Psalm 125
Notes
Transcript
I’m sure there have been times in your lives when you have run into the issue of needing to have your car realigned.
In times when our car seems to find itself out of realignment, our vehicles usually seem anything but peaceful.
Uneven wear on tires,
Vehicle begins to pull to one side,
Your steering wheel will be crooked even when you’re driving straight.
Your steering wheel can feel loose and unresponsive to your movements or even begin to make noise when it gets bad.
These are the last things we want to begin to see within observance with our cars. We begin to feel this uneasiness with our vehicles usually and it tells us that we need to go get our vehicles checked out, we need to visit somebody who knows how to recenter our vehicle.
THE LONGER WE GO WITHOUT HAVING THIS DONE… THE LESS AND LESS PEACEFUL THINGS BEGIN TO GET IN THE DRIVING OF OUR CAR.
Remembering or being confronted with what is at the center throughout our lives is usually what helps realign our lives…
especially in times of sorrow, great suffering, confusion, and great need.
And even in times of great abundance and little need.
And when we allow our lives to be realigned by whatever means the Lord brings said alignment, we most always find ourselves back in a place of PEACE within our souls.
For the people during Nehemiah’s time, for those who had returned to the promise land, who had began to help rebuild the city and who had began to help Nehemiah rebuild the wall; a realignment to refocus on trusting the Lord as the center was needed I’m sure more times than what we even see in scripture.
Some say that the backdrop of Psalm 125 could be something such as Nehemiah 6 where Nehemiah having finished the wall continues to be harassed by enemies.
The people had continued to receive external threats and internal traitors.
Plots to destroy what had been done.
Plots to discredit Nehemiah.
Plots to to taunt Nehemiah and and bring him to a point of fear so that he might sin.
It’s for this reason that this Psalm is debated as to whether it’s a Psalm of lament, a Psalm of trust, along with a little bit of petition sprinkled in there.
BUT SUCH IS THE WALK OF LIFE… ISN’T?
When those who trust in the Lord walk a life with the Lord growing to trust more and more in Him as we carry out the commands that He has given us…
we live these lives that are filled with ALL OF THE ABOVE as we walk with Him.
Much lament,
Much Petition,
Much reaffirming our trust in the God of the universe.
Often realigning ourselves under the Lord of Host and regaining the PEACE of which He promises.
I came to know Christ in a time in my life where it seemed like everything around me was an unknown.
Parents,
Siblings,
friends,
myself.
I wasn’t sure who I was, where I was heading, where I needed to be.
It wasn’t until I came to know Jesus, I came to be confronted with who is at the center of Life in an amazing God of the Universe who sent His Son Jesus to die on a cross for my past, present and future sins because… He loved me. In every sense of the word.
I was confronted with the center of life, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
After this decision in my life… I began a series of steps as I began to walk with Jesus, trusting in Him as God began to sanctify me.
As I have walked with Jesus now for 22 years, there have been a multitude of occasions where I had to be realigned by either reminding myself, or somebody else reminding me… the center of it all.
The God of the universe in whom we trust, who loved us so, that He sent His Son.
The realignment comes from a reminding that it is in Him that I trust.
And by His faithfulness, He holds all things together because He is at the center.
Derek Kidner said,
True religion starts at the center, the Lord in whom all things - Mount Zion included - hold together.
As the pilgrims were ascending toward Jerusalem, this was something that they wanted to remind themselves.
To trust in God.
To trust in His Goodness.
To Trust in His Holiness.
To which I ask the question…
For what do you need to trust God?
What challenge are you facing?
What fear do you have?
What hardship are you experiencing?
What frustration are you enduring?
IN what places in your life do you need to be reminded tonight to TRUST SOLELY IN HIM, IN HIS GOODNESS, IN HIS HOLINESS.
In whatever it may be tonight…
Christian, you have this opportunity to trust in Him. And you have the opportunity to receive AUTHENTIC PEACE IF WE DO JUST THAT.
Those who trust in the Lord Cannot be moved and are surrounded (Confession of Trust) (V. 1-3)
Those who trust in the Lord Cannot be moved and are surrounded (Confession of Trust) (V. 1-3)
Psalm 125:1–3 (ESV)
1 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.
Th Psalmist begins by drawing two pictures to illustrate those who trust in Yahweh.
1. “THOSE WHO TRUST IN THE LORD ARE LIKE MOUNT ZION.”
Mountains can be something that we often think of as majestic, awe inspiring…
Maybe tell story of climbing the hill in Buffalo Gap.
The passage tells us that those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion…
This picture illustrating something that is like
God’s Solid Rock,
Holy mountain,
unshakable, immovable, Anchored ROCK IN THE GROUND which will not collapse or panic in hardships.
This is the bedrock on which Jerusalem was constructed.
For the Israelites ascending to Jerusalem, they saw this Holy mountain as a picture of who God and HIs Word was in their lives.
This was where the Lord lived and ruled (Psalm 132:13-18
For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
It was the cornerstone of Justice (Isa. 28:16-17
therefore thus says the Lord God,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
Zion would prevail over all the mountains of the earth (Isa. 2:2-4
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
The other mountains may totter (Ps. 46:2) but not Zion and those who put their trust in the Lord.
For believers in Christ, when we build our lives on Jesus Christ, God’s Word, then we begin to be daily transformed to where more and more throughout this walk with Jesus you become stable in the storms of life. (Matt. 7:24-27)
We learn more and more to rely on God and His Word.
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
This is the evidence of true faith.
I told you a quote early from Derek Kidner about how true religion begins at the centre where it is the Lord in whom all things hold together.
We must though also beware of false faith in our lives.
The line before the quote I already gave you says,
Carnal religion will fasten on what seems sacrosanct, and will shelter behind Mount Zion from even God Himself.
Meaning, that this carnal religion in today’s society will fasten itself not on Christ…
Carnal religion fasten’s itself on whatever seems to important or too special to be changed at the time.
It hides itself behind the things of religion,
it hides behind the things of this world.
It thinks that the wisdom of man is sufficient. Which is silly because anytime you observe human wisdom, it’s always up and down with the emotions and pride of man.
When we trust in something… when we have this confidence to rely on something. the trust is only as good as the object that is being trusted in.
that’s why…
…those who trust in the Lord… this is more than just a passing relationship, this is forever… the believer stays put in their steadfastness and therefore we aren’t left to worry about the what if’s of this life.
THIS PERSON WHO TRUST IN THE LORD ABIDES FOREVER.
2. ARE SURROUNDED BY THE LORD
The second simile in v.2 draws upon a feature of the region around Jerusalem.
The city of Jerusalem is surrounded by mountain peaks with Mount Zion being the highest peak.
Invading armies would have to march up the mountain or through the mountain passes. The hills served as a great wall and as a defense.
The psalmist uses this to bring about a picture of truth showing that the Lord is a protective hedge around His people.
This was something that the pilgrims heading up to Jerusalem would immediately understand in this song of ascent.
And they would even harken back to old stories like that of their ancestors fleeing Egypt in Ex. 14:19-20 where it says that “the angel of God who was moving before them moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.”
Or you may think of in 2 Kings 6:15-17 when Elishah prayed to the Lord to reveal His army to the servant beside him after the servant had asked, “WHAT SHALL WE DO?” Elisha prays his prayer and God reveals to the servant the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
The Psalmist is saying here that in the same way… God surrounds HIs people. Nothing comes into our lives that isn’t permitted by God. In the midst of this life… He will protect you. You are secure.
3. Allotted Place of safety through righteousness.
This confession of trust continues in verse 3 as the Psalmist brings up this temporary condition of God’s people.
It is a bleak situation in which these words are spoken.
Evil at times seems to have the upper hand.
The righteous are possibly even wavering in the midst of foreign domination within the allotted land for the nation of Israel.
The Psalmist here is hinting at the fact that this will not remain, they will not remain in power of Israel.
It is the Lord who gave them this safe place and it is the Lord who will not allow the wicked to take it away.
The Lord will put a limit on what the wicked can do, and He will never place His people in a predicament in which their only option is to do what is evil. As 1 Cor. 10:13 indicates, He will provide for them a way out or a way through the crisis. When the scepter of the wicked threatens, the Lord wields His own scepter of justice against the injustices that threaten His people.
This speaks to us as believers that when we think we are in between a rock and a hard place, and the only way I see myself out of this is by doing what is against the Lord’s commands… then you are wrong. Because the Lord has provided a way.
Nehemiah speaks to this reality as he’s dealing with a Shemaiah who was hired by Tobiah and Sanballat…
13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
Like Nehemiah we may constantly ask of God like he does just before this passage… “OH GOD STRENGTHEN MY HANDS.”
We have this hope church, that God will not allow the unrighteous to rule His people forever.
We have this security because we know that the King of Kings and the Lord or Lords will come like He went, and He will set up His eternal Kingdom.
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
Glory be to God for this perspective that we have as His people and this future hope.
A petition to God’s Goodness and Holiness (V. 4-5)
A petition to God’s Goodness and Holiness (V. 4-5)
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!
4. Petition for God to act out of HIs Goodness
We then see the Psalmist switch over to prayer and petition for the Lord to act out of His goodness to those who are good, those who are upright in heart.
And you may ask yourself, well who is the upright in Heart?
Those who are upright in heart are those who ULTIMATELY TRUST IN THE LORD.
We see again this reality of a righteous life,
…walking in such a way where we see holiness is a way of life that is proceeded by trust.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The Psalmist is saying here…
“PROTECT THOSE WHO TRUST IN YOU LORD”…
the Psalmist is writing,
“remember the way of the righteous and In your goodness reward those who have exemplified their trust and faith through their good works.”
There is this confidence in the Lord to act out of His goodness. Because that is WHO HE IS.
We see this distinction between the righteousness and the wickedness that permeates through
scripture,
through the wisdom literature,
through the stipulations in the Law,
through the teachings of Jesus in Matt. 7:13-14
Those who are righteous in the sight of God by the blood of Jesus often act in a righteous manner and seek it in their lives.
Those who are of the wicked, act of their wickedness.
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Let us humble ourselves before Him, walk in holiness and seek Him for His Grace BECAUSE HE IS GOOD.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
5. Prediction for those in crooked ways.
One of the things we must keep in mind as God’s people. We must keep this in our perspective as we are walking through this world…
Is that when things seem like they are unjust… because of our trust in the Lord, there will come a day for retribution.
The people singing this were reminded of this reality every time they sang this song of ascent.
Those who turn to crooked ways, those who bend to whats is wrong…
The just Lord will lead these people to judgement along with the evil doers who have a hold on their land.
THIS IS A GOOD THING!
Some people may want a soft god. Who allows sin in their lives, who’s ok with wickedness permeating in culture. Who is ok with you doing you. You being your authentic self.
But thanks be to God that we do not worship a soft God.
He is HOLY in every sense of the word.
In Him there is no wickedness, none whatsoever.
God is entirely morally pure, all the time and in every possibly way.
GOD OCCUPIES A MORAL SPACE THAT NOBODY HAS EVER OCCUPIED BEFORE.
God is holy and pure in every attribute,
Holy in Justice,
Holy in Love,
Holy in anger,
Everything He thinks, desire, speaks is without blame.
HE HAS ZERO LENIENCY FOR WICKEDNESS IN HIS KINGDOM.
THIS IS A GOOD THING CHURCH THAT WE DO NOT WORSHIP A SOFT GOD.
BECAUSE IF THIS GOD IS FOR US>>>> THEN PLEASE TELL ME>>> WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?
We who trust in the Lord and receive His stability and His protection …
are blessed by the reality and benefit of His goodness and also His Holiness in exercising His righteous judgment.
We see two options within this Psalm in either blessing or banishment.
TRUST IN GOD AND RECEIVE BLESSING (ESPECIALLY ETERNAL BLESSING), or reject God and perish.
PEACE BE WITH ISRAEL
The writer concludes fittingly with the words,
“PEACE BE UPON ISRAEL.”
PEACE, OR SHALOM… is this natural outworking of our minds and our inner man when we understand fully that we have NOTHING TO WORRY BECAUSE…——>
We understand that God is at the center,
we are held steady and are protected by our trust in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
We understand that He will not allow the evil to prevail,
We rest in His goodness,
we rest in His Holiness.
Psalms 73–150 3. Prediction (125:5)
“When God accomplishes his purpose that the righteous and evildoers fare according to their deeds and the trust in the immovability and the protection of the people is shown to be true,
Now, with the ushering in of the New Covenant,
We are ultimately offered this peace through Jesus. All of this that we have spoke about tonight… is OFFERED THROUGH JESUS.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother and sister, be reminded tonight that we have HIs stability in the midst of chaos and in the midst of evil doers because OF CHRIST AND HIS WORD.
AS WE TRUST, AS WE LAMENT, AS WE PETITION. LET US REST IN THE PEACE THAT IS ONLY OFFERED IN JESUS CHRIST.
