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David Pick – Text to Community
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Perhaps you have said you know, I’m really just going through a very dry time right now.
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And what you would mean by that is that your energy is low.
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It’s not what it usually is.
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Everything seems flat to you.
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You don’t get excited about things in the way that you used to do.
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You don’t laugh like you used to.
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Welcome to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith.
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I’m David Pick and Colin, I’m going to guess that if we ask for a show of hands
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who has experienced something like that, I reckon almost every hand would go up.
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Colin Smith – That’s exactly right, and one of the wonderful things about the Bible
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is that it speaks to every aspect of life and we’re going to look at one of my favourite
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Psalms today, Psalm 42, where you have this question,
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Why are you cast down oh my soul?
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and why are you in turmoil within me and then the answer,
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hope in God, for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God.
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We’re really looking at how you find hope when you feel that your energy’s gone,
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that everything’s flat, that you’re really discouraged
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Psalm 42 is like medicine for the soul, and I hope and pray that God will renew hope
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in our hearts as we open the Bible together today
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So that’s where we’ll be today in Psalm 42 as we begin the message,
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Hope in God.
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Here’s Colin.
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In one of the best-known and best-loved chapters of the
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whole Bible, the Apostle Paul tells us that there are three things that will remain
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Faith, hope, and love.
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Our knowledge is going to pass away, our gifts are going to pass away,
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the mark that each of us makes on the world will one day pass away,
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but faith, hope, and love remain forever.
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And if you have your Bible open at Psalm 42, You’ll notice there
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that there is a heading and it says to the choir master a
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maskil off the sons of Korah.
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The sons of Kora were Levites who led worship.
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And it could be that this psalm was written by them or it
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could be that this psalm was written by King David
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for them.
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And I’m going to assume as we come to this psalm today,
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the latter.
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Now, I want to draw your attention, especially to
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verse five where we have the theme of hope.
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Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in
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turmoil within me?
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Hope in God for I shall again praise Him.
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My salvation and my God.
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Now, if you look down in your Bible, then to verse
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eleven of Psalm 42, you will find that he says exactly
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the same thing again.
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Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are
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you in turmoil within me?
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Hope in God for I shall again praise Him.
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My salvation and my God.
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Now, it’s generally reckoned that some forty-two
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and some forty-three were actually originally one
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psalm that they belonged together.
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And if you look at some forty-three and verse five,
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the last verse of that Psalm, you will see that
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he says the same thing yet again.
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A third time.
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Why are you cast down, O my soul?
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Why are you in turmoil within me?
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Hope in God for I shall again praise Him.
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My salvation and my God.
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Now, it’s clear then that hope is the central theme
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of this psalm, and that is our focus as we
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begin this series today.
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Now, no one needs hope when life is going swimmingly well.
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When you’re healthy, when you’re happy,
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when you’re at home in the world,
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all you want to do is, well, you know the phrase,
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live in the moment, savour what you’re able to enjoy.
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But you’ll notice from this psalm that David,
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when he wrote it, was in a very different place.
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Perhaps the best way to describe his experience
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here is that he was dried out.
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Look at what he says in verse one,
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as a deer pants for flowing streams.
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Like a man desperate for water, you know what this is like.
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You go through a dry season.
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Perhaps you said, you know, I’m really just
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going through a very dry time right now.
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And what you would mean by that is that your energy is low.
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It’s not what it usually is.
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Everything seems flat to you.
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You don’t get excited about things
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in the way that you used to do.
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You don’t laugh like you used to.
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Dry times come.
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And for a Christian when dry times come,
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our first instinct is to say, well, you know,
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I’m really feeling dry so I, I need to seek after God more.
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And so you turn to the Bible.
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And what you find is that your reading of the Bible
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seems to be flat.
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Nothing seems to be jumping out at you.
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You’re making a greater effort to seek after God
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and you just don’t feel that you’re making much progress.
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That’s what it feels like to be dry.
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And that’s precisely where David is here.
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As the deer pants for flowing streams,
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so pants my soul for you o God.
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My soul thirts for God, for the living God.
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See, he loves God.
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He’s seeking God.
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He wants more of God.
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He wants to feel close to God.
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The problem is that God seems to be so very, very far away.
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He seeks God, but he cannot find him.
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And so he says, verse 2,
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When can I come and appear before God?
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Now, there are at least seven descriptions in this psalm
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of what David was experiencing.
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I’m going to call them symptoms.
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This was his experience.
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First, as we’ve seen, he felt dry
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as a deer pants for flowing stream,
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so pance my soul for you, O God.
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My soul, thirsts for God, for the living God.
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Not only is he dry, but he feels tearful.
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Verse 3,
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my tears have been my food day and night.
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My tears have been my food.
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Now, I take that to mean that he had lost his appetite.
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He wasn’t eating very much,
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probably not eating anything at all.
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He was weeping.
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That’s how it was.
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And then notice thirdly, he was downcast.
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You have that in verse five and verse 11.
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Why are you cast down, O my soul?
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And then, fourthly, in the same verses he’s in turmoil.
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Why are you in turmoil within me?
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What a word that is, turmoil.
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His stomach’s churning.
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He feels overwhelmed.
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Verse seven, he says it’s like one wave after another
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just breaking over me.
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I just feel completely overwhelmed.
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My stomach churns at the very thought
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of what lies ahead of me.
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Fifthly, in verse nine, he feels forgotten.
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I say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me?
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Then sixthly, he’s mourning.
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Why do I go mourning?
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And the use of the word mourning
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clearly indicates that he was experiencing
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some kind of loss.
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And that indeed was part of what was going on
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in his life at this time.
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And then seventhly, he was oppressed.
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He speaks about the oppression of the enemy.
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Now, you put these seven together,
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and here you have a picture of a man
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who is in real trouble.
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He’s dry.
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He’s tearful.
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He’s downcast.
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He’s in turmoil.
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He feels forgotten.
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He’s mourning, and he is oppressed.
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And these are the words of a man who truly loved
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and served the Lord.
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Now, you see, this raises a very important question.
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Can it really be true that a faithful believer
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can experience all of these things?
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And the answer to that question from the Scripture
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very clearly is yes.
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Even the strongest believers may endure
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what David describes here.
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Fr. John Parker in his marvelous book Knowing God
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warns about the dangers of playing down
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the challenges of the Christian life.
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The danger of giving the impression that and I quote,
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for Christian’s problems should no longer exist
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or if they come they have only to be taken
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to the throne of grace and then immediately
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they’re going to melt away.
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Well, perhaps someone has spoken to you in a way
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that gives you that impression,
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oh just take it to the Lord in prayer
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if you pray about it then it will all be fine
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and what you found is that you have prayed about it
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and you are still struggling,
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that’s exactly where David was, right here.
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Now these are the symptoms.
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Why?
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What was the cause?
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What gave rise to these things that David
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was experiencing?
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Well we’ll look at the answers to that question
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in just a moment.
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We’re in Psalm 42 today.
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This is open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith
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in a message called Hope in God.
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It’s part of our series Growing in Faith, Hope and Love
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and if you’ve missed any of the series so far
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or if you want to go back and listen again,
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don’t forget you can always do that
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by coming online to our website OpenTheBible.org.uk
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or you can find us as a podcast
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and those are available on all the major podcast sites.
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Just search for Open The Bible UK
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or follow the link from our website.
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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners
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and this month we have an offer
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if you’re able to set up a new donation
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to the work of Open The Bible
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in the amount of five pounds per month or more
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and we’re offering a copy of Jerry Bridges book
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Respectable Sins.
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We’ll talk more about this later with Colin.
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So we’re going back to the message now,
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again we’re in Psalm 42
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as we continue the message Hope in God.
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Here’s Colin.
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Now the Psalm makes it pretty clear
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that first he was in a very hostile environment.
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Look at verse three and then at verse 10.
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Verse three,
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my tears have been my food day and night
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while they say to me all the day long where is your God?
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And then it’s almost repeated in verse 10.
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My adversaries taunt me
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while they say to me all the day long, where is your God?
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There were some people who had it in for David,
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he describes them as adversaries, enemies,
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and they taunted him.
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Where is your God?
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And notice that he lives
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with the taunts of these adversaries
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all the day long,
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it’s like it never stops, they never relent,
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and over time David’s experiences
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that it just wears him down.
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Now, maybe you have experienced this in your own life,
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the erosive effects of a hostile culture over time.
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The opposition you face in one way or another
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perhaps has become quite relentless,
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you’re just bombarded by hostility and opposition,
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everything that you put forward,
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push back, push back, push back,
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and over time it takes its toll,
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and eventually your soul begins to feel dried out,
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downcast and you have the stomach churning
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and you are in turmoil.
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That’s exactly what David is describing here,
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and Jesus has been there.
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Consider the hostility
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he endured from sinful men.
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He endured taunting and saved others,
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he cannot save himself,
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he trusted in God, let God deliver him if he wants him.
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David endured over time
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the erosive effect of a hostile culture,
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and on top of that, he had experienced very great loss.
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Now, look at verse 4.
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These things I remember as I pour out my soul,
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how I would go with the throng
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and lead them in procession to the house of God
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with glad shouts and songs of praise.
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Now, he’s describing what he used to do,
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but the point here is that he’s not doing it now.
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The great festivals, these you’re referring to,
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the crowds of people rejoicing and praising God,
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they all took place in Jerusalem.
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And notice that David is not in Jerusalem
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when he writes this psalm.
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In verse six he says,
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I remember you from the land of Jordan
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and of Hermon, miles from Jerusalem.
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Now, why he was there, we don’t know.
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But what’s clear is that he is no longer in the place
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where he’s able to do what he loved doing.
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He has lost a cherished role.
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And joys that used to be his are simply his no longer.
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No longer.
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Now, it’s not easy when you no longer get to do
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what has been perhaps for a long time
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a joy and a blessing in your own life.
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And I’m thinking for example of mothers
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who may say this is the last summer
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before my son or my daughter goes off to college.
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And my whole life has circled around raising these children.
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What in the world am I now going to do?
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We live in a changing world
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and we need the help of the unchanging God.
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And you know Jesus has been there, too.
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And for three years, he enjoyed all the blessings
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of the most marvellous ministry.
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My food, he said, is to do the will of him who sent me.
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In other words, Jesus found the very engagement
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in ministry that he was given
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to be nourishing to his own soul.
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It’s a joy, it’s a blessing, it’s a delight.
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And then it’s all taken away.
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The disciples abandoned him.
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He’s surrounded by darkness.
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He goes into the garden of Gethsemane
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and he says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow.
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But the biggest problem on top of all that
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was the felt distance of God.
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Notice what David says at the beginning of the Psalm,
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as a deer pants for flowing streams,
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so my soul pants for you, oh God.
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My soul thirsts for God,
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for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?
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See, David could face a hostile environment,
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difficult though that was.
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David could endure even the loss of a cherished role
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that he had loved.
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He could do these things if he felt the God was near.
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But you see, the problem here
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is that God felt far away from David
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just at the very moment where David felt
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he needed the Lord the most.
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There was a priest in the 16th century
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known as John of the cross,
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and he coined a phrase that describes
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what David was enduring here.
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He called it the dark night of the soul.
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Isaiah knew what this was like,
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he says in Isaiah 45 and verse 15 to the Lord,
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truly you are a God who hides himself.
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You know that experience,
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the feeling that you’re just seeking God,
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you need his help,
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and you feel like he’s hiding from you?
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Now, can this really be the experience of a godly person?
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Well, remember this was the experience
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of our Lord Jesus himself,
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Jesus knew what it was
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to feel that the Father was far away
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just when he needed him the most.
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My God, my God,
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why have you forsaken me?
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Now, this psalm really helps us.
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It helps us not only by describing
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the darker experiences that may come
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to a Christian in the course of life,
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some of the harder things
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that we may endure in following after Christ,
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00:19:01,579 –> 00:19:05,359
but it also identifies not only the experience,
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but the cause that may lie behind these experiences.
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00:19:11,040 –> 00:19:14,219
The erosive effects of a hostile culture,
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00:19:14,219 –> 00:19:18,520
the loss of a cherished role in life and in ministry,
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00:19:18,520 –> 00:19:21,260
the feeling that God is far away
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00:19:21,260 –> 00:19:25,280
at the very time when you feel you need Him the most.
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00:19:26,959 –> 00:19:29,939
These were the experiences of David,
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these were the experiences of Jesus,
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and there may be times when they are your experience too.
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But what I want us to see today
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is that despite all that David was enduring
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he was moved by the Holy Spirit
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to write a psalm that focuses on hope.
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That’s what this psalm is about.
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At the very centre of it,
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repeated three times as we have seen.
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Hope in God, verse five.
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Hope in God, verse 11.
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Hope in God, psalm 43, and verse five.
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Now the aim of this series over these next weeks
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is that we will grow in hope.
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I want to be very practical
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and so I want us to see four strategies
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from this psalm as to how we can grow in hope.
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The first of these is to speak honestly to God.
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Now you see how that’s what David does here.
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Look at verse nine.
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I say to God, my Rock,
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why have you forgotten me?
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Why do I go mourning?
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Because of the oppression of the enemy.
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And notice that he says these things to God.
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You don’t need to feel close to God in order to pray.
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You can pray as David does here,
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even when you feel that God has forgotten you.
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00:21:14,400 –> 00:21:17,300
You can pray to God when you feel far from him.
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00:21:18,520 –> 00:21:21,439
You can pray to God when you don’t feel like praying.
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00:21:22,680 –> 00:21:25,839
You can tell him that you feel forgotten.
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00:21:25,839 –> 00:21:28,280
You can tell him that you feel oppressed,
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00:21:29,160 –> 00:21:31,300
you can tell him that you feel absolutely,
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completely and utterly dried out.
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00:21:35,079 –> 00:21:37,479
You can tell him that your stomach is churning
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and that you are in turmoil.
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00:21:41,119 –> 00:21:44,680
That’s what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow
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00:21:49,540 –> 00:21:52,479
and he says it, to the Father.
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What a helpful truth to reflect on
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as we pause this message today.
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You’re listening to Open The Bible
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with pastor Colin Smith
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and a message called Hope in God.
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It’s part of our series Growing in Faith, Hope and Love,
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today looking at Psalm 42.
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And if you’ve missed any of today’s broadcast
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or indeed any of the series,
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come online to our website openthebible.org.uk
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and listen again to any of the the messages
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which have already gone out on air.
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You can also find us as a podcast
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00:22:25,119 –> 00:22:28,060
and those are available on all the major podcast sites.
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Search for Open The Bible UK
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00:22:30,119 –> 00:22:32,920
and subscribe to receive regular updates.
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You can also find on our website
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00:22:35,540 –> 00:22:37,959
and as a podcast Open The Bible Daily
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00:22:37,959 –> 00:22:39,640
and that’s a series of short
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00:22:39,640 –> 00:22:42,780
two to three minute daily reflection pieces
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00:22:42,780 –> 00:22:44,400
based on Pastor Colin’s teaching
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and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish.
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00:22:46,520 –> 00:22:47,880
There’s a fresh one every day
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00:22:47,880 –> 00:22:50,160
and lots of Christians around the country
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00:22:50,160 –> 00:22:52,880
are enjoying that as a way to start the day.
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00:22:54,560 –> 00:22:57,560
Open The Bible is supported entirely by our listeners,
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00:22:57,560 –> 00:22:59,920
that’s ordinary people just like you.
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00:22:59,920 –> 00:23:02,439
If you appreciate Open The Bible’s ministry
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00:23:02,439 –> 00:23:04,079
and you’d like to support us in this way
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00:23:04,079 –> 00:23:05,900
but you haven’t yet done so,
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00:23:05,900 –> 00:23:08,920
can I encourage you to begin a donation this month
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00:23:08,920 –> 00:23:10,599
to Open The Bible.
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00:23:10,599 –> 00:23:14,119
If you’re able to begin a new donation to Open The Bible
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00:23:14,119 –> 00:23:16,719
in the amount of five pounds per month or more,
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00:23:16,719 –> 00:23:18,300
we’d love to say thank you
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00:23:18,300 –> 00:23:20,719
by sending you a copy of Gerry Bridges’ book,
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00:23:20,719 –> 00:23:22,479
Respectable Sins.
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00:23:22,479 –> 00:23:24,359
Colin, we know what sin is
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00:23:24,359 –> 00:23:26,839
but what in the world is respectable sin?
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00:23:26,839 –> 00:23:30,959
It’s a fascinating title for a book isn’t it?
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00:23:30,959 –> 00:23:34,959
Gerry Bridges’ point is that there are some sins
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that are so despicable
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that we immediately recognize them
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00:23:39,160 –> 00:23:41,920
as things that we would never touch or go near
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00:23:41,920 –> 00:23:43,760
but there are other things
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that are displeasing to God
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00:23:45,520 –> 00:23:47,260
and are equally sins
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that we may be tempted to accommodate in our lives
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00:23:50,239 –> 00:23:54,699
and perhaps not even recognize them as sins which they are
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00:23:54,699 –> 00:23:56,719
and what’s so helpful
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00:23:56,719 –> 00:23:58,800
is that Gerry actually lists these.
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00:23:58,800 –> 00:24:01,819
He has a short chapter on any number of them
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00:24:01,819 –> 00:24:03,099
I mean including,
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00:24:03,099 –> 00:24:06,739
anger, frustration, discontent, unthankfulness,
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00:24:06,739 –> 00:24:09,819
pride, selfishness, lack of self-control,
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00:24:09,819 –> 00:24:13,459
impatience, irritability, judgmentalism, envy, jealousy,
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00:24:13,459 –> 00:24:14,979
I mean the list goes on
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but what he does is he identifies them,
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00:24:17,739 –> 00:24:20,140
speaks about why they’re sins,
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00:24:20,140 –> 00:24:22,180
why they’re displeasing to God,
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00:24:22,180 –> 00:24:25,280
why they bring destruction in our lives
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00:24:25,520 –> 00:24:27,540
and how we can fight against them
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00:24:27,540 –> 00:24:30,280
and begin to prevail over them.
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00:24:30,280 –> 00:24:32,540
So this is a wonderful book for anyone
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00:24:32,540 –> 00:24:36,040
who wants to grow in likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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00:24:36,040 –> 00:24:38,119
I have found it immensely helpful.
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00:24:38,119 –> 00:24:40,520
It’s a book I’ve gone back to many times
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00:24:40,520 –> 00:24:42,839
and that’s why I’m really pleased
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00:24:42,839 –> 00:24:45,239
that we’re able to commend it to others this month.
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00:24:45,239 –> 00:24:46,420
Well, Jerry Bridges’ book
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00:24:46,420 –> 00:24:48,839
Respectable Sins is our gift to you
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00:24:48,839 –> 00:24:50,859
if you are able to start a new donation
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00:24:50,859 –> 00:24:52,579
to the work of Open the Bible
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00:24:52,579 –> 00:24:55,180
for five pounds per month or more.
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00:24:55,479 –> 00:24:58,060
For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith
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00:24:58,060 –> 00:25:00,040
I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us
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00:25:00,060 –> 00:25:02,500
next time on Open the Bible.
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00:25:10,140 –> 00:25:12,859
You’re feeling dry and far from God
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00:25:12,859 –> 00:25:15,199
how can you grow in hope?
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00:25:15,199 –> 00:25:17,959
Find out next time on Open the Bible.
