So, if you would turn in your Bibles this morning to the Psalms, just crack your Bible in half and you'll be just about there. We're looking for Psalm 131 this morning, Psalm 131, it's on page 658 in your pew Bible. We return this morning to our series through the Songs of Ascent, Songs of Ascents, hard to say two plurals. Songs of Ascents. There's 15 of them. We're at number 12. Psalm 131 is one of four of these Songs of Ascents that are entitled of David. Whether they were written by David or about David, we can't really be sure, but they certainly apply to David. They apply to all whom David represents, those who are trusted in the Lord. This short and relatively simple psalm exposes the fundamental sickness of the human heart. And it points us toward its remedy. Now Psalm 131, I wish this were closer in time, but Psalm 131 closely relates to Psalm 130. I encourage you to read them both today at once. Both begin with prayer to the Lord and both close with this exhortation that is found only in these two psalms in all of Scripture, O Israel, hope in the Lord. Both offer reasons for placing hope in the Lord. Psalm 130, because of who He is and the redemption that He has for His people. And Psalm 131, because of how He's with us now and forevermore, changing us. And both present a vivid image related to this hope. Psalm 130, that of watchmen on the walls waiting for the morning. Here, that of a weaned child sitting in his mother's lap. In this short psalm, we begin by listening in as the psalmist insists to the Lord, I'm not the man I used to be. And then he turns to us in verse 3 and urges us to hope in the Lord. So here now the Word of God, Psalm 131, a song of ascents of David. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Here ends the reading of God's word this morning. Well, the psalmist begins in verse 1 to insist, I am not. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. A faithful translation, to be sure, but it veils the edgy insistence of the psalmist who begins each line with the word, not. O Lord, not high is my heart. Not high are my eyes. And not do I walk in great and extraordinary ways. O Lord, I am not that man. I'm not that man. which from what follows in verse 2 suggests that he used to be. Oh Lord, I'm not the man I used to be. My heart was lifted up. My heart was proud. I was proud. I thought more highly of myself than I ought to think. Like the Prince of Tyre who did not thank you for his great wealth and said, I am a god, I sit on the seat of the gods, I thought of myself as a god. I could do what I wanted, whenever I wanted, however I wanted. My eyes were raised too high. I was arrogant. I had haughty eyes, eyes that looked down my nose from my self-proclaimed throne on everyone else to let them know how inferior they were. I was one of those that you mock in Proverbs 30, verse 13. How lofty are their eyes! How high their eyelids lift! They're so full of themselves. That was me. I did occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. I was ambitious. I was ambitious. And I presumed upon you, it was not enough for me to aspire to be and to do my best for your glory and the benefit of other people. To be a good steward of the gifts that you gave to me. No, I was determined to be and to do greater things, more marvelous things for my glory, for my good. Striving to bend the creation and you, in fact, to my will. Prying into secrets that you have not revealed. Like the people on the plain of Shinar who said, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with a top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves. That was me. Like the Israelites during the Exodus who were not content with your revealed will but preoccupied themselves with discovering what you had kept secret. Why this? Why that? What are you doing? What's next? Lord, I was all that. And I thought I was a good guy. And yet, I was all that because I was a natural born son of Adam. Proud, arrogant, and ambitious for the moment of my conception. A son of disobedience, dead in my trespasses and sins. Carrying out the desires of my body and my mind. but I'm not the man I used to be. I've changed, verse 2. But I have calmed and quieted my soul. I have calmed and quieted my soul. Now that sounds like something that I've heard before. Probably something that I've said before. I've changed. Trust me. Really. I've changed. Well, as familiar as it sounds, that's not what the psalmist is saying. He's making a claim, a strong claim, that's backed up by the evidence that he makes with an oath. It's lost in our English. There's an oath here. It's veiled in the poetry, it's veiled in the English, but he is declaring to the Lord under oath that this is true. And he does it in the form of a question. He says, oh Lord, have I not? Have I not calmed and quieted my soul? You know how I was. You know how I am. Have I not calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother? Like a weaned child is my soul within me. Providential timing. I love it. And we can all see the picture that he's painting. A beautiful picture of comfort and contentment. Appropriate in God's providence for today, Mother's Day. Now my guess is there's at least one mother here who's looking forward to that day when this picture is true for her and for the child that she nurses right now. It's a day of maturing. It's a day of change. It's a day of progress. And every child needs to one day be weaned. But as your mother will remind you, if you dare to ask her, children, do not wean themselves. Mother must initiate and persist, and the child must learn against their will until their will is changed to want for themselves what mother wants for them. And we know from experience that even though mother does the weaning, it is the child who is weaned. And likewise, we know from the Scriptures, beyond this brief pictorial psalm, that it is the Lord who does the changing. But in the end, it's the sinner who is changed. Have I not changed, Lord? You know that I have. You know that I have because you're the one who's changed me. By the Holy Spirit, through the Word, you showed me how great my sin and misery are. You showed me that I had haughty eyes and a proud heart. That these are the lamp of the wicked and they are sin. You showed me that it is evil to boast in my arrogance. You showed me that I have not and I cannot bend your will to mine. There is no prayer, incantation, formula that can bend your will to mine and that I do not know and I cannot know what you have not revealed. With Job I covered my mouth. You granted me repentance that leads to life, to know and believe and to trust the Christ who for the psalmist was yet to come and for who us, we know, has come in Jesus Christ. You gave me the right to become a child of God, born not of physical birth, but of birth that comes from you to all who believe in the Christ. Whether this Old Testament psalmist, King David, you, For me. You've taught me to trust you in all things. To be patient when things are against me. To be thankful when things go well. And for the future to have good confidence in you. For with you, as Psalm 130 told us, there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption. You've taught me to hope in you. Again from Psalm 130. To wait with perseverance for your timing. To wait with expectation of your provision. For you have let me know that it is you who began this work in me and that you will bring it to completion by the last day. And that it is you who is working in me. Even now, even today, to will and to work. For your good pleasure. I have learned what the Apostle Paul also learned in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I've learned the secret of facing plenty and want, abundance and need. The secret I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. Lord, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child who no longer clamors or demands to be cradled in mother's bosom and intoxicated on her milk but rests in mother's arms, comforted to be held near and content to be and to have what Mother provides. My soul no longer clamors after or demands what I want, when I want it, how I want it. But rest in your arms comforted to be held near content with what you provide. Lord, I've changed. Not that I'm already perfect, but I press on and make it my own because the Christ has made me His own. That's a pretty powerful prayer. In it, the psalmist lays bare his heart to the Lord about the fundamentals of his life. And he does this in the presence of God's people so that you and I can hear it. and it bears witness to this truth that he is not the man he used to be. Through faith, hoping in the Lord, he has changed, and you can too. In verse 3, he turns to his fellow pilgrims, to us, and says, O Israel, hope in the Lord. We heard it in Psalm 130, hope in the Lord, for with Him there's steadfast love and plentiful redemption, reminding us that with Him and through faith in Him we're justified. We are made right with God. We have a new relationship and in that faith we can pray. That's what that whole psalm was about, is calling on the God that we trust. And we hear it again here, hope in the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore. reminding us that even now we call on the Lord, even now we hope in the Lord, and we will forever, and things are happening now. He's at work now. As He is in the life of the psalmist, He is in the life of all of His people. He's sanctifying us. He's making us holy through faith in Christ. Hope in the Lord, who promised a Messiah, a Savior, who has come, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this world to save sinners like you and like me. And He loved us with perfect love. Some of you had 1 Corinthians chapter 13 in your wedding. Perfect love. You'll find there that it does not envy or boast. Jesus was never proud. You'll find there that it does not insist on its own way, and Jesus was never ambitious. He did what he said. He said, I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And Jesus was never arrogant. Philippians chapter 2. He did not cling to his divine entitlements when he became flesh and dwelt among us to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus was not like what we were. But he is able to sympathize with our every weakness because in every respect he's been tempted as we are, but without sin. He was tempted to ambition. You know the story when he was in the wilderness for 40 days fasting and Satan came to him. Amongst the temptations, he was tempted to gain all the kingdoms of the world and their glory if only he would worship Satan. He did not sin. He was tempted to put himself first by others and his own flesh, tempted to avoid the cross. Three times he prayed. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But he did not sin. Rather, he went on to pray, not as I will, but as you will. And he went on to the cross, obedient, even unto death. He understands the temptations to pride. and arrogance and ambition. But he is not sin. We put our trust and our hope in this Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope in him who has fully paid for all our sins and set us free from the tyranny of the devil and from slavery to pride and arrogance and ambition. hope in this Lord who calls you to rest in Him. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. To everyone who hopes in this Lord, God has promised to conform you to His image. To change you. It's a promise. He was doing it for the psalmist. He will do it for you. By the Holy Spirit, He will change you. Really. Truly. Here and now. Although not yet perfectly. He will renew your mind so that more and more you think His thoughts after Him. Growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He will renew your mind. He will renew your affections, your loves so that more and more you love who and what He loves. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. You will love your neighbor as yourself. You will love his law that tells you how to do both. And he will renew your will. That faculty he gives us for choosing. Equipping you with everything good that you may do his will. Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. through Jesus Christ so that more and more you want and you choose, according to the will of our Father in Heaven, what He wants and what He chooses. And when it comes to your life and the changes that He wills for you, He gives you the will and the zeal and the drive to put off the old self, which belongs to the former manner of life, the man or woman that you used to be, And to put on the new self. Created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So, if you hope in the Lord, if you hope in the Lord, you must count yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The psalmist gave us a picture, his personal example, that demonstrates to everyone who hopes in the Lord that you are not who you used to be, but you've changed. And I brought to bear this morning a lot of New Testament revelation to unpack this experience. because it's not here in black and white, but it's here in heart and soul. The Apostle Paul says it this way, and you know this. He sums up this psalm beautifully. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Therefore, people of God, hope in the Lord Jesus Christ from this time forth and forevermore. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this testimony born on the pages of Scripture by a man left unnamed. Perhaps David, perhaps about David. Yet, Lord, it reveals to us the reality of what it is you are doing for us, your people. That when our hope is in the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not the man or the woman that we used to be. We have changed because you have changed us. We have changed because You are changing us. Lord, help us to remember that this is so. To embrace it. To be zealous for it. To give ourselves to it. To pursue what You've set before us in Your Word. That we might more and more be renewed in our minds, in our affections, and in our wills. that we would be conformed more and more to the image of Christ our Savior. In Him we are indeed new creations, and we praise You and thank You for it in His name. Amen.