Songbook of Hebrews

Psalm 22. For the director of music to the tune of the door of the morning, a Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the words of my groaning.

Oh my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer. By night, and I'm not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the holy one. You are the praise of Israel. In you, our fathers put their trust.

They trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved. In you, they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me, mock me.

They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him. Yet you brought me out of the womb.

You made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I will cast upon you. From my mother's womb you've been my God. Do not be far from me for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me, strong bulls of bastion encircle me.

Roaring lions tearing their prey, open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water and all my bones out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted away with me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sits to sticks to the roof of my mouth.

You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me. A band of evil men has encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.

People stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. But you, oh Lord, be not far off. Oh, my strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.

Rescue me from the mouth of lions. Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers in the congregation. I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him.

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him. Revere him, all you descendants of Israel. For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly.

Before those who fear you, will I fulfil my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied. They who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.

For dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. All of the all the rich of the earth will feast and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him.

Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet yet unborn for he has done it. Well, do keep a finger in that passage and I'll turn with me to the book of Hebrews and we're going to read chapter two verse five to the end of the chapter. It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified.

What is mankind that you are mindful of them? A son of man that you care for him. You made them a little lower than the angels. You crowned them with glory and honor and put everything onto their feet. In putting everything onto them, God left nothing that is not subject to them.

Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

He says, I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters. In the assembly, I will sing your praises. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, he says, here am I and the children God has given me. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death, he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who are all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

For surely, it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason, he has to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Let's pray as we begin, in Psalm. Father, we do, pray that you will help us this morning.

We pray that you will tell us the old, old story once again. Tell me the story slowly that I may take it in, that wonderful redemption, god's remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon. The early dew of mourning has passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story.

Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love. And so we pray, father, let us see afresh the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he is for us. And we pray in his name. Amen.

Well, if you remember in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse three, the writer says this, consider him, Jesus, who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Here we have a, exaltation, to keep on remembering the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us so that we may continue to live for Jesus. And so with that in mind, we come to this just amazing Psalm of Psalm 22. And you'll notice the top, it tells us that it's a Psalm written by David. And he poetically has described both suffering and celebration.

And particularly that former suffering, he has really gone to lengths to show us something of his experience of suffering. And he's used poetry. He's used hyperbole in all in order to help us to to understand, to to feel something of his sufferings, to to experience what he's gone through. And and we know, if you know the story of David, he is somebody who certainly suffered, didn't he? You know, think about how he was sort of pursued by King Saul, or even afterwards, he was pursued by his own son who was trying to get rid of him, Absalom.

But if you if if we were reading through that Psalm, don't know if you noticed. It it it it's not quite David's experience, is it? It's not quite his experience. It's he did it. He did suffer, but not not anywhere to this extent.

And now so although this is a poetic psalm to tell us something about David's sufferings, it's actually a prophetic psalm. I think as you read those words, you would have realized that this is a psalm, not really about David, although it is, but it's a psalm about Calvary. This is the Psalm of the cross, and although it was written one thousand years ago, I'm sure you agree that as we read through those words, it could have been exact description of Jesus on the cross. And Christ knew this Psalm. He would have learned this Psalm.

He would have he probably would knew off our heart. In fact, this is the Psalm that he is rehearsing as he is going through the cross. This is the Psalm that actually not only will describe his afflictions, but also it will be the Psalm of comfort and the Psalm of help to him as he goes through the darkest of moments in his existence. And so we have two parts to this Psalm. Firstly, we got the sufferings of Christ.

And secondly, we have the celebrations of Christ. So look with me firstly then at the sufferings of Christ in the first 21 verses of this chapter. You'll notice if you look down that there's kind of three laments, three sort of crying out about about his experience here and then then followed by a prayer And you'll notice the difference between some sections are I am me and then there are other sections that then go to you as he talks to God personally. And we come to the first one in in verse one to two and we see that Christ is going through mental sufferings. Look with me at verse one to two.

My god. My god. Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My god, I cry out by day, but you do not answer.

By night, but I find no rest. Right from the get go of this psalm, we are confronted by Jesus, an abandoned man. I I imagine many of you at some point in your life have felt lonely. Well, here is a description of a man who is the most lonely of figures, And he seems just so far away from the one he loves. Can you see that?

Why are you so far away from me? That that that comes up time and time again in the 21 verses here. You see, why why are you far away? Don't be far away from me, he says. Why have you why am I abandoned?

The Lord Jesus asks. It makes no sense to him in a way. It makes no sense that the one if you know the the story of Jesus, Jesus always communed with the father. He was always in conversation with the father. He would wake up early in the morning.

He would speak to him all through the night, and all through his time on this earth, he would have had an answer. But now, nothing. Silence. He cries out, but there is no answer for him. All there is is is judgment.

This is a what was called the cry of dereliction. This is a cry that that is so terrible. It's such a terrible shock that he he would once was always with the father. Now, nothing. Now, no no response.

The the word cry out is a is a an anguish. It's like the the the cry, a roaring cry of of a wild animal in distress, and he's saying, my god. My god. I'm abandoned. Here, it's it's a bit like if a if a child suddenly they they they've lost their parent, and they're crying out, where are you?

And there's no answer, and it's devastating. Or it's like, you you know, you've had you've you've grown up used to hearing the voice of response with someone that you love, and suddenly it's gone, and you feel like you've been completely abandoned. And the really amazing thing is, as Jesus cries out for help, he deserves to be helped, doesn't he? He's the one who's who who deserves to be responded to. Rescue me.

Of course, he should be rescued. He's done nothing deserving of abandonment. Yet, here he is, and he knows that. He knows that he he he has no right to be abandoned, yet he knows as well that he has to be abandoned. Now, the amazing thing about Jesus here is, like, I think when when we are in times of despair, we can accuse God and we can doubt God.

Do you notice throughout the Psalm, he never doubts God. He's never angry at God. He's the believing man even in the midst of great anguish and pain. Spurgeon says that Jesus appeals to God in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt. He believes the whole way through, and so in this incredible mental anguish, he prays in verse three to five, And he calls upon God's past faithfulness.

He says, yes, this is a really dark moment for me, but I can call upon God and on his faithfulness because he's always been faithful to his promises. Look at verse three to five. Yet you are enthroned as the holy one. You are the one Israel praises and you are ancestors put their trust. They trusted and you delivered them.

To you, they cried out and were saved and you, they trusted and were not put to shame. He's saying, look, I know god. You are the one who is above all things and when when your people has called upon you and has trusted upon you, you have always been faithful to deliver your people. He appeals to God's faithfulness in the past. But then it's like another wave of suffering comes at him.

That's the mental anguish. But then we have a kind of verbal suffering going on here. Look at verse six to eight. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me.

They hurl insult, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord, they say. Let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him. A worm.

And now he's not why does he call himself a worm? Well, he because the way that he's been treated is like the most lowly of of creatures that he can think of. Not only is he not only is he not a man, he said, I'm not even a man according to people. I'm so despised. I'm so low.

I'm so rejected. I'm so I'm just something that could be trodden upon like a like a worm. I'm so weak. And it's amazing this. You think David's saying this.

David was a king, and he says, I'm a worm. What's even more incredible is that Jesus is the king of the universe, the one who created all things, who created the worm, and yet he makes himself human and is seen as despised as a worm. And then look at verse seven to eight. You'll notice they are the very words, and they're the very things that happened to Jesus at the cross. Matthew chapter 27 and you look at verse 39, it says, those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their head.

You know, when people shake their heads in disapproval of you, that's what's going on here with with Jesus as people walk past him on the cross. They they insult him. They shake their heads at him. And and look at the the the sort of taunt that they give in verse eight. It's exactly the same in verse 42.

He saved others, they said, but he can't save himself. He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him.

For he said, I am the son of God. In the same way, the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Here he is, the man, ironically, who always delighted in God and who God has always delighted in, and that is the very charge they put to him. Let the Lord rescue him as he hangs upon the cross. And so in the midst of that, what does he do?

He prays, and he calls again to God's faithfulness. Look at verse nine to 10. Yet you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth, I was cast on you.

From my mother's womb, you have been my gods. See, before he he talked about god's faithfulness in the in the past generations, you know, he he was probably thinking about Israel and how god had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, how he rescued them time and time again in the book of Judges, how he continued to be their rescuer throughout the whole history. But now he he hangs upon the cross. This is an amazing picture, isn't it? Because he's hanging on a cross, and who does he see in front of him?

But his mother. There she is. And he recalls God's faithfulness from the very beginning. He recalls God's faithfulness in the conception by the Holy Spirit. The the the incarnation where he was put into the womb of Mary.

He recalls the the faithfulness of god in birthing him out of out of Mary and to clutch her and from that very moment to be brought up in in dependence upon god and knowing that god has always been faithful in keeping him. From the very get go. You know, even even when he goes into the the baptism, and he comes out, and the Holy Spirit anoints him and goes. He's always with him, and he's always depending upon the father, and the father has always been faithful. So he says, God is a faithful God.

I know this is a dark moment, but God is a faithful God. He's been faithful in my life. So there is verbal, but there is prayer. But thirdly, there is physical and spiritual anguish here as well. Verse 11 to 18, you'll notice in verse 12 and and and verse, 16, you'll see this this term.

It says that this he's surrounded and he's encircled and he's surrounded. And so there's this this whole pendant sort of siege warfare. There's all these animals that are kind of are are kind of surrounding him. You've got these these bulls, and you have these lions, and you have these dogs. And, you know, I don't know if you've ever seen those kind of when I was growing up, I didn't like kids TV.

My mom would tell you, I used to love a good Western. Yeah? So I know people think, You're a weirdo. Unlike the cowboys and Indians sort of films, I used to love them. But I always remember those scenes where someone would get trapped in the midst of a whole load of cattle that are charging around, and they're in such danger, aren't they?

Or or you might have seen those sort of those nature documentaries with David Attenborough with his sort of voice. And he's doing and and and there's, like, a there's lions all surrounding their prey trying to rip and tear at all those kind of hyenas or the the sort of dogs that are like, they sort of do that weird thing where they charge and then come back and then charge and come back. That's what's going on here. That's but that's what Jesus is feeling here in in the midst of this this great trial, this great distress. He's just surrounded.

He's this naked, weak man who's experiencing siege warfare. Everywhere he looks, there is opposition. There is enemy. You know, even in the point of Gethsemane where he's in the garden, he says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. It's it's the idea that he's pinned in in every sense, this anguish, this feeling of torment that he has to go through the cross, and then he gets to the cross, and there's more opposition.

Oxen, Bashan, strong bulls of Bashan, a symbol of a strong enemy. Verse 13, lions that tear their prey, a a picture of ferocity, a picture of satanic opposition to the lord Jesus. Baying dogs, you do we see these three these three oppositions at the cross, don't we? We've got the the Romans mocking him. You have the the Pharisees of the day and the chief priests hurling insults at me.

You have the crowd that once praised his name and said, Hosanna to him, but now as he as he stands trial before Pontius Pilate, what do they say? But crucify him. Just mouths wide open, baying for his blood. And there's no one to help In this congregation of evil, there is no one to help him. And so verse 14, I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax. It has melted within me. As as he's pinned on that cross and as he's gone through the torment of beatings and floggings and all manners of violence towards him. The bones are dislocated. And he is completely and utterly spent, poured out like water, sacrificed it all, nothing left to give, so gone through judgment and pain and violence that his heart is like wax and has melted in him.

He's got nothing left to give. His heart is broken. Verse 15, his mouth is dried like a potsherd. It's it's like a bit of clay, earthenware that's been a shard of it that's been found. It's so dry, and the tongue has swollen up that he, on that cross, he gasps for air.

Hard to get a sentence out. And he says, I thirst. And God says, I am put you in the dust of death. And then you go on to verse sixteen and eighteen. And aren't these details so the cross?

They pierced my hands and feet, nailed to the cross. My bones are on display as he his rib cage breathes in and breathes out. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. What happened before Jesus on the cross? But the Roman soldiers take the garments and they start to cast lots for them to see who will win that prize because this garment is much more precious than the lord of the universe who's hung on the cross.

But why these sufferings? Why? Why? The this is the why he feels bewildered, doesn't he? I'm abandoned even though I've done no wrong.

I'm abandoned, and I've only ever lived for you, father. Well, it's not for his own sins. That's not the reason he's on the cross. I I know many of you know that, but that's incredible. The one who doesn't deserve to be forsaken is forsaken.

Why? Because of the things that you've done that deserves forsaking. It's us that should be cast out. It's us that should be abandoned by the father. Just as Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

We deserve to be cast out of His presence for eternity because of what we've done wrong. We've thought about it this morning. We've confessed our sins, have we? Think about it. All the things that I've done, all the lusts of my flesh, all the things that I've thought wrong, all the times that I've decided I'm gonna live for myself, and all of that sin is what Jesus is pierced for.

It wasn't for his own transgressions he was pierced. No. The lord laid on him our iniquities and our transgressions. And that is why he's abandoned at the cross. Because on the cross, he acts as our substitute.

We sang about it just before, that he would shield sinners from the wrath of the father because he would take your sin upon himself and that he would take forsaking for that so that you don't have to be forsaken. He's dying for us. And so he prays again. Before he he prayed about past generations, he's prayed in his own history, but now he prays to the father to come in now and act. Verse 19 to 21.

But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength. Come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion.

Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. In the KJV, King James version, actually, that word is unicorn. So there's unicorns in the bible. Did you say that? Thought it was a interesting fact for you to, you know, have.

Do you notice though that the psalmist changes the name that he's addressing? Before he was my God, my God, but now it's Lord Yahweh, The covenantal name of god himself, he claims for himself, and it's just like the cross, isn't it? You know you know, remembering the cross on the cross, he shouts, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? But at the end, the last thing that he says is, father, into your hands, commit my spirit. He's able to call upon the covenantal name of god because he knows that god is gonna be faithful to him and answer his prayer.

And so, yes, the animals around me, they surround me, and they're powerful, and they're dangerous and they are tearing and biting away at me but the lord is my strength, he says, and so he calls upon the lord knowing that he has the power to deal with all of this and not only does he have the power, he has the willingness to do that and he will do that And so there there therefore, the animals I mean, amazing isn't the animals are reversed in order. Oh, yeah. Dogs, lions, oxen, unicorns, all dealt with. What's amazing in in our versions here, I think only one version I've seen is the Christian Standard Bible, puts at the end of verse 21, you have answered me. You have answered me because God answers this prayer.

Yes. He is forsaken. Yes. He is judged upon the cross, but there is an end to that forsakenness, and God answers the prayer. You have answered me.

And so, brothers and sisters, will you revel in the cross? We've sung about this this morning. Revel in the cross. Look at what Jesus went through for us, for you. Christ goes through the most intense battles.

He goes through the most dark darkness of darkness. He goes through the most terrible time. He has to shout that, shout that that phrase, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? He has forsaken, and he is alone so that you never have to be. I love that about Jesus, by the way, that Jesus was the loneliest man that has ever existed upon that cross so that you never have to be alone.

And so let us remember what Christ has done for us. Let us remember the forsakenness of Christ. Let us remember the the surrounding opposition to him. Let us remember the scorn that was afforded to him, scorn that would have been on my lips if I had been there as well, the sin that I I have committed that was laid upon him. Let us remember all of that so that we understand what a great salvation we have as we read in Hebrews.

I remember my granddad when he he was getting very old. He's gone to be with the Lord now. And he was losing his mind. He had he had a form of dementia where he couldn't really make new memories, but he but he could he could remember the gospel. And whenever we visited him, he's very frail at this point.

He had some mad beard by the end of it. Well, that's where I get it from. And he always wanted to leave us something with the gospel, and he quoted this song. It's lest I forget Gethsemane. Lest I forget thine agony.

Lest I forget thy love for me. Leave me to Calvary. That's what we want, brothers and sisters. It's the old, old story. We don't move away from it.

It's the most incredible, life changing, most gorgeous, beautiful thing that there is ever to be read and ever to be held onto. Let us remember what Christ has done for us, and let us look to him as our supreme example. Look, you'll never be forsaken, and you'll never be abandoned by God. But you may have times where you feel like it. You may have times where you feel incredibly alone.

You may have times where you feel darkness. What does Jesus do in the midst of darkness, in the midst of affliction, in the midst of a trial from God? He prays, And he prays God's character to God. That's how we should respond. I remember when, we were doing open door stuff, and I think it was Emma who'd come to us.

And she said to us, the persecuted church who don't get to have this in their own hands with ease and can get arrested for it, what do they do to go through the persecutions that they they they face? They memorize scripture. They memorize Psalm 23. They may memorize Psalm 22. They memorize Romans eight.

And so when we're in the darkness, and we can be in the darkness, when it's when we're facing persecution and we feel like there is no escape, when we feel like we're surrounded by our own temptations and sin, when we feel like we're in the fire at work or wherever it is, let's remember Jesus, and let's remember his words for it is of great help not just to him, but of to us as well. Jesus says, you have answered me. How do we know he's been answered? Well, secondly, it's the celebrations of Christ. It's verse 22 to the end.

Jesus goes from being the suffering servant to the greatest worship leader that we've ever seen. He puts his crown back on, and he leads the people in praise. And so he he comes to the father in verse 22 to 24, and he praises the father for what they have achieved together. That's what that Hebrews passage was all about. It's about salvation.

It's about a redeemed people that we can call each other brothers and sisters and that he's not ashamed of us. Amazing that Christ is not ashamed of us because he's shed his blood so that he comes to the father and says, father, these are my brothers and sisters. This is what we've done, father. Look what we did. Our mercy, our grace has been poured out to these people that they can now be in the presence of almighty god.

And so he says to the redeemed people, the brothers and sisters, look how good god is. That's my father. And the father says, that's my son. And so amid the assembly, and this assembly is very different to the one that we saw before of dogs and oxen and lions. This is a an assembly of worshiping people that are so taken up with what Christ has done because in Christ, we have the great hope of the Old Testament fulfilled and so Jacob and Israel verse 23 are brought home that they can now come and they can fear him and honor him and revere him because this here, verse 24, is the suffering servant who has allowed them to come home.

And where others have despised this one, where others have scorned this suffering servant, the father is pleased with him. The father's always been pleased with him. The father's delights in him even as he hangs upon the cross and is sacrificed for people and aroma pleasing to the lord because he knows that through this obedient one, this one that has always delighted in him, and he in Jesus is achieving the salvation of people to the glory of the father. And what is the evidence that he's always delighted in him? When he doesn't stay dead.

He rises. Proof that the sacrifice has been accepted. I love the picture. I I I just love the image. You know when Jesus ascends to glory?

This might be just my mind being imaginative, but I will. And he walks into that room, and I can just imagine the whole of heaven just standing up and cheering. Here he is, the god man, the man who's made a new humanity, the man who's pleased the father, the man who's bought us. And the father sees him and hugs him and says, well done. We did it.

We did it. And look at the scope of this salvation. It's not just a physical Israel, same theory, is it? It's like just having a physical Israel is too small for God. He's he's into bigger things.

You know, he's he's into huge things, and so it's not just a a physical nation. No. This is a whole redeemed people. Look at the word all. Let's use time and time again here.

All you descendants of Jacob. Revere him, all you descendants of Israel. From you comes the theme of my praise verse 25 in the great assembly. Before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied.

Those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever. Now look, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the riches of earth will feast and worship.

All who go down to the dust will kneel before him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive. All, all, all the poor, the ends of the earth, all the families of the nations, all the rich, even the dead will be raised to worship and feast at the great wedding supper of the lamb. For John in Revelation seven looks before himself, and there before him was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried out in a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.

What a picture. That Christ, through his crucifixion and his resurrection, by the people of all tribes, tongue, nation. And ever since this moment in history, verse 30 to 31, the message has been passed on from generation to generation to generation where people have come to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, and that message has gone out even to those who are unborn at this time. Jesus knows that that message will go to them. And so verse 20, verse 31, he has done it, which is very similar to what Christ shouts on the cross, it is finished.

Christ has achieved all that needs to be achieved. Christ has secured our salvation. Christ has poured his blood out so that there is no need for any other sacrifice. And so a redeemed people has been one. And so what other way is there to respond in the light of the cross?

We need to join with our worship leader, our savior king, and praise our God. We should praise, adore, and tell people. So where are you with this? I don't know if you're here and you you've never come to know Jesus as your savior or or maybe this morning through the weakness of a of a preacher, you've been confronted with an amazing savior who takes your sin, who dies for it so that you'll never be abandoned. He's worth knowing, you know.

And of all the things that people praise, none is greater than him. You all praise something, don't you? Unfortunately, as the the new sport seasons are over, that's usually where our praise ends up. And it's like, so it's good. I tell the young people now.

Because I sport Everton. Don't judge me. Well, you can, actually. And actually, I remember talking to Elliot. I see you earlier.

And Elliot, I started singing No Other All of the Sand is Sinking Sand. All of the Ground is Sinking Sand. I got there at the end. All of the Ground is he's like, why are singing that? I said, because Everton have just lost again.

And why why did I sing that? I said, well, because there's no there's no way that I can put my hope and my praise in Everton football club. Because they always let me down. And that was be the same for Manchester United or England. You know, wasn't it great when they lost in the World Cup?

No. Sorry. But Christ never lets you down. He's always faithful, and he's always worth our praise and our joy and our honor and our reverence and our fear. And so maybe today, for the first time, you'll come and know Christ and what it is to be a worshiper of the living God of the Bible.

And then for us Christians, isn't it really easy to lose our awe and wonder? You know, we could sit here and we can go, yeah, nod our heads. Yeah. This is an interesting truth. But so easy just to not let it impact me or or just to grow numb to these truths and you think, gosh, how?

We must never lose the wonder. We must never lose our awe and our adoration. But let us keep on coming back afresh to the great truths of Christ and his cross. And whether we're in depths of despair, let us see that God is always faithful to his promises and is always faithful to his people. And let us trust afresh in him.

And with that in our minds and in our hearts, in our vision, let's go and respond. Let's praise, let's adore, and let's speak out. Let's pray. Father, we sang this morning a prayer that we would behold our God, and we pray that we will truly behold him, that we will be how behold our king, and that we will adore him. For this morning, have seen that you are truly worth our adoration.

That lord Jesus, you are such a kind and loving savior that you would go through abandonment, that you would become the loneliest man that has ever lived so that we would no longer be abandoned or lonely. And so father, will you help us to revel in your great salvation plan that you have bought us into a redeemed people. And so will we help us to join with our worship leader, Jesus, in praise and adoration of you. We need your help with this, father, because we are sinful and we grow numb and we have hard hearts at times. And so will you soften them and will you give us such a vision of Christ that all other things pale into insignificance.

And we go from here and we live a life of worship to you. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.