well i invite you to turn this morning to psalm 36 psalm 36 so i thought it'd be appropriate to consider a psalm for this occasion psalm 36 this morning let's give our attention this morning to this wonderful psalm to the choir master of david the servant of the Lord transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart there's no fear of God before his eyes for he flatters himself with his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated the words of his mouth are trouble and deceit he ceased to act wisely and do good he plots trouble while on his bed he sets himself in a way that's not good he does not reject evil your steadfast love oh lord extends to the heavens your faithfulness to the clouds your righteousness is like the mountains of god your judgments are like the great deep man and beast you save oh lord how precious is your steadfast love oh god the children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings they feast on the abundance of your house and you give them drink from the river of your delights for with you is the fountain of life and in your light do we see light oh continue your steadfast love to those who know you and your righteousness to the upright of heart let not the foot of arrogance come upon me nor the hand of the wicked drive me away there the evildoers lie fallen they are thrust down unable to rise there is the reading of psalm 36 well we have much to celebrate in thinking about our history in 70 years here as a church and there have been many blessings and you know there have been many challenges along the way but the clear evidence before us is God's faithfulness is God's faithfulness in preserving us as a people that's what's clearly evident I'm sure we've had many over the years families go out from us and I always say i think we populated most of the urcs in the west coast but the lord has preserved us as a people hasn't he i don't know how much you think about these things but 70 years is a rather rare occurrence in our present church environment to having been sustained this many years there have been studies over the past years and as they go in general the findings are that between 30 to 40 years of a church life you begin to see serious theological decline in terms of energy beyond that for the mission in other words you might put it in jesus's term the love of the church grows cold 30 to 40 years and then that by 70 years the life cycle of a church is generally over that's the sort of going statistics and findings in light of many pew and other sort of research poll results but there have been a variety of factors that that account for that but the one thing we should never take for granted is how God has preserved us as a church for these many years. Think about that for a moment. How easily it is to not appreciate this. How easily it is to not think about this. How easy it is. And to really not reflect upon where we could be. One of those things is to think through and pause for a minute, to think about God's faithfulness in blessing us as a church and what He has done for us as a people that's that's what an occasion like this gives us the opportunity to do and i'm obviously somewhat late on the scene having been here since 2012 so you know that's a little bit of time 11 years but nothing like 70 years and to pause and to think however with you seeing as as somebody that's somewhat a late comer on the scene as the pastor to see how the lord has been been faithful how the Lord has blessed this congregation is a wonderful thing to reflect upon for a moment. And I want to ask this important question today. I want you to think about this important question today, which is really the driving question that I want to press home in this particular sermon and text. Where would you be without the church? Where would you be? Pillar and ground of the truth, meaning that where truth is found, where truth is given, where truth is disseminated. Where would you be without the church? Where is truth found? I make that the central question of this sermon. Because I think it's easy to be a part of this traditionally. I think it's easy to be a part of this formally. And to attend without ever really thinking and appreciating what God has done. Reflecting upon what he has done to put in place through the ministry of the church. Which is the body of Christ. His bride whom he loves. And as you know, the church has appreciation for the church. We are not in times where there's appreciation for the institutional church at all. Obviously, when this church was formed, there were those who made a serious commitment. A serious commitment to be here. A serious commitment to raise their children. Knowing that they couldn't do business in America. And devote their lives to this place. And devote their lives to being good citizens of society. And devote their lives to making money without the Lord. Think about that for a minute. The commitment of all these years of those who initially began this work and were committed. And I know, having now done many funerals and memorials of the old saints of this church, their passion and their love was for the church of Jesus Christ. That's the, if you're going to talk about a legacy, that's the legacy that was left. And that's what I want to think about. For if we ever get to a point at which this is not appreciated because it's the thing that we were born into, or our first love is left, or we view the church as a burden, or we do what we can if we could stay away, or if we are not invested in the lives of the people, we are already on that path of decline to that degree of which that is prevalent in a body. That's your decline. That's the decline of the church. To the degree that we have the attitude of no appreciation of the gospel ministry, that's the degree of decline. That's where you see it affect your children. That's where you see in the next generations it slowly die because they don't appreciate what was established. Well, as we come to the table this morning, I thought it would be good to spend time on a psalm that helps us with this question of where would we be without the church and then to think a little bit about the faithfulness of the Lord and what he has done, asking the question, why does the church matter? Why is the church important? Why is the local church important? God has his church everywhere, of course. Wherever the name of the Lord is, wherever people are calling on the name of the Lord, there is this church. I'm talking about why is the local church, why is the Escondido URC important for you? There were many places to go in considering this question, but the Lord kept pushing me back for some reason to Psalm 36. I just couldn't get out of it. The psalm provides, as many psalms do, a fascinating contrast between the righteous and the wicked. You know, this is a very effective teaching tool to contrast the righteous and the wicked. And David does this. David helps us with this, as the Psalms commonly do, to be impressed for a minute and to think about what is the alternate path that I could be on? What is the path of the wicked of where I could be? The contrast is important to him. The contrast really matters to him. He started this contrast in Psalm 1. So it's been on his mind the whole time. He designates it as an oracle about the wicked. That's the original here. It's an oracle. It's an oracle about the wicked. Our translation doesn't quite capture it, but the translation is powerful. Transgression speaks to the wicked. I rehearse this because I want, as we celebrate God's faithfulness, in the escondido urc to think about this question for a minute where would we be without the church it's a scary question it's a scary question transgression speaks to the wicked an oracle about the wicked transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart there's no fear of god before his eyes for he flatters himself in his own eyes verse 2 and his iniquity cannot be found out and hated the words of his mouth are trouble and deceit he ceased to act wisely and do good he plots trouble while on his bed he sets himself in a way that's not good he does not reject evil what a mouthful what david is is ultimately describing here for us is something that was elaborated and explained at the beginning of psalm 1 that that shows the pathway of two very different kinds of people in this life the righteous and the wicked and it's important because there are many people in this life who have chosen to live life acting as if god does not exist acting as if god is not there acting as if they will live their lives under the sun in a prosperous way without god the people who attempt to live this life make a purposeful choice never to think about God and he's describing the course of their lives in this oracle we worship what we fear don't we the pathway presented here is a pathway of those who try to live life apart from God but in a specific way who live with absolutely no fear of him no reverence of him no thought of him no worship of him and so it begins with something Paul of course made a big deal of in Romans chapter 3 there is no fear of God before their eyes if we will not worship and fear the Lord then who will we worship you will worship something and the psalm says it'll be yourself notice that the pathway there's an interesting thing said in verse 2 that the wicked live so full of pride in life notice the the language here he flatters himself with his own eyes he he lives so much for himself everything's focused on himself everything's focused on his narcissism everything's focused on the pride of life but notice the result of this in verse 2 this verse blew my mind this week i couldn't stop thinking about this verse all week he so flatters himself in his own pride that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated i don't know that's something to really think about he lives life so full of pride absent of the worship of the lord fear of the lord he has absolutely no ability in life to see his own sin and hate it that is quite a verse it's one of the most remarkable statements I think here characterizing the path of the wicked that ends with you'll notice there at the beginning he doesn't reject any evil in his life he can't see it there's no conviction about it Psalm 49 came to mind of the consequences of that for we can all see the wise die that the foolish and the senseless also perish leaving their wealth to others their tombs will remain their houses forever think of this beloved think of the weight of what i'm saying to you right now their dwellings for endless generations though they had names named after them this is the fate of those who trust in themselves and of their followers who approve their sayings they are like sheep destined to die death is their shepherd you're used to saying who's your shepherd two shepherds in this life the Lord and death death is their shepherd they are the psalmist says here David they're committed to a life of sin that ends and the fact that they never see their evil they never hate their evil they never reject it in their life his conscience David says is so hard in sin he lives with no remorse there's no sorrow there's no guilt they don't even feel it it must have been what Paul was looking at when he said the Gentiles are past feeling this is beloved the sad path of those who walk in the darkness all around you this is particularly what you're groaning about right now i hear you say it all the time to me pastor i don't know about this crazy world we're living in this crazy world we're living in it's not that people weren't evil before it's the escalation of evil that has happened in the masses that so many people in our times are walking a path they don't even see where would you be without the church I was reading an article in a major news publication that asked why have Americans stopped this is the title of the article just this month a few days ago why have americans stopped going to church this is secular people asking this take a drive the article says down main street of just about any major city in the country and with the housing market ground to a halt you might pass more churches for sale than homes About 40 million Americans have stopped going to church in the past 25 years. Something's happening. And it represents the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history. Think about that claim. The largest concentrated change in church attendance in history. And what are you saying about the culture right now? What are you saying about the state of things? The problem in front of us is not that we have a healthy, sustainable society that doesn't have room for church. The problem is that many Americans have adopted a way of life, now listen to this, that has left us lonely, anxious, and uncertain of how to live in community with other people. Oh, secular claim. Look at your neighborhoods. Are the children out playing anymore? Are they bouncing the ball till late at night like I used to do? They're all tucked away in the house in front of a screen. Creating an environment, he says, where people, this is how the article ends, Creating an environment where people can ask more of one another and give more in turn seems like a wise rule of thumb for any community. If only American life didn't make such a prospect feel so daunting. Just ask how many people are attending church on a given Sunday? And I don't say this proudly. I'm about to get to the point here. In my neighborhood, my whole neighborhood, we may be the only family. What about that commitment years ago in 1950? Something's happened. It has to coincide somewhat with the end of Christendom in America, doesn't it? Might I suggest that this is the greatest problem of our society right now? But this is not just a problem among pagans. This is in Christian communities where the church is just not valued. Even at the Christian school, we hear more and more. I hear it all the time. Parents who say they go to church and they have their kids at the Christian school, the portion of them not even in church is astonishing. The psalmist wants us to think about where would we be without the mercies of the Lord? where would we be? Well, you could apply verse 2. You'd be going through life, prosperous, making money, with a seared conscience to everything that matters. Have you asked if that was you? How scary that would be? And that leads to the surprise of the psalm this morning. Verse 8 gets to the heart of God's blessing in your life. What is it? They, the righteous, God's people, feast on the abundance of your house. And you give them drink from the river of your delights. for with you is the fountain of life and in your light do we see light. What a contrast. What a radical contrast. He draws attention to something very important in verse 8. They're satisfied with the abundance of your house. That's beautiful. What's he talking about? Well, this is something the Psalms have already made a case for. It's all throughout the Psalms for a context. Just think of something like Psalm 5. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness. Psalm 27. One thing I've asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 122, I was glad when they said to me, let's go up to the house of the Lord, clearly on the Sabbath. Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Amidst all the struggles of life, psalmists over and over describe something very special that happens when the saints come together. In the Old Testament was the tabernacle and the temple and when the Lord gathered his people together, that was called the house of God. All of your burdens and all of your problems and all of your sorrows and all of the things that you are very sensitive about are addressed here. The most important things of life. The Lord was doing something very important because in the center of the psalm, The crucial verse, the center of the whole psalm is verse 7 where it says, How precious is your steadfast love, O Lord? Chesed. Do you see the contrast here for a minute? The wicked attempt to live life apart from God and they only know a life of sin and a sin that progresses to the point where they don't even see it in them and they don't even feel it. And God says there's something so different about your steadfast love, O Lord, to your people. Here we come to the Lord's house and our burdens are lifted. Here we come to the Lord's house and our sins are announced that they are forgiven. Here we are told that the loving kindness of the Lord is better than life. And that covenant love rests upon you and your children. And coming to you, O Lord, there's a fountain of life. And in your light, do we see light? See the difference? We see. We see. Where would you be without the church? Where would you be without the church? In total darkness. And look at the people we are called to enjoy. Look at the community we have here. If a secular article could just write that and say that's the biggest problem pressing American culture is. We're isolated, lonely, depressed, full of everything under the sun to try to solve, medicating ourselves to death, drinking ourselves to death, ruining our lives. Here's your community. Here's the people who love you in sincerity, not the government. Look at these people who sincerely care for you. look at these people who pray for you look at these people who give you the shirt off their backs have you stopped and asked what really has upheld me all these years what really has kept me do you know it may not feel so exciting you know I have a wonderful wife who likes to cook and she makes great meals for me every night one of the things that she hates is when i'm not sitting with her while she's or helping of course helping you know but not sitting there talking to her while she's preparing that meal for me you know maybe your wives do that for you every night and you have said that was fantastic thank you for the wonderful meal maybe you said that last Monday do you remember what she made for you what did it do for you well you wouldn't be feeling very good right now if you hadn't eaten Monday night had you not eaten every day last week you'd be dying right now and you don't even know from day to day you forget what was made for you those meals sustain you you know and you give little thought the next day about what you consumed and took in that preserved you what you don't realize is every week every Sabbath God's doing that do you remember my sermon last week maybe remember the sermon the week before about three weeks ago I worked really hard on that I want you to know he's sheltering you he's upholding you so that you don't walk the path of the wicked and the very power you desire is given to you and you don't even realize it but you're here. It's kept you. For 70 years he's done this, beloved. For 70 years. The Lord's been here every week. What do we believe about his house? He's gathering with us. He's feeding us. He's sustaining us in his word that washes and cleanses us. That word that brings Christ to you, that word that guides and enlightens your whole life so that you see that's what he's describing here and you are the people of which something very special has happened you are the people of psalm 63 in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water i have looked to you oh lord in the sanctuary to behold your power and your glory and that's the work of the spirit in your lives that you are troubled by sin it's his very job to convict the world of sin the problem of the wicked is they don't even see it he's done it in your lives you're troubled with sin you hate sin you struggle against sin and he knows what you need and as you gather he gives you peace and he gives you strength and he gives you help and He's spread a table before you today. Think of all the saints who've lived and died in the Escondido URC. Their lives were all upheld their days by the word given from this pulpit over 70 years. You receive the heart of this psalm when you say with Him, how precious is Your loving kindness, oh Lord, that you've shown to us. We come here today and drink from the rivers of his pleasures. How precious is coming before the Lord. I think there are some here who need to reevaluate your whole attitude to the church because that's the stagnation that keeps us back. You've had it all your life. and you've yet to resonate with what he's talking about. Because how easy it is not to appreciate this if you've had it from birth. This is the appreciation and the thanksgiving that we should have when we consider where we could be. And the psalm celebrates that. Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens. Your faithfulness to the clouds. Verse 6. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like the great deep man and beast you save, O Lord. In other words, he is celebrating his knowledge of the Lord and his attributes. Here we see our righteous king and what he's given us. He's given us everything in his son. That's how the psalm ends. Continue that steadfast love to us, O Lord. To those who know you. And your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not this great danger that fills my own heart. Let not the foot of arrogance come into me. To think that I don't need you in this life. And that your worship can be sacrificed. Let not that arrogant path fill me. Nor the hand of the wicked from the culture and even in my own heart, drive me away. Because why? There, evildoers lie fallen. And they are thrust down, unable to rise. You don't want that path. Continue to provide for us, O Lord. Continue to shelter us lest we fall. many churches have been carried away to compromise and unfaithfulness and the fruit of it is they've taught their members there's no importance in even coming anymore. So they're emptying. And in those places where we see no appreciation of what the church is intended to be and to bless and to accomplish for people through the gospel, we see deadness. We deserve that, of course. Because we would willingly choose that if we could. But the Lord has preserved us. There's a lot to celebrate in 70 years of God's covenant faithfulness if you will just open your eyes and see it. It should lead us to praise the God who could care for us like this and shelter us all the way to death because death is not our shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd. Today He gives us food and drink to celebrate His covenant love of His Son. You'll never get this anywhere else. The very supper that proclaims Christ for you. Praise God for His faithfulness to the Escondido URC. Where would we be without the church in our lives? Exactly where the first verse describes. An oracle about the wicked. They sin and harden their hearts in sin and they never even see it. May it make us humble and thankful, treasuring the privilege to come together as the house of God, to treasure his steadfast love. For as the Psalms say everywhere, those, listen to this, those who know my steadfast covenant love, in these, says the Lord, I take delight. What a treasure to know the steadfast love of the Lord through the ministry of the Escondido URC. May we be thankful. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this is not our work, it's yours. For unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain who build it. And we need your mercies, O Lord, to appreciate all that you've done for us. Help us, we pray, to treasure your steadfast covenant love. Thank you for being so faithful all these years. May it make us to realize with great humility and have a desire that all the peoples who walk in darkness would know this great light. For with you as a fountain of life, and in your light do we see light. Feed us today, O Lord, and give us drink from the rivers of your pleasures as we come to the supper. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.