I love this Psalm. I love for its practicality. I think the Psalms are in the Bible to keep us honest about what the life of faith actually looks like. Psalms aren't pristine. This psalm is honest. It talks about bad news. Listen, biblical faith will never ask you to deny reality. If you have to deny the harsh realities of life in a fallen world, to have peace of heart, you may get temporary peace of heart but you're not exercising biblical faith. The Psalms are honest. And I love the honesty of this Psalm, but I love this Psalm for another reason. I love Psalm 112 because Psalm 112 is actually a finger pointing down the generations to a particular man. There was a man who walked on earth who was utterly fearless, whose heart was always firm, who did not quake and wobble in the face of bad news. He was perfectly gracious, He was perfectly merciful, He was perfectly righteous, He was always generous in every way, He was the epitome of justice. You probably know who I'm talking about. That man was Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of what this Psalm is about. Men, you don't have to look far for your model of fearlessness. Sorry, it's not Paul Tripp. I have to confess there are moments where my heart still wobbles, but Jesus's heart was always firm. And because of that, His life was known by its grace, by its mercy, by its righteousness, by its generosity, and by its justice. And that, men, is the hope of this passage because Psalm 112, as it talks about fearlessness, cries out for a Savior. Because we need to be saved from our fear, we need to be rescued. You see the thing that you and I need to be rescued from the most is not the bad news outside of us, it's the bad news inside of us. The thing that we need to be rescued from most is us. And so, Jesus came to live the righteous life that we wouldn't be able to live, to die an acceptable death, to rise again conquering sin and death so that in our fear, we can run to Him for help and He will not turn us away. I've said this many, many times, that the most dramatic heart-wrenching moment, the greatest moment of pain for Christ in the cross was not physical, it was relational. It was that moment when the Father turned His back on the son. And Jesus cries out, "Eli eli lama sabachthani. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Listen, Jesus took every ounce of our rejection so in our weakness and in our failure, in our forgetfulness, in our fear, we would never see the back of God's head. I know I'm talking to domineering and controlling men who have damaged their marriages and damaged their children as a result. I know I'm talking to men who won't admit it, but run away in the face of difficulty. I know I'm talking to men who in the face of obstacles, do and say things they shouldn't do because your heart isn't firm; filled and captured by a fear of God so it stands firm even in the face of bad news. I know there is need represented in you. And the good news is you don't have to act like you're something that you're not. You don't have to fake strength. You don't have to give yourself to some kind of cultural, macho bravado. You can run in your weakness to your Savior and He will meet you and He will strengthen you by His grace. It really is true; it's only ever fear that defeats fear. It is only ever that mind-numbing, heart-engaging, life- shaping awe of God and His incalculable glory that finally releases me from the myriad of fears, small and great, that can grip me and capture me and control me and divert me. And it's only ever that firm-hearted fearlessness that takes me from the wrong kind of model of strength to servant strength. To gracious, merciful, righteous, generous, just living. I believe the church is crying for this kind of man. I believe the family is longing for this kind of man. Our culture is in want of this kind of man. May there be a harvest of firm-hearted, fearless men who move out in graciousness and mercy and righteousness and generosity and justice who are powerful tools of change in the hands of the Lord of glory. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful passage of your word. May we run to you and may you make our hearts firm and may that result in a harvest of good fruit. We pray these things in the sweet and strong name of the fearless one, Jesus, amen.
Transcript: Session 1
MEN OF FAITH
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