[ANNOUNCER] The following
program is brought to you
by the friends and
partners of Time of Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MATTEK]
Hello, I'm Pastor Jeremy
Mattek from Time of Grace.
I will never forget the
day that we found out my
mother-in-law was
diagnosed with cancer.
I was driving along the
freeway and I saw that my
cell phone was ringing.
It was my wife calling at
a time of day when she
doesn't normally call.
I picked up the phone and
she gave me the news.
Those are hard moments for
us; hard moments when we
think about our mortality.
The fact that all of us,
in some way, we're dying.
Today, Pastor Jeske has a
very encouraging message
for us to help us face
those moments; a reminder
that we need a Savior
because we are dying.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR JESKE] I
have heard these
statements dozens and
dozens of times in my
life.
I don't like going to
hospitals; all those sick
people creep me out.
It gives me the willies to
go in there; I won't.
Even if my mother's in the
hospital, I'll call her.
I'm not going; I don't
like being in a hospital.
I hate funeral homes.
I don't like being around
dead bodies.
I'm not going to do it.
I don't like cemeteries;
I'm not going in a
cemetery.
I know a ton of people who
will not buy life
insurance because they
can't make their brains
grasp the fact that I'm
going to be dead someday
and I want to cushion the
blow of my death on my
family.
They just drag their feet,
drag their feet, and drag
their feet and never do it
because the thought of
their own death is so
repulsive they just push
it off.
At least half of all
Americans refuse to make
out a will because the
thought of thinking about
their own death is so
repulsive to them, so
frightening to them, so
creepy, so stressful they
just won't do it.
Well, today I want to dig
into Scripture with you -
not for buzzkill; this is
a happy day - it's the
Lord's Day and I've got
great news.
But first we have to
confront some hard news
and that is that the
reaper is coming after all
of us and one day he will
catch up to us and we will
go down.
And if you can't handle
that thought it's because
you've not been reading
your Bible for the
Scripture is full of help
to prepare for that day.
It must not catch you
unaware.
Today is the second of the
Sundays of Bible studies
where I am encouraging you
in this Lenten season,
when the purple colors
come out, some things we
must think about are our
aching desperate need for
a Savior for things we
cannot do for ourselves.
And because this is
stressful and because it's
humbling, people don't
like to do it but you
must.
Last week, we dug into
Scripture and were
confronted with our aching
need for the forgiveness
of our sins.
We like to pretend we're
fine; that sin is somebody
else's problem but no -
look in the mirror to find
the chief of sinners.
There he is, there she is,
looking right back at you.
Today, I want to talk to
you about mortality.
We need a Savior simply
because we're dying.
And I'd like to dig into
Psalm 90 with you, it's
the Psalm of Moses, and
invite you to do one of
two things: Either get a
Bible and look up Psalm 90
or just lean back and I'm
going to read it for you,
along with a little music
to help you grasp its
impact, and I would like
to - usually I kind of go
through things
verse-by-verse with you
but today, I would like
you just to hear the whole
poem and I would like you
to hear what may be the
very first psalm of our
150 ever to be written
because it's the Psalm of
Moses, the first author
God chose for his word.
Listen now to the words of
Psalm 90: "Lord, you have
been our dwelling place
throughout all
generations.
Before the mountains were
born or you brought forth
the earth and the world,
from everlasting to
everlasting you are God.
You turn men back to dust,
saying, "Return to dust, O
sons of men."
For a thousand years in
your sight are like a day
that has just gone by, or
like a watch in the night.
You sweep people away in
the sleep of death - they
are like the new grass of
the morning: Though in the
morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and
withered.
We are consumed by your
anger and terrified by
your indignation.
You have set our
iniquities before you, our
secret sins in the light
of your presence.
All our days pass away
under your wrath; we
finish our years with a
moan.
The length of our days is
seventy years, or eighty,
if we have the strength;
yet their span is but
trouble and sorrow, for
they quickly pass, and we
fly away.
Who knows the power of
your anger!
For your wrath is as great
as the fear that is due
you.
Teach us to number our
days aright, that we may
gain a heart of wisdom.
Relent, O Lord!
How long will it be?
Have compassion on your
servants.
Satisfy us in the morning
with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy
and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many
days as you have afflicted
us, as many years as we
have seen trouble.
May your deeds be shown to
your servants, your
splendor to their
children.
May the favor of the Lord
our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our
hands for us - yes,
establish the work of our
hands."
Moses' life could
basically be divided into
three trimesters; each of
roughly forty years of
duration.
Born a Hebrew slave-child,
slave-baby, in Egypt, at
risk of being beheaded by
the royal order of the
Pharaoh, his mother - in
order to save her precious
little boy's life - gave
him up for a watery
adoption hoping that the
miracle of babies would
touch the heart of an
Egyptian woman.
Knowing that the hearts of
males are often cold,
Moses' mother, Jochebed,
put her baby in a little
tiny wicker little boat, a
little boatlet, and shoved
him out in the Nile hoping
he would be discovered.
And exactly, that is what
happened.
The daughter of the
Pharaoh himself fished
little Moses out of the
water and decided to adopt
him and brought him up as
an Egyptian though knowing
that he was a little
Jewish baby.
And she risked her life to
defy the Pharaoh's edict
and she saved him.
Moses was educated, became
literate.
Unlike most of the slaves,
his fellow Israelite
slaves who were consigned
to a life of drudgery
making bricks, Moses
became literate - could
read and write - which was
wonderful and helpful for
he was chosen by God to be
the first author of the
new technology called a
written Bible.
Up until that point, all
the communication from God
to people and from people
to each other was all
oral, was verbal.
Moses became the writer
and that became possible
because he was an educated
man.
Moses was impatient as a
younger man, decided to
start the revolution
himself.
And with his own hands, he
killed an Egyptian who was
tormenting one of the
Hebrew slaves.
God knew that he was going
to bring about a great
exodus but that was not
the moment and this was
not how it would be done.
And Moses had to run for
his life and God arranged
for him to escape but he
became a shepherd where he
went to the school of
patience - God's college
of patient knowledge - and
he became a shepherd and
God taught him to wait and
to trust and to let God's
time be his time.
And in fact, God waited so
long that Moses lost his
fire for liberation so
that in the final
trimester when God did
appear to him in that
burning bush, Moses didn't
want to go.
And Exodus' first chapters
- one, two and three - are
lists of excuses, some
sort of credible, some
feeble, as Moses tried to
get out of the very job he
was willing to kill once
to do.
But he did agree and he
represented the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
before the Pharaoh and led
the mighty exodus.
Moses beheld the ten
plagues.
Moses saw the glory of the
Lord, the pillar of cloud
and fire, that moved out
in advance to lead the
Israelite people; at
night, a pillar of fire
protecting them from the
attacks of the Egyptians.
Moses, I think, wrote this
Psalm, the one you just
heard, as an older man.
This doesn't sound like a
young man talking, does
it?
Young men are impatient.
They're eager.
They're optimistic.
They think they can lick
the world.
When you start to have
some snow on the roof and
maybe less and less of it,
you slow down a little
bit, you think more.
You also observe patterns
and the reason most of all
why I think that this was
written by Moses in his
later years is he said,
"Our lives quickly pass."
When you're young, life
goes slow.
You just got the itch,
you're impatient, you
can't wait and like time
just seems to crawl when
you're young.
You get bored so easily
because you don't have
control of your life;
you're at the behest of
other people.
When you get older, you
have your independence but
half your energy has been
taken away from you by
that time and it just
seems to fly away.
I was talking to my
mother-in-law once on the
phone and talking about
her day and I said, "Tell
me about your day."
She said, "Well, I got up
and got dressed and made
the bed, cleaned up, made
myself a nice breakfast,
ate a nice breakfast,
cleaned up all the dishes,
and then I vacuumed the
rug and then it was time
for lunch [Audience: Laughter]
and I made
myself a nice lunch and
really enjoyed it and then
cleaned it up.
And by the time I put the
dishes away, I took a
little snooze, I read a
little bit, and then all
of a sudden it was time
for supper."
[Audience: Laughter] And
that was her day.
And then a little TV and
it was time for jammies.
That was her day and she
was tired by the end of
the day.
That's what life becomes
for us.
That's what lies ahead for
me.
A wise person told me once
- if I've shared this with
you, I'll remind you of
it; some of you haven't
heard it - I have never
heard a better way of
describing the speed at
which our lives just flow
away better than this.
A guy told me once: "Life
is like a roll of toilet
paper.
[Audience: Laughter] The
closer you get to the end
the faster it goes."
And that's really true!
Ask any person who's older
than seventy, they can't
even tell where the years
fly away anymore.
They look around and
suddenly it's autumn and
then they lose track of
time a little bit and
suddenly it's spring.
Time just flies and Moses
said our years quickly
pass and we fly away.
This Psalm sounds pretty
melancholy, doesn't it?
I think I know why: Moses
had witnessed death on
many scales.
He had witnessed personal
death; he had killed a man
with his own hands.
He watched a human being
die right in front of him.
How does that not change
you forever?
He had witnessed God
drowning the chariot
troops of the Pharaoh.
He watched the waters
close over them.
He may have heard their
gurgling screams as they
were drowning and he
watched what had been this
like cavalry unit all be
killed all at once.
Do you think that wasn't a
sobering sight?
There were at least 1.2
million adults who went
out of Egypt with Moses
and yet, because of their
content and disregard for
the promises of God, God
said all of the grown-ups,
everybody twenty and
older, is going to die in
the desert and in the
forty years of their
wandering in the
wilderness, all but a
couple of those 1.2
million people died.
Do the math - 1.2 million
people over forty years
averages 85 or so funerals
a day.
Death was in the Israelite
camp every day and Moses
could see it.
He could see the reaper
cutting people down.
And so, his melancholy
poem about the certainty
of death is something we
need to pay attention to
because this is not
somebody else's problem.
This is our problem and
Moses has got six
takeaways for you from
this powerful Psalm.
And it's not creepy; it's
just reality.
This isn't buzzkill; it's
good life planning.
This isn't depressing for
what it will do is drive
you to find your
confidence, your hope, and
your gladness of heart -
not in yourself, for
you're mortal and fading
away like a cut flower
like mown grass that is
green when it's cut but a
day later will be brown
and dead.
Here's where your joy
comes from: Putting your
eyes on Christ.
Here are the six things
Moses wants you to know.
First, God is awesome and
eternal.
The all-powerful Creator,
eternal in both directions
- in geometry, when you
see a line, they put the
little arrow on either
side of the line, right?
Do you know - do you
remember sophomore high
school geometry?
The line goes endlessly in
both directions.
That is the existence of
your God who is eternal,
knows neither a beginning,
middle or an end.
Past, present, and future
are all the same to him.
He is constant existence
everywhere all at the same
time.
He has been our dwelling
place.
He is our safe place, our
refuge.
He's where we can hide.
He's our rock.
He's our anchor.
He is our organizing point
for all of our thinking.
"Before the mountains were
born or you brought forth
the earth and the world,
from everlasting to
everlasting, you are God."
So with Moses, we worship
someone way older than we
are - in fact, he's older
than the oldest rock on
earth - and he will exist
into all eternity.
Just enjoy making yourself
small before someone so
great.
Enjoy the comfort of
knowing someone as small
and weak as you can find a
refuge of someone who
likes you, knows your name
and likes you, so that you
may find rest in him.
Number two: Confess your
sins.
The difficulties of the
people on earth and the
miseries of the people of
Israel were because of
their own sin.
"We're consumed by your
anger Lord," Moses says,
"because you've set our
iniquities before you, our
secret sins in the light
of your presence" for
before you Lord, nothing
is secret.
This is healthy.
It's not creepy, it's not
morbid.
It isn't hangdog, it's not
depressing.
Just admit your aching
need.
The great one holds you
accountable for how you
behave and expects you to
be as holy as he is.
Don't blame somebody else.
Don't make excuses.
Don't make light of it.
Don't laugh it off.
Don't say, "Well," - don't
get out your pointing
finger and say, "Not my
problem."
Now there's the sinners.
Admit it for yourself so
you can become healthy.
As long as you hold your
sins inside and don't
acknowledge them before
God, they're like a
poison; they're toxic.
It's like an acid eating
away inside your heart.
Dump it out so that you
can become healthy for you
will find forgiveness
complete in Jesus for them
all.
Third: Realize that human
death is not the result of
the fact that medical
science just has not quite
yet found the cure.
For every disease that
medical science can find a
cure for, God will find a
way to bring death in some
other way.
And death will chase us
until the end.
"You sweep people away in
the sleep of death," like
God's just brooming them
off; every day he brooms a
few more people off the
planet.
This is a bitter truth of
our existence but it's an
absolutely vital one for
you to see and
acknowledge.
Death is the result of the
curse of God upon humanity
because of our sins.
"The soul that sins shall
die," Scripture says, and
we see that coming true
day after day, one by one.
Rate of inflation for
death never changes, does
it?
One per person.
And it happens to us all.
This isn't morbid talk;
this is just reality.
And you can't really have
a happy life until you
come to grips with this
sad fact that human death
is the result of human
sin.
Point number four: Learn
the lesson of this.
Verse 12 Moses says,
"Teach us to number our
days aright so we may gain
a heart of wisdom."
What should we conclude by
looking at when the angel
of death moves through?
Learn from this and
realize our time on this
planet is quickly slipping
away.
Yesterday, in this very
building, a young woman in
her twenties was laid to
rest; way sooner than
anybody wanted or dreamed
it would ever happen.
You don't know the number
that's going to be
chiseled - the second
number - on your
tombstone.
So prepare now since you
don't know.
Now is the time to take
care of this business to
come before your Lord.
Where do you go for the
dilemma of our sin?
Where do you go to escape
the angel of death?
"Relent, O Lord" Moses
says, verse 14: "Satisfy
us in the morning with
your unfailing love."
That's a Hebrew word whose
Greek equivalent, charis,
is grace.
We go to God's grace that
he has a rescue plan that
he gives because of his
inside goodness; not
because of your or my
achievements.
Verse 16 towards the end:
"May your deeds be shown
to your servants and your
splendor to their
children."
Moses, you might envy
Moses, because he got to
see the glory of the Lord.
He got to see the ten
plagues smacking Egypt
down.
He got to see the huge
pillar of cloud.
He got to see the golden
box of the ark of the
covenant and the bright
cloud going inside of the
tabernacle.
But something Moses never
saw was the fulfillment
that he was waiting for;
the fulfillment of the
arrival of the Savior.
You and I have a
phenomenal advantage over
even Moses; one of the
greatest of God's Old
Testament leaders because
you have had shared with
you the good news of the
arrival of the Savior as
God said.
You have the certainty of
the forgiveness of your
sins.
You have the certainty of
the resurrection of
Christ.
You have the certainty now
of knowing that you will
rise, as well.
And that means that the
death stalker has no
terrors for us; that this
doesn't have to be creepy
talk for Christians
because we need a Savior
but we have a Savior.
And his immortality, his
resurrection, guarantees
both your forgiveness and
your resurrection, as
well.
When Moses says, "Make us
glad once again for as
many days as you have
afflicted us," that is
where your gladness of
heart comes from.
It comes not when your
eyes are focused on
yourself, your
achievements, your
efforts.
Look at Jesus and gladness
will come to your heart.
"May the favor of the Lord
our God rest upon us."
That is where our
salvation comes from.
God's favor through Christ
resting upon us.
And number six - this kind
of surprises you; you
might think that would
have been a great place
for the Psalm to end - but
Moses finishes with
saying: "Establish the
work of our hands for us -
yes, establish the work of
our hands."
You might think that that
would be a great place to
end by Moses says, "Lord,
establish the work of our
hands."
In other words, what we're
doing right now for God
still matters!
And as individuals and as
a congregation and as
Christians, we have the
unbelievable privilege of
sharing this hope, how to
escape, how to find some
gladness in a world full
of struggle and
bitterness, how to find an
exit, how to live beyond
that death angel who goes
around cutting people
down.
How grass and flowers that
are cut and dying once
again get their color back
and bloom once again.
Establish, Lord, our work
that we do in your name to
make great your name to
tell people about the
Savior that we have.
And in that way, his favor
rests upon us but it will
also rest upon everyone
who hears that precious
gospel message.
We need a Savior because
we're dying but because of
our Savior, we are alive!
That's good news for God's
people.
Let everybody say "Amen!"
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MATTEK]
Pastor Jeske just had an
incredible message on the
reality of death and those
can be very difficult
moments for us.
I remember one day a
number of years ago, my
wife and our two small
daughters were driving
through Chicago and my
sister-in-law was in the
car with her, traveling
with her.
I was back at home many
miles away and my phone
rang.
I picked it up and it was
my sister-in-law and the
first words out of her
mouth were "everybody's
okay," which wasn't a good
sign.
They had been hit by a
semi in Chicago traffic.
They had been driving
through stop and go
traffic and my wife
stopped in time when the
vehicle in front of her
stopped, but the semi that
was behind her wasn't able
to slam on the breaks in
time and so the semi
smashed into the back of
our minivan, crumbled the
whole thing.
My two little girls were
in the back seat of the
minivan; amazingly, they
weren't hurt.
Those moments can be very
difficult as we think
about the mortality of
those we love and even
ourselves.
But Pastor Jeske told us,
as he reminded us, the
best place to look during
those moments isn't really
at death; the best place
to look is at our God -
our awesome and our
eternal God - who wants to
be so close to us as we
walk through the valley of
the shadow of death that
he comes down to this
earth and goes through it
himself, gets crunched by
death, only to rise above
it on Easter morning.
What a glorious message to
give us hope and
confidence and freedom as
we walk through this life.
I'll be back in a minute
to pray with you.
[PROMOTION] Time of Grace
is blessed with very
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I already answered a book
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And I've just written a
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called More Straight Talk.
Now, we won't have all the
answers to every question
till we get to heaven,
where we shall know fully,
even as we are fully
known, as 1 Corinthians
13:12 says.
But in the meantime, it's
great fun to dig into the
Word together, as we'll
get to do in my new book,
More Straight Talk.
More Straight Talk is our
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[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MATTEK] I
would like to take a
moment to say thank you to
those who support this
ministry with their
generous offerings and
their prayers.
You are the ones who allow
us to take the sweet
gospel of Jesus to hurting
hearts just like mine and
just like yours.
Let's bow our heads and
pray together.
Dear Lord Jesus, We are so
grateful for your
sacrificial love that led
you to the cross, to go
through the valley of the
shadow of death yourself,
to stand by our side and
be the sacrifice for our
sins.
We're so grateful for your
victory over death on
Easter morning that allows
us to live with hope and
joy and confidence, even
as we walk through those
valleys.
Keep that message on our
hearts today and every day
and help us to bring that
message to those who might
be facing the reality of
death today, tomorrow, our
loved ones, our neighbors,
those in our community.
This whole world needs
hope and hope is exactly
what you give us in your
death, your resurrection.
In your name we pray,
Amen.
For Time of Grace, I'm
Pastor Jeremy Mattek.
It all starts now.
[MUSIC]
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