Mountains of God

Seated - children

Good morning church

One of my favorite memories of my marriage takes place in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a beautiful day, crisp morning air, not yet crazy hot. Beautiful open skies. And thats when two inexperienced, newly married, out of shape, people said - yeah, we can climb a mountain.

Mt Camelback - to most of the world its more like a small hill - but to a couple Kansans - this was everest. We had a guide, water bottles, and enough overconfidence to make sure our ego would be badly bruised when we got to the top.

We were told 2 hours was average time to get up the hill. At 2 hours we were about halfway there. All the while getting passed by grandmas jogging, moms pushing strollers, and some kids who sideeyes the two of us gasping for air on the side of the path.

Finally, after 4 long hours we made it to the top - the view was beautiful but was more important was the fact that we had made it. This mountain had been conquered. Hannah and I had taken the long journey up a mountain to see the glories of God’s creation.

Mountains are so special because they give us a new view of creation - they give us a small glimpse of how God looks out and sees his creation. On top of a mountain man is able to meet with God and his creation in a new and special way. By climbing towards heaven man is able to meet God and commune with him.

Mountains are where God chooses to talk to his people. The bible is so full of mountains that you can barely get away from them. Eden - on a mountain. Noah - Mt Ararat, Moses - Mt Sinai. The kings and judges are often sacrificing and talking to God on mountains. The psalmist and the prophets talk about Mt Zion. Jesus teaches on top of a mountain. The bible ends with John going up a mountain to see the Bride of Christ.

The bible is full of mountains - and our passage today is full of mountains. The highest point of creation, the place where heaven and earth come together to meet. If you have your bibles turn with me to Psalm 125 and we will see what the psalmist says about the mountains. About the safety they provide, the steadiness of them, and ultimately the place where we go to meet with God.

Psalm 125 is a beautiful Psalm, a psalm that is full of trust and joy in the Lord and his protection. And we remember that it is a Psalm of Ascent. These are the psalms of worship that the priests would sing as they walked up the steps of the temple. So as we turn our Bibles to Psalm 125 and we look at this Psalm we will be looking at two parts, The Mountains of God and the People of God. Mountains of God and People of God

Hear the reading of God’s word - Psalm 125

A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

2

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the Lord surrounds his people,

from this time forth and forevermore.

3

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest

on the land allotted to the righteous,

lest the righteous stretch out

their hands to do wrong.

4

Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,

and to those who are upright in their hearts!

5

But those who turn aside to their crooked ways

the Lord will lead away with evildoers!

Peace be upon Israel!

This is the word of the Lord.

As we look at the first two verses of this chapter we see that mountains are important in this Psalm. The Psalmist begins by telling us that those who trust in the Lord are like Mt Zion. And this is our first point - the mountains of God. And to fully understand what this text is telling us about mountains we must do some work to remember what is Mt Zion?

Mt Zion is one of those terms that I believe has been adopted in a form of speaking called christianese. We often see Mt Zion in the Psalms, or the prophets, or old hymns and we nod our heads but we don’t really remember what exactly it is. And this is a shame because Mt Zion is fascinating - both historically and typologically when we read our Bibles.

The first mention we see of Mt Zion is in 2 Samuel 5. David is fighting against the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, and he goes to capture their city. Their stronghold and this is the first mention of Zion. 2 Samuel 5:7 says

7 Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

Mt Zion was an enemy stronghold that was waging war against God’s people. And it was captured and redeemed into something glorious. Jerusalem, the city of David, is where David builds the throne, establishes the kingly line that Jesus himself comes from. But this is not the entire story.

The Bible continues to tell us about Mt Zion - Mt Zion becomes the name of the temple mount - the location where Solomon builds the dwelling place of God. And the bible continues to mention the importance of Mt Zion. The Psalmist tells us that Mt Zion is the dwelling place of God - it is his house. Isaiah tells us that Mt Zion is where God rules from his throne. Hebrews tells us that Mt Zion is the city of the living God. And in Revelation we see that Mt Zion is where the lamb is worshiped by the 144 thousand.

Mt Zion is a very important place in the bible - so when we read in Psalm 125 that those who trust in the Lord are like Mt Zion - this is a very radical statement. To say that those who trust in the Lord are like Mt Zion is to make a statement of who these people were, who they are, and who they will be.

To say that we, those who trust in the Lord, are like Mt Zion is to unarguably proclaim the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. We were once captured by the enemy stronghold, and needed to be rescued by a powerful king. We have been turned into a glorious people after having been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

And Paul tells us explicitly that we are temples. 1 Corinthians 16:19-20 says

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

The Psalmist is making a loud proclamation of who God’s people are and what they are becoming. As the Priests are walking up the steps to the temple, on a mountain that once belonged to the enemies of God - they are loudly singing that this is who we are. We are the mountain, we are a people who are being transformed. And as vs 2 says we are surrounded and kept safe by the Lord - now and forever.

What a glorious story in the Psalm, and what a glorious story throughout the bible. And this is my story and your story and the story of everyone who will be with us in eternity. A story of redemption and glorification.

This story is told over and over in the Bible and it’s repeated in all kinds of movies and books, because it is a story that strikes a chord with people. My wife has recently been reading through Lord of the Rings for the first time, and I have been loving it.

She’ll come and ask me questions or talk through whats going on in the books - and a while ago she came and asked me about Boromir. Who is this guy? Is he a dwarf? What's going on with him - his story seems confusing?

And I told her, just wait, his story is about to become one of the greatest plot points in this book. Boromir is a man who becomes thirsty for power and greed. He attempts to steal the great ring from Frodo and results in Frodo leaving his companions behind - except for Sam of course.

But this is not where Boromir’s story ends though - Boromir repents of his wickedness and dies the death of a king. He faces down an entire army by himself in an attempt to save two hobbits in his party.

Boromir’s story is one that just seems to reach down and touch your soul. That this man could be redeemed is a way that JRRR Tolkien points us to the truth of the Gospel - that God is redeeming his people from the kingdom of darkness and turning them into something glorious.

We have hope that God is doing a work in us. That this redemption is not a one time event but a continual process that God is glorifying his temple. Vs 2 gives us hope when we read.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the Lord surrounds his people,

from this time forth and forevermore.

From this time forth and forevermore. The Lord is surrounding his people. This very morning as you sit in the pews and as you leave today, as you go to work tomorrow, and as you live your life - the Lord is surrounding you. He is your protection, your hope, you strength - He is the mountains that surround his Holy City so that nothing will harm you.

I was talking to our youth group a while back and I told them - the reason that the Christian life is so full of joy is because we know the outcome of our lives. We know who wins the battle. We know where our lives will be spent in eternity. There's no ambiguity of the power of the gospel for us and the entirety of the world. Christ wins, and we are in Christ - so we win.

Take hold of this truth - there is nothing that shakes God or makes him tremble. And as we are formed more in the image of God, we too become unshakeable. We are the mountains of verse 1 who are becoming like the mountains of verse 2. When temptation, or sin, or struggles come to you, know that it is not a surprise or a fear for God and take heart and model that in your life. Be bold, stand strong, be a mountain. This world wants you to cower, it wants you to be a blade of grass who blows along with the wind of progress, or empathy, or identity politics, or lgbtq circus of depravity, But you are a mountain Christian. You stand strong, you do not bow, you do not give an inch. God has redeemed you from the kingdom of darkness and turned you into his Holy Temple. Do not forget this.

You are a mountain, and vs 1-2 says you are a mountain that will not be moved now or forever. God turns his people in strongholds that cannot be moved. And God loves his people and has promises for his people. We have seen the mountains of God, now lets look at the people of God. Turn to vs 3-5

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest

on the land allotted to the righteous,

lest the righteous stretch out

their hands to do wrong.

4

Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,

and to those who are upright in their hearts!

5

But those who turn aside to their crooked ways

the Lord will lead away with evildoers!

Peace be upon Israel!

Vs 3 shows a shift in how the Psalmist is speaking. In v 1 and 2 we see these statements made about God’s people and God himself as a mountain. Verse 3-5 shifts in a hope and a prayer to God and a warning for those listening to Psalm.

The Psalmist begins in v 3 by remembering God’s promise to his people. He says that the wicked will not rule over the land that was given to the righteous. The psalmist is calling us to remember God’s covenant with Abraham, that he would give him the land of Canaan. The land that the Israelites had traveled to after enslavement. The land that Joshua had lead the Israelites to clear out the wicked inhabitants and instill a new holy people in this land.

But in remembering this promise, the Psalmist is reminded of man’s covenant obligation to YHWH. Whenever God enters into a covenant with his people he gives them duties and things they must do to remain in the covenant. Adam is told he must be fruitful and multiply and not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Noah is instructed that he too must be fruitful and multiply and also wield the sword of justice. At Sinai, the Lord tells the people that He will be their God and they his people but they must follow his Holy Law. David is promised an eternal king to sit on his throne but if his ancestors do not follow YHWH they will be punished. In the new covenant we are in Christ but we are given tasks to do - we must share the gospel and baptize the nations.

In v3 the Psalmist is remind us of these obligations to follow after YHWH. The Lord will give the people the land until the people begin to do evil. And the psalmist remind the people to do good because if the people begin to do evil. V5 tells us that the Lord will lead away evil doers. He will take them far from the righteous. God is protecting his people. He is the mountain that we read about earlier in the psalm.

Now we have to be careful as we begin to read through this passage because there are two ditches that we can potentially fall into when reading about faithfulness to God and his covenant. The ditch on one side - is to read a passage like this and think that we have somehow earned the right to be in God’s covenant. That by doing these good works we have proved that we are righteous enough to earn God’s blessing.

This ditch has no credibility, the psalmist in pointing us back to the covenant with Abraham is also pointing us to the story of Abraham, that a pagan king was chosen by God to be the father of many nations Abraham didn’t deserve this covenant. And you and I don’t deserve to be in the New Covenant. But through the grace of God we have entered into it.

Now the other ditch is the opposite - we can remember that God is the one choosing us, and that we are wretched sinners - which is true - and that we have no obligation to obey God’s commands because it's just too hard. We can says its all grace and that if we are trying to be obedient that its legalism.

Paul has harsh words for this kind of theology in the epistle to the Romans. In Romans 6 Pauls says

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Paul is telling us that as Christians, those who have been baptized, we are to live in the newness of Christ Jesus. We are to obey what Jesus taught us to do. This is how God has called us to operate within his covenant. We are to thank God for his grace to bring us into his promises and then be faithful to what he has commanded us to do. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to transform our hearts, minds, and affections so that we are formed more into the image of Jesus.

Psalm 125 is a reminder to us of how God deals with his people. It is a reminder of how God operates and how man responds to God. God has allocated land to his people in verse 3 and has promised that the wicked will not be the rulers of the righteous as long as the righteous follow after God. V4 is a cry for God to remember his people, to do good to those who do good. And v5 is God leading away the wicked as they have turned aside from righteousness.

This is how God has chosen to work in the world - covenants of grace but the command to be obedient. And though we can balk at this kind of language it is not foreign to us by any means. This is how we all view our children. My children did nothing to join the Hargrave family. And to be really honest they don’t have anything they can even offer.

My oldest, Betty, is 2, and I’ll ask her to go throw something away and theres about a 50/50 shot that it will end up in the right room with the trash can, much less in the trash can itself. I’ll be walking to the kitchen and see the wrapper I handed her in some random corner somewhere or in one of my shoes. Her being in the Hargrave family is grace from God and from Hannah and I.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t call her to a standard of obedience. At the Hargrave house we have 4 rules that must be obeyed at all times - No whining, No lying, obey first time, and respect your mother. That's it. 4 rules that she must follow to be in good standing in the Hargrave household. And when she is not obedient, we call her to those rules. If she disobeys we remind her that she is Hargrave and Hargraves don’t whine, Hargraves don’t catch an attitude with their mother, Hargraves don’t lie. This is not who the Hargraves are.

In the same way, God has formed his relationship with us. He reaches out to us with grace and love and mercy to a stiffnecked people, but he does not let us live in our sin and depravity. He calls us to something more. Jesus says in John 14:15

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

So Church, here is my question for you today, are you following the commandments of our Lord? Are you following the commandments of our Lord? Are you the person in Psalm 125 v4 who does good? God will deal with all people, and Psalm 125 tells us that it is either by doing good to those who do good or by leading aside those who turned against Him to join with evildoers.

God has graciously reached out to humanity and offered them his goodness for those who trust in the Lord, who are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. To join this kingdom it means to bow the knee to Christ, to admit that He is Lord, King of all creation and submit to his kingship and follow after him with all your heart, soul, and mind. If you have not done this, please seek after Christ, God has promised to do good to those who do good and the first good you can ever do is search out God.

If you are a follower of Christ, if you have confessed his Lordship, if you have baptized and eat at his table, I leave you with this. You are the temple of the living God, you are Mt Zion, you are surrounded by the Lord himself. Do not neglect what God himself has said in his word about how to follow him. Rest in the grace of God and then search out his word to see how he commanded us to live. Do not neglect a single word of these Holy Scriptures but instead use it as your path to following after Christ, your path to being formed in the image of Christ, your path to being found in Christ.

For Church, you are Mt Zion, Mt Zion is the story of who you were, who you are, and who you are becoming. You are God’s Holy Temple, you are God’s people.

Let us pray.