Untitled - December 1, 2025

00:00:00 Speaker: We're starting an advent series called songs for Weary Shepherds. And the idea behind this is behind this series that we'll go now through Christmas Eve is that there are. The shepherds came to Jesus's birth and sang songs when when he was born. And so we don't know what songs they sang, but we know that they had many of the psalms memorized. And so it is likely that the song sung by those shepherds on that first Christmas morning would have been Psalms. Now what psalms would they have been? The Bible doesn't say. But here's a fun little game. Try to guess. Given what you've known about the Psalms, try to guess what would be an appropriate song to sing at the birth of the Savior. Um, and so over the next few weeks, um, we'll be doing this series of of our best guesses for those songs. And so I'll be preaching one of the sermons. Alex Dan Ryan will be preaching one, and at the end you can tell us which one guessed correctly. I'm going first, so I get the low hanging fruit. Psalm one hundred and thirty two. But before we get into that, my goal in this is not just a cute little advent series. My goal in this is to help you appreciate the Psalter better because the Psalter being the Book of Psalms, the Psalter is, for most people, probably their favorite book. If you were to ask a Christian, uh, what is your favorite book? What are you reading in your devotional time? What's a passage you turn to? Uh, on your on your deathbed or the deathbed of a friend, or in a serious trial or in serious joy? The answer is probably going to be a psalm. And in that answer, there's itself a bit of attention, um, because you recognize the Psalms aren't written about you. They're they're written they're the Old Testament guide for singing in congregational worship. And yet there's something in them that goes throughout the centuries and connects to our hearts and draws us into worship. And I hope just by this explanation this morning in us looking at Psalm one thirty two to help you understand why it is the Psalms are so precious to our hearts. First of all, understand this the Psalter, the Book of Psalms, is sort of like the whole message of the Bible in one book. It's almost like the Reader's Digest or the Cliffnotes, or SparkNotes or the Wikipedia notes of the whole Bible. You get the theme from creation to heaven. You get death and marriage and children and birth. It's your whole life. But you also have Abraham there. You have a song, uh, describe Abraham described in the Psalter. You have a song written by Moses. You have the wisdom of Solomon in here. You have the law through Psalm one nineteen repeated, you have promises of the Savior to come. You get songs for dedicating the temple and ordaining a new king. The priesthood of Israel celebrated here. The prophetic power of Israel is in the Psalter. And so you have the whole book of the Bible condensed into the Psalter. But it's not just the whole theme of the Bible. I hope that you embrace the Psalms as a book, not a collection of one hundred and fifty random things, but recognize there is a cohesion to it. There is an order to it. The Psalms flow one to another. They're not arbitrarily placed, and in many cases one psalm answers a question raised by the previous one. So there's a progress to it. Let me give you the most obvious example of that. Psalm one and two. Psalm one talks about the godly man who doesn't listen to bad counsel. He doesn't delight in the wicked, he trusts in the Lord. And he grows deep roots and he meditates on God's law. and you wonder who is this person? And Psalm two answers that by declaring to you that God is going to set His son on the throne, who's going to rule over the nations? So it's almost like Psalm two answers Psalm one or Psalm twenty two. You have the the King who's being crucified, and he prays for deliverance. In Psalm twenty three, he walks through the valley of the shadow of death, and the Lord restores his soul. That's the same word from Psalm twenty two. It's used again in Psalm twenty three. So there's so many of these Psalms, even the well-known ones, where one is answering the question raised earlier. Another thing to appreciate the Psalms as we get into it this morning is, as you read it, like a book, and you recognize there's a sequence to it, there's one character who stands out above every other in the Psalter, and that is this king. He is seen time and time again. You see the King as ruling over the nations. In Psalm two, for example, he is described as God's own son, and the nations will bow before him, and he will judge them if they don't worship him. And the Psalter. The King brings justice and righteousness not just to Israel, but he brings justice and righteousness to the whole world. Even nature will clap its hands. The trees will applaud at the arrival of this king. He's going to rule the nations. Not only that, he's going to be the head of the nations. That's Psalm eighteen. He will be the fountain of them. He's the sovereign over them. And Psalm twenty and twenty one says that he will rule the nations forever and ever and ever. Psalm one hundred and twenty two says that he'll rule them from Jerusalem. Psalm twenty seven says that he'll rule them after defeating all of his enemies around the world. You cannot travel very far, far in the Psalter without bumping into the king. He is all over the place. And then one more detail about the king. Before we get in. I keep adding one more, one more, one more before we get into the Psalm this morning, one more detail about the King and the Psalter that will help it all kind of click for you. Not only is the King the most frequent and common person in the Psalter, but almost everything you learn about the King is given to you in the Psalter through conversation. It's not an epistle like Ephesians is about Jesus or Colossians, but most of the time when you encounter the King in the Psalter, it is through conversation. What I mean by that is God talking to the King or to his son, God talking to the nations about His son, the nations talking to God about the son. The nations talking to the son to get to the father. Most of what you see about the King or the son in the Psalms is through communication. People to each other, singing about him, praying to him, or talking to him. I mean, it's very easy for the psalmist to say God will appoint a time for his son to be on the mountain. But that's not how the psalm says it. It says, the Lord said to my Lord, the Lord says, behold, today I have begotten you. The Lord says, I've put my son on Mount Zion. It's always given by communication. And it's not just communication either. It's always mediated communication. And what I mean by that is God the Father speaks to his people through the son, and the nations speak back to God also through the son. When they're talking to the father, they're talking through the son. He becomes the intermediary. He becomes the the king who's ruling at God's decree over the nations. The nations pray to the father through the son. It becomes very Trinitarian like again. Psalm two. Psalm one ten is the father speaking to the sun? Psalm thirty two and thirty seven and seventy eight and others is the father speaking to the nations through the son. Psalm twenty. The people speak to God about the son. And there's just so much of these prayers and songs and communication from the father to the world, through the son, from the world to the father, likewise through or about the son. And this leads to the main problem or the main tension with the Psalms, which helps us resonate with it so well. The Psalms were written centuries before Jesus was born. Most of them at least eight hundred years before Jesus was born. Most of the Psalms are written by David, and those that aren't by him are generally about him. Jesus even calls it the book of the Psalms of David, which is a fitting heading. And yet it is eight centuries before Jesus is born. And so think about all of these songs, all the description of the King, the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes to earth to rule the nations, all these descriptions of them. And he's not there. So they're singing about him and praying about him and looking for him, and they cannot find him. And so the context of all of the Psalms, then, is just serious mixed emotions, to say the least. I was trying to think of an example of this. I have an opposite example. So the Star Spangled Banner, we sing it at every sporting event or game or whatnot, and it's about a war that we won. But could you imagine singing that song if we lost the War of eighteen twelve? Like, you get together for the Super Bowl and you say, can you see the flag? And the answer is no. Play ball. I know they don't say at the Super Bowl D.C.. I know it's a baseball thing, right? Play ball. Yeah, it would definitely put a cloud over the game if you sang a song from a losing war and then kicked off or whatever. This is the Psalms until Jesus is born. You you feel a little bit like you lost. You're singing some of them at the the installation of every king. But that's not the messianic King. Solomon's on the throne. He's not Solomon's good at all, but he's not Jesus. And most of the kings weren't even Solomon's. Most of the kings were losers. And you sing this song and you're like, God, I hope one of these days you'll give us this king. Amen. And so there's an emptiness to them as they're written in the Old Testament that hangs over them, that resonates with us when we're missing things in this world, when we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we recognize. Yes. In a sense, this is about the good Shepherd. We get it. But there's another sense in which I need the good shepherd, too. And so the Psalms come together, then, with this expectation and anticipation of the Savior coming. And Psalm one thirty two, I would say, is, if not the best example, at least one of the top examples of this. And you can tell me December twenty sixth if I'm right. I'll read it now. A Song of Ascents. Remember, O Yahweh, in David's favour, all the hardships he endured, how he swore to Yahweh, and vowed to the mighty One of Jacob, I will not enter my house or go to my bed. I won't give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for Yahweh, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. Behold, we heard of it in Epiphora we found it in the fields of jaar. Let us go to his dwelling place. Let us worship at his footstool. Arise, O Yahweh, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. For the sake of your servant David, don't turn away from the face of your anointed one. Yahweh swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back one of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies, that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne for Yahweh's chosen Zion. He's desired it for his dwelling place. This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions. I will satisfy her poor with bread, her priests. I will close with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy there. I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine. I called this once in Royal David's City, because this is very much the kind of song that the shepherds would have sung. Looking forward to the arrival of David's seed, David's son. To understand the flow or the cohesion of this Psalm, you need a brief lesson in archaeology. So this is archaeology one hundred and one right here. When God made a covenant with Israel in their wilderness wanderings, he manifested that covenant through the ark of the covenant. The ark was basically a box with rods that came out of it so that it could be carried. In the box were three things. There was the law given to Moses on the two stone tablets, the Ten Commandments that stood and represented the entirety of the law, and spoke to the fact that God is a speaker and a lawgiver. Secondly, in the the box in the ark would be manna. Manna expired after a day, except if it grew on Friday. And then it was, you know, it had forty eight hours to it. But the manna in the box and the ark was a special provision. It never went bad, and it forever would be in the Ark of the covenant to reveal to you that God is a provider. He's not only a speaker, but he provides food and bread for his people. Thirdly, in the box is Aaron's rod. It was his staff, his his walking stick. It was an old piece of wood that had been fastened into a walking stick. It was not just cut down. He had had it for a long time. And God decides he's going to have the high priest come from Aaron's line. And so Aaron's staff, which again is old, dead wood. Blossoms and flowers come out of it to show that God can bring life by providing a priest, the line of the priest would come from him. That rod goes into the ark. And so you have God as a speaker, God as a provider, and God as as a priest. He will be a priest for his people according to his will. That's in the ark of the covenant. That box followed the Israelites or led the Israelites really through the wilderness wanderings where it went. The Israelites followed and they built a tent for it. It stayed in a tent. When they went out to battle, it went out to battle, and they won. And then it went home. At night after having victory over its enemies, and the Israelites finally crossed into the Promised Land. And they have the tent there for the ark. And it's the days of the judges. And then it's, you know, the era of Saul about to become king. And they take the ark into battle with them. But they're not following the Lord anymore. They're not honoring the Lord. They treat it like a good luck charm, and they they may lose it. It gets stolen from them, which is disastrous. Right. I was thinking it's a high school kid. I remember borrowing my parents car and just hoping nothing bad happens to this car. I wasn't worried about me. Well, I was worried about me. Indirectly. I was worried about the car first. And then what would happen to me if the car got damaged? And then, of course, you know, the kid's been in an accident. They call their parents their parents. Like it's only a car. Don't worry about it. But you don't think that at the time. Imagine crashing the ark. They took the Ark off the battle and lost the ark. The Philistines take the ark. And of course, all the Philistines die. And they send it back to some cows. And it gets parked in a tent somewhere for a period of time. That's archaeology one hundred and one right there. What happened to the Ark? And that's what the psalm begins with. It speaks initially of the ark lost and then found, the ark lost and then found. Remember, O Yahweh, in David's favor, all of the hardships he endured. It's speaking specifically about David getting the ark back to Jerusalem. David became king and this was a top priority for him. It was one of his his campaign promises, so to speak, elect David King. And I know he wasn't really elected, but follow the logic. This is what he campaigned on. Elect me King and I will get the ark back. And it cost him so much to do it. Do you remember round one? They got the ark and they got all the who's who and everybody in the important outfits, and they put their best suits on, and they had trumpets and they had a whole parade to talk about how godly and how good David and all of his leaders are to get the Ark back. And it was not about the Lord. It was about David and his men. And it did not go well for them. One of the oxen stumbled, the ark tottered. A person grabbed the ark to keep it from falling, and God struck him dead. And David gives up. Remember, puts the the ark in the closest guy's house and walks away. It's like, fine God, you deal with this problem and goes away. And then eventually he came to his senses a few months later and he decides he will move the Ark back. And this time he does it the right way. The people repent from their sins. David's not wearing a, you know, business casual. He comes next time with with a white linen ephad on like an undershirt. And they they go six steps and they do a sacrifice for their own sin. And then a quick headcount. And everyone's still alive. Yes. And they bring the ark to Jerusalem that way with sacrifice and worship and dancing and prayer and praise. Not with pomp and circumstance, but with humility and worship. And the ark gets to Jerusalem. And then David wants to build a house for it, and God tells him, no. This is archaeology one hundred and two. Now God tells him, no, you don't get to build a house for the Ark because you're a man of blood. Your son. And check this out. He says your son who will come from your body, he will build a house for me, and his kingdom will never end. There's language in the promise that His Son will be sinless, but also language in the promise that His Son will be disciplined for his people's sins. It's a very odd promise. David buys the land for the house, for the ark to be built on, the temple to be built on, but he goes to his grave without ever seeing it. There was a lot of difficulty in verse one that David endured, but David in verse two swore to Yahweh, swore to the mighty One of Jacob. Here God is called the Mighty One of Jacob, because David is acting as the head of all the people, not the head of David's line, not the head of Judah, not even the king in Jerusalem, but the the king over all of God's people. All the tribes came from Jacob. David vowed on behalf of all of them that he will not enter his house, or go to sleep, or give sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eyelids until he gets a proper place for the ark. It's a little bit hyperbole, of course. It was a few months that went by. I'm sure he slept in those few months. Speaking of a little interesting tidbit here. We don't know who wrote this psalm, but the language in verse four sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids is in Proverbs six as a proverb written by Solomon. So as a parent of a teenager right now, I like, I'm just imagining. How did Solomon learn this proverb? His dad told him, no, sleep for your eyelids until your work is done. All the time, apparently. And it became a proverb. I love that. And now it's here in Psalm one hundred thirty two. David said that proverb to Solomon. He says it to himself until he gets a tent or temple made. That's the promise. And they hear about this promise everywhere In verse six we heard of it in Epaphras, which is Bethlehem. We found it in the fields of jar, which is a family that lives outside of Bethlehem. That's where the tent. That's where the ark stayed for those three months until David could bring it home. Let's go to his dwelling place. Let us worship at his footstool. Such a prayer and promise. They found the ark, and they wanted it back in Jerusalem. And David vowed to get it done. However, comma number two, the ark was not around anymore. David dies and it doesn't get a home. Yes, it's going to go to one of his sons will build the the home for the ark. But I mean that that handoff wasn't exactly handled flawlessly either, was it? I mean, remember when David died? He accidentally ordains the wrong son as king? It's a whole fiasco. And yes, Solomon builds the temple and dedicates the. The The temple to the worship of God. In fact, verse eight and nine is a quote of Solomon's prayer from Second Chronicles. So Solomon, when he prayed to dedicate the temple, apparently either knew this psalm and quoted it, or the psalm was written as a result of what Solomon said at his prayer. I don't know which is first here. Arise, O Yahweh, and go to your resting place. This is what I mean by there's this unrequited hope around the Psalm. This is Solomon praying God, we've built you the house now. So come on, stand up, God, come be with your people. You in the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout or shouter the word sing here. Let your saints shout or sing for joy. For the sake of your servant David. Don't turn your face away from him. This phrase don't turn your face away from. It's like the. The king is locked out. The Messiah, the Anointed one, is the word for Messiah. It's like the Messiah is locked out there having a a party to dedicate the temple for the Ark to be in it. But the Messiah can't get in. Like they forgot one person on the guest list. But they're praying to God. God, let the Messiah in. Let him come. Don't turn him out. Don't turn him away. It's such a milieu of mixed emotions, isn't it? Like they're excited for the temple. But where's the Savior? We don't see him. We don't see him. You know from this that God has chosen to dwell with his people. You know that when he comes, there will be power and blessing. You know that when he comes, he'll come through the line of David, you know that he will come as the Davidic king to rule over the nations from Jerusalem in his temple. But he's not here. He's not here. They want to sing for joy. But they can't. Which leads to the third stanza of this poem. The ark eventually comes down. So the ark was lost and found. The ark was not around, and the ark came down. In verse eleven, Yahweh swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back. One of the sons of your body will sit upon the throne. So when the Psalm is written, the psalmist has not seen the sun, yet he hasn't met Jesus. It's centuries before Jesus comes, but he's speaking of it with such confidence, isn't he? He knows that God promised the Savior would come. God promised. So certainly if God promises, it will happen, right? God's not going to promise and not do it. And so the psalmist talks about it as if it is a certainty. Yahweh swore to David, he will do it, and it will come from the line of David's body, not that son. Singular one verse eleven, one of the sons will be set upon the throne. But look at just the the craziness in verse twelve, all of the sons of David who keep the covenant will sit on the throne forever. So what kind of throne is that? That seats a bajillion people. You recognize the throne is occupied by one person, one of the sons. But all those who keep the covenant will be reigning with him. There's this corporate element to this dedication. There's a corporate element that when the sun comes, he's bringing all of the faithful people with him, and they will reign forever and ever. All those who keep the covenant, all those who trust the Lord. And of course, when the Savior does come, he keeps the covenant on behalf of his people. So those with faith in the Savior will reign with him forever. Where is this going to take place? Well, verse thirteen answers that it will take place in Zion. That's where God has chosen. He desired it. This is my resting place forever. No more wandering in the wilderness. No more living in a tent in Bethlehem. No forever he will live in Mount Zion. Why? Because I have desired it. God says this is first person. God speaking again. God speaking about this. I have desired it. God said. What a great answer. Why does God? Why did God choose Israel? Because he wanted to. And you think that's not a very good answer? Have you been a parent ever? That's a that's the best answer possible, isn't it? Why, dad? Because I want to. That's a great answer. That's what God says. I have chosen. Chosen. Jerusalem. I've chosen Mount Zion. Mount Zion is where God spoke to Abraham and said, I'll provide a substitute, so you don't need to sacrifice Jacob, I mean Isaac. That's happened to Mount Zion. Mount Zion is where David established his kingdom. Mount Zion is where David builds the field to build the house for the temple. And Mount Zion is where Solomon builds the temple, and Mount Zion will be where Jesus dies on the cross. All that happens right there. God desired it. He chose it. And now verse fifteen and verse sixteen, we're going to move through the contents of the ark. I will bless her provision. Speaking of Israel. I will satisfy her poor with bread. That's the manna. God will give bread to his people through this ark. Her priests I will clothe with salvation. This is the. The rod of Aaron will blossom and people will sing about it. The saints will sing for joy. I will make a horn sprout. You thought it was odd. The staff sprouted. What about when a horn sprouts? I've prepared a lamp for my anointed. Now we're moving into the furniture in the Holy of Holies. In the middle of the Holy of Holies is a lampstand that sits over the ark. The angels touch their wings over it. The mercy seat is there that is sprinkled with blood. And here you have the priest doing priestly work through the lampstand. And this priest in verse seventeen is my anointed. It says the word for the Messiah. His enemies will be clothed in shame, but on him his crown will shine. That mentioned, this is written centuries anywhere between eight hundred and four hundred years before the birth of Jesus, probably closer to eight hundred. They don't know how this is going to play out. They don't know how all the tensions in this. How is one person going to be God's son, yet also the Messiah and the anointed King? How is that going to happen? How is this one person going to be the ark? And also the contents of the ark and the lampstand and the mercy seat, sprinkling everybody with blood? How's that all going to come together? What does it mean that the Ark was in Bethlehem first for three months before it finally made it to Mount Zion? They don't know this. They just know in verse eighteen that they're going to win. God will carry out His Word when Jesus is born. Of course he's not born in Mount Zion. He's born in Bethlehem. Mount Zion is where God's throne is, where his temple is, where the enemies are vanquished. Bethlehem is where the manger is and where poverty is and where shepherds are. It's vulnerability. We sing the song once in Royal David's City, but maybe You sing it so often, you don't. You don't maybe realize what's off about that first line. Once in Royal David's city, there was a cattle stall in a manger. Where were those things? They were in Bethlehem. Where's the royal? Where's the royal city? It's Zion. But when the king comes, he doesn't go first to Zion. He goes first to Bethlehem. The lowliness part of his advent. He enters through with the manger and the oxen. He enters through in lowliness and humility. Why does he go to Bethlehem? Because that's where Ruth was from. That's where. Where Ruth, who was on the verge of starvation, marries Boaz. And the line of David begins in the place of vulnerability. The fields. Not the fortress of Zion, the fields of Bethlehem. And yes, providentially, there's reasons that Mary and Joseph go there. Of course there are. They had to go for the census, and they had to go back to where their family is. You know, last registered to vote or whatever the right idiom would be. That's where they had to go back to. But you recognize that this is this is nothing to do with the census here. This is because God, when he came to his people, came to them first through Bethlehem. In fact, in Luke, Luke one and two draws so much from Psalm one thirty two, it says three times that Mary went to Bethlehem, because she was of the house of David. Joseph was of the house of David, David, David, David three times there, which is drawing, of course, from Psalm one thirty two, that the Savior would come to Bethlehem, to the line of David. Psalm one thirty two says, the ark is a sacred place. When Jesus comes, he comes as a sacred person. The ark belongs in the temple. But when Jesus comes, he comes in a body. The horn in verse seventeen sprouts bringing life and light to the world. This is the verse the angel quotes to Mary when he tells Gabriel tells Mary she'll be with child. The angel quotes verse seventeen the horn will sprout for David the Savior will come. Psalm one thirty two God says, I will prepare a place. I'll prepare the horn. In Luke two, the horn is born. In two Samuel six David goes out to the hill country of Bethlehem to get the ark. In Luke two, Mary travels to Bethlehem to spend time with Elizabeth. By the way, how long was the ark in Bethlehem? Three months. How long was Mary with Elizabeth? Three months. What did David do in front of the Ark dance. What did John the Baptist do in front of the new Ark? In front of Jesus danced. I don't know if it was the Trump dance or not, but that was the only dance I had right there. You're supposed to read the narrative in Luke one and two and go, I've seen this before. Where was the ark? In Bethlehem? Where was the dancing before it? See Samuel six. Psalm one thirty two. The Savior is coming through Bethlehem. The Savior will be the Word of God, the word made flesh. Just as the ark showed that God was a speaker and a lawgiver, the Savior will be the bread of life, just as the ark had the manna presented in it. The Savior will be the high priest. Just as the ark had Aaron's rod that budded in it, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He doesn't come with tablets of stone, but he comes with a new law and a new nature. He can write on tablets of flesh on our own hearts. He doesn't come with mana that has to be gathered every day. He comes as the bread of life that dwells in his people. He doesn't come with the rod that only goes through through Levi's lineage, but he comes as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, a better priesthood than Levi. Even forget Aaron. A better priesthood than Levi. Jesus's birth shows that God is a lawgiver, a provider by the bread of life, and a priest who will give life. He fulfills all three in Hebrews nine and ten wraps us all up by saying, he fulfills everything in the Holy of Holies. He is the light of the world. He is the mercy seat. He sprinkles blood to atone for his people's sins. The horn will indeed sprout for David on that first Christmas morning. So what would the shepherd sing as they come? Well, as they sing, notice Is that they are fulfilling. Even verse sixteen, her saints will shout for joy. When the Savior comes, the saints will shout and they will sing. The tension of Psalm one thirty two is answered when Jesus comes to his own. Lord, we're grateful that your word comes from heaven to earth. It became flesh and dwelt among us. We behold your glory, the glory of the only begotten son, and the person of Jesus Christ. It's not just the Psalm, Lord, it's all over the Psalter. There's so much emptiness because of expectation, and there's so much fulfillment in Christ. Our hearts are truly ministered to by these Psalms. We know the Savior walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and yet you resurrected him. We two find a nearness to you, in difficulty in trial, knowing that we are with Christ. If he lives, we will live also. If he kept the covenant on our behalf, then we will reign with you over the nations. You give it to all those who overcome a new name, a white stone, a rod to rule the nations with you. You came meek and lowly. You came to Bethlehem. We know next time you come back, it will be to Mount Zion. You will split the Mount of Olives, and you will establish your kingdom and rule over the nations. All these so-called kings and rulers that we have today will bow their knee, will be humiliated and humbled as you are exalted over all. We long for that day. So in that sense, Lord, we still look forward. We look back to Christ, but we still look forward. It truly is. As the songwriter says, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in you. It's in your name we pray. Amen. And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson. If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website. And if you want more information about the Master's Seminary or our location here in Washington, DC, please go to TMZ.com. Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C. area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel. I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service. But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church. Now, may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly. Serve the Lord faithfully and share the gospel boldly.