You're drowning in difficulty. But then also this idea of being caught in cords and snares. He was trapped, he was bound. Basically, no way out. Now I'm gonna turn back the clock a little bit to 1987. I don't know if you remember this. I don't even want to show hands of who was alive in 1987 and who remembers this. Okay, thank you, we had one at least, that's good. So I don't know if you remember baby Jessica McClure out of Texas. Now, back before there was a lot of social media and you could watch any story you wanted to, there was very few stories. And this was a story that was really, in a way, worldwide, where this little child, 18 months old, was trapped 22 feet below the ground in a well for 58 hours. 58 hours, and what I remember so vividly about this is that we would just tune in as those hours ticked down and we'd be getting reports. They actually dug another hole next to it and were able to extract her out. What I remember vividly is this picture. This man who takes this little baby Jessica who's all bound up because they believe she had a broken arm and she was rescued. And it was the most amazing thing. So why is David so overcome and gushing with praise? Because he understands that he was rescued from a situation very similar to this. He was a man who only could just give out the smallest voice. I need help. I need help, Lord. I'm trapped. The waves are coming over me. My sin is all around me. I need your help. And he would hear, he was in distress like baby Jessica. In my distress, I called and he answered. Now friends, I want to apply this for a minute. I want us to notice something. Do you know that the intensity of our praise is correspondent to how much we realize of what we've been saved from? Okay, get that again. The intensity of our praise is a direct correlation to how much we realize we've been saved and how difficult a thing we've been saved from. The bigger, the more praise. And not even that it has to be this amazing testimony, but just that you understand the depth of your sin and the great salvation you have, and you cry out with that much fervor because you understand you've been rescued. So we gotta ask the question, do we even gush a little? And maybe you're like me. You feel like your story is one that's sort of boring, right? You want to hear good stories of people coming from very difficult situations. I grew up in a Christian home. My parents taught me about Jesus. I actually attended Christian schools. So what kind of story could I have? What could possibly be my story? Well, here's the thing. We understand in culture that But we don't really understand this in Western culture because we actually think we're not needing to be saved from much, right? We have things like medical insurance and health plans and things, and what they do is they create the illusion that we're just fine, right? They create the illusion that we're okay. They're all good things, but they really make us think that we're better off than we are. So when someone says, you need Christ, You say, why? I'm doing fine. I'm an American. Americans take themselves seriously. I just believe in my dreams and work hard. That's what I do, right? I mean, so I don't need any help. And what we can do is fool ourselves into thinking that we're not in actually cosmic rebellion with the creator of the world. We can actually think that we have no need, that we can really just take care of ourselves. We're not hard-hearted. We're just quirky. You know, we just need a little help. We just need somebody to give us a little hand up, maybe for Jesus to take the wheel for a few minutes. But here's the thing, friends, let me tell you the truth about what you need and where the rescue is this morning. Let me share with you a passage from Colossians. It says this, this is the truth this morning. You and I were dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made it alive together with him, having forgiven us of all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing to the cross. See, here's the thing. My story's not boring because my story is one who's been rescued from the tyranny of sin. So if that's your story, it's amazing. It's an amazing story of rescue, and it should make us gush with praise. So again, the question, Do you gush even a little? And I don't mean you have to be all emotional. I don't mean you have to be a hand raiser in church. That's not what I mean. I just mean, have you moved at all in your soul when you reflect upon the rescue from sin and just are incredibly infatuated with this person who has saved you? Do you do that at all? And see, what David does is he moves on and he focuses on this rescuer. In fact, the whole next section is just a description of God. We heard it read this morning. I'm gonna highlight a couple things in here. First of all, that this rescuer is powerful. Look. The earth reeled and rocked. Foundations of heaven trembled. Smoke went up from his nostrils. He bowed the heavens and came down. He rode on a cherub and flew. He made darkness around him as canopy. Out of the brightness before him, coals of fire flamed forth. The Lord thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice, and he sent out arrows and scattered them. Lightning enrouted them. The foundations of the world were laid bare at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. Now, if you read David's story at all, you'll never see a scene like this. I mean, this doesn't actually happen in this sort of imagery, so what's David doing? He doesn't want us just to hear about his rescue, he wants us to feel the power of his rescuer. He wants us to really get, he gives us this vivid picture, feel the incredible power of God. And here's the reason why. He wants to give us confidence that no matter what situation we are in, the rescuer is up for the task. He's up for the task. So the question for us this morning, another question is, do we believe God's powerful enough to handle the things that come our way? Or fear and anxiety overwhelming us? This is the kind of rescuer we have. In a devotional by Paul Tripp, I really love this one. I'm really not a huge fan of devotionals, but I've read this one twice. That's how much I like this. This is one thing he said, I thought this was helpful. In your troubles, you need to know that your troubles may overcome you. And you're like, no I don't. I don't wanna know about that. Tell me they're easy. Tell me I don't have any troubles. But they cannot overcome the Savior who protects and keeps you. You may be discouraged and stymied in your troubles, but the Lord never is. This means your troubles don't determine your destiny, he does. Friends, this is so true. You've got a God who's so powerful that he can come to you. He's a God who's so big, he can protect you, and he can be with you. But see, if that was only who God was, he could be sort of terrifying. and very distant, but that's not the God that we serve. He's also a God who's very personal. Look at verse 17. He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out on a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted in me. Notice these close words, right? He took me out. He drew me out. He brought me to a broad place. He came toward me. That was that song we just sang. He comes toward us in our need of rescue. He enters into the situation. He personally comes near this incredibly powerful God. The powering, thundering God of heaven comes down to meet a weak person in need. Why? Why does he do it? Please underline this, because he delighted in me. He delights in his people. The powerful God of the universe comes close. He places his large hand in our small hand and said, I will take care of you, come with me. I will bring you out or I will cover you because I'm your rescuer. Now another question, because we struggle to believe this. Do you believe that this is a God only for David? The man after God's own heart? Or is this a God for you? Well, let me share with you this truth from Zephaniah. It was actually in that song we sang. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with singing. Has anybody ever sang to you? Doesn't it make you feel kind of awkward, especially to get one of those birthday grams where they come into the office and some guy's dressed up and he sings to you? That's not what's happening here. You have the God of the universe who's so delighting in you that he actually sings his love over you. And David sings his song of praise because that's exactly what the Rescuer does, is sing his song over him. So David acts like his father with great song. See, God, our Rescuer, is powerful and intensely personal. Powerful, and don't separate those two. Don't make them all loving with no power. Not helpful. Don't make him so powerful, but he doesn't love and come close. That's scary. See, the God of the universe is both. He comes close. Now, how do we know? Prove it. Well, I'll tell you the proof. The best proof in the entire world is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came close. So close he would put on flesh. And know what he would do is he would walk and live the life you and I were supposed to live. And he would die the death we were supposed to die because of our sin and rebellion. And he would trade places. He'd say, I take your sin and you can have my perfection. You can have the favor of God. So he goes to the cross to rescue his people powerfully and personally. But friends, not just that, he also rose from the dead and defeated death and purchases actual power to now battle with sin, to help each other, to encourage one another, to pray, to have family worship, to get up in the morning and come here and to remember the great rescuer. That's what he does. He gives us a new identity. You're no longer one just in need of rescue. You are one that has been rescued and will continue to be rescued as you falter and struggle because that God loves you in that way. So here's the last part that we need to spend together because something interesting happens when the rescued and the rescuer meet. When they come together, there is a result here. And I skipped to the end of the passage. I encourage you to read the rest of this chapter. But here is the summary. With all of the rescuing going on, this great power of this rescuer, what does David do? Well, he sings, verse 50. For this, I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations and sing praises to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring, forever. You see, David says for this, for what? For this amazing rescuing act, he'll give thanks. He's got to tell people, hey, you know what this is like. I mean, I watch a good movie and I got to tell everyone. And it's just a movie. But when you're rescued, You cannot help but proclaim and sing and talk about and gush over your Redeemer, over your Savior. You want people to meet them? You want people to understand what you've been rescued from? You wanna tell the story, that's what happens. The result is singing and telling the entire world. And if you know the story of David, this man was a once self-serving man who is so changed that he just can't, writes the Psalms. So you can sing the beautiful rescuer over and over and over again so the whole world will know this great salvation. See the rescuer, when he meets the rescued, the rescued is not about themselves anymore. They want the world to know. Now this may be an odd place I went, but this just gives you kind of a look into my psyche here a little bit. But what I thought about was it's a wonderful life. Isn't that where you would go? I mean, shoot, right? But think about it for a minute. What I love about this story is you have a man named George Bailey, whose life is crashing down around him. He could be described very similarly to David. Money was lost, he was in charge of the bank, of the savings and loan, and people were depending upon him, everything was crashing down around him, and so he goes to jump off a bridge into the icy river below. He says, I can't take it anymore, I need escape, and so I'll take matters into my own hands. But the angel Clarence shows up, And what Clarence does is walks him through and shows him what his life would look like if he wasn't there. He shows him what it would look like if he was never born. And he also shows him what life is really about. And what I want us to look at, just for two minutes here, I was thinking about David's reaction and George's reaction when he is rescued. All right, I want you to feel it, I want you to see it, and we'll just talk about it as we close, so watch this for a moment. Help me, Clarence! Get me back. Get me back. I don't care what happens to me. Get me back to my wife and kids. Help me, Clarence, please. Please. I want to live again. I want to live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again. Hey, George! George! You all right? Hey, what's the matter? Now, get out of here, Bert, or I'll hit you again! Get out of here! What the Sam Hill are you yelling for, George? You... George... Bert, do you know me? Know you? You kidding? I've been looking all over town trying to find you. I saw your car piled into that tree down there, and I thought maybe you... Hey, your mouth's bleeding. Are you sure you're all right? My mouth's bleedin', Bert! My mouth's bleedin'! Zootoot, pedals! Zootoot! There they are! Bert! What do you know about that? Merry Christmas! Well, Merry Christmas! Merry! Merry! Yay! Yay! Hello, Bedford Falls! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, George! Merry Christmas, George! Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old building alone! Hey! Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter! Help me, Clarence! Get me back! So good, I want you to watch it twice. So, I just want us to feel the feeling of a man who's been rescued, who is at his desperate need, and that he just can't help himself. He's so strangely wonderful. This is actually my favorite image, right? Because when he was no longer there, it was Potterville, you remember? The guy, if you know this, I hope you've seen this film, you need to, all good Christians do. But what was very fascinating about what he did, Mr. Potter, he said, Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter was the man who had put him in the situation that he was in. And when he was no longer there and he went back sort of to see what it would look like when he wasn't living there, this was Potterville. So when he sees the sign that it's Bedford Falls once again, that all things have been restored to the way they ought to be, that's his face. And he yells out loud and he's yelling Merry Christmas to everyone, even his enemy. He tells his enemy, Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter, because guess what? I understand what this is all about. I've been a man rescued. See, friends, here's the point. This is what the church is actually all about. And I've heard you guys pray this morning about this, and it's about being local and global and what your mission is. But we need to remember how much we've been saved from that the sin and death that was before us, that was like a wave, that was like cords and snares, have been set free by Jesus Christ. And because of that, we have so much to talk about. We can see it in films. We can show people the gospel in everything. It's all over the place. You don't have to look very hard because everyone wants the story of rescue. So friends, as we finish this evening, or hey, it feels like this evening. I normally preach in the afternoon, so there you go. It's kind of good to be awake this early. I want you to know that David does not give you some steps to evangelism. All he says, it's three things. Know that you have a lot of need, know the Rescuer who saved you, and the rest will make sense. You will gush with praise, you will want to sing, and all people will want to know about who this great Savior is. But I think our problem is, church, and this is mine, I just don't get as overwhelmed with my salvation because I don't think I'm in desperate need. And it is a dangerous place to be. It is a dangerous place to be. So we should sing about our sin. We should sing about our need because we know where to go with it. If you're sitting here saying, but I still struggle, we know. So do I. But I have a great deliverer who I can bring and lay before his feet my sin and my shame. And he can transform my guilt and shame into freedom and confidence. And so we can share our story of rescue. So the church, the definition of church is rescued people telling the world about Jesus, the rescuer. You wanna know your mission, that's it. You are rescued people telling the world about Jesus, the rescuer. And you know what, we gotta get together very often to remind ourselves that that's true. Amen? Amen, let's pray. Father, thank you for the good news that you're a rescuer. of people in need. Thank you that you do not lie to us by telling us we're okay. That you do not give us the illusion that all things are fine, that we just need a little help. But you're honest about our sin. You're honest about a rebellion before a holy God. But Lord, you don't leave us there. You present the diagnosis and then you bring the healing. Thank you, Lord Jesus. for coming close, very God being very man, stepping into our shoes, walking the life that we ought to have walked, and giving us your life instead. Thank you for that great rescue. Help us to be enamored by that, to be overwhelmed by that. Like George Bailey, we would run through the streets, grateful people. Lord, help us just smile. because of what you've done for us. Thank you for this great church and their mission to let you be known to all peoples, beginning right here. So thank you for this reminder again. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.