Surrendering Your Future

Hey, good morning. Hope you're doing well this weekend. Man, if I've not met you yet, my name is Chris, and I have the privilege of leading our staff here at Church on the Move Tulsa. And today I'm honored to take you through Psalm 17. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and grab those. I do wanna say a quick welcome to our church families at Dick Connor and Dr. Eddie Warrior. We have two church families in prisons. Could we put our hands together and welcome them this weekend? Let's dive in. We're gonna begin in Psalm 17, a prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord. Attend to my cry. Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit. From your presence, let my vindication come. Let your eyes behold the right. You have tried my heart. You have visited me by night. You have tested me, and you will find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips, I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped. I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God. Incline your ear to me.

Hear my words. Wonderously show your steadfast love, O Savior, of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. From the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. They close their hearts to pity. With their mouths, they speak arrogantly. They have now surrounded our steps. They set their eyes to cast us to the ground. He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush. Arise, O Lord, confront him. Subdue him. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure. They are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. This is the word of the Lord, and we all said. One thing you may notice when you read the Psalms, in fact, one of the things that characterizes them as Psalms in the first place, is the raw, unfiltered emotion that the Psalmist seemed to bring to the Lord.

And if we're being honest, maybe for some of us, it's to a degree that we're a little bit uncomfortable with. I remember one of the first small groups I was in, was in there with Pastor Blake, close friend Aaron, future brother-in-law Grant, several others, part of this church. And we were in a small group on prayer. And by the time it got around to me to share an insight for that week's reading, all that I could muster up was just, I hate the Psalms. I didn't resonate with the emotional language. The language to me that felt like whining, and of course, sometimes the response would be, well, this is meant to drive intimacy or vulnerability with the Lord. Again, language that I did not resonate with. Very pragmatic, how is this gonna help me tomorrow? But little did I really understand at the time, that that type of honest language is really the basis of which many of the Psalms begin. Putting it all out there. And a couple of things have happened in my life since then, one of which is the Lord has given me two daughters, and so now every day is a Psalm. It's a Psalm. But the other thing is you accumulate a few dings, you get a few setbacks. You go through life experience, and you come to realize, appreciate,

the strength, the candor, the will that David puts before the Lord. Keep in mind if you're where I was, that David is a man that plays the harp, but he's also a man that carries a sword. He's both poet and king, songwriter and warrior. Few of us achieve the type of emotional range and depth that David does. So I think as we look at Psalm 17, there's a few things we can learn about the way that David goes before the Lord, laying it all bare. I like the message translation of this, 17, one and two. Listen while I build my case, God. The most honest prayer you'll ever hear, show the world I'm innocent, for in your heart you know that I am. I don't know about you, but most of my prayers don't begin with Lord, I'm innocent. But that's exactly what David does here. He has no problem showing up to the Lord exactly as he is. And friends, this is the first thing I want you to see this weekend in the way David shows up, is he shows up fully submitted to the Lord. Or I might even say wholehearted submission. We are masters at bringing everything but just our whole heart. We know how when we're in relationships with other people,

how to just present the parts of us we want them to see, but not the real us. We're able to do this on social media in new and profound ways, yet we say we live in a day where we want authenticity. But in reality, we keep creating these magical tools that help us be anything but. I could have AI write the caption to my edited, filtered, enhanced photo. I don't even, I just have to tell it what preferred vision I want of myself, and it's not the real me, it's just a me I wish I was. But we didn't start doing this with social media. No, this has been part of the human condition for thousands of years, where we love to just put something out there that we wish we were, but not who we actually are. So when we run into an acquaintance, maybe an acquaintance we haven't seen in some time from school or from a place we used to work, do you ever catch yourself trying to manage the image they have of you? See, when they're telling you about their life, you're not actually listening, you're thinking about what you're gonna tell them that might impress them. Your focus is on you, your focus is on the image you can give this person. We do this in friendships. We gather on the weekend, and the human tendency is what? We tend to over-represent our contributions at work

and under-represent the contributions of others. We love to over-inflate ourselves managing an image. And friends, we do this in our deepest relationships. We see this in marriage counseling from time to time, where everything seemingly was good on the surface. And then after years, decades sometimes, what comes spilling out is from one spouse who has not been fully honest with the other. And I'm not just talking about capital S sin stuff. It can range from I hate going to your mother-in-law's to I don't like the food you make to I don't want our kids in those activities. Everything comes just spilling out because for years, one person has not been honest. Friends, the basis of a submitted relationship starts with honesty. It starts with being truthful. There can be no alignment where you have not been honest. And see, we know in relationships that it's possible to just comply. And this is often what we confuse submission with is compliance. What do I mean by compliance? For the purpose of this conversation, compliance is like do what you're told and smile. Go along with it. And it's so easy to just go along through the motions. This is what I think Jesus meant when he quotes Isaiah and he says, this people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me.

That we have a way of outward appearance being one thing but in our hearts being in a completely different place. Friends, you can outwardly adhere and inwardly remain divided. But submission is about purity of heart, getting what comes out of my mouth and my heart on the same page. I want you to think about one of the ways we use the word submission. On one hand, a definition is yielding to a superior force. But another definition I found this week that I think is helpful says this, submission generally refers to the act of presenting something like a document, proposal or artwork to an authority for judgment or approval. Submission is about handing something over for someone else to judge, for someone else to evaluate, for someone else to approve. So when I'm in seminary or when I was in seminary and I'm working on my paper and it's due at midnight, it's 11.58 p.m. and I'm finishing up, works cited page and I upload this document. When I hit submit, something has changed. I have now taken my work and handed it over for, in this case, to the superior person in this relationship is the professor, for him or her to evaluate, to grade, to give feedback on. I am offering something to them for feedback in return.

Friends, this is what we do with our hearts. We don't submit our work. No, we submit our very hearts before the Lord and say, Lord, do with this what you will. This is what submission requires is that you and I hand God something. We are giving ourselves over and trusting him with it. So friends, we submit our hearts. And this is what David, I believe, is saying when he says, I'm innocent, Lord, hear my cry. He places his heart fully and transparently in the hands of God, which is why in one Psalm like this, he can say, I am innocent and another, he can say, I have sinned. And like a couple of weeks ago, he could say, I hate my enemies, I wish you would kill them. He puts it all out there before the Lord, offering to the Lord what he has, but it's not just David that models this type of relationship for us. It's Jesus himself. On the night before Jesus died in Matthew 26, when Jesus is praying in Gethsemane, it says, and he goes a little further, he falls on his face and he prays, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Jesus fully trusts the Father. He fully trusts the person he's in relationship with. And this is the foundation of submission.

Do I trust you with what it is that I'm about to tell you? Have you ever been in a conversation with a friend that's maybe deep? And it gets to a part in the conversation where you want it. if I share this with them, what will they think of me? And kind of the fear is that they respond, you're crazy, never been through that, never dealt with that. But oftentimes, trust strengthens when you share it and they go, man, I've dealt with that. I've been through that. I know what it is you're going through. And it is interesting that David begins the psalm with here. We wanna be heard when we have complaints. We wanna be heard, we wanna know that the person I'm complaining to is listening and David is confiding in a person he knows hears him. And friends, Jesus models in the garden for us the pattern of biblical submission. It starts with honest confession, space for God to respond, and then alignment to his will. I'll say that again. The pattern of submission is honest confession, space for God to respond, and then alignment to his will. Jesus leaves the garden, a man fully submitted to the Father, full of trust. And the submitted person to the Lord doesn't hold back because he or she knows that God can handle your fears, your insecurities, your strengths, and your weaknesses.

But what you and I as humans do often is we don't submit our whole selves to the Lord. We don't come wholeheartedly. Again, as I said earlier, we bring just part of ourselves. And this has been happening ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and sin entered into the human condition. See, immediately after Adam and Eve sin, what happens? They are separated from God. When God shows up, we find them hiding. Let's look at this in Genesis 3. It says, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. This is what happens. Presence of the Lord shows up and you hide yourself. I don't wanna show God all of me. I'm just gonna show him the part that I wanna control and just part of my heart, not my whole heart. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? He's shown up for his daily walk and Adam's not there. Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Friends, a result of sin is to hide yourself from God. I don't want God to see me as I am. I want him to see me as part of who I am. But biblical submission requires

that you and I hand over our full heart to God and trust him with it. God will not settle for part of you. He wants all of you. But the human condition is God don't look at me, look at someone else. Don't see me as I am, look at somebody else. I saw this just this week with my kids. I think it was Tuesday morning I was reading and out of the corner of my eye, my wife saw the whole thing. She was on the couch. I've got three kids. I've got an eight year old, five year old, two year old, all for the moment sitting at the bar. And my two year old, Penny, reaches out and slaps at her brother across the face, scratches him down his face. So I kind of set my book down and I look at her and I say, Penny, did you just hit your brother? She says, no. Got a little more stern. Penelope Ann, did you just hit your brother without missing a beat? No, Ella did it. Two year old doesn't have to be trained in how to lie. Friends, and we don't either. It is part of who we are to deflect. See, when God confronts Adam, what does he do? Look at Eve.

God confronts Eve, what does he do? Look at the snake. This is the human condition. We don't want God to see who we really are. We don't want God to know what it is we're dealing with. But friends, the truth is relentless. It will be found out. God knows what's in your heart anyway, so you can just tell him willingly or one day tell him forcefully. Present it to him now. Go to him fully submitted. And here is where David is different from Adam and Eve and my two year old. He's a man fully exposed. Look at verse three. You have searched me. You have tried me. You have visited me by night. You have tested me. You will find nothing. I have purpose that my mouth will not transgress. David holds nothing back. He is a man fully exposed before the Lord. Here I am. I'm showing up with what I've got. I trust you. But he invites the Lord's discipline routinely. David's prayer, search me and know me, God. See, David invites a discipline from the Lord

that we too often ignore or don't want. Friends, you should know that when you lay it all before the Lord, you offer God your perspective, he will respond with his. But that's the point. The point is not that I go about my life seeking to self justify what it is I feel. The point is to put it before the Lord and trust that he will purify my heart, my desire and my motives. This is what Elijah models for us in 1 Kings. Elijah is a man on the run. I just wanna show you an example of this. He has confronted Ahab and Jezebel. He has called them out for their wickedness. And we see him pray a very psalm-like prayer when he flees to Mount Horeb, and he is inquiring of the Lord. The Lord shows up and asks him, what are you doing here? And Elijah says this, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. This sounds very psalm-like, right? Lord, I've been jealous for you, I'm innocent, there's all these enemies that pursue me, would you deal with them?

This is Elijah's prayer, it's very psalm-like. And here's how the Lord responds, and the Lord said to him, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Haziel to be king over Syria, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shaphat, I can't say the other words, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Haziel shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Now here's the key thing, God has heard Elijah, he's telling him what to do next, but he does confront what Elijah says. Elijah says, I, only I am left, and how's God respond, wrong. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees who have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. So when you go before the Lord, the Lord may not just agree with what it is you're saying. But this is the pattern of submission, honest confession, space for God to respond, now go and do his will. And this is what Elijah does, he leaves immediately and he goes to do and anoint the people God has said to anoint.

And to anoint Elisha as his successor. So friends, what I want you to see is you and I as followers of Jesus are called to bring our full selves before the Lord and entrust it to him. Entrust that he will do something with it. And friends, when we approach the Lord, here's the second thing I want you to see this weekend, is that we approach the Lord competent in justification. This is the way David approaches the Lord. David began his prayer with courtroom-like language, look at it, hear a just cause, O Lord. I am innocent, you have the ability to declare me innocent. In this case, who has the ability to make David innocent? Only the Lord. He cannot, by good behavior, reason his way out of this. Just to give you a little bit of context on where I think David is for the purpose of this sermon. We don't know exactly the context behind Psalm 17, there's some Psalms we know, like where David sinned or where it says clearly when David was on the run from Saul. One of the commentaries I read this week thinks 1 Samuel 23 into 24 is a possible backdrop. And so I wanna use that for the purposes of this. At the end of 1 Samuel 23, David has fled from Saul. Saul has been distracted by Philistines coming to invade the land. And then in 1 Samuel 24, we find David retreat to the hills of En Gedi, I've been to En Gedi, it's beautiful.

Holes in the wall, basically in the stone, it's just like caves all over the place. And David has found refuge in a cave. And in 1 Samuel 24, it says that we find David at the innermost part of the cave. And so I picture David praying a prayer like this one with his back up against the literal wall. And he's saying, Lord, make me innocent. Now on what basis does David make his claim to innocence? He says this in verse four, with regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips, I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths, my feet have not slipped. When David makes his appeal to the Lord for the Lord to deliver him, he does so because he believes himself to be a man justified. He believes that he is in the right. Friends, as I said earlier, when I appeal to the Lord, I typically do not start with prayers saying, Lord, I am innocent. No, what I deal with, and I think many of us might be able to relate to this, when you grow up in a Christian home, maybe you go to a Christian school, is the feelings you deal with far more often are feelings of guilt and shame.

You know, I don't remember my parents teaching me that Jesus died on the cross for my sin and that he rose from the grave. Oh, they did. But I don't like have that as a memory. No, I remember things like learning how to tie my shoes. I remember that as an event. But for some of us, we've been aware of this reality so long that Jesus died for us, that he rose from the grave. And yes, it may take on new meaning in life, but oftentimes when we feel this way, we feel that we are wasting our connection We grow up and we make mistakes and we go throughout our lives, even post-salvation. We make mistakes, we feel guilt and shame, why? to the Lord and that he died for us. Because we know better. And we can start to convince ourselves all too often, yes, we know we're saved by grace, I pray, but we think we stay saved based on our works. as I am about to pray this, Stay saved based on merit. Friends, when Jesus died for you, he didn't just die for your past sin, he died for past, present, all the stupid things we're gonna do in the future. He died for all of it.

His grace is sufficient for you. That's not a license to go on deliberately sinning, New Testament talks about that. But it's an opportunity to fall into the same grace that we always fall into. See, David appeals to the Lord, confident in his justification, confident that the Lord can declare him right. So in verse six, he doesn't mind crying out to the Lord, saying, I call upon you, for you will answer me. Oh God, incline your ear to me, hear my words. Friends, this is not a lesson in works-based righteousness. Listen, David is not a great man, if you read the rest of his story. He's a terrible father, like becomes a murdering adulterer. He's not appealing to the Lord, and we don't appeal to the Lord based on moral perfection. No, we appeal on a different basis, because we've been made innocent. This is how Hebrews chapter 10 describes it. It says, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place, everybody say confidence. By the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near, say draw near. With a true heart and full assurance of faith,

with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews is saying to do exactly what David does. You boldly, confidently go before the Lord because he has made you innocent. He goes to the Lord a justified man. Friends, in light of Christ, how much more boldly should we go before him? Knowing that because of his works, we have been made holy. Friends, my way I would say it is this. You do not bring your works to the Lord hoping that he makes you innocent. No, you go to the one whose work has made you innocent, and you appeal to him on that basis, not by your own merit, but by what he's done. It's so easy to convince ourselves that we've gotta have it all together before we go to the Lord. My son, at the beginning of the summer, every time I would fire up the lawnmower, he'd come running out, and he'd say, daddy, daddy, can I mow with you? At the beginning of the summer when it's 80, it's one thing. Now that's 127, it's like, ah. But he'll grab hold of the mower because he wants to do it, looking at the ground, lifting up above his head, and then he'll look at me and say, daddy, I wanna do it by myself.

Okay. And I look, and I watch as he mows an S into my yard. Now I want you to suppose for a second. I pull him to the side, and I say, buddy, you're just not very good at this. You need to learn how to do it right. Come back when you can do it better. What might that do to his heart? Would I start to teach him that time with dad is based more on doing things right than just being with me? Based more on performance than presence? Doing it right will come later. See, friends, this is what the Lord invites us to. Show up exactly as you are. Don't show up thinking you have to have it all together. I used the seminary example earlier. God is the professor that will say, just turn in what you have. Show up with what you've got. I don't need you to clean yourself up before you come to me. I just need you to come. Draw near to me. And friends, the Lord has given us a couple of aids to help us draw near to him. Notice the language that David uses. By the word of your lips, he knows what God has said. Friends, we are without excuse in getting to know God. Getting to know this is the best way to draw near to him. James says, draw near to God, he will draw near to you.

And some of us, we don't go to this because we don't understand it, it doesn't make sense to us. Can I encourage you, if that's you, start this week, read one verse. And then invite the Lord to tell you what it means. Just know that. Don't think you have to become a scholar overnight. No, because what's the next thing David says? No, I have held fast to your paths. This is the guiding nature of the Lord's spirit. Isn't this how Jesus refers to the spirit? When he sends the spirit, he will guide you into all truth. Friends, we have a couple of aids in helping us follow God and helping us draw near to him. We have the word and we have his spirit. And this is where David begins and makes. to God, he says here a just cause, O Lord. He believes that the Lord will declare him innocent because this is a God that he deeply knows. And the third thing I want to show you this week in the text is that David deeply knows the Lord, deeply trusts him, and then entrusts to the Lord his future. David surrenders his future to the Lord because David's doing it with someone he deeply knows. It is almost a guarantee that at some point in life you and I will face opposition. It can be in a family situation, a business situation, work situation, but at some point in life you and I will face adversity.

Jesus said as much. He said, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I've overcome the world. And the question is when you find yourself in those moments like David where it seems like your back is up against the wall, my question for you is what's going to come out of you? What comes out of David is who he knows God to be. In verse seven he describes him, O Savior, of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. When David is up against the wall, what comes out of him is who he knows God to be and he knows God to be a Savior and a refuge. Friends, when your trial comes, do you see the Lord as refuge? When your back's up against the wall, do you see the Lord as someone you can run to or do you seek to take matters into your own hands? And this is where David has an amazing opportunity. He has an opportunity in this situation to flee, to fight Saul head on, or to entrust the Lord with his situation. But what David does for us is he places his outcome, he's prayed boldly, Lord, declare me innocent, but also with an open hand, placed his future before the Lord and said, Lord, do with it what you will. Notice how his language changes in verse eight. He says, keep me as the apple of your eye.

So David has made his appeal, but now he turns to the Lord for protection. Keep me as the apple of your eye. Here's what that language means, like the apple of your eye, like to be the center of God's focus. For those of you that have seen Lord of the Rings, I think of this like a positive view of Sauron's eye. It's like the gaze of Sauron. Wherever his eye is fixed, that might as well be all that exists. When Sauron is fixed on Gondor, he's looking at that city, on Rohan, on Rohan, on the ring, on the ring. This is what David's prayer is. Lord, keep me as the apple of your eye. Don't let me out of your sight. Parents, don't we do this with our toddlers when we're out in the front yard or on the front porch or in the driveway and they're on their bikes or scooters, what do we have to tell them? Stay where I can see you. See, David has humbled himself like a child and said, Lord, keep me in your sight. Don't let me wander, don't let me out of it. I am seeking your protection. So then in the next verse when he says, hide me in the shadow of your wings, those of you familiar with your Bible,

you know that the wings language shows up often. And this is like a phrase used for God's protection, for God's both comfort and protection. And I wanna show you one of the ways Jesus uses it in Matthew 23. He looks out over Jerusalem and says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing. Friends, this is sobering. Because what it means for you and I is that God's protection can be rejected. When Jesus looks out over the city of Jerusalem, he looks at him and said, I wish that you would have submitted to my protection, but you were not willing. Friends, when the day of opposition comes, when the day of adversity comes, will you respond by seeking the Lord's protection or will you seek to take matters into your own hands? Will you seek him as refuge? See, I said earlier that I believe David is in the innermost part of the cave and he has his back up against the wall. An opportunity presents itself for those of you that know the story in 1 Samuel 24. As Saul has begun to pursue him again,

scripture tells us that Saul just happens to wander into the cave of David and where David and all his men, all his loyalists are with him, that Saul wanders into the cave to relieve himself, scripture says. And David's men gathered around him, look at him and say, hey, there he is. Sneaked out. I'm there, take him out. And so David, scripture says, stealthily wanders down to where Saul is in the cave, and it says that he reaches down and he cuts off a piece of Saul's robe. And immediately, scripture says that David is struck to the heart. He goes back to his men and says, I shall not touch the Lord's anointed. And he tells his men and persuades them, we are not going to take out Saul. Oh, but he has an opportunity. To take matters into his own hands and not trust the Lord's timing, but solve his problem right then and there. And he can reach forth and kill his biggest enemy, deal with his biggest problem, become king in his life. The men even plead with David, but this is the day the Lord has told you he has delivered your enemy into your hands.

But David says, I shall not touch him. I trust the Lord's timing. David, in this moment, places his future in the hands of the Lord, though he has the opportunity to do so himself. And friends, one of the biggest temptations in the day of opposition is that you and I take matters into our own hands. But David trusts. Vengeance is the Lord's. I throw this on you. I do not need to seek revenge. I do not need to take control of my life. No, Lord, I trust you with it. And friends, you might be in here today and you might say, but Chris, I'm not on the run for my life. I'm not dealing with that type of adversity. I'm not being pursued by a king. You know what's interesting in verse 12, the way that David describes this enemy, he describes him like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush. You know what this reminded me of? 1 Peter 5.8, where Peter says, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. Can I tell you, one of the best things the enemy does

is convince you and I that he doesn't exist. Scripture says our battle's not against flesh and blood. David has a flesh and blood example. And you may say, well, that's not my battle. Listen, your battle is spiritual. The enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour. And what's Peter's, how does he admonish us? Stay awake, be alert, be sober-minded. Do not convince yourself that you are not in a battle. Don't convince yourself that you won't face opposition. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Know that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion. But friends, when David fights his enemy, he fights his enemy the same way you and I do. What do both Peter and James tell us? Humble yourselves before the Lord. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This is exactly what David does when he's fighting Saul. He humbles himself before the Lord. He says, Lord, I don't know what is going to happen with this situation, but I'm putting it in your hands. In verse 13, he says, arise, O Lord. Confront him, subdue him. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword. Friends, I picture this again. David creeping down, sword in hand. Able to reach forth, take matters into his own hands and kill Saul. And I picture him laying down his sword and saying,

Lord, take up yours. Fight for me. Arise, O Lord. Pick up your sword. He casts his hope, he casts his future in the hands of his Lord. See, he's a man that's fully submitted his heart, so now he fully submits his life. But friends, he doesn't submit his life just for no reason. He submits his life because he knows the future life that awaits him. I want you to see how he describes his enemy in verse 14. The end of 13, he says, deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is this life. Their satisfaction is just in what this life can give them. You fill their womb with treasure. They are satisfied with children and they leave their abundance to their infants. Friends, isn't one of the best things this world has on offer the promise of abundance? Oh, don't we long for it? David says, these people have so much, they can leave it to their children. But he says, I won't be satisfied with that. He said, what awaits me is I will behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, I will be satisfied. with your likeness. This awake word is resurrection language.

It's not just waking up to a good quiet time, friends. It's when you rise, you will be with Christ. So David lays down his earthly life to knowing the heavenly life that awaits him. When Ella was born, it was a very long day. Brittany labored for 14 hours, probably. And then into an emergency C-section. And I remember them bringing me this little seven pound baby girl. And parents, you know the feeling. When you look at the face of this little baby that you're now responsible for, so many feelings hit you. Fear, what am I gonna do with this? Love, protection. And wouldn't it be great to live out what 1714 says, to give whatever abundance I may have to her. Like I would do anything for you. And in a moment, as you behold the face of your child, you're filled with love, gratitude, and appreciation. But friends, what David says in verse 15, I'll behold your face. That this feeling, the best, one of the best feelings we can get on this earth of holding our child, that this feeling pales in comparison to what awaits us. To behold the face of Christ and to look on him, to gaze at him the way he has gazed on me. Jesus says, but this is what, David says, but this is but a shadow of what's to come.

This doesn't even measure up to what awaits me. So he can gladly in this moment, none of this is bad. It's not bad to have abundance. It's definitely not bad to have children. These are all, this is God ordained. But what David says is don't settle for that. Await the glory that is to come to you. The way C.S. Lewis said it, is he said, when you aim at heaven, you'll get earth thrown in. When you aim at earth, you'll get neither. Friends, the way this Psalm ends is saying, man, keep the most important thing the most important. Trust that all that other good stuff is gonna come with it when you seek him. When you don't take matters into your own hands and you place your future fully in him. Like what 1 John says, 1 John 3,2, John describing this day, he says, beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared, but what we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. Friends, we've got a bright future that awaits us. So in the meantime, you and I can learn to be honest with the person we will one day see face to face, come before him boldly knowing we're justified and ultimately trusting that he has our future. Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, God, we thank you. We thank you for the opportunity that we've had to gather today to hear the word proclaimed. God, I thank you that I've been able to gather with these men and women and share the word from my heart, the word that I believe you've put on mine this weekend. Lord, help us to honestly come before you, be confident that we know we're justified before you and ultimately surrender our future to you. Lord, we surrender all to you today. Hey, if you're here this weekend, with every head bowed, every eye closed. And I've talked about relationship, I've talked about surrendering future to the Lord. And you're here this weekend and you would say, Chris, I've not ever done that. I've never surrendered myself to the Lord and you want to, I wanna give you an opportunity to do so. With every head bowed, every eye closed, I'm just gonna count to three. And on the count of three, if that's you this morning and you wanna say, hey, I wanna give my life to Jesus, I want you to just lift up your hands, our team would love to help you. So on the count of three, one, two, three. Anybody in the room this weekend, you would just say, yes, I see you down here. Anybody else? Any other hands this week? Back here, I got you, yep.

Anybody else this week, I need to begin a relationship with the Lord. Don't wanna miss anybody. Yep, I see that hand, thank you. Anybody else? Yep, I see you, yep. Anyone else at all? All right, church family, we're gonna pray a prayer together. We pray it called just the believer's prayer. And then we'll give you some next steps. Church family, repeat after me. Dear heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I confess I need a savior. Jesus, be my king. I surrender my life. Cleanse me of sin. And I will follow you all of my days. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Hey, can we celebrate with those who raised their hands this weekend? It's awesome. Yeah. When you leave this weekend, if you did raise your hand, or maybe you have in the past, and you want more information on what it means to follow the Lord and what it means to be saved, our team has a guide that we would love to give you and love to just share with you what it means to follow Jesus. If you need prayer for anything this weekend,

just come down front. We would love to partner with you in prayer and just believe with you as your church family. Would you stand your feet? As you do so, next weekend, our founding pastor, Willie George, will be continuing this series on the book of Psalms. Look forward to it. Let's say our blessing together as we leave here this weekend. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Have a great week. We'll see you next weekend. Thank you so much for watching this message from Church on the Move Tulsa. We really hope it encouraged you to take a step toward Jesus. Church on the Move is a family of churches in Northeast Oklahoma, each with its own in-person pastor. We love our Bibles, learning a community, and taking steps toward Jesus. If you live in the area, we would love for you to join us in person. For more information, check out our website at churchonthemove.com

or we've got a few videos we think you might like. Check them out here.