Let's pray as we come to hear God's words. Our heavenly Father
we realize you've brought us to an end of another year we know the importance
of your word your word is truth your word is living and powerful and it is
the enduring Word of God. It is the foundation where we place our feet, we
also realise we are accountable and responsible for the many times we've
heard your word and this morning again we will know that you will speak to us
may we have ears to hear and may the Holy Spirit's be at work in and through
your word in our lives to challenge to comfort to direct and to guide for the
glory of your name amen please turn to Psalm 90 I believe it's a very
appropriate Psalm to end 2018 with it is both challenging and comforting and we
need both as we focus upon not ourselves but upon the Lord at the end of this
year looking towards 2019 now there are quite a few churches that would have
watch night services at the end of the year I know that Spurgeon in the
metropolitan Tabernacle in London would have a midnight service from New Year's
Eve to New Year's Day and the church would gather thousands would gather and
it's interesting to note that one of the favorite passages he would return to in
such occasions would be Psalm 90 it's a very appropriate Psalm for us to
consider this morning we've already quoted from verse 10 haven't we the days
of our lives of seventy years and if by reason of strength they are 80 years yet
their bursts is only labor and sorrow how quickly life is
over how quickly time flies by I don't know about you but for me this year is
just a blur I can't believe this is the last lord's day of 2018 and our
forefathers would encourage us to live in the light of eternity to consider the
briefness of time the brevity of life and to live with eyes fixed beyond this
world to the world that is to come we have no eternal city here but we look
for the city whose builder and architect is God when he was just 19 years of age
Jonathan Edwards the new English and Putin wrote these words resolved never
to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my
life great spiritual maturity for a nineteen-year-old resolved that I will
live sir as I wish I had done when I came to die
resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if I expected it
would not be above an hour before I should hear the trumpet of the Lord
living in the light of eternity and this Psalm by Moses is written during the
wilderness wanderings it's important that we understand that because it helps
us understand the message of this Psalm perhaps it's one of the the oldest parts
of God's Word we're not entirely sure when Moses wrote the the first five
books or when the book of Job was written certainly we can say that Psalm
90 is one of the earliest parts of Scripture and Moses
wrote it at a time of God's judgment with his people remember they were
promised the Promised Land by a faithful God when they got there and saw the
great walled cities and the Giants and the armies the spies came back and they
said it's an amazing land it's a wonderful land but you can't have it and
we can't go there I only Joshua and Caleb tried to stir
the people to faith but they rejected God's Word they rejected God's promise
and they came in the judgment now can you imagine what that would be like to
lead that people for 40 years in the wilderness seeing fiend rule after fiend
row God's judgment after judgment was the law provided and met his people on a
daily basis still imagine leading that people 40 years through literally a
wilderness experience one thing I've come to understand is the older you get
the more funerals you attempt I remember there was a time when I never went to
find rose however a few of the people I was in school with have died even people
I shared classes with have been taking from this world we've seen quite a
number of fiend respected to our little fellowship as well as to our families
it's a sobering truth isn't it that the tree that will be used to make our
coffin is growing right now today Moses saw a lot of fiend rose a lot of trials
a lot of difficulties that generation passed away in the wilderness and it's
written in that context reflecting on the brevity of life
reflecting on what it means to be wise as a result of the briefness of life and
a God that we must come to terms with this is the the power and relevance of
this Psalm to us this morning we're at an end of another year by God's
providential grace and mercy provision and protection upon us and I'm reminded
of that very famous poem by Henry twelves
you've heard it when I was a child I laughed and wept time crept to me like
that Kant at times seems to go so slowly when you're younger when I was a youth I
waxed more bald time strolled when I became a full-grown man
time ran when older still ideally i daily grew time flew soon I shall find
in passing on time gone now what's interesting is when that poem is often
quoted that's where it ends and the last line the most important line is cut off
from the poem and the last line of the poem is oh Christ will thou have saved
me then that's what gives that the poem hope and reality and challenge and
that's the key question as you and 2018 has Christ saved your soul is he yours
are you his dare you approach another year if you make it because there's no
guarantees any of us will see 2019 but dare you approach another year without
being in the Lord Jesus Christ being saved and rescued from the wrath that is
to come having believed and repented only upon him for the forgiveness of
your sins let's come back to some it's simplest thing to note that in Hebrew
poetry often the most important thought is not at the beginning or is it at the
end usually it's somewhere in the middle of the psalm and I believe that this
Psalm is is structured in this way and particular if you look at verse 12 in
the light of the brevity of life in the light of God's judgment in the light of
failing to honor the Lord and obey Him what is the response what is the
believin response it's verse 12 so teach us to number our days that we may gain a
heart of wisdom so literally at the heart of this Psalm is a prayer for a
heart to know the wisdom of God's that's what it means to live in the light of
eternity all that pleases is but for a moment or that pains this is but for a
moment only that which matters is for eternity
and that is the key question to ask when we are faced with challenges and
frustrations and questions and issues the question to ask is what does this
matter in the light of eternity what difference will this make in the light
of a hundred thousand ten thousand years time and our sum divides into four
sections that helps us to come to terms with our gods if this is one to two you
have the eternal God described in verses three to six you've got the sovereignty
of God described in verses 7 to 12 you've got the severity of God described
and verses 13 to the end of the psalm you've got
mercy of God described so this is a psalm that's all about God and let me
walk you through these four points so to understand ourselves we need to
understand our God Jim Parker says when you read the Bible the first question
you shouldn't ask is what does this passage say to me although that's a
valid and an important question to ask the first question you're to ask is what
does this passage teach me about God and that's where we go this morning we
learned four things about our God number one our God is eternal this is one to
two you have been our dwelling place in all generations from everlasting to
everlasting you are God Moses begins where he begins by thinking about home
and for him the eternal God is home Lord you have been our dwelling place our
permanent home the place where we live move and have our being home is the
place where you are the most safe a dwelling place and the and Moses is
saying God is my home he's my refuge he's my dwelling place he's the place of
safety it's a very powerful illustration isn't it the believer the person in
Christ can say this whatever's gone on in this last year whatever our dreams
our fears or anxieties off 2019 God is the believers dwelling place put a word
of comfort and hope that is for us can you say that dare you enter 2019 not
being able to say this morning from the heart Romans
13:11 says now it is high time to awaken out of sleep for now our salvation is
nearer than we then when we first believed that was rin 2000 years ago the
night is far spent the day is at hand therefore let us cast off the works of
darkness and let us put on the armor of light I'm sure you've seen a sunrise
it's an amazing sight you've got this dark light and then dust sort of be
gained in the strange light appears on the horizon and steadily it grows and
grows and when you see that strange first light you know before long the Sun
will rise and it would be daylight and that's what Paul is saying that the day
is fast bankís as if the Sun is about to rise above the horizon and our salvation
is nearer than when we first believed God is a place that makes the believer
feel at home because he never changes he is the eternal God he is the one who was
and who is and who is to come from everlasting to everlasting you can't get
more comprehensive than that before the mountains were brought forth or ever the
world was formed before all that before all of creation before the planets
before the stars before anything there was God God the Father God the Son God
the Holy Spirit the great uncreated creator the God who is eternal
independent self existent the God who does not need a spurt out of love and
grace chooses to dwell with us and invites us to dwell with him we exist
because God made us we take our next breath because this God
gives it to us in the beginning god this great eternal God he is our God dear
child of God he's your God's life is like a vapor it appears for a short time
and then vanishes away and let me give you a little an experiment to prove this
you look in the mirror and you know that you are aging but if you can find a few
folk photos one from five years ago one from 10 years ago one from 15 years ago
and if you're old and if one from 20 years ago then go up to a complete
stranger and ask that stranger to put those photographs in order of the time
that they were taking I guarantee they would be able to do it without any
difficulty why because even over the period of five years we age we decay and
we get older God never ages it's an amazing thing he's outside of time moth
and rust do not corrupt he is incorruptible he's eternal he's
unchanging and Moses is saying that as he sees all these fiend rose as he
wanders in the wilderness with this disobedient people he's absolutely sure
that the eternal God is his dwelling place and his promise is certain and he
never never changes and he exists and therefore this eternal God is the refuge
of his people and here's such a solid anchor to cast as we look forward to
2019 one solid and changeable truth is the truth of our God perhaps many
wouldn't believe that our country would be in a position where we are at the end
of this year and what does 2019 bring our commentator's differ and largely the
outlook is pretty negative thank God our ultimate security isn't in our
government although we are right to pray for them or a royal family and it's
right to pray for them but it is in the eternal and changing God that's the hope
that's the confidence of the believer how God is the eternal God who is our
dwelling place let's move on to the second point which is briefer verses 3
to 6 you see the sovereignty of God here Moses begins to talk about death you
turn man to destruction or depending on your Trent your translation to dust and
say return or children of man God is the the giver of life when he's the taker of
life in 1734 Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon on this portion of Psalm 90
actually it's verses five and six you carried them away like a flirt they are
like asleep in the morning they are like grass which grows up in the morning he
flourishes and grows up in the evening it is cut down and Withers he preached
that passage had a funeral of a young man who would suddenly died after some
kind of lung infection he preached about death he preached about the the brevity
of life if we had threescore years and ten seventy years perhaps 80 years by
reason of strength maybe 80 years but not much more than that and he he brings
the sovereignty of God home to the congregation it had a profound effect
within a matter of months several hundred young people in his hometown of
North huntin in New England had been converted
as a result of that tax and thinking about the sovereignty of God in life and
death there are very solemn words at any graveside on the earth to earth dust to
dust ashes to ashes we hereby commit this body to the ground insurance
certain knowledge of the resurrection of the body from the dead and the life
everlasting earth to earth dust to dust ashes to ashes I believe it is a gospel
crime to conduct a funeral and not call people to confront eternity and death
and a sovereign God now I've made a covenant with the Lord
that every funeral service I have been asked to take or will be asked to take I
will confront people with the certainty of meeting a sovereign God and the hope
and the importance of the gospel in the light of eternity so if you ask me to
take your funeral I don't want to take anyone's feeling job but if you do ask
me I will preach the gospel and I will point to eternity it must be stated
people are there confronted with these realities and notice verse 4 / thousand
years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past
what is time - sovereign an eternal God a thousand years ago one of the the best
name people in all of history existed after read the unready a thousand years
ago it was the the Battle of Hastings and William the Conqueror and the Norman
invasion of England it's like yesterday to the Lord do you remember what you
were doing yesterday afternoon for God a thousand years ago it's just like
yesterday
our lives compared to the eternal God or just like a mystic a vapor you boil the
kettle of steam fills the kitchen and within five seconds that vapor that mist
vanishes away do you see what this is saying is saying many things but at
least two major things we learn from the second point it's saying that you and I
live before sovereign God and we will not live a day longer or a day shorter
than which he has attained for us there is a day attained that we must leave
this world or Jesus returns it is appointed for man wants to die and life
is short died a friend and one of his favorite sayings was life is short and
then you die there's no gospel in those words but
he's true our times are in his hands and as I've stated you know nervous are
absolutely guaranteed that we will see 2019 maybe for someone here this morning
this would be the last message he would hear who knows this may be the last
message I will preach at the end of 2018 him of Andrew Reid is so appropriate
there is an hour when I must part from all I hold most dear and life with its
best hopes will then as nothingness appear there is an hour when I must sink
beneath the stroke of death and yields to him who gave at first my struggling
vital breath there is an hour when I must stand before the judgment seat
sober words are they at all my sins and all my foes in awful vision meet there
is an hour when I must look on one a nameless whoa a blissful life my
endless portion being which is it for you nameless woe judgment in hell that
is indescribable or life blissful life forever with God and the Lord Jesus
Christ o Savior then in all my need be near be
near to me and that my soul by steadfast faith find life and heaven in thee
it's a sober thought isn't it that many of us here this morning our way past the
halfway point of our allotted years I won't get any more personal than that
they're not but you know it and I know it so we are to live in the light of
eternity and the light of a sovereign God who gives and takes away life are
you ready to meet this sovereign eternal God but my third point which is briefest
Elvises 7 to 12 here we read about the severity of God remember the context of
the psalm written during the time of wilderness wanderings of judgment on
that generation who perished in the way verses 7 and 8 for we have been consumed
by your anger funeral after funeral there in the desert and by your wrath we
are terrified you've set our iniquities before you our secret sins and the light
of your countenance to the shining of God's face reveals the hidden secrets of
the heart very sobering with something this is not
well God is sovereign therefore doesn't matter what I do here clean up the mess
there are consequences for sin there is a time of God's discipline hand upon his
people and even his judgment upon a nation and Moses sees the reality of
this before his own eyes and what this people lacked we see in verse 11 they
lacked the wisdom of God and the fear of God do you see what the psalmist is
saying here we need a heart of wisdom and the beginning of wisdom is where the
fear of God recognizing that this God this eternal sovereign God who is severe
in his judgment against sin severe but fair recognizing that God is great
recognizing God is powerful recognizing God is holy and recognizing that God has
revealed his holy character in his words his Living Word reveals the Living God
to us you know that Spurgeon was converted January the 6th 1850 at that
place where snow had fallen on the ground near Colchester couldn't get to
where he wanted to go so he called into a small local gathering where the
preacher couldn't arrive and a very poor preacher preached and just repeated the
text come unto me and be saved says the Lord and Spurgeon was converted through
that message well a couple of weeks later he he wrote this prayer and this
is what he wrote oh great and unsearchable God who knows my heart and
tries all my ways with a humble dependence upon the support of your Holy
Spirit I yield myself to you as your own reasonable sacrifice
I returned to be your own I would be forever unreservedly perpetually years
while I am on earth I would serve you and may I enjoy you and praise you
forever no we're not as eloquent as Persian but I'm sure the thoughts behind
that prayer is the prayer that we need to pray I give you my heart
promptly and sincerely living in the fear of God living a life of
consecration and a desiring to be holy living for him in 2019 resolved to do
that living in the light of who our God is and then we we end number four the
fourth thing I want us to learn about God from this Psalm there are other
things to learn but number four is the mercy of God look at verse 14 is very
powerful Oh satisfy us early with your mercy that
we may rejoice and be glad all our days again depending on your translation that
could be translated satisfies in the morning with us steadfast love as the
ESV says mercy this great rich Hebrew word steadfast love eternal covenant to
love covenantal mercy God's love and commitment to his people that ultimately
is cross-shaped the mercy of God Christ centered focused mercy and love satisfy
us in the morning with your mercy with your steadfast love that's what Moses
prays for greater love has no man than this and the man should lay down his
life for and here's the heart of wisdom here's
the definition of the mercy of God's connected to the cross of the Savior God
demonstrates his own love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ
died for us
do you notice what Moses says verse 14 satisfy us in the morning early with you
and mercy now again not wanting to get too personal but some of us are grumpy
there's no beating around the bush about it some of us sometimes wake up grumpy
some of us are grumpy all day do you see what Moses is saying here and this is a
challenge I know it's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement but is it
because we're not focusing upon the amazing mercy of God first thing in the
day that we allow our mood swings to dictate our actions to other people and
even our responses to the Lord should endure the mercy of God be something
that fills our minds very early in the morning the first thing we think about
it's a challenge isn't it to resolve in your minds to bring your thoughts even
when you wake up into conformity with what is half of what is noble what is
pure what is right what is wonderful the the mercy of God there's no better
thought to wake up with than filling your mind and heart with the mercy of
God what is the result of thinking these thoughts upon the Lord well verse 17 is
is very powerful and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us that's
something that we don't really think about when we think of the Lord we can
think of his sovereignty and we can think of his eternal nature and we can
think that this God is above and beyond us in years but here's the challenge as
well as we believe these things to realize the thing of the beauty of God
these things whilst they're great doctrines perhaps heavy doctrines the
glory of the person and work of our God should cause us to see him as beautiful
as as lovely as the God that we desire to be with and walk with and and love
and honor in wherever the Lord has called us to be whether it's in school
or university of the workplace or at home and that the beauty of the Lord be
upon us he is altogether beautiful this God is our God and my challenge to you
as you end this year and begin a new years to be ravished by the sheer beauty
of God nothing compares to him meditate upon the wonderful being character of
the God who is your God in the Savior and if that is true if we see God as the
God of beauty the God of glory the eternal and sovereign God then it is
right and appropriate to pray the last prayers of this Psalm and establish the
work of our hands you almost want to say well shouldn't it be the work of your
hands well that is true in that state in in other parts of the scripture but the
Lord in His amazing wisdom has called you and me to be his servants and
instruments in his hands weak frail stumbling
sinful instruments and if we are knowing that God is a merciful God and he's a
beautiful God and he's the eternal and sovereign God then we realized that he's
working in and through us and so we pray Lord established Lord build up the work
of our hands and may that be a prayer that we take to the Lord and may we see
growth and development spiritually and in terms of numbers as we look to a God
to meet us and glorify his name in and through us
but we could just sing a hymn that's based on this Psalm to close 1 1 5 our
God our help in ages past our hope for years to come our shelter from the storm
a blast in our eternal home 1 1 5
you
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