Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Grace and Justification
there's a couple things that i want to draw from psalm 25 so we won't go through every aspect of the psalm but i want to look at the beginning and the end with you and in the beginning of the end of this psalm we are reminded of something that we have to believe in right now we have to believe that what we are doing is not in vain and this is why psalm 25 to me is why the why we're going to look at it and what the lord wants to speak to every single one of us because it says in psalm 25 i'm going to read the first five verses now to you o lord i lift up my soul oh my god i trust in you let me not be ashamed let not my enemies triumph over me indeed let no one who waits on you be ashamed let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause show me your ways o lord teach me your paths lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the god of my salvation on you i wait all the day long so the first part of this psalm is a cry to the lord that please god i'm trusting in you with my whole life this is a psalm of david you know his life is full of great victory and great defeat conquering giants on his knees in the reality of his moral failings and what he is saying to god and what i believe we all need to believe in the depths of our heart is i'm trusting you with everything i have all day long my whole day and as the psalm continues he's going to continually come out with this theme of i believe in you for everything every aspect of my life he says later in the psalm my eyes are always on you in other words he's saying god i trust you with everything i am and if that is the case please don't let me down that's why he says do not let me be ashamed let no one who waits on god be ashamed or as it says in the niv let no one who waits on god be disgraced in other words what we're doing this morning where all of you have made a decision in your life to come to church to for a moment close down the news feed to stop with all of the brain power that you give to other areas of your life that potentially could bring breakthrough or could medicate the hurt or could give you directions the paths of your life the ways of your life right now you are all waiting on god to say something and do something and what david is saying is if that is true in my life don't let me down god don't let me come and seek you in the morning and pour out my songs of praise as you just did and don't let me wait on the power of your word to land on my heart and let it be for nothing i want to give you my whole life god do not let me wait in vain let no one be ashamed who waits on the lord so the question of the hour is do you live your life with the same desperate plea for god have you given your life so much to the reality that there is a creator of our universe who breathes life into existence who has a plan from beginning to end same yesterday today and forever the alpha and the omega who is sovereign over all sovereignty in our nations lord of lords king of kings that there is no king or ruler or governor in the nations in the cities in the states that god is not sovereign over and not planning to use somehow for his glory have you given your whole being to god the soul representing the mind the emotions your will he says i give you my soul the new living translation says i give you my whole life there's nothing i hold back from god and if you've done that then there should be a cry of your life i believe this is gonna work i believe that giving god my entire life will not end in disgrace and so that's why i'm so grateful uh noah and i not coordinating our sermon in our the worship songs that we sing today but it's really important what came out of all of your mouths if you were singing along you're never going to let me down you're never going to let me down sung over and over again it's the anthem of the morning you're never going to let me down why because you are good you are good you are good songs are really important they let things come out of you in a theme in the theme of the morning that you sang along you're never going to let me down god i give you my whole life i give you this morning and i'm going to be called to follow you with my whole life and anyone who waits on the lord will not be ashamed that's a truth that comes out of the word that i'm asking my soul my emotion my intellect my will to believe in and that's something that you will be challenged between you and god because you've heard the truth do you believe that you will not be waiting in vain as you wait on god and as you read the psalm that the theme of waiting is going to come up in more ways than just saying you know i'm waiting for a specific answer specific healing or a specific movement of our country what david is saying i'm waiting in everything in other words i trust you with everything and so for this here's a really good test in your life as if you're waiting on god because david is going to say your ways your paths and your truth i wait on those things that the way god has taught you to live by his spirit and his truth you wait on that to be the answer for everything you navigate in your life and you wait on his paths he's called you to do certain things it says in ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 that he has prepared good works for you to walk in beforehand are you walking in the path of god for your life and then he says your truth the truth of god will set you free the truth of his word is a foundation that you build your life on like a wise and master builder that when the storm comes your life won't fall into the sea it's all god's stuff are we living our life that way and here's the great test are we asking god to fit into our timeline our path our way and our truth or are we saying god it's all yours and that's why i lead with the prelude to the sermon to say you know it's really tempting to say to god now that it's january here's what we're going to do right new year new us new sermon topic new program for the new year ahead of us now that there's a new government transition happening there's something we're going to call on god for in a new way and this is the challenge that we'll start with when we reference the psalms the bible teaching the bible if you would turn to acts chapter 1. this will be my third time sharing this passage of scripture this week so the lord has put it on my heart and he's kept it in my heart so i'm trying to listen closely and i believe we need to preach this message because there is a temptation to say to god our timeline is here so god don't you know it's january now don't you know that advent ended and ended so the waiting is over because uh we celebrated christmas eve you came then so you're here and we know that's a temptation that exists as a theme throughout the bible that people would come to god and say okay lord here we are you ready to do our plan acts chapter one this is the context of acts chapter one it's the beginning of the history of the first church the holy spirit led movement that took the ministry of the earthly ministry of jesus and passed it off to the disciples that has conti continued to this day so jesus has died his disciples scattered and they were afraid he raises from the grave and he shows himself to the 12 and also 500 others that were witnesses to the reality that he conquered death and he gathers them together he opens up scriptures from the law to the psalms and he shows them all of the ways that he is the fulfillment of everything that was to come and then they come up to him and it says in verse 4 being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you have heard from me for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the power of the holy spirit not many days from now so the mission pass off starts with this simple command wait stay in jerusalem you've seen the baptism of john the water representing the remission of sins coming out into the newness of life the representation of the reality that would come by the power of the holy spirit in your life that you must be baptized not simply with water as a religious act but you've got to be baptized with the power of god's life living in you to make you a new creation to give you the power to preach as witnesses of what god has done in your life and around your life this is the power that the church proclaims we don't proclaim the power of religious baptism we proclaim the power of the born-again believer in christ who has accepted the same spirit that rose christ from the grave now dwelling in you the holy temples of god that's the power that we wait on and jesus says don't move wait for it and so as we think about our new year our new us our new plans the word comes out and says don't do a single thing don't lift a finger in my name without the power of the holy spirit showing you the way showing you the path showing you the truth and empowering you wait for the power church don't wait for january don't wait for a stimulus check don't wait for the new series at church wait for the power of the holy spirit and then what happens cool the disciples basically say okay cool i don't know what that means but therefore when they asked they had come when they had come together they asked him saying lord will you at this time restore the kingdom of israel that's what they're waiting for they were waiting for a messiah to come to the nation of israel and restore the kingdom of glory as seen in the age of solomon the great temple the great power when people from all the nations saw the glory of god and the prosperity of israel and there was a problem with that prosperity because they were being occupied they didn't own their own country anymore and they said okay like resurrection power thank you good you're alive cool can we get back to what we were thinking is that this time you restore everything is this the time to kind of do what we thought you were going to do and how similar are we in our journey with jesus in our journey with jesus is like jesus gives us the command it's the holy spirit power in you great i'm filled with the spirit i'm a born-again believer name written in the book of life now where was i in all the plans for my life and all the things that i wanted to do i think about last year this time just a just a real practical lesson imagine all of the plans that we were asking jesus to come behind on january 10th of 2020. and we said okay like this is what we're going to do i can't remember where we were doing because i have a horrible memory for these things but we all kind of come in january we say okay here's what we've got planned here's what we're going to do and rather than our plans working out as they thought there was a big storm that came over our whole world and it messed everything up so many things got canceled and moved around and churches got scattered and now it's january it's okay lord is it now is this now can we restore what we were up to can we get back to what we were doing i saw so many people with the hashtag in you know the run-up to december 31st the new year f 2020 and we're in church so that stands for forget 2020. just forget it and it's going to be it's going to be a brand new year and there was a little bit of hope because 2021 came and we some of us probably rang it in at midnight we went to bed and thinking can only get better it took about five days and we were all like whoa the sequel's gonna be worse than the original just like they always are and here we are we're thinking oh shoot it only took five days for another grand tentious moment to come up and we're all scattered and worried again and so we come to churches like can we please get back to restoring everything lord what does jesus say to his disciples it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and then you shall be my witnesses in jerusalem and judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth and you know what i love about this promise of jesus in the book of acts he reminds us disciples you're not in control the authority belongs to god in his perfect sovereign timing he will work all things together for good for those who love him church and are called church according to his purposes that's the part we don't like i love him and i'm called but can it be my thing it's his authority over your life he doesn't care about january he doesn't care about elections he cares according to his sovereignty to use them for his glory to use all things together for good according to his time our job is not to tell god the timeline our job is to wait for the power of the holy spirit and then play the witness to what god does not us god doesn't play the witness to our plans and our ideas and all of the stuff we want him to get behind us for our job is to be witnesses to the power of god in our lives and in our world so wait for him to move wait for him to do powerful things in your life wait for him to bring a revival in this country that comes not when we out scheme the enemy but when we out pray the enemy and when we out worship the enemy and when we seek the face of the living god and not the idol that is dead that's what we're waiting for and that is what is going to come because i love the book of acts this example it takes one chapter so even if you know fall asleep reading the bible like i sometimes do even if you lose track of your reading plan and you started out so good and you only got through chapter three you get this reminder in chapter two so turn a page if you need to it says in verse one when the day of pentecost fully came they were with all one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven i love where this sound came from this is a sound of the movement of god that doesn't come from earth it doesn't come from a bunch of believers making noise it doesn't come from the melee of the crowds around us there is a movement of heaven that can't be stopped it's a promise of scripture the gates of hell will not prevail against my church it won't be stopped and when heaven moves you just have to play the witness and that's what happens there's a sound that comes from heaven as a mighty rushing wind and it full filled the whole house they were sitting and then they appeared in divided tongues they start proclaiming the goodness of god this is what we're waiting for we're waiting for the living god he's not gone he's not dead he's not deaf he's not blind he is a living god who tells us to lean not on our own understanding because his wisdom is wiser than the foolishness of men so we wait on god and we do not ask god to wait on our timeline i don't know how this year will unfold but i know one of the lessons for last year unless the builders unless the lord builds the house the builders build in vain and you can make the plans but unless the lord directs the steps the plans go awry so let us just be students of history for one year our job as believers is to be the light and the salt of the earth which means we are the preserving fact we are the preserving hope of this world that there are still people that understand that there is a sovereign god who will light the path and the way and the truth and his name is jesus and our job is to proclaim that message with our words with our hope with our patience with our longsuffering with our kindness and to trust that when he moves we get to play the witness to what he wants to do so that's the first half of this psalm and i love david because his whole plea is to god i plea for you i'm waiting on you don't let me put to shame some of us need to make that plea with god in fact all of us need to plea god i'm worshiping you and preach to your own soul and renew your mind with good healthy truth that it is not in vain church we're not going to wait for god to move and we're not going to be placed in this generation to fail as i was praying through my own version of asking god to give me the next book study next series next thing it's like what is it lord and then of course he says none of the above keep going to the psalms as i'm praying one of the parables that got put on my heart was matthew chapter 24 the parable of the talents the parable of the talent you guys remember that one there was a there was a master businessman and he had some servants and the businessman had to go outside to a distant country at interpretation of the parable the master businessman is the lord and he has these servants his church and it says that he gives them talents or money or resources and he says here you go do well some five some two some one the one who had five takes it increase turns it into ten well done good and faithful servant the one who had two increased turns it into four and the one who had one what happened he did nothing he buries it why did he bury it you guys remember it says i was afraid because i knew you to be a hard and harsh master i didn't want to do anything because i didn't really trust that you were going to care for my life i thought if i failed it'd be over i didn't really trust that this would even work i thought lord that is so me so often last week i didn't preach we had vince every time i get to hear someone else preach i'm like lord why did you call me vince is such an incredible preacher wasn't he amazing and part of those weeks is like rest for my soul and also like oh man sometimes when i'm not preaching i'm like i don't know if i'll ever preach again it's so i don't know like will this even work we're waiting on you in the scripture and sharing it with the church and hoping that they hear from you and that we can be hopeful and faithful and loving why wouldn't it work why wouldn't preaching god's word and preaching god's truth and waiting on him work well test my own theology is god good can god use weakness to make someone strong can god use foolishness to confound the wise does god's word return void so when we doubt the goodness of god in our lives or when we're unwilling to trust god what we're saying is god i don't know if you're good it's the answer this morning you're never going to let me down you're never going to let me down because you are good we're waiting church whether you like it or not whether you want to or not god is on the move and he's telling his people to trust him to not be afraid of what surrounds you to not be so anxious that you take matters into your own hands and you say lord is it the time it's got i just want it to be now god is on the move and he is a good god and if you wait on him if you put your trust if you give him your soul the center of your being and you trust him to direct your ways and your path and your truth here is the promise of scripture and it will be applied to each one of you uniquely god will not let you down god will not disappoint you if you put all of your hopes in him god will do things differently than what you thought your his ways are not your ways his path is not your path his truth supersedes your ideas but it won't let you down that's what i love as david goes on and then we're going to transition into the last half of this psalm but as david goes on he says in verse 12 who is the man that fears the lord if you fear the lord in other words i have so much respect and awe and reverence and faith and belief in who god is as the creator and master and redeemer that i give him everything fear of the lord here's the promise him he shall teach in the way he chooses he himself shall dwell in prosperity his descendants shall inherit the earth the secret of the lord is with those who fear him what's the secret of the lord well there's all different ways that god reveals things that only come from the revelation of the knowledge of who he is in your life but i remember years ago when i first got into ministry i was talking to a pastor and i was just hungry for help you know you get into ministry you have no idea what you're doing so if you're waiting to get into ministry until you're more prepared you're ready i said what can you tell me he goes you need to know the secret of the lord so what is it so the secret of the lord is in matthew chapter 6 verse 33 if you get this down everything else will work out what is it seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness in other words his way his path his truth you seek that first and everything else shall be added unto you and so i've held on to that with my whole life you seek first the kingdom of god not the kingdom of your family or your life your country state or city not the kingdom of your specific church brand or building not the kingdom of your career not the kingdom of your bank account you seek first god's kingdom you give him your whole soul the secret of the lord and he will take care of you he's a good shepherd he's a good savior god of my salvation david says so this is the first theme of psalm chapter 25. seek the lord and you will not be disappointed now i want to end with two very cool promises of scripture and that is going to come in this last half of the psalm because you know we don't know the exact context that really as you study the psalms of david it's so interesting to try to figure out at what point in the life of david was he writing these psalms was he crying out to the lord this one uncertain but we know the ups and downs it could have been a number of different circumstances that led david to this cry but we know based off the last half of the psalm that this song of worship and trust in god and crying out to the lord was written in a time of serious trouble serious trouble in david's life look what he says turn yourself to me in verse 16.
Faith and Obedience
have mercy on me for i'm and afflicted the troubles of my heart have enlarged i like what the new living translation says there it says the troubles of my life have gone from bad to worse f2020 forget 2020 enter 2021. i heard a quote as i was studying this week timely because i thought of this the troubles of my life have gone from bad to worse and this is the bad news this morning no matter how bad life gets on this earth this side of eternity no matter how bad it gets it can always get worse i wish i could tell all of you that you can find the bottom of rock bottom you can't there's always a way for your flesh or the world or the enemy satan and the principalities of the evil darkness to push you farther away from god so don't think that it can only go up from here we only believe in that when we meet the lord face to face no matter how hard life is it can always get worse don't wait to turn your life turn your life now because it can get worse david says the troubles of my heart have enlarged my life troubles have gone from bad to worse bring me out of my distress look on my affliction and my pain so he's got distress which is kind of this emotional trouble in his life how many of you feel that in the course of this last year over the course of the last five years there's no timeline on how long the distress of your emotions worry anxiety heavy heart broken heart it's heavy lord so you wait on him to be the god of salvation not just to get you into heaven but because you've got real life hurt and pain that he wants to medicate internal and then he says pain and affliction how many of you feel that there's pain in your life there's emotional pain and some of us go through physical chronic painful disease ridden hurts and pains and then he says forgive all of my sins how many of us feel that any time that we take our eyes off waiting on the lord and trusting in him with our whole life and one of those three the three things that david says i'm waiting
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.