Psalm 125

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. It is Tuesday morning. This is where every day we get together. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all of the wisdom literature.
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Let's go ahead and we'll pray. We'll have some coffee and get into God's Word. Lord, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for your word. We thank you that you surround and protect us, that you love us. Lord, we pray that as we look to your word, that we would believe it, because your Holy Spirit would apply it to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, I'm gonna have some coffee, and we'll get into God's word, Psalm 125 today. All right, here we go. Psalm 125, a song of ascents.
To those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever, as the mountains surround Jerusalem. So the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever. For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity. Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts. As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what do we call to do in response? So, A, what is this about? Well, this is once again a song of ascent. This is one of the pilgrimage songs.
And as they were going up to Jerusalem, as they were looking up to the mountain, what do they say? Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. Those of us who trust in God are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever, as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time and forever. They're looking at the mountain and they're saying, man, that mountain is fixed, that mountain is firm, that mountain ain't going nowhere. That's what God's people are like. Those who trust in the Lord, they're like Mount Zion. They're not going to be moved because the Lord is there. The Lord protects. The Lord cares for, establishes, and loves his people.
But the scepter of the righteous is not going to rest. The wicked aren't going to rule over God's people. For the scepter of the wicked shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity. And in a real way though, This psalm knows that there's a contingency. God is not going to forget his people. He has not forgotten his people. He hasn't forgotten his covenant of grace. And yet we know.
We know that the scepter of the wicked did go over the land itself. We know that the Assyrians ruled the north. They defeated the northern tribes and the northern kingdom and they were under Assyrian rule. And then the Babylonians came and they conquered over the southern kingdom when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem itself captive.
Why? Well, their hearts weren't upright. Do good, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts. So we're kind of stuck in this hard place, aren't we? I mean, we see this psalm and these are lofty ideas, but we know that as we keep going in history, we know that the kingdoms fall. We know that Jerusalem is conquered. So what do we do from here? Is this psalm still true? Was the psalmist wrong? Did he not know what was going on? Well, I think he did. I think this is true.
I think it finds itself not in the mountain itself, which is a physical mountain, but in the reality of what that mountain was supposed to represent. Some people might not be happy with this and that's okay, but often the Psalms are speaking of a physical place that's meant to get to a spiritual reality. If you go read the book of Hebrews, it's clear that the sacrifices were a physical thing that were meant to point to something spiritually real. The tabernacle is a physical place that was meant to point to something spiritually real.
I think this is also how we can read this psalm. God surrounds his people, his temple, Jerusalem, and he loves and cares for his people. And each one of us, if we were to be honest with ourselves as we read this, as for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity. We know that this is true. We know that there are those in the church that are led away, led the way of the world, and the Lord takes them away. But let peace be upon Israel. Recently I've been wrestling with some people on the doctrine of assurance and on preservation of the saints. In Hebrews chapter three it's clear, it's those who persevere to the end.
Do you cling to Christ? Are you walking in the ways of Jesus Christ? Are you walking in the ways of the world? Are you in the world and of the world? Or are you in the world but not of the world? Are you walking in sin, just going away? Or do you fight for holiness?
I'm not telling you to be legalistic here. I'm not saying you earn your salvation here. But if you love him, the effect is you keep his commandments. This is what Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. It's not legalism, it's love. It's not trying to earn his love, it's obeying because we love. And if we love him, if his love has been poured out upon us and we love one another, We know that he's going to preserve us to the end.
And we can cry out to him. We can cry to him and we can say, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Keep us from the rule of the wicked. Why don't we go ahead and pray that now? Father, we pray that we would follow after you. Lord, we pray that we would look to you.
We thank you that you have not forgotten Jerusalem. You have not forgotten your people, that you have firmly fixed your church, your temple. We thank you that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone and the foundation. Lord, we pray that you would purify our hearts, spur us on towards holiness. Let us love you. and seek your glory. Let us put to death the sinful things in our lives and live for you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I pray that the Lord blesses you today. I pray that you walk in the peace of Jesus Christ knowing that he is always with you and he is always moving you towards himself. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.