00:00 Introduction and Easter Sunday Excitement

00:26 Preparing for the Sermon

01:04 The Importance of Inviting Others

01:24 Theological Discussion on Faith and Choice

02:26 Easter Sunday Extravaganza

03:29 Diving into the Psalms

04:39 Reflecting on the Psalms

11:29 Understanding Fear and Reverence

15:39 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible podcast.

3

He has risen indeed.

4

Indeed he is.

5

Yeah.

6

And it's resurrection Sunday,

Easter Sunday, Paschal Sunday

7

in some of our Orthodox

congregations that exist out there.

8

But yeah, this is an exciting day and

it's gonna be an exciting day at church.

9

Rod: Yes, it is.

10

And we hope that you'll come.

11

Obviously we want you there,

but if you have people that

12

should come who don't come,

13

PJ: bring them too.

14

Totally.

15

A hundred percent.

16

In fact I was, I just finished

recording for the second time.

17

My loom for our leaders.

18

I send a loom out, which is a video

walkthrough of the sermon to our

19

small group leaders every week.

20

And I got to record it twice

'cause I forgot to plug in

21

my microphone the first time.

22

But I was making the point to them

that, and those of you listening

23

to this our church typically.

24

When I preach on Sunday mornings

I'm preaching mostly to believers.

25

That's the target audience, and I think

that's what the goal of the church

26

is and the purpose of the church.

27

And it's not to say that I don't ever

address those that might be in the room

28

that aren't believers, but today's message

is gonna be aimed predominantly at the

29

unbeliever in the cultural Christian.

30

There are.

31

Certainly nuggets of truth for us to take

away as believers and to be encouraged

32

by it and good reminders for us.

33

But to your point, this is a great

message to invite people to be

34

a part of and join us for that.

35

Maybe don't know anything about

the gospel or those that are

36

antagonistic to the gospel.

37

The whole point in this sermon is to get

people to make a decision about Jesus.

38

That's my goal in preaching this

sermon, is that by the time everybody

39

leaves, everyone has made some

sort of a decision about Jesus.

40

You quoted a hymn.

41

In Good Friday's message

42

Rod: I did, I knew this was gonna come up.

43

I have decided to follow Jesus.

44

Yeah.

45

Tell us about that.

46

A lot of our people were confused.

47

Were like, isn't Pastor PJ

just super hyper, utterly

48

reformed in every way possible?

49

PJ: Yes.

50

Yes, I am.

51

Yeah, no it's second Corinthians five.

52

Paul says, I implore you

be reconciled to God.

53

And so I think there's room for us

to call people to do things that

54

theologically ind doctrinally, we

know that they can't do without God's

55

enabling presence in their lives.

56

But I think there's biblical grounds

for us to say Paul yeah, Paul in

57

Roman says, how are they gonna believe

unless they hear and so part of

58

our job is to call people to faith.

59

Even though we know that really

that's an act of God that's gonna

60

give them the faith to believe.

61

And so from our perspective, we can

say, Hey, we want you to do this.

62

Knowing that for them to do it,

God's gonna be the one that's

63

gonna cause that to happen.

64

Interesting.

65

Maybe we should add a

66

Rod: verse to that song.

67

God made me choose you so I have done so.

68

There you go.

69

We could do that.

70

It's great.

71

We should do that.

72

We should do that one first

and then do I have decided?

73

There we go.

74

Put it

75

PJ: in theological order.

76

We'll galvanize it.

77

Yeah.

78

No, it's gonna be a great Sunday and we've

got a modified extravaganza after service.

79

'cause we had to cancel yesterday.

80

The weather ended up being okay,

but man, we just, we didn't know and

81

we had to make a, we had to make a

call early in the morning and there

82

was some thunder and lightning.

83

Forecast for the area.

84

So we made the best decision we

knew how to make at that time and

85

tried to recover as much as we can.

86

And we're gonna have a great time today

celebrating after the service for sure.

87

Rod: And part of it the field is wet.

88

That's a discouraging thing.

89

You don't want to have

kids running around in mud.

90

It wouldn't have been fun

for the kids, for kids.

91

So we think we were doing

everyone a solid by postponing it.

92

Today's gonna be great.

93

The weather should be a little

more accommodating we think.

94

And if, assuming that's the

case, we're gonna do it and

95

it's gonna be a fantastic time.

96

Yep.

97

We've got 7,000 eggs.

98

PJ: And so your kids are gonna

go home with a lot of eggs?

99

Yeah.

100

We average about 70.

101

To a hundred kids.

102

That's gonna be a lot of eggs per kid.

103

Yeah, it is a

104

Rod: lot of eggs per kid.

105

Are we doing, are some of

those eggs, the eggs that you

106

would buy in a grocery store?

107

'cause I would participate in that one.

108

No, I don't think they're actual eggs.

109

They Of eggs.

110

Eggs.

111

Now I would do that.

112

No.

113

That would bankrupt our church.

114

Yeah.

115

We would not be able to do that.

116

7,000 chicken eggs.

117

Yeah.

118

PJ: That'd be expensive.

119

That's that would 10 years.

120

Yeah.

121

Mortgage or something.

122

It's gonna be a great day though.

123

Speaking of a great day, let's

spend a great time in God's word.

124

Any time, any day with the

word of God is a great day.

125

And so we are gonna be

in a lot of Psalms today.

126

Tomorrow we're in Second Samuel.

127

Then on Tuesday we've

got some more Psalms.

128

Just remember with the Psalms, we're

reading a lot of them, but do your

129

best, as much as you can to really

try to soak up what we're reading.

130

A lot of these psalms are short in nature.

131

They're not long like this

first one verse, Psalm 1 21

132

is only eight verses long.

133

But it's rich.

134

There's good truth in here.

135

So try to spend a good amount of

time with each of these psalms.

136

In fact, even if you break up your

Bible reading like we've got today,

137

Psalm 1 21, then Psalm 1 23 through 1

25, and then Psalm 1 28 through one 30.

138

Maybe you wanna do Psalm 1 21 first

thing in the morning, and then maybe

139

you spend a little bit of extra

time praying in response to that.

140

And then maybe you're gonna

take a lunch break today.

141

Or after church Today, you're

gonna come home from church.

142

Maybe you're going to open up your Bible,

spend some more time in the word read 1

143

23 through 1 25, and then maybe tonight

before you go to bed, pull out your Bible.

144

Read 1 28 through one 30, just so

that you're able to spend concentrated

145

time with each of these Psalms.

146

Otherwise.

147

It's hard to remember

everything that you're reading.

148

This is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Psalms that we're reading today.

149

That's a lot of ground to cover for us.

150

Rod: That raises an interesting question.

151

Should we aspire to remember everything

that we read in the morning or afternoon?

152

Whenever you read.

153

But the point is,

154

PJ: should we aspire to remember it?

155

No, because we're, we're not gonna be

able to, we, especially in our culture

156

today, and not to make excuses, but

at this time when these psalms were

157

being written, they were a heavily.

158

Oral culture and so they, they were

much better than we are at remembering

159

things and memorizing things.

160

That was how they retained

information for us.

161

We live in a fast-paced 140

character culture, and so our

162

brains are not trained that way.

163

It's not to say that we shouldn't

train our brains that way, but.

164

Don't beat yourself up if you

walk away and you don't remember

165

every single thing that you read.

166

But I think the goal should be, Hey,

let's take away one or two things

167

from our reading every single day

that we can carry with us and chew on

168

and meditate on throughout the day.

169

Yeah I, amen into that.

170

Rod: The goal is to be shaped,

not to regurgitate or to rehearse.

171

And that really is the ultimate

point We're reading to be

172

shaped by God, to have us.

173

Have him help us think and

process and even reflect and

174

remember, these are songs.

175

They're not just they're not poems, right?

176

They are that, but they're more than that.

177

They're songs that would've been put

to a tune, which would've probably

178

aided the memory and retention of it.

179

PJ: Yep.

180

Yep.

181

Psalm 1 21 is, and all of these

are, so we'll just get that

182

outta the way ahead of time.

183

Psalm a song of ascent, remember?

184

That's, yep.

185

Yummy sniffing.

186

Everybody really appreciates that.

187

No.

188

These were about going up to ascending, up

to Mount Zion to go and worship the Lord.

189

And these were the songs

that were sung on the way up.

190

So 1 21 is one that is focused

on the Lord as our keeper.

191

Our preserver, our protector, and

he's the one that delivers us.

192

And in this psalm we find the

famous line that the Lord is the

193

one who never slumbers nor sleeps.

194

And that is such a good reminder

to us when we are going through

195

a difficult season to be

reminded that God is not asleep.

196

And I always think of Elijah in the

prophets of all here when Elijah is

197

mocking the false prophets going.

198

Maybe he's asleep.

199

Maybe you need to wake him up.

200

Maybe you need to yell

a little bit louder.

201

And we never have to worry about that

with God because God doesn't sleep.

202

He is not a God who needs rest.

203

And so he is always alert, always

aware, always engaged with what

204

is happening with with our life.

205

And so we can take great

encouragement from that in Psalm 1 21.

206

Psalm 1 23.

207

Then is the next one up for us.

208

And this one is a again, one of the

psalms of ascent that is focused on the

209

Lord is the one who's able to show mercy

and clemency towards the worshiper.

210

And so in verse two, behold, as the

eyes of the servants look to the

211

hand of their master as the eyes

of the maid servant to the hand of

212

her mistress, so our eyes look to.

213

The Lord our God till

he has mercy upon us.

214

And so you think about those relationships

of a master and a, a servant and

215

a mistress and a maid servant.

216

There's a measure of authority

there that's involved in

217

the master and the mistress.

218

And they are able to exercise

mercy towards their servants,

219

towards their slaves.

220

And really the slave doesn't

have the capacity to.

221

Draw that mercy or command that

mercy, that slave is at the mercy

222

of the the one that is giving

and choosing to dispel that.

223

So here David is comparing us

to the servant and to the maid

224

servant saying, we look to God and

we wait for mercy from the Lord.

225

Rod: Yeah.

226

One of the things that's interesting

about Psalms like this is that you

227

don't see a whole lot of contemporary

songs following that theme the

228

theme of mercy having mercy upon us.

229

There's an old phrase.

230

Now that comes from the Greek called Zen.

231

It's Curie liaison, and there

are songs that are titled that.

232

So if you look at, one of my favorites

is by the Gettys, it's Curie liaison,

233

and they have this really sweet

breakdown in the middle of the song.

234

And this guy that's doing these

vocal runs on the second half

235

of the song, it's really pretty.

236

But it reminded me that.

237

Asking for God's mercy is not something

that only someone does as a pre-Christian,

238

but something that we even do

post-Christian, post salvation, asking

239

God for mercy is essentially to say,

God, don't treat me as my sins deserve.

240

Show me kindness and compassion.

241

We sometimes use mercy and grace

synonymously, but they are different and

242

they have different shades of meaning.

243

So I would encourage you as you just

mentioned it to them, pastor Pj, to

244

think about what you're reading here

and perhaps maybe ask God for mercy.

245

Maybe that would be something

worth practicing sometime soon.

246

PJ: Yeah, that's, we sing that song.

247

His mercy is more.

248

Which is one of my favorites.

249

Oh yeah, that is a good one.

250

You're right.

251

Yeah.

252

Alright.

253

Psalm 1 24 then is a Davidic psalm here.

254

And this time we get that

specifically in the title.

255

It's a song of a sense of David.

256

And that's probably worth note here

real quick because if these were the

257

songs that were sung by the worshipers

on the way up to Jerusalem, I.

258

Okay, we got a problem because

David is writing these prior to

259

the building of Jerusalem and

certainly prior to the temple because

260

David didn't build the temple.

261

What do we do with that?

262

And the answer is these are Psalms that

David wrote that were later adopted by the

263

Israelites to become the songs of Ascent.

264

I.

265

The song, the songs that they sang

on their way up to worship the Lord.

266

But Psalm 1 24 specifically attributed

to David and it looked to the Lord as the

267

one who is ultimately responsible for the

victories that Israel had experienced.

268

And so as David is ticking off victories

left and right, which he does he

269

remembers and bears in mind that it is

God is the one that is, is doing this.

270

God is the one that is winning

these battles and without him,

271

they are helpless and hopeless.

272

1 25 then a song of a Sense, again,

no author given, but our editors

273

have put it in here because it seems

to be of David, even though it's

274

not directly attributed to him.

275

But this one affirms that trust in the

Lord is the safe and secure space to be.

276

Those who do.

277

Trust in him.

278

It says are like Mount Zion.

279

They're, they cannot be moved.

280

And again, if you think about Israel,

Mount Zion, Jerusalem it stands alone.

281

It's a city on a hill.

282

And it is it is notable because

it is surrounded by mountains.

283

And that's one of the things that made

it so highly defensible, is this is

284

a city that was not easily attacked.

285

It couldn't just be attacked.

286

It wasn't vulnerable in any way.

287

And David is comparing the person

who trusts in the Lord to that

288

saying, you will be like Mount Zion.

289

And so this is probably written later in

David's life, after he takes Jerusalem,

290

after he builds the city of David there.

291

But this is just looking at the

surroundings and saying, man it's

292

like this, it feels like this

when we're trusting in the Lord.

293

And that means that we'll never experience

294

Rod: hardship or suffering.

295

Thanks Pastor pj.

296

Totally.

297

PJ: Yep.

298

Yep.

299

Name it and claim it.

300

Yep.

301

Yeah.

302

No and that's the hard thing.

303

That is true though.

304

It sounds trite and cliche.

305

And that is that ultimately our

security is not earth bound.

306

Our security is not about here.

307

It's our security.

308

And the reason we're immovable

is because of our eternity.

309

Our eternity, and where we're

going to be forever and ever.

310

And that is with the Lord.

311

And so that's why we are secure.

312

So that may sound trite,

but that is the reality.

313

That's the truth that we need

to hold to as Christians.

314

That's right.

315

Psalm 1 28.

316

Then this is the one to sum it up,

verse one, blessed is everyone who

317

fears the Lord and walks in his way.

318

That's what this verse

or this psalm is about.

319

It's about the reward.

320

It's about the fruitfulness

that comes with our fearing.

321

God, and we've talked about fearing

God, but PEs a little bit of a

322

memory jogger for our people.

323

What does it mean for us

to fear God in this sense?

324

That we would receive

blessing and response.

325

This

326

Rod: is not a sile fear as one who

trembles under the hand of a heavy

327

of a strong, maybe violent master.

328

This is a familial fear.

329

A fear that says, I, I long to respect

you, to honor you, to esteem you.

330

There is a recognition of power and

authority, so the fear does have the.

331

The sense of being afraid that

we typically ascribe it to, but

332

it's not the same kind, it's not

the same tenor that we would use.

333

When it comes to a servile

fear, a fear that says, I fear

334

judgment, or I fear discipline.

335

Scripture says that there is no

condemnation for those who love him.

336

There's no condemnation for those

who are in Christ, and therefore when

337

scripture says that we are to fear him.

338

Again, it's not a fear of

condemnation, but it is a fear.

339

Fear of reverence, of

respect, of awe, of deference.

340

Again, recognizing his

power at the same time.

341

So there's a, it's a larger word than

what we typically understand it as today.

342

It's not just a shaking in my boots,

although there is some of that.

343

I think you see that in scripture when

someone encounters even an angelic host,

344

they're like, what on earth is this?

345

They're terrified.

346

They're freaking out.

347

They're falling on the ground.

348

So when you see the unmitigated glory

of God there is a right reverence and

349

fear that comes from that, but it's not.

350

I'm afraid of the dark.

351

PJ: Yeah, it's helpful

distinction for sure.

352

Psalm 1 29, then you mentioned just

a moment ago, does it mean that we're

353

always gonna be safe and secure?

354

And Psalm 1 29 is a great example of the

psalmist not even believing that himself

355

because he talks about affliction in this

psalm and talks about the fact that though

356

he had been afflicted from his youth

verse one greatly, have they afflicted me?

357

Have they made me suffer?

358

Have they brought pain?

359

Have they persecuted me from my youth?

360

Though that was the reality, he

was confident in the Lord for

361

his standing in deliverance.

362

Let Israel now say greatly.

363

They have afflicted me from my youth,

yet they have not prevailed against me.

364

Verse two.

365

Ultimately we know that

victory is gonna come from God.

366

That doesn't mean that

life is gonna be easy.

367

You may experience affliction, you may

experience persecution and suffering,

368

but we can have confidence knowing

that this world is not all there is

369

that old illustration of the rope.

370

And the rope can be forever

long, and your life is a small,

371

tiny little mark on that rope.

372

It's like a one inch strip

of tape on that rope.

373

I remember one of my pastors once gave

that illustration and it stuck with me

374

because it's, it, it seems like our life

is such a big deal when we're living

375

in it, and yet when we're looking back

at our life for maternity, we will

376

think back to the things that seem

so difficult and so hard right now.

377

And as Paul says in Romans, they

will feel like light, momentary.

378

There's the word afflictions in light

of the eternal weight of glory that

379

we will be enjoying with the Lord.

380

And so Psalm 1 29 encourages us

to think there and think of that.

381

Psalm one 30 then is a psalm

about patience, which is

382

never easy for us to have.

383

But this is about waiting

on and hoping in the Lord.

384

He says in verse five I wait

for the Lord in his word.

385

I hope my soul waits for the Lord.

386

Verse six more than watchman for the

morning, more than watchman for the

387

morning, which always reminds me of

driving through the night and just

388

wanting the morning light to come up.

389

Just being exhausted and going, I

just, I need to see the sunrise and and

390

yet wanting the Lord more than that.

391

Waiting for the Lord.

392

More than that, and this is the famous

line, if the Lord should mark iniquities,

393

who could stand before him and what a good

chapter for us to be reading on Easter.

394

I.

395

If the Lord would count us guilty of

our sin, then who could stand against

396

him or who could stand before him.

397

And the answer is nobody.

398

And it's because of what we're

celebrating this morning, because of

399

the resurrection of Jesus, because

of the cross in the empty tomb.

400

That, that we can stand there

and say, Lord, you don't

401

count our inequity against us.

402

You have forgiven us, our inequity.

403

And now we can stand before

you, not in our righteousness,

404

but in Christ's righteousness.

405

Rod: And that.

406

That also helps us understand

a little bit of verse four too.

407

That forgiveness and fear

seem to be paired together.

408

Might be odd unless you're able

to look at the cross and say, I

409

understand the weight of my sin and

how much it cost me to be forgiven.

410

This is not God nilly Willy just

tossing out a forgiveness phrase

411

and saying, Hey, you're good to go.

412

This costed him the life of

his son, his perfect son, his

413

only son, his special son.

414

Who was lifted high upon the

cross and humiliated and tortured

415

in order that we might know his

forgiveness and his reconciliation.

416

So even though Psalm one 30 was

written well before Jesus Christ, we

417

can understand it more with greater

appreciation because of what we've

418

seen throughout history for what God

had to do to make us right with him.

419

So forgiveness and fear work greatly

together when we understand who God is.

420

PJ: Hmm.

421

Let's pray and then we'll be

done with another episode.

422

God, we are so grateful for

Christ, and today we celebrate his

423

resurrection, and today we gather

together as the church to celebrate

424

the fact that the tomb was empty.

425

And yet the reality is we do that

every single Sunday when we gather.

426

That's why the church began

meeting on Sundays is to

427

commemorate the resurrection.

428

So thanks for this season, God, that

we get to set aside these days and

429

remember them as memorials and yet.

430

Lord, help us to remember the realities

of the resurrection every single

431

day and what that means for us.

432

And even as Pastor Rob was just

saying, that we would balance

433

that idea of the fact that we are

forgiven with a healthy fear of

434

you to remember what our sin costs.

435

And remember, the victory won on

our behalf through Christ, through

436

the cross and the empty tomb.

437

We rejoice of the reality

that He has risen.

438

He has risen indeed, and we look

forward to a great day today.

439

In Jesus name, amen.

440

Amen.

441

Keep reading your Bibles, tuning

again tomorrow for another edition

442

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

443

See you.

444

Bye.

445

Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

446

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

447

You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

448

We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

449

on whatever platform you happen to

be listening on, and we will catch

450

you against tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

451

PJ: Yeah.

452

I would agree with

everything that you said