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be looking at Psalm 43 this morning which is quite close to Psalm 42 which we read
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43 vindicate me oh God and plead my case against an ungodly Nation Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man for thou art the god of my strength why hast
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thou rejected me why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy oh send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me me to thy
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Holy Hill and to the dwelling thy Dwelling Places then I will go to the altar of God to God my exceeding joy and
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upon the liar I shall praise thee Oh God my God why are you in despair oh my soul and why are you disturbed within me hope
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in God for I shall again Praise Him the help of my countenance and my God let us pray our father again we ask that you would
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give us ears to hear and desire to meditate upon your scriptures and understand these words and to apply them
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and to walk in them not for our Glory but for yours and we ask that you would build your church in Christ's name we
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amen the scriptures the scriptures in vinus rather I should say exhort us command us to rejoice in
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God Psalm 37 for example the psalmist writes delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart speaking
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of those things in which we have Delight as opposed to those things which we desire and yet how they come together in our delighting in the
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Lord Paul Lord Paul speaks similarly in Philippians chapter 4 rejoice in the lord always he says again I will say
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rejoice but we have to admit I believe that we do not always seek joy in our God circumstances get us
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down sin besets us people oppress us we may strive we say to the Lord I I'm going to
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do better or maybe our philosophy is out of the world of Disney when we sing to God let it go let
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through Jeremiah says that the people committed two sins he says they have forsaken me the Fountain of Living Waters and you for themselves
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sisters broken sisters that cannot hold water we have forsaken God for other things our brother spoke of
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Idols Idols can be anything in this world which takes the place of God can be anything or
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anyone and as one Theologian puts it Idols are anything to which we have given power and authority in our lives we have allowed things to be a power over us
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causing uh to uh to excite us or to interest us or to sway us from Devotion
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God in book two of the Psalms that begins with Psalm 42 it's it's a book which includes Psalms all the way to Psalm
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72 and it has several sources the sons of Kora as Psalm 42 is labeled David wrote
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several of the Psalms that are in here Asaf and Asaf and Solomon and Solomon and this section of Psalms
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42-49 is generally assigned to the sons of Kora and I don't understand exactly what a mascal
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is and apparently many people who studied this in depth do not understand what a mascal is is taken from a word that means skillful or or or to be
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instructive and we don't know whether it means that the mascal was the the skill with which the sons of Kora wrote the music to give to the choir
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director or whether it means the skillfulness and the instructiveness of the psalm that comes to us now I say that to say this that it's
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somewhat amazing to me that the sons of Kora have given us either the music or the words of this Psalm and many other songs when
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they were the son the sons and descendants of a man who rebelled against God perhaps you remember in Numbers
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chapter 16 Kora in League with Dayan and abam rebelled against Moses and Moses was telling the people that they ought to be
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holy that and how they ought to come in a holy manner before the Lord and essentially Dayan Kora and abam said enough of this
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Moses the People Are Holy calm down and you remember what God's response to that was Moses stand back
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cuz I'm going to do a thing and he opened the Earth and swallowed Dayan Kora and abam and all of the men who were with them in a hole in the ground
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and the Earth cover them up but these are the sons of Kora and perhaps as we understand from num numbers chap 26 it tells us
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specifically the sons of Kora did not die they were preserved and perhaps because of that they dedicated their
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lives to the music of God's glory they were doorkeepers they were Gatekeepers and musicians and servants
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in the temple and we see that in Psalm 42 and I think in 43 we we see that here is a is a man who has been far removed
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somehow in Exile from the temple from the temple worship that he had known he says in verse 4 of Psalm 42 these things
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I remember I I used to go go along with the throng and lead them in the procession of the house of God so whether this is a son of Kora or some believe it's David himself he's
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writing in writing in despair he's longing for the renewal of fellowship and going to the house of
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worship why are you in despair oh my soul he soul he asks now again there are many people who believe that Psalm 43 was somehow separated from Psalm 42 that originally
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it was one all together I rather take the view that Psalm 42 was the man when he was younger and
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43 perhaps the same man but when he had seen something seen something different he's a spiritual man in either
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case I believe I believe he is a Believer but he is in a depression he's struggling with doubts he's struggling with with fears he's looking
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at himself and saying what what am I missing why has God forgotten me or is it me why is my soul Disturbed within me
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he's hounded as we see in chapter 43 Verse one he says he he's hounded by deceitful and un just
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men in Psalm 42 he is doggedly Resolute and he keeps telling himself hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him but I see a difference in Psalm
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43 I see a man who has just is just as re Resolute but he has centered his hope not in what he feels and what he's struggling with but
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in God himself and in God alone I believe Psalm 43 is his prayer it's his realization that his joy as
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well as his salvation is a gift from God alone I think sometimes we forget we we think that we can kind of
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work up work up joy that that we ought to be just joyful again just let that go and just be
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joyful and we take Paul's words that way rejoice in the lord always and we chide ourselves when we do not but I think we have to understand
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that Joy cannot be earned Joy is not deserved it cannot be brought about by our own strivings
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and I believe that's what the psalmist here he realizes that he cannot always say and this is
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again doing a oneof sermon is very difficult starting in the middle of Romans Chuck and Romans it's I don't know about you but it's been a very intense book to read about our sin The Wretched
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Man that I am and I believe that it was Chuck but may have been someone else we sing this song from Psalm 42 sometimes as a deer
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pants for the water Brooks so my soul pants for thee Oh God and I think we realize as someone said in their prayers God we do not always feel like this we
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don't pant for you we we we don't thirst for you as we ought
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realizes that that for joy in God he must pray for it he must seek
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it he must fight for it in verse 1 of chapter 43 he says vindicate me oh God and plead
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my case against an ungodly nation and Deliver Me from the deceitful and unjust man he sees God as his judge and his
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Advocate and his deliverer all in one verse judge me plead my case deliver me he sees God as his judge I bring my
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case before you and you alone because you alone understand my motives you understand my heart you understand my depression and my
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fears and what does the scripture say let God Alone be just and the justifier of justifier of men he comes to God as his judge you judge me God the world has already
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judged me they come to me and say where is your
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but you alone know my heart and my motives plead my case God is our Advocate what does the New Testament teach us if any man sins he has an
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advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous somehow the psalmist Sees God as his Advocate we see him in Jesus
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Christ I plead my case on the grounds that Christ has satisfied God's justice because on Christ all my sins
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were laid and dealt with God is my Advocate why would I go to someone else why would I plead my case to men when I
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have an advocate with the father I have a defense
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attorney and he says deceit and Justice unjustice of men deliver me from these things deceit and Injustice are as one person put it twin vipers you you never
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find one without the other deceitfulness and unjust is as if we we Sayang about Satan right Luther's great hymn how he's still
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attacking men he deceives men into sin and then he blames you not himself that's deceitfulness and the unjust
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nature others are against me and in within my own heart and we've been speaking of this in our Thursday night
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class Chuck has reminded us at least it's come across to my mind a number of times in that study from Jeremiah the the human heart God says is
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more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick who can understand it the psalmist pleads before God I think he's understanding this he's
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understanding my heart my mind these things I plead before you God judge me plead my case deliver
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me who can deliver me he says verse two is his answer for thou art the god of my strength why hast thou rejected me why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the
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enemy I believe even as he asked why have you rejected me there is a confidence here he's he doesn't say you might be my
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God he says you are my God you are my God my strength all my strength belongs to you again we
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strive we we want to pretend I think that we have joy that we do Rejoice that we do Delight in the Lord that we do have him as all of our
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desire and yet the psalmist realizes you are my God the god of my strength therefore I appeal to you why
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do I go Mourning why am I downcast why do I have these things because I have failed to turn to you the god of my
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strength I think as the psalmist prays here he shows us some important concepts of joy in God Joy does not come solely from
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knowledge and I do not think that Joy comes solely from the presence of God we need both we need God's revelation of
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himself but we also need God's presence in showing in showing us who he is and so the psalmist in verse three
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says oh send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me even the Devils even the
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demons know truths about God but they do not know his Blessing many will know the presence of
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God but they will not be believers they will not know who he is they will know his wrath we need God's light and we need
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God's truth here I believe the truth would be best translated faithfulness it's God showing us who he
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is shedding light the scriptures say in his light we see light we understand who he is and yet without his
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faithfulness we need that security of God's love of God's care of God's promises toward us so we need
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both the psalmist dark depression and insecurity needs the light of God's revelation but it also needs that security of knowing god was faithful to
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his promises let them lead me he says let these twins these good twins lead me bring me to thy whole Holy Hill into thy
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Places let them bring me into the courts and into your presence he says only your light and only your truth can do this and yes for us in our day on this
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side of the Cross we have the light we have the light of the Holy Spirit and we have the truth as it is in Jesus Christ Christ they show us the way
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home to home to God because what is man's Chief
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end you know the answer in the Westminster Confession do you not to glorify God and enjoy him forever that is why we live that is why God has created us the scripture saying
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the people who I have formed who have I created for my glory and how does God glorify himself he glorifies himself by shining into the
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darkness of Our Lives his light and his truth shining his Radiance on his people and they reflect back in
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Joy Jonathan Edwards wrote the refulgence shines upon and into the creature and is reflected back to the
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luminary the beams of Glory come from God and are something of God and are refunded back again to their original so
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that the whole is of God and in God and to God and God is the beginning the
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middle and the end Paul speaks similarly in 2 Corinthians 4 for God who said let light
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shine out in darkness is the one who has Shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
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face of Christ I believe the desire to see the glory of God in the face of Christ is our Quest that is our Quest For Joy and for sure the fullness as we've
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seen in Romans the fullness of God's glory is not yet seen in Romans 5 Paul says we rejoice in the hope of glory and yet Peter also tells us though
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you have not seen him you love him and though you do not see him now but believe in him you shall greatly Rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of Glory
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see that's who we are supposed to be we're not waiting for that great by and by when Paul says rejoice in the lord always and again I say rejoice he he
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means now he means that we see by faith though we have not seen him in the flesh we know him and we believe in him and he says
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you will greatly Rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory and that's what I see in the psalmist here
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psalmist here the psalmist seeks to return to not his own house he's been AAR he he's wanting to be in the temple
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he's wanting to go notice what he says in verse four of Psalm 43 then I will go to the altar of God to God my exceeding Joy he he doesn't want to go home and
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close the door and say okay I've captured Joy captured Joy and I'll strive to keep it he goes to the altar of
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God in Chuck's study in Leviticus and again I don't know about you but I go home every Thursday night and my my head is it's is it's hard there's many deep
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things especially when we speak of of sin but one of the things that we've seen in there so far is that the burnt offering that was offered was the
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offering that was to be entirely consumed on the altar none of it was given to the priest none of it was was saved for the people it was all consumed
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and when I don't know if that's what he has in mind but when I read it this is what I what I thought he's wholly dedicating himself he wants to go to the altar of God in a
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show of fully holy dedicating himself to the Lord but I don't think it was the altar that he had in mind when he says that
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and you go what what do you mean it was not the altar that the psalmist cared psalmist cared for it was God it was the altar of
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God and we've seen again in in Chuck's study in Leviticus and I think Aaron's study in Deuteronomy what does God want from his people
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he wants them to understand as we see in the Old Testament over and over that phrase I will be your God and you shall be my people he wanted fellowship with
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them he wanted them to know him he wanted to shine his light upon them that they would reflect back in Joy to the
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luminary to the one who gave them that light that they would know him intimately and we already know this is
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spoiler alert for Deuteronomy but in chapter 28 what do we read God saying because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart for
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all the abundance of all things therefore you shall serve your enemies he wanted the joy and gladness of their heart because it was
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him they would glorify him yes they would they would do the sacrifices they would come to the altar they would come to the temple but he wanted them to come to
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him and the psalmist I think is saying here yes I Delight in the things of God I Delight in being a temple worshipper and being with the people of God and
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singing praises yes I Den desire to know God in his Revelation about about himself but what I'm really after is fellowship
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with God to know him and to walk with him therefore I will go to the altar to God my exceeding
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Joy I shall praise thee Oh God my God God is my exceeding Joy not simply the knowledge of God many
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people have the knowledge of God they know more about God than we do but they don't have joy in
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God it's not just that God is the Fountain of joy and it's not just that he's The Giver of Joy Charles Spurgeon says God God is not his Joy alone he
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says but his exceeding Joy not the Fountain of Joy The Giver of Joy or the maintainer of Joy but that Joy
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his people that's glorifying him is that he would be our joy and the question is is that our resolve the the psalmist has
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this I will go to the altar to God my exceeding Joy he's the essence of my joy he he is the soul of my
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joy and I guess over these weeks as we've studied Deuteronomy and Leviticus and Romans that's the question that has depressed me is this
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resol I was reading a book upon this subject and the author says that when he and his wife got married they included habac chapter 3 in
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their marriage vows and you'll recognize it as I began to read it but they they did that because they wanted to know that it was was God and God alone you
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know these words though the Fig Tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the field yield of Olives should fail and the fields
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produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the Stalls yet I will exalt in the Lord I
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will rejoice in the god of my salvation I believe that's the resolve that we see here God is my exceeding Joy he's not
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just an idea of joy he's just not something that that jumpstarts Joy it's not a striving for Joy it is God and God alone and that's why I
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think that we must pray for this we must seek this and yes it's not original with me but when I read it it makes sense we
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must fight for this Paul uses this language does he not he tells Timothy fight the good fight of Faith take hold of the eternal life to
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which you were called and you think well that's eternal life but is it not eternal life Joy forever with
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forever with God in second Corinthians chapter 1 Paul says in his defense of his apostleship not that we lorded over your faith but we are workers with you for your
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joy faith joy faith is a good fight it's a fight for joy in Christ it's a fight for Eternal
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deceitfulness and the Injustice of evil it's a good fight because God is our strength and God is good it's a good fight because God is our judge he is our advocate he is our
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deliverer it's a good fight but is because it is a fight for the glory of God let us
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father I ask that you might use your scriptures use your Holy use your power to teach us what it means to
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glorify you and that you would be our exceeding joy we ask that you would build your church that she would
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understand the fight the fight for eternal life the fight for Eternal Joy is a good fight and a fight worth
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fighting and so we ask father that you would do these things that you truly would be glorified in them and in your people in Christ's name
