The King's Justice

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 119:25-32

Psalm 119:25–32 ESV

My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame! I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!

Scripture Memorization: Psalm 121:1-2

Psalm 121:1–2 ESV

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Advent 3

READ: Zephaniah 3:16-20

Zephaniah 3:16–20 ESV

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 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 exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Advent is the time to prepare for Christmas,

to prepare for Christ’s promised coming, long ago and any minute.

As we prepare on this third Sunday of Advent, we know God is calling us to something new, something unimaginable, but we have a promise from Zephaniah, a promise that God made, a promise of joy and celebration for God’s people.

God has promised to be present among us, a strong Warrior to save us, calming us with love and delighting us with songs, getting rid of enemies, healing the maimed, and bringing the homeless home.

We will see all of this with our own eyes: all our painful partings will be turned into reunions.

(Someone lights TWO PURPLE AND ONE PINK candle)

In the light of this third candle, we rejoice and imagine and remember God’s promise.

Thanks be to God, who keeps every promise to us!

May the Lord be with your spirit and Grace be with you.

Sermon:

1

Speaker 1

00:00

Once again, and as always, good morning church. I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship. In the house of the Lord. This morning we turn our attention to Psalm 129. A Psalm of ascent, but also what we call a Psalm of imprecation. Just a big fancy word.

00:22

It's a Psalm of cursing. Cursing, as we might think of saying bad words, but of actually saying curses against one's enemies. At one point in time, I was at a. A Simeon trust Workshop, a preaching workshop, and one of the things in this Workshop we did was was pastors.

00:48

We met in small groups. And before the conference, we had homework assigned. We had to go do a worksheet on on how we would preach any a text and, and this text was one that I got the way the small groups would work is. You'd meet together, and you and one or two other pastors would present how you would preach this text, and then we would discuss it.

01:13

And this particular one was the first time in my life. That I found myself disagreeing with a bunch of other pastors. And probably the first time was old enough. I don't know if wisdom is what this is, but to think you know, I think I have it right, and I think they might.

01:33

Have it wrong. We will read this text and we will read what I believe. In my heart. Is the most painful. Curse. You could say to someone? So, maybe one of the worst things? That you could ever. Desire for your enemies. So, we're gonna have to think through. How do we interpret this?

02:00

How do we interpret this when it was written? How do we interpret it now? Looking back and seeing the Advent? Of the king of seeing King Jesus. How are we to rightly as God's people? This. Psalm 129. Greatly. They have Afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say greatly.

02:28

They have Afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. The flowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows, but the Lord is righteous. He has cut the cords of the wicked. May all who put, hate, Zion, be put to shame and turn backward?

02:50

Let them be like grass on the house tops, which Withers before it grows up, with which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor the binder of his sheaves, the binder of sheaves his arms. Nor do those who pass by, say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you.

03:05

We bless you. In the name of the? These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open our time together with the word of prayer. Dear Lord, we do. Thank you. For your goodness for your grace. For your kindness. For your mercy. For your Justice. For your goodness.

03:29

For your Sovereign hand. We praise you for your good, and you do good in all your works are good. We ask that you would meet with us this morning. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. Reveal yourself to us, give us wisdom and insight to know and understand your word.

03:49

Operate in the way you have called us. May we understand this in the way that you reveal? I asked this morning. You would speak through your word this morning. You would speak through your servant. In Jesus name that we pray. Amen. And amen. The disagreements that I had at the end of the day.

04:12

With all of these pastors hinges on the very last verse. And we'll get there, but I want to build the tension to get there. At the end of this Psalm. The the enemies. Of the psalmist. This is what he wishes upon them. Don't let those nor do those who pass by, say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you.

04:39

We bless you. In the name of the Lord.

04:45

The request is for the enemies of the Lord to have no one. And just spoil what we're gonna the enemies. Whoever wrote this? To have no one ever say? God bless you!

05:01

I think we think of this in terms of, like, well, what do you say God bless you when people sneeze? So, now we're talking about here. May God. Face, never be upon you. God's blessing that sustains that keeps God's goodness and his grace. May you not see these things, may you be removed from all of the goodness of God.

05:23

But apart from the goodness of God, there is no goodness. Is why I'm willing to say this is the the worst thing you could ever say to someone in many ways. May no one ever even say, God bless you? I mean, no one ever look upon you and think I hope God does.

05:40

May no one ever wish you goodness and Grace in particular, the goodness and Grace that comes from God? And I said. You be very careful. I don't really think we should ever say this to anyone.

05:56

And the other Pastor said, will the psalmist says this? We should teach our people that it's okay to have these feelings. I said sure, it's okay to have these things. We all have these feelings, but we need to be careful. We just went round and round and had good conversation.

06:15

I still stand here and say we need to be very careful. How we interpret this. So, my goal is to help us see, how do we rightly understand this Psalm? First and foremost, just how do we get a an understanding of what's being said? So that we then can know how can we rightly appropriate?

06:36

How can we rightly understand how can we rightly? Know what's going on here? In this song. As we open up this Psalm, verses 1 and 2. What we need to see is going on here. Is persecution? But also Vindication. For the. People. Again, understanding that the songs were sent.

07:08

We are coming to these in particular. As seeing these preparing us for the arrival of the king. And so here, we're focusing on the king's people greatly. They have Afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say. Greatly. Have they Afflicted me from my youth? Let God's people. Be willing to say and Proclaim the difficulty and the persecution that they are facing.

07:38

Greatly. Have they Afflicted? These people. From their youth from the beginning from their infancy from when things were were small and difficult when they were small and things were difficult. They have been Afflicted greatly. This repetition is poetic, but it also is for emphasis. Israel is to say this twice, because that's how bad it is.

08:03

Greatly, they have afflicted me for my youth. How bad greatly what have they done Afflicted me from when my youth say it together with me now is what this Psalm is saying. It's painful and difficult. They are against me. The psalm starts, and this is much of why the Psalms are beautiful.

08:26

Understanding that this is the lot of human life. There's Affliction. And difficulty. It's Israel, who's saying this? It's God's people. It's the king's people. Who are coming here and saying? They're against me. In the time of David, they would see all of these these kingdoms and Nations that are around that are warring against them.

08:54

Often. If you just look, if you look at the history and understand the geography and what's going on here? You have big Nations Assyria Babylon. You have Egypt. And in many ways, Israel was the highway through which nations would go in war against each other, and they're just trampling upon them.

09:16

Literally and figuratively. When David wrote this, that would be the complaint and the difficulty as the Exiles. Well, we don't know David, but if the time of David is being sung in the time of coming to the temple around David and Solomon. That would be the thought. As the people come back from Exile.

09:34

Many of them born in Exile. They would look and say we need to go back to our kingdom because these foreign Kings, these foreign Nations they put us under their thumb. They persecuted us. Since our youth. Since the beginning, we have been greatly afflicted.

09:52

It's persecution for God's people. But note even here in the beginning, it is Vindication for God's people. Yet, they have not prevailed. Against me. They're persecuting you? They've Afflicted me. They seek to do me harm, but yet. There's no Victory. I am Vindicated they have not prevailed against me.

10:14

Since God is my strength and my shield, I stand Victorious. David could sing this as he was proclaiming Victory and has finally procured peace in the land. The Exiles could say they thought we were down and out, but God has saved us. God has redeemed us, we are coming back.

10:35

In the time of Ezra Nehemiah, they're rebuilding the walls. They're rebuilding the temple they sought to afflict us. They sought to crush us. They have not won. We are Vindicated. This is the story of God's people.

10:53

We're going through Genesis. We'll soon get to the end of Genesis and the story of Joseph. But most of us are at least we at least sort of know what's going to happen in the story of Joseph. He's gonna have a dream. In the dream, his brothers are bowing to him.

11:12

He tells his brother this, his brother's, this. As you could expect, his older brothers don't like hearing that this younger whippersnapper brother, who's obviously dad's favorite is, is going to be the one they bow to. So they speed them up, throw them in a well, sell them to slavery in Egypt.

11:30

In Egypt, it's a roller coaster. Things go well, things go bad. Potiphar's wife lies. He deals with these things he's thrown in jail. He interprets dreams. He's left to languish in jail. Eventually, he is platformed. He's persecuted, but he will find. His Vindication. His brothers come. They don't recognize him.

11:48

They do. Bow to him. He is the one who can provide for them. There's Vindication. This is always the story of God's people. Time of Exodus. Moses will go to Pharaoh, let my people go, he won't do it. They'll be persecution. Things get worse. God sends the plague. There's an indication.

12:10

In the story of God's people, there is persecution. There is also Vindication. Story of Jesus, one who's persecuted. Killed, crucified. He rose again. He has Vindicated. And he will return to judge all mankind to rule with a rod of iron. There is Vindication for the king's people. Though we are afflicted greatly afflicted.

12:39

It will not Prevail. The psalm starts with persecution and indication knowing that God is Sovereign. God will control, and God will care for. His people.

12:52

It gets worse and better. In verses 3 and 4. But I want us to start to see. Here's my tipping of my hat of how we rightly, I think, interpret all songs of implication in many ways, but especially this Psalm of implication.

13:09

The flowers plowed upon my back and made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous. He has cut the cords. Of the wicked. This is Affliction and reward. But here for the king. The the best way to to see and interpret and understand? These Psalms. Is to understand that Jesus is King.

13:38

That's our. In many ways, our overarching principle here. So, it's right for us. I'm taking shortcuts here to get to the New Testament. I think it's okay if you follow with me here. The flowers plowed upon my back. This is figurative language.

14:00

But it means it's also literal language. This is a. Powerful. Image here. The flowers plowing on his back and making long their furrows in a. Metaphorical sense. The psalmist here is saying that they are trampling over me, but they're not just trampling over me. They've drugged their plows across plows that were designed to tear up Rocky hard soil.

14:33

They've trampled on me, and they've cut deep, long furrows on my back. It's Affliction.

14:43

But we're called to believe. As we read this, we can't read this and not think of Jesus. As they whipped him with the cat of Nine Tails.

14:56

Literal a fulfillment in many ways of this. Making long furrows, ripping the flesh from his back. There is Affliction. And here very personal. It. It starts with this idea of Israel now, say. But here are verse 3 that there's a change. The ESV commentators view this as one unit, I, I think it's if there's a break here.

15:24

And here's my defense, we have, they've afflicted me. But they have not prevailed. Verse 3, it's a, it's the same pattern they've plowed upon my back verse four. But the Lord has cut the. Chords. Of the wicked for the Lord is righteous. And so you have the people saying they've Afflicted, but yet they have not prevailed, and the King says they've plowed upon my back.

15:53

Yet, the Lord has cut the cords of the wicked. What we see is the king endures. So that the people? Are victorians? When we read these Psalms? We read it through the lens of knowing Jesus, his work, his word, his teaching, his goodness, his grace, his Justice, his righteousness, his rule.

16:21

All of this, we we cannot take these Psalms and understand them fully apart from this. And so, here, in the middle of a saw of improcation. Bemoaning the Affliction that we Face and looking forward to the? Not looking forward in like a anticipatory way, but in the psalm we look for.

16:46

The next part is, is this this implication this curse upon the enemies? Here we have the work of the king. He's endured. The flowers plowing upon his back. He is endured. The pain that was set before him. He has endured. Ridicule despise, though he esteemed him not.

17:15

The king. We'll have his reward. For the Lord is righteous. The Lord has cut the cords of the wicked. Though they have bound and Afflicted and plowed and hurt and harmed and maimed. God is good, though. They have persecuted and Afflicted and caused pain and cause sorrow. God is good, though, things are difficult and painful.

17:40

God is righteous. This is the point and the the outpouring and the message of this Psalm that the. The just King will rule with Justice, and so, though the world is afflicting, though the world is persecuting, though the world is plowing upon the back of the king, the king will rule with Justice.

18:11

Even in this Psalm. Of improcation of cursing. The message Rings clear and true. God. Is just? And so the king? Who they have not prevailed against. And the king. Who God has redeemed for the Lord is righteous and has cut the king with the courts of the wicked. The king, who he himself redeems.

18:42

Is now rolling and raining.

18:47

And so we can look at one more people. And see complete judgment. For the king's enemies. The Lord has cut the cords of the wicked. They have not prevailed against them. So, now the psalmist takes his attention looking to his own pain, looking to the pain of the king, and now he looks to those who are causing the pain.

19:11

And this is what he says, may all who, hey, Zion, be put to shame and turn backwards.

19:20

This is a judgment they hate Zion, so what they get they deserve. They hate the King City, and they hate the King. And so they deserve to be turned backward and put to shame the shame they tried to afflict on us because greatly they have Afflicted the shame they tried to inflict on the king.

19:39

The flowers plowed furrows upon his back. They themselves will be put to shame. They will put to shame, and they themselves will be fleeting. Let them be like grass on the house top, which Withers before it grows up.

19:57

Though we don't have grass on our house tops, usually those of us who live here in New Mexico. No one understand this picture. The sun comes in the middle of the summer, and it burns and dries up the grass. For us without spending a lot of money on Modern irrigation systems and watering regularly.

20:16

The grass just dries up. It dies. And here the grass, then it's not useful. It doesn't grow, so it never goes to to a fullness. It doesn't go to seed, so the reaper doesn't fill his hand. The binder doesn't fill the sheaves of his arm. So, it's fleeting. And pointless.

20:37

This is the life of those who hate the king in his City. And this is the end result. Those who pass by will not say the blessing of the Lord be upon you. We bless you in the name of the Lord. This is complete and utter. Judgment. For those who stand against the king, verse 5 may, those who hate Zion be put to shame.

21:03

And here's where my first disagreement with these pastors came in.

21:11

They've Afflicted me. Let Israel now say they plowed upon my back. Verse 5 may all who hate Zion? This is not something that I'm I'm concerned about my enemies. This isn't something where I say, you know, these people around me. I don't like them. They've hurt me. They've harmed me so.

21:31

God, get them. The specific context and the the this text teaches us. This is a judgment upon those who hate the king in his City. May all who hate Zion be put to shame? The song is saying it doesn't matter. They've Afflicted me. It doesn't matter. They plowed upon my back.

21:49

That's not the difficult. That's not the the Crux of the matter. Here, the issue is they have not loved the king. They have not loved God's King. And his City. May all who hate Zion be put to shame? The Kingston. It's not my enemies. So, that's the first way I'm I'm careful.

22:11

But here's the second. This is why I wanted. The second part is to shift our Focus from the king's people to see the king.

22:23

Jesus.

22:27

Though he will come to judge with a rod of iron though when he returns. Revelation 20 tells us our 19 tells us he will come riding on a horse. His name, clad upon his thigh King of Kings, Lord of lords. He will come with the armies of Heaven to trample out the winepress of the wrath of God Almighty.

22:45

He will rule with a rod of iron. He will strike down his enemies, though that is true. That same king, who will come in judgment to judge all people, the living, and the dead that same King?

23:02

Offer Grace and forgiveness to those who would come to him. While they were plowing furrows upon his back, and he hung on the cross. He said, father, forgive them. For, they know not what they do.

23:22

And so I believe the right way to understand this implication, especially knowing. The two Advents of the king that he has come, and he will come again. Is to know and understand.

23:38

That judgment is coming. And so we will be Vindicated. There will be a reward. The king will judge with Equity. He will with care and diligence. The high king of Heaven will judge every word and every work of every person.

24:01

And so, our our job, our duty, our responsibility. It's not to go around telling everyone God's not going to bless you. God's not going to bless you? But calling them to repentance.

2

Speaker 2

24:20

Cuz at one point.

1

Speaker 1

24:23

I was one. Who hated the king?

24:28

At one point. We were all strangers and Aliens. At one point, we were all Rebels.

24:38

But God's grace. The right way to read. This is not understanding, like, oh, I hope other people get this the right way of understanding. This is this is what I deserved. I deserved shame and to be turned backwards. I deserved to wither like grass on a house top that's useless and fruitless. I deserved these curses and implications, and yet Christ bore the curse for me.

25:07

What Grace we have been given? The king's Justice will come. We can be assure of that.

25:18

But he's also full of grace and mercy. And kindness. King is good. May we all bow before the king? Let's pray.