Well, thank you, choir, orchestra, and the children that sing so wonderfully. I just want to take a few moments and look into the scriptures. If you would turn with me to Psalm 72. Psalm 72, hopefully you have a copy of the scriptures. Maybe it's on your phone or in a seat in front of you or near you. We have been working through the Psalms over the last few months and thought it would be appropriate as we are focusing on this idea of waiting because some of you may be asking the question, okay, folks waited for generation after generation and then he came and now look at our world. It's still broken. It's still a mess. The leaders of this world, they still are pretty much about their own ambition. And we see the ramifications of that played out over and over again. But I want you to know that in the day in which Jesus came, people had this notion that he was going to be a leader, a king that would set up his kingdom immediately and really save the people from the Romans. And so they had this idea in their mind of what life was going to be like when the Messiah came And some of them were very, very disappointed. And you may be here this morning. You may be a person who looks around at the world, and you see the brokenness and all the hardship, and you hear about this person, Jesus Christ, and you think to yourself, well, it's a little disheartening because His coming really didn't accomplish much, at least from our perspective. Let me encourage you from the scriptures. Jesus came to accomplish something that would be very personal for every person. He came to accomplish what every person who has ever been born could not do for themselves. And that is bring redemption to themselves. The Bible tells us there's no one righteous. No, not one. and really not of our works are we saved there's nothing that we can do to earn our salvation to earn God's favor and so Jesus actually came not to immediately set up his earthly kingdom that is coming but to accomplish through his life his perfect life of obedience and through his death on the cross where he absorbed the wrath of God and all of the sin that was meant for us and the judgment he absorbed that upon himself and then he conquered death and he rose again and he returned to the father promising that the day would come when he would return. And so we have the opportunity in this season of time to personally experience the redemption of Jesus Christ. We may not see it on a grand scale although God is working around this world in amazing ways for his glory to save people for his glory. But we still see the masses of brokenness and hardship all around us. Psalm 72 really is a prayer for a man named Solomon. Some would say it was written by Solomon. Some would say it was written by his father David. But it's in light of Solomon's reign and this prayer is that he would rule in this particular way as it is described in Psalm 72. But most people would agree as they study Psalm 72, the expectations that are laid out here really are not humanly possible. It's the hope and the dream of every ruler that they would desire to rule along these ways. But it really points us to the one true king, because the only person whose name, as the text says, will remain forever and rule forever is Jesus Christ. And so this text actually paints for us a picture of what the rule of our King Jesus will be someday. And so it gives us great hope as we wait, as our theme is, a waiting world and a thrill of hope. Psalm 72 gives us a thrill of hope. And so I want you just to see three things from this text this morning. First of all, the ethics of the perfect King. Let's look at the text in Psalm 72, if you would. It says, Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. May he judge your people with righteousness and your afflicted with justice. Let the mountains bring peace to the people and the hills in righteousness. May he vindicate the afflicted of the people and save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor. We have ahead of us the hope that when Jesus comes again his rule will be of such an ethic that it will be perfect. And it's described here as that his judgments will be done in righteousness. It is so hard to be an impartial judge. I've thought about what it would be like to be a judge. In fact, there was a day when I wanted to go to law school, and the idea of being a judge is somewhat attractive to me. But the idea that I could sit in front of a person, hear the story, and try to be objective and impartial, that seems very, very difficult for my personality. Because I tend to get emotionally involved in things. And by my own admission, I have prejudice. And there are thoughts and opinions that I make of people, right or wrong. And it would be very difficult for me to look at a person, hear the story of what they have done, and not make a really impartial judgment. And we have that across our country and across the world today. We have judges making decisions based on emotions, opinions, environment, a number of ways. But when our King Jesus comes, his judgment will be perfect. It will be completely impartial. It says that God's perfect kingdom will be afflicted, will get justice, He will vindicate His people. There's a thrill of hope in that. We may not see it in our lifetime, but it's a promise that will happen, that there is coming a day when the ethic of rule will be perfect. Verse 3 tells us, let the mountains bring peace to the people and the hills and righteousness may he vindicate the afflicted of the people and save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor one thing that has bothered me this year in particular more than ever are the hardships and the injustices that people go through and i'm talking about injustices that go through people who are different than us, people who live in different places, and the rulers are harsh and difficult. I'm talking about a number of ways that we look at this broken world and people go through very, very hard things because of the people who are in charge many times. We have mass shootings that people do on a regular basis. We have kids that experience anxiety about even going to school. We have people groups that experience anxiety about going into public because of hate crimes that have taken place. There's oppression. The list goes on and on and on. Recently, I was exposed to the story of the two swimmers who came from Syria. They were sisters. You may be familiar with it, Yusra and Sarah. As the story unfolds and as I experienced the story, my heart was overwhelmed with the horrible things that some refugees go through. And I'm not a political person and I don't bring that into the church, but as I experienced their story, and the hardship as they had to flee Syria as refugees and what they experienced in that process of fleeing Syria was just heart-wrenching. One account of their story or one part of the story as I mentioned they were swimmers when they were crossing the Aegean Sea, the raft that they were on, there were so many people trying to cross into Europe that they ended up having to get out of the raft and they literally swam most of the way across the Aegean Sea. Yusra, actually, when she did get to Germany, had the opportunity to swim in the 2016 Rio Olympics on the refugee team. It's a beautiful story of self-determination and opportunity amidst the hardest of circumstances. From refugees to all kinds of people groups who experience the brokenness and hardship of this world. It is difficult to watch. It's difficult not to get bitter. It's difficult to reconcile how can a good God allow such things. But this text tells us that there is a day coming when there is going to be an ethic that is so right and perfect by a king. King Jesus. that it will all be done in righteousness. And there will be real peace experienced on earth. And so there is a thrill of hope in the midst of the brokenheartedness and the hardship. There is a thrill of hope that our King Jesus is coming back and with a good ethic comes good economics. And the economic Experience of a perfect king is described here in the text if you look at verses 5 through 11 Let them fear you while the sun endures as long as the moon throughout all generations May he come down like rain upon the mowing grass Let shower let like showers that water the earth in the days May the righteous flourish that's what happens under this kind of ethic the abundance of peace till the moon is no more. May He rule from sea to sea in the expansions of His kingdom. And from river to the ends of the earth, let the nomads of the desert bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust. Let the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring presents." So there's a description here of flourishment and people from around the world. In this day, speaking of Solomon, but then bigger picture is the world and all of its rulers, as it says in verse 11, let all the kings bow down to him. It's exciting to think in verse 15, so may he live and may the gold of Sheba be given to him. Let them pray for him continually. Let them bless him all day long. May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains, its fruit like a wave, like the cedars of Lebanon, and may those from the city flourish like the vegetation of the earth. The economy of a perfect king is unbelievable. The descriptions of the grain and the rain and the fruit and the flourishment and the expansion. We're in a season where we have a difficult economy right now and we get that and that's hard and And yet there's a day coming when we won't have to worry about those things because it will be perfect. That's the economy of a perfect king. And the last thing I want us to consider, and hopefully this is where your heart is this Christmas, is the exaltation of the perfect king. Look at verses 17 through 19. May his name endure forever. May his name increase as long as the sun shines. Let men bless themselves by him. Let all the nations call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders. And blessed be his glorious name forever, and may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. We have the opportunity forever and ever to exalt this great king. But we should be doing that now. Because He did come as promised, the waiting of four to five thousand years did come to an end. Jesus came, He fulfilled every prophecy, and we live in a day when we can personally experience Him through His personal redeeming love, which gives us the thrill of hope that someday, we will experience true perfection. A perfect ethic from a leader that can do no wrong. A perfect economy that will be the fruit of this perfect leader. And so he should be exalted forever and ever. And so we should praise him forever and ever. And my final question to you this morning. Do you know this king personally? This perfect king, do you know him personally? Because the invitation is available for you to personally know him. He's not just a historical figure, although he did live in history, and everything about his life is accurate. But you can personally know him as your savior. You say, why do I need a savior? Because the Bible says in Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So that tells us that there is no one righteous. No, not one. We all need a Savior. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves. And 1 Peter 3.18 says, For Christ also died for us, once for all, the just, Jesus Christ, for the unjust, that's us, that's us sinners, so that He might bring us to God. So He came, after all that waiting, to bring us to God, to bring redemption. John 14 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Those are Jesus' own words, the perfect King. There's no other option. Man has attempted it for generations. They've come up with all kinds of crazy ways. But there is one path to the one true God, and that is through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. John 5 24 says I say to you that he who hears my word and believes on him who sent me has eternal life. So if you're here this morning and you don't know this king and as you have heard God's own word being spoken if you will choose to believe as it says if you will hear my word and believe in him you will experience eternal life. Romans 10.13 says, for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's anyone. So you may be here disheartened about a broken world, questioning the goodness of a creator that would allow such just horrible things. Can I tell you that once you come to know him personally and experience personal redemption, if you come to grips with your own sinful heart and realize that Jesus is the only way, and if you will believe on him and accept him, you will be saved and you will be given that thrill of hope that someday you will experience pure perfection. And I wish I could change the brokenness of this world. I wish I could stop every sex trafficking child that a child experiences in this world. Every refugee who barely can survive to have water and something to eat. The homeless situation that continues to grow and grow. I wish I could solve all the problems. But I can't. We can do our part as much as possible. But there is coming a day, and I know it's hard to wait, there is coming a day when the perfect king will set up his perfect kingdom. And he will rule with an ethic that is complete righteousness. And the economy will be absolutely amazing. And we as his children will exalt him forever and ever. Would you bow with me for just a moment because I want to take an opportunity to let those who may be visiting with us this morning respond to God's Word. And if you're here today and you don't know this King personally, would you just follow the simple steps of Scripture? Would you just confess your sin to the Lord? And would you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, this perfect King? Would you just call on the name of the Lord and He will save you? That can be done in this moment. And it doesn't even have to be with the words that I just used. But you can personally articulate to God the need for a Savior in the acceptance of Jesus Christ. And I'm gonna give you a moment to do that in this time. Jesus, our perfect King, We come to you today, still waiting. We long for your return. We confess that we are weary, and we are tired, and we doubt, and we question, and it's hard. But thank you that you did come, and you did provide personal redemption, and we can experience that in the here and now. God, I pray if there's one here that does not know you, that they would call on your name today and you would save their souls. God, would you continue to grant us your grace as we humbly bow before you and exalt your name. We need your grace to keep waiting. All of the other voices would encourage us to quit. That this is not the real truth. that this is not the way. But your voice of truth always anchors us and brings us back to the point of clarity. And so thank you that you have given us a thrill of hope and that someday you as the perfect king will rule and reign and it will be glorious. We're so thankful for that hope that we have. We praise you and exalt you and may your name forever and ever endure. Amen.