The Wise Remember Death
Psalm 90
The Wise Remember Death
Psalm 90
Main Idea: The Lord graciously teaches us to number our days, so that we gain a heart of wisdom.
I. The Problem of Permanence (90:1–2)
Psalm 90:1–2: Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
God teaches us to number our days over many days. Wisdom is not downloaded; it is formed. God uses repetition, failure, discipline, joy, sorrow, waiting, and loss to instruct us.
Wisdom begins when we stop pretending we can master time and start submitting ourselves to the God who stands outside it.
II. The Passing of Time (90:3–11)
Psalm 90:3-11: You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
God allows us to feel the weight of time so we will not waste our lives pretending it does not exist.
III. The Prayer of Wisdom (90:12–17)
Psalm 90:12: So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
“Children can count to seventy. Saints must learn what seventy means.”
~ Charles Spurgeon
Psalm 139:16: Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 90:14-17: Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
The Temptation
Matthew 4:1-11
The Temptation
matthew 4:1-11
I. The Challenge of Identity: Provide For Yourself (4:1-4)
II. The Craving of Validation: Prove Yourself (4:5-7)
III. The Contest of Futures: Promote Yourself (4:8-11)
The Garden
Luke 22:39-53
The Garden
Luke 22:39-53
Genesis 3:19:
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
This passage & the Lenten season invites us to consider 3 realities:
I. The Temptation of Sin (22:39-40, 45-46)
Genesis 4:7b: … sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.
II. The Power of Darkness (22:47-53)
Through the imposition of the ashes, Ash Wednesday reminds us that death and sin cannot be completely separated. This does not mean a particular form of death is punishment for specific sins, but sin and death are partners. But if the ashes of Ash Wednesday point toward the link between sin, death, and rebellion, they also contain something else… The ashes are in the shape of the cross. That cross carries within it an entire story and the foundation of human hope. It is the story of loss and gain, of the incarnation of the truly good one, his glorious life and triumphant defeat of death. The ashes are not just a reminder of our great failure; they remind us of God’s victory over sin and death through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son.
~ Esau McCaulley, Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal
III. The Conqueror of Death (22:41-44)
May we not conceive that as in a garden Adam’s self-indulgence ruined us, so in another garden the agonies of the second Adam should restore us. Gethsemane supplies the medicine for the ills which followed upon the forbidden fruit of Eden.
~ Charles Spurgeon, “The Agony in Gethsemane”
Hebrews 2:9-10, 14-15: But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering…Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery..
Ash Wednesday 2023 | He Knows Our Frame
Psalm 103:6-19
He Knows Our Frame
Psalm 103:6-19
Genesis 3:19:
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
Ash Wednesday invites us to remember 3 realities:
I. The Certainty of Death
II. The Cause of our Pain
“Lent is not a general sadness about the inevitability of death but an explicitly Christian diagnosis of the cause of death. We sin and die because humanity rebelled against God. There is nothing natural at all about death. It is an alien intrusion into the good world God created… Through the imposition of the ashes, Ash Wednesday reminds us that death and sin cannot be completely separated. This does not mean a particular form of death is punishment for specific sins, but sin and death are partners.”
~ Esau McCaulley
III. The Cross of Christ
“Instead of becoming a source of despair, our sin becomes the arena of God’s glory. He doesn’t have barely enough grace to forgive us. He is rich in this stuff; it overflows from his very nature. Ash Wednesday invites an introspection that leads to an acknowledgement of our sin that collides with an explosion of God’s grace. No step in this process can be skipped.”
~ Esau McCaulley
Lent Prayer & Worship Gathering | Ash Wednesday
Matthew 4:1-11
The Temptation of Christ
Matthew 4:1-11
Main Idea: Jesus overcomes the temptations common to us all by trusting his Father & listening to his voice.
I. The Challenge of Identity: Provide For Yourself (4:1-4)
The first temptation from Satan is less about bread and more about trust. He frames the temptation by attacking Jesus’ identity: “If you are the Son of God…” Satan’s temptation to doubt the goodness of God is as old as the Garden of Eden with Eve. He is tempting Jesus to view his circumstances as a definitive statement of who he is before his Father.
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3; the Israelites failed in their wilderness test by storing up more manna than the Lord commanded, believing that their effort was more sure than God’s promises. Jesus refuses the route of self-provision and trusts his Father’s word is for the best despite his circumstances.
II. The Craving of Validation: Prove Yourself (4:5-7)
Satan now throws Scripture back at Jesus by quoting Psalm 91:11-12, tempting Jesus to prove himself in spectacular fashion for all to see. He is tempting Jesus to prove all who doubt him wrong and to show himself to be the Son of God using the most significant place in Judaism, the temple.
We all deep down have a craving to be proven right and to validate ourselves before others. But we often result in devilish tactics rather than seeking validation from our Heavenly Father, the only opinion that ultimately matters.
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, knowing that following Satan’s offer would be a manipulation of God for a self-directed vindication. He was already validated by his Father and he was carrying out his mission, even if most people assumed he was wrong. His validation would come at the resurrection three days after his crucifixion.
III. The Contest of Futures: Promote Yourself (4:8-11)
Satan now shows Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” and offers them to him in exchange for his worship. Satan is tempting Jesus to take hold of his inheritance immediately in this moment by offering him the crown without the cross. The temptation is to get the right thing the wrong way, by promoting and exalting himself rather than submitting to his Father’s plan.
Everytime we grasp for power and control to ensure that everything is going to work out in the end, we are following the pattern of the Enemy who pridefully desired the place of God & fell from heaven like lighting (Isa. 14:13-14, Lk. 10:18).
“Satan showed here explicitly what he’d been trying to do all along. Satan was not just trying to tempt Jesus; he was attempting to adopt Jesus. Satan, in all three temptations, is assuming the role of a father – first in provision, then in protection, and now in the granting of an inheritance. Satan didn’t just want to be Jesus’ lord; he wanted to be his father.” ~ Russell Moore
What is the hope for a tempted people like us? This passage forces us to consider whose voice we are listening to. We only have two options:
The voice from hell who (often subtly) tells us to provide for ourselves, prove ourselves, and promote ourselves.
The voice from heaven that ensures us we are beloved sons and daughters, that we have a Father whose grip on us is tight, and who has promised us a future inheritance in Christ. The way out of temptation is the way of Christ & tuning our ears to hear the voice of our Father.