptoms hit hard and were brutal. Intrusive thoughts. Shortness of breath. Insomnia. Crying spells. Panic attacks. Chest pains. Loss of motivation. I tried staying busy but I could barely function. I needed counsel, healing and hope. Then one night, weeping in bed, I opened my Bible to Psalm 85, and came to verse 6: “Will you not revive us again,  that your people may rejoice in you? “Will you not revive us…? ”   Those words were for me. I took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. But on this night, I felt like God was distant. I wondered if I’d feel the Holy Spirit again. Would my family lose faith in Jesus? Had I done something wrong? Would we recover and heal? But I took Verse 6 to heart, meditated on it, praying it often while driving, at work, walking, sharing it with others and praying it softly at bedtime.. begging God to let me sense His presence again. The words, “Will You not…?” Were like a promise that He would. Trauma and grief can knock the wind out of you. My heart was broken. But   then, Psalm 34:  “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”    Back here, verse 7 pleads   with God: “Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation”   So the psalmists have poured out their struggle to God, and their longing for his restoration. The third stanza begins in verse 8: “I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land”   I love how verse 8 begins:  I will listen.  There comes a time in prayer when you’ve said your piece, and it’s time to listen. Slow down, stop talking,  listen.  Listen for his promises. God promises peace for his own servants, and his promises are the surest hope to be found in this life. But a warning: Don’t turn to folly. God’s promises depend on  his grace,  but don’t be stupid. You can’t work  for  God’s grace, but you can certainly work  against  it. So don’t be foolish, and don’t go back to the same old sin that stole your peace. Verse 9 reads like self-talk. The psalmists are reminding their own hearts: “Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land” Notice that: “ our  land.” Responsibility has taken hold.  So here we are, listening for God’s response. Waiting. And when he speaks, something amazing happens. Verse 10: “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other”  The poetry here is elegant. The meaning profound. Love and faithfulness  meet.  And what a moment. The Hebrew gives us more depth here.  Love  is  hesed— that phenomenal love of God that no English word can quite capture. But faithfulness is  emeth— or literally  truth.  The great challenge of life: Can God still love you when he  knows  the  full  truth about you? Here: they meet. “Righteousness and peace  kiss.”  God is  righteous.  But I am  not. How can I have peace with a righteous God when I am not?!  And here: They kiss.  How?  The psalm doesn’t answer that. But Jesus answers it all. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, and brought us peace. Jesus  lived  the definition of God’s love, and even as he knew the full truth of our sin, he paid the full price, so that he could be both faithful and  just  to forgive. And watch verse 11: “Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven”  I was looking at barren land, wondering what hope remained for this God-forsaken place. But faithfulness sprung up, righteousness showered down, and God’s goodness swept over me. Verse 12 rings out with fresh confidence: “The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps”  I love that picture of preparing for his steps. God is on the move. Back in my story, several weeks after my breakdown, I was re-reading Psalm 85. I came to Verse 6 again:   “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”  Right then, God, through His word, by His Spirit, showed up! He reminded me of my eternal hope! I’ll see my loved ones again! He revived my spirit! His presence was undeniable! My sorrow now mingled with joy. I had hope again. I prayed in tears with a smile, “Thank You, Lord, for reviving me again, granting me joy, renewing my strength with Your unfailing love. In Your righteousness, you’ve given what is good.”  Read Psalm 85 again today. Let God work revival and restoration where it’s needed in your life. And may  His  steps be the path of righteousness He leads you on, rejoicing in the mercy He’s shown  you .

Welcome back to the book of Psalms. Psalm 103 today, a psalm that's going to take everything David's got. Have you ever run a race or competed in a sport where you just had to give it your all? Where you wondered if there was even enough of you to complete the task? David is about to praise God for all the blessings that he's received and he's so full of gratitude. He’s going to need to give everything he's got and he's not sure he's got enough gas in the tank to go the distance or to do God justice. But in verse one, he gives it a shot.   “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits”  (Psalm 103:1).  David's talking to himself here. Come on, you can do this. “Praise the Lord, my soul. All my inmost being, praise his holy name.” That's everything that David has been experiencing from God, welling up inside of him into a gratitude that feels like a Somehow insufficient,  but it's all he has because he's all he's got but he doesn't want to forget all that God has given him Forget not all his benefits and then he lists out the benefit package that comes From his knowing God and it's good you sign on with God . And it's an amazing deal. It's the complete package. And in verse three through five, David unpacks it. “Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles”  (Psalm 103:3-5).    Let's just take the verbs for a second, so that we can see the benefits of knowing God. He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, and renews. That's a good deal. God's benefits are comprehensive, panoramic to cover all of your needs in life. If you were to scour this benefit package, For gaps, you just wouldn't find them. Anybody would sign their name on the dotted line. But David isn't done. God does what he does because of who he is. And David wants us to see more of who God is just by what he's given us, but by what he's done. So he runs us through a bit of old Testament history. To see how he blessed the people who followed him throughout the ages He hopes it will believe that if god blessed these people in the past for their faithfulness He'll bless us in the same way, in our lives. Imagine how differently you might live if you believe that God was with you and rewarded your faithfulness with his own. Verse 6,   “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” ( Psalm 103:6).  Life got you down, you oppressed by others and being crushed by injustice. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. And here's the thing, David is dead and so are all the people in the Bible, but God always delivers. They have justice now. He's healed all their diseases now, even if he didn’t in life.  Remember, God will one day restore the world as it should be. And that may not happen during your and my lifetime, but it is a promise, something you can bank on, that you will have justice, you will have healing, and you already have His forgiveness. But David then goes on to tell us what God did for Moses. Namely, He revealed who he was in verse seven,  “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel; The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever.”  (Psalm 103:7-9). What you just read is one of the greatest mantras of the Bible. Whenever God wanted to remind His people of who He is, He repeated verses 7 and 10, something He once said to Moses about Himself. And it's actually the most repeated description of God's character in the entire Bible.  For the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.  Isn't that good news? Most of the pagan gods were the opposite, quick to anger, not slow to anger. Temperamental, moody, easily offended.  They were vindictive and petty, but God was different.  Verse 10 says,  “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;  As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgression from us.”   (Psalm 103:10-12).  It's not just what God does, like forgive all our sins, as he says in the opening verses. It's also what he doesn't do. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. If he did, you'd be a black stain on the ground, the only memory of you after the lightning strike. But thank God. He's not like Zeus. God might seem distant sometimes when you look up into the sky and think, man, there's such a span between him and me. But verse 11 says, when you feel distant from God, look up into the sky and know that his love is greater than that distance. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. That means God loves you to the moon and back. And speaking of distance. As far as the East is from the West, He has removed your sins from you. Do you know how far that is? It's an infinite line, because East never does meet West. It's not a thing, and neither is your sin. It's just gone.  But why? Why would God treat you and I like that? We're sinners. Verse 13 gives us the explanation. We're his kids? “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we're dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower in the field; the wind blows over it, and it's gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts”  (Psalm 103: 13-18).  So God's love is also bigger than my life and the span of it. It was here before I was born, and it'll be there after I breathe my last. I'm temporary, but God's love is eternal from everlasting to everlasting. But then in verse 19, David backs up as the grandeur of God's eternal love causes him to see the grandeur of God himself. Staggering back, looking up, mouth agape, in verse 19, David sings,  “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you, his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works, everywhere in his dominion.  Praise the Lord, my soul” ( Psalm 103:19-22).  You can hear the wonder as David imagines the angels zipping across God's throne room in the heavens, running errands across the globe for those he loves and those who fear him. Praise the Lord, all his angels. As he waxes poetic, he likens them to the millions of stars in the galaxy. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, a word for the cosmos in the night sky. You servants who do his will. Then he looks around at all the earth, the vast roster of creation, realizing nothing that was made should fail to praise him and give him his due. Praise the Lord, all his works. Leading him to his final exhortation, after telling everyone else and everything else to worship God, he finally rests on himself.  Praise the Lord, my soul.  I can tell others to worship him, but I only have control over myself. And that goes for you too. I'm the only one who can truly give him worship. In my own life. And so David ends where he began. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. He can't really command the sky, the heavens, the angels, and all creation, but he can command his own soul. My soul, bless the Lord with everything that's within you. Give him all the gas in the tank.  So tell yourself today soul, worship God, bless his holy name praise the Lord.

The book of John chapter 10 today, where we see Jesus contrasting himself with the religious leaders as someone you can trust and follow because he's safe. Imagine you're a sheep. What that has to be like? You're scared. Everything's out to get you. Everyone wants to strip you down, shave you, separate you from your babies, eat them, and when it's all done, eat you. You're on hyper alert, paranoid, helpless and harassed, as Jesus said later, like sheep without a shepherd. Ever felt what a dangerous place in the world is? Many of us have felt vulnerable and unsafe, just like a sheep. Every noise can be frightening except for that one voice. And that one voice means safety, security and you can trust. That's the voice of this shepherd. Let's join Jesus in verse one as he speaks about the difference between himself and the religious leaders standing there. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. With he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name. I find that part amazing. He calls them by name. Jesus is saying, I know my sheep, I care for them, and they trust me. Follow me, Jesus is calling. By contrast to the religious leaders, thieves and robbers. Now that's a bit pointed. Them's fighting words, Jesus. Why is Jesus being so blunt about the religious leaders? Well, profound truth. John 10 is after John 9. That may seem obvious, but let's remember what happened in the last chapter. This is a continuation of Jesus's conversation with the Pharisees over the man who was born blind, who Jesus just healed, but the Pharisees banned him from the Jewish synagogue. But like a Good Shepherd, Jesus seeks the man out. And finds him like a lost sheep kicked out of the fold and brings him into new pasture. And this man who had never laid eyes on Jesus, heard his voice and trusted him. My sheep know my voice. Back to chapter 10, verse 6 tells us his disciples didn't understand Jesus illustration. Maybe you didn't either when you first read it. So, Jesus elaborates a bit in verse 7. So, Jesus said to them again, very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come, that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the gate. The gate means safety protected from the outside world. The gate means home, shelter. Last night, if you locked your door and you felt safer knowing that there was a barrier between you and all the dangers that lurk outside in the dark and Psalm 23, David said about God his good Shepherd, he makes me lie down in green pastures. You know sheep only lie down when they feel safe and secure. When you hear that gate shut, you feel I can finally rest. Jesus says I'm that to my sheep. But the Pharisees were those trying to come in over the wall. They were up to something, and the sheep knew it. They didn't have the authority to lock people in or out. They didn't manage the gate. Yet they're trying to say who could and couldn't come into God's Kingdom. Only Jesus can say that they were taking authority that wasn't theirs. Maybe you felt religious people locked you out as if you weren't good enough to be in their holy club. In the 1900s, Mahatma Gandhi and devout Hindu once said if it weren't for Christians, I might consider becoming one. He was fascinated by Jesus but put off by the religious people who claim to follow him. Perhaps you've wondered why some religious people are so mean and act so little like Jesus. Gandhi could tell the difference between the Good Shepherd and those who are thieves and robbers. That's why Jesus is drawing a contrast between robbers and himself. Once again, the sheep follow because they trust. They trust because they know the Good Shepherd is good. He cares for them, they're safe with him. But the thief, he comes to steal, kill and destroy and whereas they take Jesus comes to give. And he says, I give abundant life. For more on what an abundant life feels like, read Psalm 23. It's all about that life. Many of us who are Christians came to know this abundant life, and we believe that Jesus died for us so that we could have it. Jesus hints at this in verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Jesus likens the religious leaders to hired hands who care nothing for the sheep. Isn't it interesting that the number one thing that Jesus keeps coming back to is the contrast between sheep being afraid of the religious people who heard them versus Jesus caring deeply forth them. The number one thing people knew then and still know today is that if they come face to face with Jesus, they would somehow feel loved. So loved that he died for us, if necessary. Within the story moves on, leaving these words resonating in our soul. We pick up again in verse 24 and another feast in Jerusalem, Hanukkah, where Jesus speaks again about gathering up his sheep. So, the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense if you were the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe the works I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, which you do not believe, because you're not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life. And they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Sometimes when reading the Bible, you have to just stop and acknowledge how awesome some verses are. That people want Jesus to state plainly who he is and Jesus says I've been talking, you just haven't been listening. Actually, you're not my sheep. You don't know my voice, but then next part I will give them eternal life, no one will snatch them out of my hand and then he says no one will snatch them out of his father's hand. Jesus lets us know if I've got you, my father has you too because I and the father are one. This chapter has some of the strongest claims that Jesus claims to be God and the Jews know exactly what he's saying. I am God. Now remember he just used two I am statements. What's an I am statement? It's taking God's name Yahweh which is I am and putting something on the end of it. In the Old Testament they would say Yahweh I am nessing, which meant the Lord your banner or Yahweh Rohi, which is the Lord my shepherd. And to a Jewish listener that got their attention because you knew that's one of the names of God in the Old Testament. I am the Lord your shepherd. Here Jesus not only says I am the Good Shepherd but I am the door. And he gets away with that because they're wondering if he meant it to sound that way or if it was just an accident. But the final straw that eliminated all doubt was when he said I and the Father are one. And he explains it more in verse 38. The Father is in me and I am in the Father. Jesus couldn't get away with claiming I and the Father are one and get away with it to religious people, even if it were true. They just didn't have a box to put that in. Verse 31, the Jews picked up stones to stone him again. Jesus answered them. I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of those are you going to stone me? The Jews answered. It is not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. Perhaps Gandhi would have taken comfort knowing that Jesus didn't always get along with religious people very much either. Sometimes it's comforting to know that the same religious people who drove away the man healed of his blindness and drove away Gandhi are the same people that drove Jesus away to. They weren't his sheep and they couldn't hear his voice. But may you can just like some there did that day and countless millions ever since. Jesus said I have other sheep to tend to and I must bring them into this fold. He was speaking about the rest of the world, the non-Jewish people who would believe. That means he was talking about you. Everyone is welcome in Jesus’ sheepfold. He's the door, He's the Good Shepherd, and he gets to decide who comes in. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he has been seeking you, calling for you if you hear his voice you can trust it and follow.

Today will be in John chapter 9 and I’m extremely happy to be here in this chapter because it's personal to me. You see when I planted my first church on our very first Sunday gathering I preached on this chapter about the man born blind, who was healed by Jesus but didn't really know who he was, because he was blind. But sitting in the crowd that morning when I planted that church was a woman named Carol. Carol was a no-nonsense business lady from London who could cuss you out a window. I didn't know Carol that day and I didn't know her story. All I knew was that when I was preaching on this man born blind, she seemed angry and after I was done preaching about him, she didn't wait for the worship to start but stormed out. I found out later that what I mistook for anger was fear. Carol herself. Have been healed by God but didn't know who he was. She had turned up for answers that morning and this chapter hit so close to home it actually frightened her. Well, let's jump into the story to see how Jesus revealed himself to someone just like Carol. Verse one, As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? There's something about suffering and healing that both draws and repels us from God. When we suffer, we want to know why. Who sinned? Why does God give one person disease and another disability and another health? In healing brings even more questions. Why them and not me or me and not them, and how and why? We want reasons, we want answers. And in John 9, so do the disciples when they see a man blind from birth. If only it were true that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad. But in a sin-soaked world where everything's broken, some things just don't make sense. And the easy answer is that religious people give, and they just don't work. Easy answers wouldn't have worked for this man's parents either, as they cradled his infant body in their arms, tears flowing down their faces as they wondered if they had sinned, if they had failed God, if he was punishing them. Like the disciples, we all asked the same questions deep down, but there were no answers, at least until now. Jesus stops and answers. Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. There are no easy answers here, and Jesus simply says his blindness will glorify my Father. But what did he mean by that? Well, next Jesus spits on the ground and begins to roll the dirt with his saliva into a pace like a child playing with mud, and he puts it on the man's eyes. Now Jesus doesn't say here's mud in your eye kid, but he says go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means scent and send him Jesus does. Now keep in mind this man hasn't opened his unblind eyes yet to actually see Jesus, tuck that away, you'll need that later, but John will also tell us later that Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. If you've been with us in the book of John, you know that that's a big no-no for religious leaders. So, tuck that away. Now you and I may not have caught it, but Jesus specifically chose to make mud and make the man walk along distance to break the Sabbath, believe it or not. The religious leaders have made a rule that you couldn't mix clay on the Sabbath, or it counted as work and you'd be a Sabbath breaker. You couldn't walk too far. It was considered work too. That's why Jesus says in verse 4, As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Does this sound to you like Jesus's is picking a fight with religious people? But back to the blind man. When he washes the mud out of his eyes, he can see for the first time in his entire life. His neighbors are so stunned they think it must be a doppelganger, someone who just looks like him. Verse 13, They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So, the Pharisees again asked him how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes,” and I washed, and now I see.” For a while they debate over Jesus. He's a Sinner, a Sabbath breaker, and he's healing sinners. The blind man sits there quietly and listens. He's good at listening. He's been listening all his life. In the absence of sight, he sat and listened while people debate over him, using him as specimen A, to make their point about God and justice and sin and who's guilty, giving trite easy answers. It just were never good answers. And they're easy answers aren't working when it comes to Jesus. These were the religious people, the Pharisees. They were supposed to have all the answers, and Jesus just throws everything off for them. Here the religious leaders are stumped. So, they turned to the man for answers. Verse 17, they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him since he's opened your eyes?” He said, “He's a prophet.” Prophet. Oh, people are getting excommunicated for saying things like that about Jesus. So, they bring his parents to confirmed this man is not an impostor, but they plead the 5th afraid they'll get in trouble if they back this story they Jesus is a prophet or from God or healed him. So, they called him man back again in verse 24 and say “Give glory to God.” “We know this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind, now I see.” You have to love this guy. He was the one born blind, but the Pharisees just can't see the obvious. I don't know about who's a sinner or not, he says. All I know is I was blind and now I can see. One thing you can say about this blind man, but he’s funny. His pain and hardship have developed a sense of humor to laugh at all the dark ironies of life, and he can feel the Pharisees squirming in agony as they wrestle with their answers that are broken, but the blind man keeps stating the obvious because they were missing it. I was blind and now I see. Back to my friend Carol for a second, her stories a lot like this man's. She had been prayed over on her deathbed in hospice as she was dying of cancer, and yet God healed her. She was discharged and at home as she sat on her sofa and prayed for the first time in her life, she said. I don't know who you are, he, she, what, it. Just tell me, what do you want from me? And at that very moment, the invitation to our little church plant came through the mail slot through her front door. Like this man, she was healed by God, just didn't know who he was. Carol, by the way, was very funny. And that's what I love about this story. It's about to get funnier. Verse 26, they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I've told you already and you would not listen. Why would you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?? And they reviled him, saying, “You're his disciple. We are disciples of Moses. Why are you so interested in him?” He says. Do you want to become one of his disciples? This is comedic gold. He's just punking him. Now we know that God has spoken to Moses, they continue. But as for this man, we do not know where he comes from, the man answers. Why this is an amazing thing, you do not know where he comes from and yet he opened my eyes. Now if I'd had food in my mouth reading this for the first time, I'd just spat it out. That's so funny, so don't choke on it laughing. Why this is an amazing thing. You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. Hello, McFly. The list to say this doesn't end well for him and they ban him from the synagogue. So, let me ask you, can you feel the difference between these religious people and Jesus? Whereas Jesus sent this man to a pool to be healed, the Pharisees cast him out to be deemed a sinner. I love this next part because it talks about Jesus seeking him out again. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they cast him out and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is he, Sir” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him” Jesus said, “You have seen him; then it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord I believe,” and he worshiped him. You have seen him. Jesus turns to the onlookers and gives his own verdict of what just happened in verse 39. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said, “What? Are we also blind too?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say we see you, guilt remains.” Jesus said if you were blind, you would have no guilt. Jesus is finally answering the opening question. What sin caused this blindness? Jesus says that the Pharisees own sin is causing their own blindness. They had thought blindness was proof of sin or consequence of it. Their blindness, says Jesus, is their own fault. They could see the miracles. They could see the evidence, but they refused to see who Jesus was. God was standing right there in front of them, and they just can't see him. My friend, what about you? Can you see him yet? Have you weighed up the evidence? Jesus wants to open your eyes too. And just like Jesus, he a sought this man out and found him he's seeking you today as well.

Today we'll be continuing our journey through the book of John, in Chapter 8. Have you ever played chess with someone who's infinitely better than you? We all know what it’s like to be bested, to lose a game or an argument, to come in last and experience the humiliation of defeat. Well the Pharisees have been looking for Jesus all week and they want to beat him, beat him physically to death, but they’ll settle for an intellectual victory match if they can't do that and get away with it. They're chosen game; a chess match of wits. Where they hope Jesus to maneuvers himself into some kind of verbal corner. The board is set, the pieces put in place. All that’s necessary now is Jesus to maneuver himself into their trap. While Jesus is teaching at the feast in the temple courts. Versus 3 tells us, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.” The Pharisees are going to entrap Jesus with this woman using her like a pawn in a game of chess to catch the king. Verse 3 says, “They made her stand before the group” her humiliation is inconsequential if it will humiliate Jesus. It seems that Jesus's is faced with an impossible move, should he disown Moses or disown this woman? However he moves, whatever he answers, it seems to discredit what he's been saying. Verse 6. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. What was Jesus writing on the ground? I've often wondered about that too. But John doesn't tell us, it could have been the 10 Commandments, or it could have been the name mistresses or people the Pharisees were lusting after themselves or a list of their secret sins. Nobody knows what Jesus was writing.  But it was his checkmate in their twisted game that resulted in them flipping the board and walking away defeated. Here’s the rules of the game. Jesus isn't willing to play games with anyone soul, no matter how bad their sin. Verus 9, At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” That's what everyone longs to hear from God. Neither do I condemn you. And with those few sentences, he sets the pawn free. Go now, leave your life of sin. What's the score of our first round? Round one Jesus, one, Pharisees zero. There will be two more traps in this chapter. The next one sprung in verse 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus spoke this as a 20-foot-high golden lampstand was erected in the courtyard to commemorate what happened in the book of Exodus, where God led them through the desert as a pillar of fire, giving light to his people, guiding them out of slavery. Now keep that in the back of your mind as context for the next couple of conversations this chapter. I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. He was telling them he wanted to lead them out of their slavery now, not thousands of years ago. They just needed to follow him as the people followed the pillar of fire. Like this 20-foot-high golden lampstand. Stay close to me and you'll see, but have you ever heard someone say something profound only to have only to have other people standing there completely miss it? Verse 13, The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.” You can read the entire conversation, but Jesus says in verse 17. “I'm not alone in your own law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I'm one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father who sent me.” Then they asked him, “Where is your Father? You do not know me or my Father, Jesus replied. If you knew me, you would know my father?” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come. They couldn't seize him, and they couldn't beat him. When the Pharisees asked, where’s your father, they're pointing to Jesus's questionable birth. They knew the dubious nature of Mary's pregnancy out of wedlock. People talk. They didn't have gossip rags at the news stands. People's gossiping ways had telephone line throughout the centuries. Jesus ignores this first insult but tells them you don't know my father. Well played Jesus. Jesus two. Pharisees 0. But the Pharisees aren't finished yet. They want a rematch. Jesus has already won best out of three, so why engage him again? But they're so frustrated now by not being able to kill him, they'll settle for just one victory. It won't settle the score. But it may settle down their desire to kill him, at least for a bit. Versus 21, Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” What did Jesus mean when he said you'll die in your sin? That term should have been familiar to them. It was how Moses describes the people who dropped dead in the desert because of their unwillingness to follow God's leading, back in that story that the feast was commemorating, God leading his people through the desert. Jesus, the light of the world is saying ,you can't follow me. But they didn't get it. Where is he going? Is he going to kill himself? They're confused and after trying to figure it out, Jesus tells them, if you do not believe I'm He, you will indeed die in your sins. Jesus doesn't win an argument here, but He tells them exactly when they'll get who He is in verse 28. “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The result of this verse, 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in Him. This one was a draw. Nobody won except those who believed. Jesus, by the way, wasn't out  to win arguments, He was there to win souls. And maybe you caught the irony here. While some are only more confused by Jesus's words, others are more enlightened by them. Which of these two, my friend, are you? The score so far? Jesus two, Pharisee 0 and one draw. OK, final round, place your bets. Jesus addressed those who put their faith in him in verse 31. To the Jews who had believed in him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth will set you free. Remember, this is what just happened. This same truth that confused the Pharisees set these people free, but the Pharisees, but in again like petulant children, versus 33. They answered him, “We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Let's skip ahead to verse 39. “If you were Abraham's children,” says Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you're looking for a way to kill me, a man who told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” Jesus acknowledges they're descended from Abraham, but rejects that Abraham is their father. Trying to kill me. Abraham did not do such things. You can hear the voice of personal experience when Jesus is talking about Abraham, he's talking about someone He knows. To the Pharisees, Abraham is just someone they know about. You don't act like father Abraham. No, you're more resemble your real father. Ohh. We're going to find out who that is in just a minute. They continue. We are not illegitimate children. They protested. The only Father we have is God himself. Whoa, that's playing dirty. I'm just gonna throw up a yellow flag here that's hitting below the belt. The Pharisees once again decided to throw sand in Jesus's face to sucker punch him by bringing up the questionable circumstances of his birth. When it seemed that Mary had been playing around on Joseph, We Are Not illegitimate children, but Jesus dodges the insult, once again focusing back on their questionable birth. It seemed that they were the ones who didn't know who their daddy was. Jesus is about to tell him. Verse 42. Jesus said to them. “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you're unable to hear what I have to say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, now holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. To sum up, Jesus is saying, if God were your father, you love his boy. I listen to my father and you listen to yours. My father speaks one language, truth. And your father speaks another language, lies. But then in the face of their lies, Jesus drops his final truth bomb, verse 51. Very truly. I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death. This turns the conversation back to Abraham again. Are you greater than our Father Abraham, he died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? Your father? Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. You're not yet 50 years old, they said to him. And you have seen Abraham, very truly, I tell you, Jesus answered. Before Abraham was born, I am. At this they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hit himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. I am. Wow. When Jesus makes that statement before Abraham was I am. He's not guilty of that grammar. He's telling them I’m the I am. I am God, they immediately changed the game to a rock throwing contest, who can stone the heretic first but miracle miracle he slips through their fingers. My friend I hope that you come to grapple with who God is and you see him as God and don't let him slip through your fingers.

Today in John 7, Jesus scandalizes everyone. All of us have a friend or family member who never does what we expect him to, making them unpredictable in public. The friend that’s going to make you blush or embarrass you or explain their behavior to other people. That's probably how the 12 felt about Jesus and the chapter before this one. Jesus said things that made a crowd of 5000 people disperse, even some of his closest disciples abandoned him. But now John 7, we see his brothers feel the same? Let's see why in verse 2, But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him. When Jesus’ brothers say “no one who wants to be a public figure acts in secret,” they're talking to him like he's a social media influencer trying to blow up his platform. But what's surprising about Jesus is that he's always surprising people. He never does what people expect. He's not going to the feast to become popular. In fact, he tells his brothers, “I'm not going at all” verse 6, “Therefore Jesus told them, my time is not yet here; for you any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. You go to the festival. I'm not going up to the festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” After he said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. You know, the more you study Jesus, the more punk rock has really is. Let's re-play this scene. Jesus’ brothers tell him to go and make an appearance, but then he says no I'm not going, but slips into the city in secret. Jesus gives a reason for not making his attendance public. No, my time is not yet fully come, the world hates me because I testified that it's works are evil. Jesus wasn't there to be admired, but to speak truth. Therefore, he knew that more public appearances from him would make him more hated. There would be no red-carpet entrances for Jesus, but that doesn't stop the crowds in Jerusalem from being consumed with him as the topic of conversation in verse 11, Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” Among the crowds there was a widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He was a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. Take notice of people's response to him. When he does appear, John focuses on people's different responses to Jesus this entire chapter and did you catch the three responses to Jesus in verse 12, first the Pharisees ask in verse 11, where is he? People who often disbelieve Jesus’ claim asks his question today. Where is he? I don't see him. If he's real, he could show himself to me or do a magic trick as proof. Second verse 12 He's a good man crowd, I'm sure you've heard that before, like Jesus was just a good teacher or a philosopher like Buddha or Mohammed. It's understandable because Jesus was a good man, but he was so much more real. Group 3 in these verses tells us, he deceives the people. These three responses remind you of something, C.S. Lewis, the famous Christian author of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, once concluded about people's various reactions to Jesus. Lewis said, “I'm trying here prevent anyone from saying here the really fullish thing that people often say about him,  I'm ready to accept Jesus as great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. The man who is merely a man who said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. You either be a lunatic on the level of the man who says he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a full, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human. He has not left that open to us and did not intend to. Lunatic, liar, or Lord. There are only three choices, and the crowd is confronted by those same 3 choices but is split between all three of them. His teaching was phenomenal, but they knew he wasn’t a learned man in this chapter. Where was he getting his material from? In verse 25 let’s look at what other things people are saying. At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn't this the man they're trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they're not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he's from.” We, like the crowd that was there, could hear the conflicting opinions battling it out as people would lean to one another trying to figure Jesus out. He was not predictable. He's a Carpenter from Nazareth. His mom and dad were Mary and Joseph. How could he be The Messiah? And yet he teaches like a Messiah and heals people like a Messiah. But we know where this man is from. When Messiah comes, no one will know. As if he's reading their minds, Jesus's voice suddenly cries out. Verse 28 “Yes, you know me, and you know where I'm from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” I love that. Yes, you know me. There's a double meaning here. They know him as Jesus, son of Joseph, but they also know him as the one sent from the Father. The problem was that Jesus wasn't meeting their expectations. Jesus’ refusal to meet people's fickle expectations, caused confusion to ripple through the crowd, but deep inside they knew who he was. People still do, but throughout this chapter they weigh his miracles, his amazing words, and the fact that the Pharisees were so troubled by him, but yet didn’t act, because they didn't know what to do with him. Maybe you find it puzzling that God doesn't do exactly what you expect them to? Maybe you think you'd do it differently if you were God. But have you ever wondered if you're doing what God expects you to do? Like actually coming to Jesus and believing in him? Maybe in the same way you don't think God is acting as he should. Maybe you weren't acting the way that Jesus would expect you to either if he came and showed himself on earth. I mean, he did come already, but what have you done with that? Have you wrestled with his claims? Have you listened to his words? But Jesus cries out loudly one more time in Jerusalem. And verse 37, On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirt, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” A Prophet, Messiah. There were many different opinions about Jesus then, just like now. Lunatic, liar or Lord. You know there isn't much choice, only the choice to respond to what he shouted out so loud that everyone can hear it, including you. “Let anyone who has come to me and drink, whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within Him.” I'll tell you what I didn't expect. I didn't expect God to ever speak to me. And then, I heard His voice calling me. To come to him. It's my hope that you will too. We'll read the rest of the chapter today and as you do, wrestle through the questions. Who is Jesus? If nothing else, he's unpredictable.

Today we are in John chapter 6, as we see the disciples get into a jam over bread, and watch Jesus both attract and repel massive crowds all within a 48hr period. John 6 is long but plays out like a three-act play. For act 1, dilemma unfolds on a hill overlooking the sea as Jesus sits down with his disciples to catch a breath after a few hard days of healing his elevated vantage point giving him a glimpse of a heavy crowd of thousands winding their way towards where he's at. Verse 5, When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind when he was going to do.” Philip answered him, it would take more than a half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each to have a bite. Jesus hadn't been expecting company. Jesus had crossed the sea in a boat, but the crowd had followed him around the sea of Galilee and as the crowd advanced it snowballed as whispers of miracles created a movement of curiosity. As they approach Jesus pops an odd question, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? This doesn't make sense to Phillip. His pushback is at half a year's wage would only be enough bread for each one to have a bite. Jesus’s creating a problem but not providing a solution. Perhaps he wants the disciples to solve it and that's where it starts to get a little bit scary from the 12. Verse 8, Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about 5000 men were there) Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. Wow! I don’t know how he did it, but he fed 5000 men not counting the women and children with one child's lunchbox. Verse 14, After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who's come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. You can imagine that the people were excited to discover there really is such a thing as a free lunch and Jesus can deliver, he's magic, Jesus for president! But Jesus reluctance sets his scene for act two of our three-part play. As Jesus isolates himself, he withdrew the again to a mountain by himself. He retreats from the madding crowd to ground himself in the Fathers will. A hysterical crowd wanted to make him king, but that night Jesus prayed alone to see what the Father wanted. As he prayed into the night, he sent the disciples across the lake to make a secret getaway, slipping out like Elvis leaving the building. Jesus, not having a boat to catch up to him, decides to walk it, on the water, hops into the boat and arrives at Capernaum. The next morning, the crowd where Jesus was awakes to find him gone and the disciples gone too. So, they get in their boats and follow him back to the other side. Are you ready for the third act in our story? They find Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum, back on the other side of the lake again and ask him. Rabbi, when did you get here? Yesterday had been a great day. The disciples can feel the excitement as the crowd arrives like the air was tinged with electricity. People are coming back for more bread. Pressing in and pressing hard. They begin to wonder, had it been a mistake to feed them? These people were just hungry again. Could even Jesus perform such a huge miracle again? And would they be able to find a child's lunchbox? Verse 26, Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you're looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” Jesus knows they're not there for him, but for more free bread. Jesus wasn't the Olive Garden unlimited bread deal on two legs. They had worked hard to get there and all just for a free meal. So, Jesus tells them verse 27, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “the work of God. Is this to believe in the one he has sent.” Believe! Believing may seem easy, but it was incredibly hard for this crowd and sometimes it's hard for us. Verse 30, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Talk about manipulating Jesus for bread. What sign will you give us? Did you catch the irony? As if he didn’t just feed thousands the day before. They even quote the Bible to him, “Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written he gave them bread from heaven.” But this was this set up Jesus was waiting for verse 32, Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who is giving you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never go thirsty. But as I told you, you've seen me and still you do not believe. “I am the bread of life.” Seven times in this book Jesus will rock the “I Am” statements. Keep in mind an I AM statement comes from the time Moses encountered God face to face for the first time and asked him, what's your name? And God replied, “I am that I am.” It's where we get our word Yahweh from in Hebrew. Jesus says, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” He's saying “I'm God” chew on that, but that's a hard bite to swallow for the crowd. Verse 41, At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven?” In other words, they're saying we know his mom and dad, he didn't come from heaven. But to understand their reaction, let's step back into that early first morning in Exodus when the Israelites emerge out of their tents to find bread had descended from heaven. Those Israelites were out in the desert, with no food for miles around, just like the people here in John chapter 6. Here on the ground before them instead of dew, they found a wafer-thin bread like a film covering the ground and it tasted amazing, like coriander seed mixed with honey. Bread from heaven. But their reaction to it, what is this? Or literally in Hebrew, mana. Mana means, what's this? And this is exactly how the crowd reacts to Jesus claim that he's the bread come down from heaven. What is this? The bread Jesus gave was easy to gulp down, but his words not so much. But if you think Jesus is about to rope the crowd back in, let me just say that Jesus could have written the pocket guide in these next few verses that how to disperse a crowd with a few simple words he starts in verse 43, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.” If you've ever tried to break up a crowd and send them packing, you might want to take notes from Jesus and what he's about to say. Verse 53. Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of The Son of Man and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” they're supposed to. In response to “What you talking about Willis?”, regarding eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus gives here what I call the John Wayne eat my flesh drink my blood speech and not only grosses everyone out, but it also causes the penny to drop that the bakery was closed for business. They wanted bread. Jesus says, you only get me. Apparently, that wasn't enough. They didn't want him, and he didn't want crowds or bread and circuses. He wanted disciples. That day many disciples left Jesus, so turning to the 12 in verse 67, “You do not want leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe it, to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Lord, to whom shall we go? Peter saw himself, like the people in the middle of nowhere, hungry, with only Jesus to satisfied that hunger. Peter watches in confusion with the 12, as the other disciples walk away in disgust, as the massive crowd disperses. The largest crowd ever gathered to Jesus just as quickly gone. Had Jesus gone a phrase too far with words too hard to stomach? Or had he known exactly what he was doing? Like we were told in the beginning. What about you? Are these words too hard for you to digest or do you have nowhere else to go for the words of eternal life? Well there's a lot more words in this book, but we will stop here for now.

Welcome back to the book of Psalms everyone. Psalm 27 is my psalm. When we divvied up the chapters, I claimed this one right away. My fight song. Do you have one of those? A song that takes you back to a time and place when you battled and endured ? The opening chords start up, and all the struggle and emotion and fight come pouring back. Crank it up. And it always seems to come on when I need it—when life feels like eleven rounds in a boxing match and I'm in the corner looking up through sweat and tears and blood. But the music kicks in...stand up, beat my chest and shout at the world. Bring it.  I have to admit, Psalm 27 would not play on typical Christian radio—not the way I hear it. Too raw. They hit the guitars too hard. For my soundtrack while studying, I went back to my old school playlist. We Shall Overcome by the Supertones ; Until My Heart Caves In by Audio Adrenaline. You might not recognize my songs, but I'm sure you have your own—songs that carried you through the hard years. I think that's what the Psalms did for David, and for faithful Israelites centuries on. For something more familiar, think I'm a Survivor by Destiny's Child, or even Immigrant Song by Zeppelin. Driving rhythm, primal scream, let's go. Just don't play Psalm 27 on a flute. Put down the ukulele, plug in your amps, and crank it til you feel it. David is a warrior, and this is a fight song. Verse 1: " The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1). Just reading it, I feel it again. You know the feeling—when the guitars kick in and strength floods your veins. "The Lord is." All of David's resilience and grit begin here. The Lord is my light —no darkness shall overtake me. The Lord is my salvation —no sin will condemn me. The Lord is my stronghold —no weapon formed against me will stand. So you tell me, of whom shall I be afraid?  Verse 2: " When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident" (Psalm 27:2-3).  David's confidence nearly bursts off the page. This is no empty bravado, this is God -confidence. David sees the field of battle, he knows the danger. "Though an army besiege me." But he also knows the One in whom he trusts . "My heart will not fear ." I can almost feel the reverb in my chest. But then, the music lifts above the field of battle. Musically speaking, verse 4 is a bridge—the kind that lifts you up by the heart and leaves your feet nearly floating. " One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" (Psalm 27:4). One thing. There is great power in undivided focus. David makes one request, and he seeks after it. He desires God's house and pursues God's presence. Verse 5: "For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock" (Psalm 27:5). Safe . Whatever life throws at me— He will shelter me. My life may be under siege, but my soul is safe—tucked away in God's tent. And the music lifts higher still, far above the din of sword and battle, lifted high upon that rock. Verse 6: " Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy..." (Psalm 27:6).  I love the imagery. A battlefield can overwhelm you, and so can life. It crowds your vision until all you see is conflict. Yet David is lifted above his enemies. Perspective. And in God's presence he gets his joy back, and every sacrifice is worth it. God is worth it. Back in verse 6: "I will sing and make music to the Lord" (Psalm 27:6b). David is resilient. The setting is still the day of trouble, but David is determined. He will sing. Life gets rough, the world drags you down—but pop in those headphones and let the song lift you. Sing to the Lord.  And he's not content to just sing his song out into the void. In verse 7, he calls on the Lord to hear his voice.  "...be merciful to me and answer me" (Psalm 27:7).  In other words, I need to know that you heard me Lord. Have mercy, and answer . Verse 8: " My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek" (Psalm 27:8). And now the song of survival becomes a song of seeking . That's how it works, isn't it? The storm hits, you brace your feet against it, and battle by battle it strips you bare. Your heart grows resilient, but it demands something. If we're gonna survive this storm, we need purpose. We need a direction to fight towards. David's heart calls to him, seek his face. He listens, looks heavenward, and responds, " Your face, Lord, I will seek." Verse 9: " Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior" (Psalm 27:9). Now you might be tempted to tell David, "You don't need to pray that. Of course God won't reject you. He would never forsake you." But remember: respect the poet's process. Let David process his feelings, and he'll help you process yours.The storm is on, and David needs to know that this fight is for something. He gives voice to his anxieties about being forsaken in order to give them to God and let them go. Verse 9 is anxious, verse 10 is resilient: " Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me" (Psalm 27:10). David reminds himself that the Lord is not like people. People let you down, the Lord is faithful. People betray, the Lord is faithful. Even your own flesh and blood forsake you, the Lord is faithful. And when the fight is over, the Lord will receive you. Verse 11: "Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors" (Psalm 27:11). David is focused now, determined to press on along the straight path God has called him to. Oppressors battle against me, lead me Lord. Verse 12: " Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations" (Psalm 27:12).  At last we see the nature of David's battle—false witnesses, malicious accusations—a battle over words, reputation, and truth. A life and death battle indeed. Paul reminds us in 1st Corinthians that our battle is much the same, demolishing arguments and pretensions that set themselves up against the knowledge of God. Back here in Psalm 27, the music rises once more for the final crescendo—the culmination. And for me, verse 13 hits home like no other: " I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13). You know how sometimes you hear a verse, and it's missing something, because you remember it from a different translation. This translation is good, but years ago when you read it, it was like God spoke it to you personally, and you just need to hear those words again. That's verse 13 for me. Mid 2000's. thirty-two years young. I was a young dad with three kids to feed, guide and provide for, bills piled up, and all the demands of ministry and pastoring teenagers into adulthood. Meanwhile, life didn't seem too concerned about my personal problems. My dad in the hospital—stroke. Maybe terminal. And everything just piled up. I needed a fight song—an I will survive song. I opened Psalm 27, and when I got to verse 13, it was like the clouds parted and I heard God's voice. I'll read the New King James because these are the words I remember: "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13 NKJV). The phrase I would have lost heart is not in the Hebrew. Italics in the New King James indicate that the translators added it to try to capture something inferred in Hebrew. See David begins verse 13 with the word unless, like he's already halfway through a thought. Unless. Like he doesn't even want to say the words—doesn't even want to think where he'd be— unless... I was sure, unless I was convinced, unless I knew with everything in me: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  That was my fight song. Those are the words that steeled my heart against the storm.  The psalm closes with a quiet confidence, like a warrior's heart that's found peace. Verse 14: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" (Psalm 27:14).