Eternal Father and Frail Children of Dust

ETERNAL FATHER AND FRAIL CHILDREN OF DUST[1]

Unpacking and applying Psalm 90 with input from Matthew 6:25-34

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: February 8, 2026

Series: The Basics of the Christian Faith

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

I invite you to turn to Psalm 90. Psalm 90 is my primary text for this message, and the passage that I read earlier – Matthew 6:25-34 – is kind of a secondary and supporting text to this particular message. But I want to go ahead and read Psalm 90. Holy Scripture says:

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
² Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷ For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
¹⁰ The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

¹² So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
¹³ Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90)

This is the word of God, and it is for our good. Let's pray:

Father, I pray that you would take the words that you have inspired in Psalm 90 and in Matthew 6, and that you would send them into the depths of our hearts, that we might know you better and that our lives might be transformed by your grace. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

INTRODUCTION

One of our familiar hymns is “O Worship the King”, and one of the stanzas reads like this:

“Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail:

Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,

Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.”[2]

The Bible tells us who we are as human beings. It tells us that we are made in the image of God. And if we would rightly know ourselves as image bearers of God, then we must know God in whose image we have been made.

The significance of being made in the image of God was driven home to me again recently. My family often watches on weekday mornings a news program that's designed for young people called World Watch News. And you may have actually seen this clip, seen this segment on other news outlets as well, but a deer broke into a bank. Did anyone see that? Anybody? You did, yeah, a few of you. A deer broke into a bank and went through the window and he's running around the bank and causing problems. The bank was closed. It wasn't during business hours. But you know, he was making a mess. And, of course, the authorities came and they were able to move the deer toward the window and get him back out the window and they let him go. And I was thinking to myself, you know, if that intruder had not been a deer, but had been a man, they wouldn't have let him go. They would have apprehended him and taken him in for questioning and probably pressed charges against him. Why? Because we are made in the image of God. We are moral creatures and we are called to account for our actions.

We are privileged and perplexing creatures

And you know, as we think about this, as you can see up there [on the PowerPoint slide], we are privileged and yet perplexing creatures. On the one hand, we bear the marks of special design, right? As human beings, we know what it means to have moral courage; great intelligence; remarkable skill which will be on display in the Olympics over the next couple of weeks; relational beauty. We build things, we develop things, we write books, we gather together in buildings like this to listen to 45-minute talks, to ponder the meaning of things. We are not deer, we are not earthworms, we are not apes 2.0. We have a special design as image bearers of God.

But on the other hand, we also bear the marks of significant dysfunction. We tend to be self-absorbed creatures who are easily overwhelmed and anxious about life, resulting in significant relational conflict that sometimes turns to exploitation and violence and other forms of moral filth. Something is wrong with us, something is wrong in us. And we all know this.

And so while on the one hand we have this special dignity, on the other hand we are sinful and as sinners we have dishonored and degraded ourselves. We occupy this high position in the world that God has made, and yet we're in a horrible predicament. We're the object of God's special protection and care, and yet we're also the objects of God's wrath, as Psalm 90 and Ephesians 2 and other passages make clear.

We are broken and beautiful

I appreciate the way that counselor Dan Allender summarizes the human condition – and he would apply this to the individual, to your family, to your nation. It's so helpful to you, if you want to be mentally healthy. If you want to be spiritually healthy, then you must understand – and this is Allender’s summary that I find so helpful – you must understand that you are beautiful and you are broken. Your family is beautiful and broken. Your nation is beautiful and broken. And Scripture bears witness to this reality over and over again.[3]

Three questions

Most of this sermon is going to unfold in the form of answering three questions. I'll tell you what the three questions are right now:

• Question 1: What do Psalm 90 and Matthew 6:25-34 teach us about God?

• Question 2: What do Psalm 90 and Matthew 6:25-34 teach us about our predicament under God's wrath?

• Question 3: What do Psalm 90 and Matthew 6:25-34 teach us about our potential under God's grace?

Those are the three questions that I want to walk through.

QUESTION 1: WHAT DO PSALM 90 AND MATTHEW 6:25-34 TEACH US ABOUT GOD

What do Psalm 90 and Matthew 6:25-34 teach us about God?

The Lord Creator God

Well, right off the bat, we learn in verses 1 and 2 (of Psalm 90) that God is the sovereign Creator. He's addressed as “Lord” – Ruler, Sovereign, Master. He is evidently the Creator because He is the one who “formed the earth and the world”. And he is referred to as “God” at the end of verse two. He is the Lord Creator God.

Our dwelling place

And this Lord Creator God is our true “dwelling place”, as we see also at the beginning of verse one. He is our refuge, our true home. And this communicates to us that God is a personal and relational God who cares for us. And this goes right along with the fact that in verses 13 and 14, Moses makes an appeal to God's compassion and to his steadfast love. He's not some impersonal force or uninterested being in the heavens, but he actively cares for us. And Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:25-34 that “your heavenly Father knows [what] you need” (Matthew 6:32) and that if he feeds the birds of the air, how much more will he feed you (Matthew 6:26)? He clothes “the lilies of the field” (Matthew 6:68). How much more will he clothe you? (Matthew 6:30) The Lord Creator God is our true dwelling place.

Eternal, immortal, and outside of time

We also learn in these opening verses of Psalm 90 that God is eternal, immortal, and outside of time, right? He is eternal – as you can see at the end of verse two: “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

He is immortal – just by way of contrasting him with verses 3 to 7. In verses 3 to 7, man is brought to an end over and over and over again. And yet God endures.

And he is outside of time. Verse four: “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” We are bound in so many ways by time and space. But whether you are Methuselah and live for 969 years, or Joseph and live for 110 years, or King David and live for 70 years, to God it's all in the blink of an eye, and you're gone.

God displays holy anger toward sinful human beings

Finally, in terms of who is God and what he is like, we learn in these opening verses – in the first half of Psalm 90 – that God displays holy anger toward us human beings because of our sin. You see the phrase “your anger” in verse 7, which is repeated in verse 11. And then you see references to God's wrath – “your wrath” – in verses 7, 9, and 11.

And we know from the context of the whole Bible that God's anger and wrath is not him flying off the handle the way that we can fly off the handle over the slightest inconvenience. But God is holy, righteous, and just. He has a determined and principled opposition to all that is sinful and unjust and unrighteous. And God isn't just experiencing anger and wrath in terms of his own inward experience, but he's actually acting in accordance with that anger and wrath. You can see that all throughout this psalm. In verse 3 he says, “Return, O children of man [i.e., to the dust]!” That's echoing Genesis 3:19, right after Adam rebelled against the Creator. After Adam disobeyed, that’s when God said to him: “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) Do not think that death is simply the natural order of things. It's not. God didn't create us in Genesis 1 and 2 to die. But the perfect order that God had made was interrupted by sin and death. Death is God's answer to our sin. Death is a testimony to the righteous judgment of God.

You see more of God's activity in verse five: “You sweep them away as with a flood” – reminding us of the great flood in Genesis 6-8. And then in verse eight, God sets our iniquities before him, “our secret sins in the light of [his] presence.” In other words, he's not ignoring our sin. Instead, he's bringing it before him. It matters to him. He's taking it into account. He's holding us responsible for it. He's going to do something about it.

Coming to terms with God’s anger and wrath

Now perhaps there are a few of you here this morning who really struggle with this concept that God is angry and wrathful. You know, as you heard me talking about the fact that he is the Lord Creator God, and that he is eternal, immortal, and outside of time, you might be thinking to yourself, ‘Yeah, that makes sense. I'm okay with that.’ And then you hear about, you know, God is our dwelling place and he's loving and kind and he cares for us, and you're kind of thinking to yourself, ‘Yeah, I like that. That sounds really good.’ And then you hear Psalm 90 saying over and over again, he's angry, he's wrathful at humanity, at people just like you and me. And you might feel and think, ‘Really? That's not why I came to church this morning. I came to be encouraged.’

Well, if that's you, I just want say something to you, okay? Just imagine that you create a world and you populate that world with certain creatures and you've designed the whole thing to work a certain way. And then those creatures that you have populated your world with decide that they don't like you – keep in mind that you made them! – they decide that they don't like you. They're turning against you. They're going to do their own thing. And in doing their own thing, they're causing great injury to each other and they're wreaking havoc on the world that you made. But you care about the world that you made, you care about the people that are in it, and you care about your own honor and glory. How are you going to respond? With an indifferent ‘Oh, that doesn't matter.’ No one would respond that way! You would care deeply and be offended by this havoc that's going on in the world that you made.

God cares. God is characterized by holy love. And he is not indifferent to the injustice and unrighteousness that takes place in the world that he made.

QUESTION 2: WHAT DO PSALM 90 AND MATTHEW 6:25-34 TEACH US ABOUT OUR PREDICAMENT UNDER GOD’S WRATH?

Psalm 90 teaches us what God is like. Psalm 90 also teaches us about our predicament under God's wrath.

Our sin and God’s wrath

Of course, the reason for our predicament is that our relationship with God is broken. This is obvious in verses 3 through 11. We understand that our sin is the root of the problem. And don't think of sin as just violating a specific moral rule. Sin is that, but sin is much deeper than that. Sin is most fundamentally breaking faith with God. It's walking away from God. It's refusing to find your identity and purpose in God. It's walking away from the Creator. And so he's supposed to be our dwelling place, our true home, but like the prodigal son, we leave, we go into a far country. And what Psalm 90 is teaching us and what Romans 1 teaches us (we talked about that in Sunday school this morning), is that we leave home (that is, we walk away from God), and by way of response God says in his wrath, ‘All right, have it your way.’ That's how Joel articulated it this morning, which is exactly what Romans 1 says, the idea being ‘All right, have it your way.’ (See Romans 1:18-32, paying special attention to verses 24, 26, and 28.) So we're far from home, and we're under his wrath. It's like we're lost at sea.

We’re on this slow march to death

And we're on this slow march to death. I mean, before we get to the joy, the jubilee, of the song that Judi sang before the sermon (the jubilant joy being profoundly right!), but before we get there, we have to reckon with this slow and painful march to death that is part of the human experience.

And it just comes out in this text so powerfully. Verse 3: “You return man to dust”. Verse 5: “You sweep them away as with a flood”. Verse 7: “we are brought to an end by your anger”. Verse 9:“we bring our years to an end like a sigh.” Verse 10: “they [our years of life, marked by toil and trouble] are soon gone, and we fly away.” We're all heading toward the grave.

The mood of our existence before we get to the grave

And what is the mood of our existence before we get to the grave? What's the feel of our short life? Well, as I'm thinking about this psalm, the first half of the psalm, to me the feel of it is heartache. Time is fleeting (v. 5-10): time is getting away from us, there isn't enough time.We're like a flower that blooms for a moment, and then it's gone (v. 5-6). And that's kind of like us, right? We're dismayed – we're terrified – on account of God's wrath (v. 7). Our life is characterized by “toil and trouble” (v. 10) Isn't that an accurate description of the human experience? Toil and trouble.

It's no wonder that people are disillusioned, depressed, stressed out, anxious. Moth, rust and thieves steal away our stuff, and then death steals away our life. What's the point?

Chasing after security apart from God

And then in reference to the other passage that I read earlier, Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:32 that the Gentiles, meaning those who don't know God – those who don’t know God “seek after all these things” (Matthew 6:32). What things? They seek after food and drink and clothing (Matthew 6:25-31). In other words – don't miss what Jesus is saying – people who don't know God chase after security apart from God. We chase after food, drink, and clothing. We chase after scarce resources. We chase after security, shelter, utilities, technological tools, comforts. We're looking for a refuge. We're looking for a security. We're looking for a safe place apart from God. And this search for security apart from God is wearying and exhausting, and it leaves us anxious, full of angst and insecure.

The Lord must be our dwelling place. And if the Lord is our dwelling place, we will work because God created us to work, but we'll work without the angst. But as it stands, apart from him, if we don't know him, if we're not resting in him, then we have angst and insecurity in our lives.

How the sparrow answered the robin

Have you ever heard about the conversation that was once overheard in an orchard? Elizabeth Cheney wrote these words in a 19th century poem called “Overheard in an Orchard”. Here’s how it goes:

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so!”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me!”[4]

He feeds the birds of the air, and you are of so much greater value than the birds. Are you resting in his care? In Matthew 10:29-31, Jesus teaches us that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from your heavenly Father. And then he tells us, and you are of more value than many sparrows. And he also says that all the hairs on your head are numbered. Since this eternal, immortal, Creator God so cares for you, do not be afraid – this is what Jesus says to us.

QUESTION 3: WHAT DO PSALM 90 AND MATTHEW 6:25-34 TEACH US ABOUT OUR POTENTIAL UNDER GOD’S GRACE?

Let's go to the third question: What do Psalm 90 and Matthew 6:25-34 teach us about humanity's potential under God's grace? And when I use that word ‘potential’, I'm not so much talking about what we are able to do, but rather what God is willing to do for us, in us, and through us.

We must become humble learners (v. 11-12)

In Psalm 90, notice that verses 11 and 12 are transitional. In verses 3 to 10 we've got this long, slow, certain march to death. And then Moses asks the question, “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?” (v. 11) Not many. Not many. Few there are who enter into this sober reflection. But it invites us to consider what all this means – what God's justice means, and what death means, and what sin means, and what this toil and troubled existence mean. We ought to slow down and reflect on these realities.

And then the prayer in verse 12: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

And how does Jesus teach us in Matthew 6? He tells us: “Look at the birds” (Matthew 6:26); “Consider the lilies of the field” (Matthew 6:28). You see, he's inviting us to consider and learn.He knows we're made in the image of God. We're meant to think and reflect and ponder things – and that's part of the transformation process. We need to be humble learners who are eager to learn from God about how to live in this fallen and sinful world, and how to live as a fallen and sinful human being.

What it would look like for God’s grace to show up in our lives (v. 13-17)

And once we get to verse 13 and following, Moses presents several requests to the Lord. It's interesting that it is at this point in the psalm when Moses uses the Lord's personal name. You can see that in most of your English Bibles, the “LORD” in verse 13 is in all capitals, thus referring to Yahweh, his personal name by which he was known to his covenant people Israel. This is kind of like how in a New Testament context, it would be at this point when you use the word ‘Father’. As in, ‘Return, Father.’ That's kind of the idea. “Return, O LORD!” (v. 13)

And now Moses is presenting these requests to the Lord. But the whole Bible bears witness to the fact that God delights to grant these requests to those who seek him. And so I want you to consider what it would look like for the Lord to answer these prayers in your life and mine, okay?

The Lord returns to his people with compassion and comfort (v. 13-14)

Number one: the Lord returns to his people (v. 13). There's been this separation, right? We've walked away from him. And that word return shows up in verse three when God says, “Return, O children of man [to the dust]!” But now Moses envisions the Lord returning to his people. And to what end?

Well, in verse seven, we are dismayed by his wrath, but Moses is praying that the Lord would return to his people with pity (v. 13) – with compassion, with comfort and consolation for his weary and troubled people.

The Lord satisfies and gladdens us (v. 15-16)

And then that he would bring us, in place of the affliction and trouble that has defined our lives and that perhaps has defined your life even to this very hour, that he would replace that affliction and trouble with satisfaction and gladness (v. 14-15). Look at verses 14 and 15: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.”

When the Lord returns to us with compassion to comfort us, he satisfies us and gladdens us – not with things; not with stuff; not with, you know, everything on your wish list granted; not just to take away your problems. No. He satisfies and gladdens us with himself, with his steadfast love. And he brings us home, as it were, to him, to his dwelling place. See, we were made to dwell in him. Look at the beginning of Psalm 91: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:1-2) That's where you and I are made to dwell day by day. He restores the wasted years. He causes the ruins to be rebuilt. The joy of salvation exceeds the sorrows of sin.

The Lord shows us his glorious powerful work of redemption (v. 16)

Next, moving on to verse 16, if he were to answer Moses’ prayer, which he delights to do, he would show us his glorious and powerful work. Of course, his glorious and powerful work is on display all around us and above us in the starry hosts above. But in particular here, what must be in view is his work of redemption, his work of reversing our predicament, his work of restoring and transforming our lives, bringing us out of the place of trouble and bringing us into the place of blessing. Even as in Colossians we read a couple of weeks ago, how he has transferred us – for those of us who are in Christ – “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)

The Lord bestows blessing on us and our work (v. 17)

And then, finally, if God were to answer the prayer of Moses, which he delights to do – moving to verse 17 – God bestows his favor upon us and establishes our work upon us. Our life becomes stamped with the beauty of his grace, and we become partners with God in filling the world with good work. His saving work (verse 16) leads to our sanctified work (verse 17). Same flow of thought in Ephesians 2:1-10, right? His work of saving grace leads to our life of good works that he prepared beforehand for us to walk in. His glory shown to us (verse 16) leads to our God-anointed labors (verse 17). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58 that our labor in the Lord “is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

What kind of work could we think about in reference to this? All kinds of work the Lord sets before us. Meaningful work in our marriage; in parenting and raising children; in caring for our household and stewarding our homestead; in all kinds of employments and service, whether we're compensated or not.

And of course, this isn't meant to be just understood on an individual level, but that together, as the people of God, God has given us work to do. We're called to labor “side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). And of course, keeping in mind Matthew 6:25-34, what does Jesus tell us to do in Matthew 6:33? “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). And in the parallel passage in Luke 12:22-34, Jesus tells us that living your life in the reality of God's kingdom means living generously in giving to those in need (see Luke 12:31-34). And this could be understood spiritually, relationally and physically. We're called, in the fullness of God's gracious work in our lives and being satisfied with having God as our true refuge, such that, out of that fullness, we open our hearts and our lives to bring the spiritual riches of the gospel, and our own friendship, and also practical, material help, to those in need, thereby reflecting the grace and generosity of God.

PSALM 90 INVITES US TO SEE GOD’S GRACE THROUGH THE FAITHFUL ONE WHO GOES TO GOD ON OUR BEHALF

Now if I were to stop this sermon right now, it might be a good sermon, but it wouldn't be a great sermon. And so there's one more step we have to take, okay? Psalm 90 invites us to see God's grace through the faithful one who goes to God on our behalf. And in order to make this point, which takes us right into the Gospel, we have to give our attention to a part of the psalm which is often neglected – and that is the superscription.

Now if you have an ESV Bible – some of you probably do and some of you don't – if you have an ESV Bible, there's a heading over Psalm 90. It says “From Everlasting to Everlasting”. That heading is not part of the inspired text. That's just human editors, you know, giving you a little orientation to the psalm. And that's fine.

Moses, a faithful man of God

But when you get to the next words, when it says, “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God”, that is part of the inspired text. And I want you to think about this. Moses was a faithful man of God. He wasn't perfect, but he really was a faithful man of God. And he is praying this prayer on behalf of an unfaithful people. Now I don't know this for sure, but I assume that Moses probably crafted this prayer near the end of his life. And I want you to think about the circumstances in which he was in. He lived the first 40 years of his life in Egypt, and then he lived the next 40 years of his life as an exile in Midian. And then he spent the last 40 years of his life leading the children of Israel. A small portion of that last 40 years was spent bringing Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea. But most of his final 40 years was spent leading the children of Israel wandering around the desert. Because every single adult Israelite who had been rescued out of Egypt was sentenced to die in the wilderness, except for Caleb and Joshua. So think about it: Moses, for 40 years, gets to watch one Israelite person after another die in the wilderness. But he knows that another generation of Israelites has arisen who are about to enter the promised land.

Moses began his prayer, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Then in verse 16 he prayed, “Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.” (italics added)

Moses is thinking multi-generationally here. He's praying that this next generation of Israelites would know the blessing of God and would abide in it in a way that the Israelites who were rescued out of Egypt didn't do. You see, when Moses said “You sweep them away as with a flood”, it’s not just that the ancient world was swept away (Genesis 6-8), it’s not just that Sodom and Gomorrah were swept away (Genesis 19), but that this whole generation of Israelites were swept away.

And so Moses, the faithful servant of the Lord, sought the Lord's favor on behalf of unfaithful people. Now that's a wonderful thing. That's a wonderful thing when a faithful man goes to the Lord on behalf of an unfaithful people. There's only one thing better, and that's when a perfect man goes to the Father on behalf of an unfaithful people. And so we have to understand Psalm 90 in light of the Gospel.

Jesus, the perfect Man

Jesus, who shares in the eternality and immortality and perfection of His Father, nevertheless left the glory of heaven in order to draw near to those of us who are afflicted in the flesh. The Son of God became a man and dwelt among us. And he knew well humanity's predicament and it touched his heart. He had tender mercy coming out of his heart for people who are suffering in this fallen and sinful world. He would carry our sins into the very presence of God. He could pray verse 8: “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” Why could he pray that? Not because he had any sins of his own, but because he was the appointed leader, head, representative and priest of a sinful people. And he took responsibility for and carried our sins into the presence of God, not wanting to distance himself from the problem or point his finger at us, but rather to be the solution to the predicament. And so, he didn't make it to the 70 or 80 years (mentioned in Psalm 90:10). He was cut off in the prime of life. But the Father exerted his glorious power in raising Jesus bodily from the dead.And whenever we – you or I – place our faith in Jesus Christ, he raises us from the dead too (Colossians 2:12) – a spiritual resurrection for us now (with the promise of bodily resurrection in the future). And so we read Psalm 90 in light of the Gospel and in light of Jesus as our great high priest and perfect sacrifice. In him sin is atoned for, and God's wrath is turned away. And now God's smile, compassion and favor come to all who believe in Jesus. In Jesus, all these prayers, all these aspirations, all of these promises become ours.

Someone wrote these words in the 19^th century:

“O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.

“Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other name for me;
There’s love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee. 

“I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not Thee;
But while I passed my Savior by,
His love laid hold on me.”[5]

Has his love laid hold on you? If it has – after I pray and the praise team comes up here, what we are singing in these final two songs, we are singing the glory of redemption, the glory of knowing the glorious saving power of God in our lives through Christ, and so – if his love has laid hold on you, then sing as one who is alive to the glory and the grace of God.

If you're on the outside, if you don't know Christ, it couldn't be a better day to ponder the difference it would make if his love laid hold of you today.

Let's pray:

Father, I pray that you would make these truths increasingly real and definitive in our own experience, that we wouldn't just know these things in our head, but that we would live with abandon as those who are trusting God, thrilled at your grace, eager to share it with the world. We thank you in Jesus’ name, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] The phrase ‘frail children of dust’ is taken from the hymn “O Worship the King”. See the relevant stanza quoted early in the sermon and footnoted below.

[2] From the hymn “O Worship the King” by Robert Grant

[3] I have heard Dr. Dan Allender say this on The Allender Center Podcast.

[4] Elizabeth Cheney, “Overheard in an Orchard”, 1859.

[5] From the hymn “O Christ, in Thee My Soul Hath Found” by John Bowring.