Transcript

Sermon Transcript: Thunderstruck

6/26/2016 Jeff Schwarzentraub 35 min read

So we are continuing our series called Summer in the Psalms. And usually the last thing I do in the week before I give my notes away is to entitle the sermon. And I called this week thunderstruck because I was looking up words online like amazed and overwhelmed. I came across this word thunderstruck. That means extremely surprised.

It means I can't believe it. And even as I was doing it, for those of you I was wishing I could have, like Angus Young on the platform playing the song as we came up. But at the end of the day, this psalm, although so short that we're going to look at this morning, has such power in it that if you really understand what the word of God is saying, it will blow you away. And to do that this morning, we're going to look at psalm, chapter eight. Psalm, chapter eight.

And as you get a look at these verses this morning and you hear what God has to say, my hope, my prayer for each one of you is that you'll be thunderstruck, that you'll be in awe, that you'll be amazed as to who our awesome God is, how he sees himself, and how he sees each and every one of you. What I'd love to do this morning is read through that psalm, and then we'll unpack it together. Because it's so short. David pens the word. It's under the inspiration of the holy spirit.

He says this, o Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of babies and infants. You have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the fields, the birds of the heaven and the fish of the sea. Whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

Psalm is such a powerful psalm. And as David writes these words, there are really three things he's trying to bring to our attention this morning when he's thunderstruck by the Lord, he says, lord, when I stop to consider the world you created, the first thing he says is, I'm amazed at your reputation throughout the entire world. He says, I'm amazed at your reputation throughout the entire world. Notice what he says, o Lord, our Lord. Now, if you're looking down at your bible, you'll notice that the first Lord is all capital letters.

And the next Lord, it's just the l is capitalized. Anytime you see the word Lord capitalized in the Bible. It's really talking about Yahweh, the covenant, keeping God, the God that loves us no matter what. The God that loves his children no matter what. The God that's never ever changing the covenant, keeping God, the one that keeps all of his promises, O Lord.

Then he says, our Lord, that second Lord is Adonai. He's the one that has dominion over all creation. And notice how he refers to him, O Lord, our Lord belongs to each and every one of us who is in covenant relationship with the God of the universe. And he says, how majestic is your name in all the earth. How mighty is it.

How splendid. How beautiful. Magnificent. He said, you set your glory above the heavens. Now notice that this psalm begins and ends with the same statement, O Lord, our Lord.

How majestic is your name through all the earth, throughout the earth. These bookends dictate what this whole psalm is going to be about. And that's about the beauty and transcendence and splendidness and magnificence of our God. It's the reason why we gather. It's the reason why we worship.

It's the reason why at our church we put God on display. Because he's so glorious, he's so amazing. He's beyond anything that we can understand. And sometimes our view of God, I'm just telling you, it's way too small. We think God's kind of like us, but a little bit greater than us.

And God is nothing like us. God is God, and we're his creation. God is magnificent. God is glorious. I was just doing a little research, and I'm not a scientist, but I was blown away by some statistics I looked at this week.

You know, when God created the world, he said, let there be light. Do you know that light travels at 186,000 miles/second when God said, let there be light, light showed up going at 186,000 miles/second there's 31.5 seconds in a calendar year. That's 16 trillion mile that light can travel in a year. I mean, when God said, let there be light, it's not just like light turned on. I mean, light starts moving.

I mean, just to give you a picture as to what that would be like, it means in a calendar year. It means light could travel around the earth 235.5 million times. I mean, how awesome is that? I mean, that's just God creating light. And so when you hear people talk about some stars that are billions of light years away from us, I mean, do you know how vast our world is?

And that God is the God that created it all. I mean, sometimes we think about Denver, we think about Colorado, and that's pretty big. And he created the rocky Mountains and he did. And they're vast and they're awesome. And when you look at them, I mean, there's different places you can be.

When you go up into the mountains and you look out at the landscape and you can say, oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And that's just a microcosm of something that God created. Just a little bit. I was doing some study this week, and it talked about galaxies. Do you know, even outside of our Milky Way galaxy, which is just ginormous as of 1999, with the use of the Hubble telescope, they said in 1999, there's probably 125 billion other galaxies out there that we're aware of.

As of 2013, they said there's 225 billion observable galaxies out there. I mean, and it just keeps going. And even scientists say that it goes beyond what we can see. Well, how big is that? That's our God.

Our God's bigger than that. He created every single thing. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And these bookends are what the psalmist is talking about, David, as he's pinning this through inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't understand how magnificent the Lord is in the same ways that we do.

The more and more technology we get, the more and more we realize just how vast and how big and how creative our awesome God is. That's what David's talking about. And you think about it, I mean, look all over the world. I mean, you can look at the moon, you can look at the stars, you can look at the sun. Everything God has created is magnificent.

He's so big. I mean, think about this for a second. The sun, our sun and our solar system is 93 million mile away. That's a pretty far distance, wouldn't you agree? And yet this week when I was looking in my car, the Temperature Reddit was 106 degrees here.

And you know what people were doing all over high five this week because of this one sun that's 93 million mile away. People were rubbing lotion on their skin because they were affected by it. People were putting on glasses that we call sun glasses because their eyes were affected by this one sun that's 93 million mile away from us. You know what scientists calculate? You know how many suns there are in the universes?

Check out this number. I don't even know what it means. It's just big. 70 sextillion sons in the universe. Anybody know how many that is?

I know it's bigger than my bank account. I just don't know how much it's big. It's a big number. God created all of them. I mean, we see one son, there's 70 sextillion sons that we're aware of, that the Lord's created, and we're affected by just one of them.

I mean, God is so big, and we're so small, and yet he loves us. O lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You've set your glory above the heavens. Then he says this in verse two. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the Avenger.

It's really interesting that God even uses kids to show how glorious he he is. Some of our most well educated people, even being aware of how vast the universe is, still will not give glory to the fact that there's a creator. But I'm telling you right now, I mean, if you've ever been in the delivery room or you've ever been in the nursery of a hospital after a baby's been delivered and you see new life in an infant, you realize there has to be a God. There is no possible way that that life can be created with a soul, with all the working parts that work so perfectly together just because it just happen. There's no way.

Everything God creates is great. And that's why when you see kids give praise to the glory of God, they get it. Now, this didn't happen here this week, but as I was studying this week, I read about a kid that went home to his atheist parents after being at a VBS, parents that have taught their kid there is no God. And the little kid went home and said, hey, hey, mom and dad, do you think that God knows that we don't believe that he exists?

I mean, even kids know deep down in their heart, there is a creator. There has to be. And in Jesus ministry, as he enters Jerusalem the last week of his life, in Matthew, chapter 21, we read how Jesus quotes this psalm because Jesus entered the temple and he drove out all who sold and bought in the temple because they were making it a den of robbers rather than a house of prayer. And in Matthew 20 114, it says, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant, and they said to him, do you hear what these are saying?

Do you listen to these children? Do you hear what these kids are saying about you? And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies? You have prepared praise, praise, praise is our strength, showing that God is who he says he is.

God is so magnificent and so beyond what we can even fathom. So when you begin to think God's big and God's good and God's awesome and God's great and God's beyond us, you haven't even scratched the surface to how beyond us and how transcendent our God is. I mean, and in every generation, there will always be people that say the Bible's not true. Hey, science is more important than God. Even though God created science and you don't, you can have congruity between science and the Bible, and there's no problem with that.

But it reminds me of the story of this group of scientists that basically went to God and said, hey, we don't need you anymore. God said, you don't need me? No, we can do everything you can do. He goes, can you create light? And they're like, yeah, we can figure out a way to do that.

And they had this big debate back and forth, and finally God said, well, let's have a man making contest. And the scientist said, fine, we can make man. He said, can you make it from dirt? Scientists said, of course we can make it from dirt. And the scientists reached down to grab a handful of dirt, and God said, uh, uh, uh.

You get your own dirt, right? I mean, at the end of things, God has created everything. And when God creates what he creates, he creates it out of nothing. That's what makes God so powerful. And you've got to get that as the bookends of what we're talking about.

If you're truly going to grasp the entirety of this psalm. David's saying that God is worthy of our worship because there is no other God. God is worthy of our worship because there's no one like him. That all things that we see and all things that we don't see were created by him. And for him.

Whether thrones powers, rulers or authorities, everything we see, everything we discover, we realize God created all that and everything we don't see in the spiritual realm, we have to realize God created all that. That's why he is the king of kings. That's why he's the Lord of lords. That's why David is saying, o Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. He's saying, I'm amazed at your reputation.

Throughout the entire world, your name is your reputation. In the book of acts. You see, it's for the sake of the name that they went out for the sake of his reputation. It means you can travel anywhere in the world and see the glory of God. Anywhere you go, there are glimpses of the fact that God is sovereign over his universe, that he's a covenant keeping God.

There's his beauty and his splendor and his majesty. And every good thing we see comes from him and is for him. And then the psalmist continues because he's so thunderstruck that he's not only amazed at God's reputation, but notice in verse three, he says, when I stop to consider the world you created, he says, I'm overwhelmed that you would actually consider and care for me. I'm amazed that if you're that big and I'm that small, that you would even consider and care for me. Notice what he says.

He says, when I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. What is man, that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him. He's saying, when I look up at the heavens, he says, the work of your fingers. Now, God clearly doesn't have any fingers. He's using anthropomorphic language to describe God because he realizes that everything that he sees in the heavens is something that God has put in place.

He's like, what am I that you even consider me? Have you ever been a place that's so dark at night and away from city lights that when you lay on your back and you look up at the stars and you see millions of stars, you're like, wow. And realize many of them are billions of miles away? And yet God still considers and thinks about you? He says, God, if you're so big and I'm so small, how do you figure that out?

I mean, all throughout the Bible and even in the psalms, we read about how incredible God is. One of my favorite psalms, psalm 139, the psalmist David begins to talk about how God is and who he is, that God is omniscient, that he's all knowing. He talks about how before a word is on his tongue, God knows it completely. God knows everything before you do it, and he's omnipresent. He says, where shall I go to escape from your spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence? And he says, if I ascend to the heavens, you're there. If I ride out to the morning dawn, you're there. I mean, everywhere I go, there you are. But then he talks about this God's omnipotence in his power.

Think about God's thoughts for you as you listen to this. Psalm 139, starting in verse 13, says, for you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works.

My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when yet as there were none of them. How precious are your thoughts, o God?

How vast is the sum of them? If I were to count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you. What is he saying? He says, I am blown away.

God created me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Now, there are a lot of people in the world that have been told by their parents they were surprised. Some people have even been told they were an accident. But there are no accidents in God's economy, because every single person was fashioned and created by God.

He's the one who knit you together in your mother's womb. And here's what God says about you. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. Why? Because everything that God creates is good.

He says, you saw my unformed substance. He said, all of my days were done. They were all numbered out before one of them came to be. You know what that means? That means for many of us.

When you die, it's gonna be a surprise to us, and we're gonna miss you, and you're gonna leave this earth and we're gonna be like, why did it have to happen now? I mean, such a tragedy to us. But there's nobody that arrives on the other side in heaven where God's like, hey, what are you doing here? I didn't expect you today. Right?

All your days are right. On time. And when you arrive, God is gonna be like, I told you you'd be here. This is right when I established it. God knows all those things.

He's the sovereign controller of the whole universe and everyone that he forms and fashions by his power. He incredibly loves. How vast are your thoughts? For me, they outnumber the grains of sand. What was God doing last night while you were sleeping?

He was thinking about you. He had his mind on you. Why? Because he created you. Because he loves you.

Because you're fearfully and wonderfully made and he has purpose for you. God thinks about you all the time. He thinks about you way more than you ever think about him. That's our God. And David's blown away.

He's like, what am I? What is mankind that you even think about us? I mean, if you're that great and you're that good and you're that vast, how do you think about us? God? It blows me away.

And yet you think about it. What makes the incarnation story so powerful of Jesus coming to earth? I mean, many of us think, well, Jesus is God and he came to earth and he was born of a virgin and he was in a manger and he grew up and he healed people and he did great stuff. Think about this God that became incarnate. This is the God that stands outside of all time and space that created everything.

This is the God that said, let there be light. This is the one that was willing to become incarnate. This is the one that was born of a virgin. This is the one that was laid in a manger. This is the one that was dependent on his mother.

This is the one that grew and matured. This is the one who laid down his life on a cross for our sins. It's this Jesus, this magnificent, splendid, unlike any other God, Jesus that did all this for you. That's how magnificent. And David's blown away.

He's like, how could you think about me? But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now you may say, well, Jeff, how do you know that this is the Jesus of the Bible that it's talking about? Because the New Testament screams it.

Colossians two nine says in him Jesus, the full deity of God dwelled. Hebrews one three says he's the exact representation of God. He is God of God in the flesh. If you want to know what God is like, study the life of Jesus. And you know what?

You're going to find that this magnificent, all powerful God, who demonstrated his power by healing people, giving sight to the blind, by raising people from the dead, was also, what? Extremely loving and compassionate, wasn't he? I mean, every time he came across sinners, which was every person that he met, by the way, what did he demonstrate? Compassion and love to those who were in need of him. You see it?

The most familiar story in the new testament parable that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15 is about a father that had two sons and his younger son went away and squandered everything. And do you remember what happened when the younger son came back? The father sprints towards him and you get the idea, if you didn't know the end of the story, that the father is going to come get him and take him down for the way that the younger son has mistreated the father. But that's not what he does. When the father gets to the son, what's he do?

He throws his arms around him. He starts hugging and kissing him. And the son says, father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. And what happens?

It's not enough. The father says, hey, wait, wait, wait. You're home. Let's come have a party. And not only did he come home, what did the father do?

He gave him a robe, right? Showing that he had a place of honor. He gave him a ring, showing them that he belonged. He put sandals on his feet, showing he had significance, that he wasn't a slave. And then he kills the fattened calf and has this huge party.

And the reason his older brother finds out is that there's music and dancing going on. And the older brother says this, I'm not going in there. Why? Because, dad, all these years I've been, what? I've been slaving for you and yet you wouldn't even give me a goat.

And now this younger brother of mine comes home, this son of yours, and you throw a huge party for him. See, here's the deal. Jesus was showing what his father's like. He's compassionate, he's gracious, he's good, he's loving. It's who he is.

The psalmist is blown away. David's blown away. He's like, how can you be all of that awesomeness and have all of that power and still love me individually? It's an amazing story. It's amazing story.

It's like, I don't get it. And then he goes on and as if this doesn't even get good enough. I mean, one thing, if. If God was awesome, I mean, that'd be good enough. But this awesome, God loves us.

That. That blows me away. But this is where I really get thunderstruck, because David says, lord, when I stop to consider the world you made, he goes, I'm astounded at my position in the created order. I'm astounded by my position in the created order. I'm blown away, God, by how you look at me.

Now, notice what he says. You're going to have to get this in your head because this is hard to believe, he says, yet you have made him talking about mankind a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You've given him dominion over the works of your hands. You put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and all. Also the beasts of the fields, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea.

Whatever passes along the paths of the sea, he says, I'm blown away. Now notice this. He says, you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. The new american standard translates it God, some translates it angels, some translates it heavenly beings. It's the word Elohim.

It can be translated any of those ways. The created order. Think about mankind. If we go back to Genesis, God has a signature statement he has on every single day. When God creates in Genesis chapter one.

And you know what it is? At the end of every day when God creates, he creates everything he creates out of nothing. And then when he creates it at the end of every day, he says, and it was five of you know it. Say it with me. And it was good.

And so he goes on, and in verse 27 of Genesis chapter one, it says this. So he created man in his own image. In the image of God. He created him. Male and female, he created them, and God blessed them.

Humankind is created in the image of God. Trees are not animals. I'm sorry, they're not. We are created in the image of God with our mind, emotions, our will, our ability to create, our ability to think. The volition that we have, all those things are the image of the Lord.

We bear the image of the Lord Almighty. And in verse 31 of Genesis one, it says, and God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. Very good. Why?

Because human beings are the crown of God's creation. God made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor. Now think about this for a second. What was mankind made from? Dust.

Mankind, in and of ourselves were nothing. Until what God breathes life into to us. What gives us our meaning and significance is God breathing life into us. So when God created mankind, why did God create mankind? God created mankind and breathed life into mankind to give us dominion over all of his created works.

That's why God created human beings. Now, if you study the world around us and you watch movies, what you will notice in our culture is a devaluization of humankind. You'll notice that we're kind of on the same par as nature. Trees, mountains. And if you watch movies long enough, we're kind of the same as animals.

You know, you'll start feeling more sorry for an animal that dies in a movie than a human being that dies in a movie. Why there's a devaluization of human beings, but not in God's created order. Human beings are created in the image of God to have dominion over all of God's created works. And the reason we have dominion is because God's the one who is breathing life into us. Don't miss this.

So not only does God think about us, but here's how God thinks about us. He thinks about us with such intentionality because we were created in his image to have dominion in our world for his name's sake. And David's blown away, not only do you think about me, God, but you've made me a little lower than the heavenly beings, and you crowned me with glory and honor. Now think about this for a second. Believe it's one corinthians six three, where Paul is talking to the corinthians.

He says, do you not realize that one day you will judge the angels? I mean, most of us think like, well, there's God and then there's the angels, and then there's us. No, we're the crown of God's creation. So think about this just for a second. Theologically.

When God created the whole world and God created angelic beings and God created everything that he created, think about this. God created Satan. Most of us think of Satan as this evil, ugly being with horns coming out of his head. He's not. The Bible describes him as an angel of light, that he's beautiful.

It's the reason you follow him. If he was an ugly man with warts, you wouldn't listen to him, right? He's a beautiful being that tempts you to follow him, right? What was his job? His job was to lead the heavenly choirs, remember?

And as he's leading the worship of God and all the praises going to God, at some point in his life. He got prideful and he said, why should all the worship go to God? It should stop with me. Look at me. I'm awesome.

And at that time, pride is what got him kicked out of heaven. So what does God do? He takes that which is a little lower than the angels, makes them out of dust, and then crowns them with glory and honor because we're greater than that. Do you realize how angry that makes our enemy, Satan? Knowing that in the created order, we're more valuable than him, knowing that we're more valuable than the angels?

Most of us as christians don't believe that. We think there's God and then there's the devil, and then we're us, and we're totally under his thumb. We're not, not as believers in Christ. That is not who we are. We've been given dominion over the world.

Now because of sin. The world has fallen because of sin. Dominion doesn't look like it once did, right? Dogs still bark at people. Snakes still bite people.

I mean, everything doesn't work out just the way it originally intended, but it doesn't change what God's design was for us. God thinks we are so special that he has a unique purpose for us in his kingdom. Agenda to accomplish his purposes. Now think about this for a second. Two Corinthians 517 is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, certainly in the New Testament.

And it says this, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. Behold, the new has come. Think about this. Paul's talking about those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ.

If you place your trust in the fact that Jesus Christ is God's one and only son who's died on the cross for you, you are a new creation. Now think about this. What's a new creation? A new creation is something that God creates out of nothing. So what happens at the moment of conversion?

God takes a human being, a man, a woman, a boy or girl that was dead, and he makes them alive that was lost and he makes them found. So they are something fundamentally different than they were before they were saved. Do you see that? Now how do I know that I am that? If I'm in Christ, that's who I am.

That's what God says about me. If I'm in Christ, I am crowned with glory and honor and a little less than God. Why am I that? Now I know some of you starting to shift in your seats because you're like, hey, wait. I come to this church to give God praise.

You're saying mankind should be praised? No way. Mankind should never be praised. But who we are because of our position in Christ is glorious. We are crowned with glory and honor and a little less than God because of who we are in Christ, we are new creations.

Why, the old is gone. It's dead. Behold, the new has come. Now, if you get ahold of this, it's gonna change your life. Just hang with me.

1 second. Cause in Ephesians chapter two, we begin to read about our salvation. And it says in Ephesians chapter two, starting in verse one, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God in his mercy made us alive in Christ. Verse four of Ephesians two says, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved.

That's a great place for an amen. By the way. By grace, you have been saved. We believe that now. Notice what it goes on to say.

And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Where are we at now? Positionally, we've been raised up with Christ. See, most people, as believers, would believe that Christ forgave all their sins, past, present, and future. But when they think about their life in the present tense, they're nothing more than what they used to be.

They're just a better version of themselves. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that you're something fundamentally different. You're a new creation. The old is gone.

The new has come. And guess what? Positionally, you are seated in the heavenly realms in the realm of Christ Jesus. What does that mean? It means you have dominion in Christ.

Right now. It means when I pray, Lord, let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I am praying individually and collectively that those of us who are in Christ can experience the life of Christ through his spirit to pour out his kingdom to the world. I am no longer what I was. I am something completely new.

Now, how does this play out in the life of a believer? Do you know that many of us, as evangelical christians that believe that we are new creations, call ourselves by our old, dead name? Have you ever heard that in church? I'm an alcoholic. No, you're not.

That's what you once were, but now you are a new creation who has been raised with Christ. You are not an alcoholic. Yeah, but look in the mirror. Look at what I did. I got drunk last night.

But no, no, no. You're behaving that way. But that's not what you are. You're now a new creation who has the dominion of God because you're in Christ. You've been raised.

You don't have to live that way anymore. Yeah, you don't understand, Pastor Jeff. I'm still anorexic. No, no, no, you're not. Not if you're in Christ.

That's what you were when you were dead. But now you're a new creation who's been raised with Christ. And the old is gone and behold, the new has come. Yeah, but Jeff, I'm still behaving that way. Yeah, but you don't have to.

And you see, if you see yourself as a dead, worthless, miserable person that's trying to get better, the christian life will be nothing more than working on things that you've already received. Do you see the difference? One is if I call myself an alcoholic as a Christian, then I gotta work for the rest of my life on not drinking. I can't drink. I can't drink.

I can't drink. I need accountability. Cause I can't drink. But if I've been raised with Christ and I'm a new creation, and in him I'm crowned with glory and honor and a little less than him. And that's how the creator of the universe sees me.

I'll start living out my new destiny. I'll become what God says I am. And really what the christian life about is receiving all that Jesus Christ says about me. Do you know how difficult that is? It makes us squirm a little bit.

Because to say who we are, the way God sees us is almost a little bit embarrassing. Do you know why? Because we all have mirrors. I can think theologically, I'm crowned with glory and honor and a little less than God until I look in the mirror. And then I'm like, no, I'm not.

Until I see my sin. Oh, I'm not. Yes, I am, because that's how God sees me. I have resurrected power in Christ Jesus. That's how it sees me.

He loves me unconditionally. That's how he sees me. I am a new creation. I am holy, I am adopted. I am his child.

I am blessed, I am loved. It's not something I'm earning. I've already been granted that through the cross and the resurrected power of Jesus Christ. You know how hard it is to hold onto that? I mean, I remember I was doing this event for the fellowship of christian athletes some years ago.

And I was emceeing the event with my friend, and we had just gotten back from a bowl game in Texas. I got new boots. I'd never walked in high heels before. I had new jeans. I had this trench coat on.

I was sitting at the top of my steps outside my apartment, and there were steps kind of like this. There were ten cement steps that went down, and I was waiting for my friend to pull up, so excited to go to this FCA event and emcee it. And my friend pulled up, and I stepped to go down the steps. And because I was wearing boots, I. I hit one of the ten steps with my feet.

My foot began to twist, and I went headfirst down all ten steps. Okay. I remember getting up, totally embarrassed. My pants were ripped. I had blood coming out of my legs.

I couldn't even see my friend when I stood up because he was doubled over the steering wheel, laughing so hard at me. And then I started thinking, you know, I can tell you what the first thought in my mind was. I can tell you what it wasn't. I didn't get up and say, you know what? I am crowned with glory and honor and a little less than God.

I didn't say that. I was like, you're an idiot. You can't even walk downstairs. And now look at you. You're a mess.

And good luck finding clothes to wear because you're so lazy. You didn't do your laundry. Now you got nothing to wear. I mean, my whole night was ruined in, like, a matter of seconds. Why?

Because I was robbed of my identity. And if there's anything Satan wants to do in your life, it's identity theft. Why? Because if you've trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, can I just tell you? Past, present, and future.

It's all gone. It's all gone. He already forgave it. But there's resurrection power inside of you to live with dominion, that you are crowned with glory and honor and a little less than God. So what does the enemy do?

He knows he's lost you forever. So what does he do? He lies to you to get you to believe that you're still dead. He lies to you to get you to believe that you're a nobody. He lies to you to get you to believe that you're never, ever going to change.

And if you buy into that lie, then you live a dead life, even though you've already been made alive by Christ. And the christian life becomes this work that you can never get out of. But if you'll begin to see yourself the way the creator of the universe sees you as, hey, I paid for you. I died for you. I paid for all your sin.

Not only the sin up until today, but the ones you're going to send this afternoon and every sin you're going to send until you meet me now live in the realm of me and the resurrection power that I have. You're a new creation. The old is gone. It's dead. Behold, all things have been made new.

Your life will change. Because if you begin seeing yourself and calling yourself the way God sees you, that you are his child and that you are loved, it will change your life forever. You've been given dominion. God wants you to do great things. God loves you.

And you know what it's like. I mean, if you are a Christian who goes through a difficult time and you sin, but you sin in your resurrected power, then what do you do? I confess it. Hey, God, I'm a new creation. I'm crowned with glory and honor and a little less than you.

And I'm not living like it right now. And I agree with you. That's wrong. And I confess that to you. And, Lord, I thank you that you've already forgiven all that.

Help me walk out my salvation that you've already given me. That's very different than sinning and saying I'll never get this thing right. I'm horrible. I'm lousy. I'm no good.

Christianity is not working for me. I'll never get it right. And you know what happens in groups where people don't get that? Then people start judging everybody. Hey, let me hold you accountable to your deadness.

What's your biggest sin? You sinned this week. How can I hold you accountable to that? I mean, it's stupid. It doesn't work.

What's accountability look like? How can I hold you accountable to who you are in Christ and the glory that he wants to pour through your life so you can experience the hope and encouragement that he has for you? That's accountability. That's what it looks like. How can I help you experience more of the resurrected power of Jesus in your life and friend?

Let me just tell you, if you're here today and you've never trusted in Christ, the reason to trust in Jesus death on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins is not just so someday in the future you get to go to heaven. That's a byproduct. That's awesome. But presently you can experience the life of God and his resurrected power in your life presently. That's the glory of the gospel.

Hey. If it's just, hey, when you get old, you might die, which you will. Hey. And you got to trust Jesus. Then the message of the cross is this, hang in there while you're healthy.

If you get sick, pray this quick prayer before you die. That's not the gospel. The gospel is that you can live the power of God presently in your life, and there's no greater joy and there's no greater hope and there's no greater blessing than knowing Jesus Christ as your lord and savior presently, knowing that not only are all your sins forgiven, but that you have power and victory in the present. That's who our God is. That's why I get excited about the gospel, because it's true.

For who? For everyone who believes you're a new creation. You're a new creation. I mean, the best illustration that I've heard over and over and over again is that of a, you know, a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly. I mean, it becomes something fundamentally different.

And if a butterfly tried to live like a caterpillar, it wouldn't exist very well, would it? I mean, if that butterfly was always trying to act like a worm that crawls on the ground, it wouldn't be living its identity. Friends, when you became a new creation, you became a butterfly, or you became an eagle, so to speak. And if you're reading the Bible to see what God has to say about those that soar, it's different than reading the Bible to see all your sins. That can be pointed out.

Does that make sense? See, God wants to see you. God wants you to see yourself as he sees you. How does he see you? I love you.

Even while you were a sinner, I died for you. When you were dead, I loved you. Now, how much more? Now that you're alive and positionally seated in the heavenly realms, do I want to pour out my grace through you? Friends, if you live in discouragement and depression and all these kind of things, I want to tell you, you're probably listening to a lie in your head that's telling you you're something in your past that you no longer are.

And you don't need to believe that anymore. You're a new creation. God's created something in your life out of nothing that you are. Stop believing the lie and living the truth. And if you get this, it changes everything.

Why? Two? Peter one. Three says, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. You already have it all.

You already have everything you need to live out the life that God requires of you. You know why? This is cool. I was just thinking about a verse this week in Galatians, chapter five, verse 22. See if you've heard this before.

It says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such thing, there is no law. If I live as somebody who's dead, who's working on my faith, you know how I read this? I won't read it as the fruit of the spirit, I'll read it as the fruits of the spirit. And I'll read this as nine different things I've got to work on.

And if I look at my life in a mirror, can I be more loving? Yes. Right? If I look at this in a mirror, you know, can I be more kind? Yes.

Can I have more joy? Yes. I got to work on patience. I got to work on goodness. I got to work.

Oh, this list is exhausting. It's exhausting. Why do I even go to church anymore? Because every week I feel worse than I did before I got there. Cause my list gets bigger.

But what is the fruit of the spirit? Do you know what it is? The fruit of the spirit is not works for you to work on. What's the fruit? What's the fruit?

The fruit of the spirit is Jesus Christ, who is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. What do I have if I'm in Christ? I have all love, joy, peace, patience. I have it all. What do I need to do?

I need to abide in Christ to receive it so I can let it pour out of my life. It's not something I'm trying to earn. It's something I already have. I'm in Christ. And against being in Christ, there's no law.

Yeah, but Jeff, you're still a sinner. Of course, but I don't live that way. I confess when I see that I'm not living out my Christ centered identity, I confess that it's not right. But I don't live in my sin. I don't beat myself up.

I don't tell myself that I'm awful. I live out my identity. And there's many of you today that need to do that. I mean, think about this story in the Bible, in Matthew, chapter 14, I mean, Matthew, chapter 14, one of the greatest chapters in the New Testament, miracle upon miracle. It's the day that Jesus fed the 5000, really fed 20,000 plus people with five loaves and two fish.

And showed the disciples, hey, you can bring whatever you got. If you bring it all, as inadequate as it is, I will bless it, multiply it and use it to bless the world. And then what's he do? He tells the disciples to get in a boat immediately and travel to Bethsaida while he goes up on a mountainside to pray. And all night long, these guys are paddling to try to get across the sea of Galilee.

While Jesus is up praying all night. And sometime in the middle of the night, between three and six in the morning, after Jesus has been praying to his father some hours, he begins to walk on the water. And Jesus is on his way to Bethsaida. Cause he told the disciples to meet him there. And in Mark's gospel, it says he's about ready to pass them by.

So Jesus is going to Bethsaida. The disciples look at him. They think he's a ghost at first. And then Peter recognizes, Lord, if that's you, I've been straining all night at the oars. If I can get to Bethsaida faster with you walking on the water, tell me to come to you.

And what does Jesus say? Come. So what does Peter do? Peter gets out of the boat, and he starts walking to Bethsaida on the water. So now you got two men walking on the water.

One's the God man, one's Peter. And they're both walking on the water together. Until Peter does one thing. He forgets his identity. He forgets that he's only doing what he's called to do because of the resurrected power of Christ in his life.

He's only doing what he can do because of who God is in him, not because of who he is. What does he begin to do? He begins to look at his circumstances. He sees the wind. He sees the waves.

And. And he cries out, Lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus saves him. And as Jesus is walking him back to the boat, he whispers in Peter's ear. Remember what he whispers?

Oh, you of little faith. Why did you doubt little faith? He got out of the boat in a storm and walked on water. You have little faith. What was he talking about?

The duration of your faith was just too short. If you would have kept on believing the identity you had, we both would have been standing at Bethsaida on the shore, waiting for the other disciples to get get there. But you didn't keep on believing the identity that you have in me. You didn't keep on trusting my word. Right?

Isn't that true for all of us? God wants us to hang on to our identity and to realize that we are truly loved and that we're blessed and that we're more than conquerors. And everything the Bible says about us is already true of who I am. And God wants me to abide in Christ so all that stuff gets worked out of my life. He's not calling me to read the Bible so that it's a workbook, because if it's a workbook, I'm going to work every day, 24 hours a day for the rest of my life.

And I'm not going to make it very far. But if I already am, that through the resurrected power of Christ and by abiding in Christ, he's going to pour all those things through me. What is that called? Freedom, joy, hope, blessing, love. Do you see the difference?

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. When I consider how vast you are in the work of your fingers, the sun, the moon and the stars, what am I that you would think of me? Who am I that you consider me? Yet you've made me a little lower than the angels and you've crowned me with glory and honor. And as he ends this psalm, he pours out even more worship.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. What did Jesus Christ do? He identified himself with all humanity. He poured out his blessing on all humanity. Why?

So that we could experience his grace. Friends, if you've come here today and you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, he's calling you home. He's saying, I paid for all your sins. I'm not asking you to get religion. I'm telling you that I came to earth to die for you so you wouldn't have to live dead anymore and that you could live alive.

Trust me that I died. Not only that, trust me that I rose and. Hey, Christian, listen to this. For those of you that came this morning that said, I know I'm going to heaven, I know I'm going to heaven. I have a born again experience.

I know I'm going to heaven. I trusted in Jesus. Here are you living the resurrected power of Christ. Do you truly see yourself as something and someone who is fundamentally different than you used to be? Because if you're besetting sins are still taking control of your life.

You probably don't believe in the resurrection power of Christ. If you're still angry all the time, that's not who you are. You died to that. You're behaving in a way that's incongruent with who you now are in Christ. If you still lie all the time, you're not a liar.

That's what you used to be. But you're behaving in a way that's incongruent with how Jesus sees you. If you cheat people, that's who you used to be. If you have illicit sexual relationships. No, that's who you used to be.

Yeah, but Pastor Jeff, that's what I did last night. No, that's who you used to be. And your behavior you're living now is incongruent with who you actually are. So confess that to the Lord and worship him, because he's already forgiven all that. And go live the new life, the exchanged life, the powerful life that you have in Christ.

That's what Paul said. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It's his life. Live through me. I'm abiding in him so he can pour his life through me.

It's not a work, it's a worship. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Amen. Amen. Let's stand as we pray and sing to him today.

Lord, we just want to worship you. We want to sing a couple songs to you that talk about your goodness and your greatness. Lord, because you're so vast and you're so awesome, yet you consider us. And not only that, but you have crowned us with glory and honor. And we're a little less than God.

And we give you all praise and thanks in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.