Psalm 126. We had studied this
psalm on Wednesday evening, the first part of this psalm, and
I feel like the Lord has given
me a message regarding the last part of this psalm for you. We'll read this psalm in its
entirety together. The scripture says, when the
Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion We were like them that
dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again
our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that
sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him. Turn again our captivity, O Lord. That's what it says in verse
4. Now at the beginning of this psalm, the singers here remind
us of God's full, complete, and sovereign deliverance of His
people. Look at verse 1. He says, When
the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion. The word turned means
to cease. When the Lord has cause to end
the captivity of His people. This most likely has reference
to the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. And as God delivered national
Israel from bondage, surely He has delivered us who are the
spiritual Israel of God. Just as He delivered it by a
mighty hand from Pharaoh, even so has Jesus Christ by His blood,
by His righteousness, and by His resurrection delivered us
who believe in Him. We who trust in Jesus Christ
trust His perfect, complete work to deliver us from the bondage
of sin. the bondage of Satan, the bondage
of the law, the bondage of hell, the bondage that we were under
God's justice, the fear of death. He has delivered us from all
of those things by His one sacrifice, by His one offering. We were
under the curse of the law, held captive by death, subject to
the fear and bondage of death all of our life. But now, God has delivered us
with a mighty hand and set us free. When I say set us free
from sin, He has fully set us free from sin. And what does
that mean? Well, the guilt of sin. That's
a huge one, the guilt of sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ bore the
guilt of our sins. God had imputed our guilt to
Christ. And He suffered under the just
wrath and holy vengeance of God for our sins. For our sins. This was a transaction between
the Father and the Son. The sky was darkened for a reason
because we could not enter into this transaction. We have no
example. You can look through any law book, you won't find
an example of imputed guilt anywhere. You can't. It's an impossibility
for us to trade guilt. But I'll tell you this, it wasn't
impossible for God, He did it. God made Him to be sin for us
so that we might go free. From what guilt of sin? The guilt
of sin. He's freed us from the power
of sin by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. By dethroning the
old nature, He has set up His throne in our hearts and He rules
us. He rules over us. Therefore, believers, stand fast,
the apostle says in Galatians 5. Stand fast, therefore, in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Don't be entangled
with the yoke of bondage. Isn't that a temptation of the
flesh? It is always a temptation of the flesh to be under some
kind of law, some kind of bondage we want to put ourselves. Isn't
that foolish? We always want to... Why? Don't
be entangled with that yoke of bondage again. You've been set
free. You've been set free. I remember the Apostle Peter
when he was, when they had that trouble in Antioch about this
matter of circumcision or being under the law, Peter said, why
would we put a yoke on somebody we ourselves could not bear?
We wouldn't do it. No, we've been set free. We've
been set free by redemption. Redemption. What is redemption? Redemption is a price paid. Justice
satisfied. God's justice demanded the payment
for our sin and Christ provided the perfect payment, the full
payment for our sins. He's redeemed us. And the Apostle says that in
Christ there is therefore now no condemnation, free from guilt. free from the guilt of sin, the
power of sin. Rejoice that the justice of God
has been completely satisfied on your behalf. On your behalf. Christ has paid it all. There's
nothing left to pay. He's done it all. He saved us
completely, fully. And I'll tell you, for a sinner
that needs salvation, that's important, isn't it? That's rejoicing. That relieves us of the burden
of the guilt and of our sin. He's done it all. And not only
has He relieved us of the burden of sin, He's also relieved us
of the burden of the law to produce righteousness. He has given us
His righteousness. I was reading someone that said
that He has given us His righteousness as though it was ours. No, it's
ours. It's ours. Scripture says in
1 John, it says, As He is, so are we in this present world
because He's imparted that righteousness to us. He's given that righteousness
to us. He's put it in us by the power
of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God now testifies
with our spirit. What is that? Faith. Faith is
the result of the Spirit's work. in us, pointing us to Christ. I'll tell you this, when you
feel guilt of your sin, where do you look? Where do you go? I go to Christ. I go to God by
Jesus Christ, and I find complete forgiveness of sin. Complete. Therefore, let us, the Apostle
says in Ephesians 5, let us be filled with the Spirit. Be being
filled. Let us be being filled with the
Spirit. Speaking to yourselves. Do you
speak to yourself? Because I do. I speak to myself quite often.
And what do I speak? I speak in things concerning
Christ. When I'm overwhelmed with guilt, I speak to myself
concerning Him. Speaking to yourselves in psalms. What is this? This is a psalm.
Speak this psalm to yourself. What does it say? Well, God's
turned your captivity. That's what God says. He says,
I've turned your captivity. I've set you free. You are free. I don't feel free. You're free. You're free. I don't deserve
to be free. No, you don't deserve to be free. But you're free. You who believe
in Christ, you're free. Why? Because God's ended your
captivity. He's ended it. speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts
to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things. Do we always
give thanks for all things? Well, we give thanks for something
we think is good. We get a raise, we say, well,
thank you, Lord. We get a new car, we say, thank you, Lord.
What about when you get trouble? When you get sorrow? When you
get grief? We should thank the Lord for
these things as well because they're all made for our benefit.
You're free. He's giving us everything that's
good for us. Give thanks always. to the Father
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why then, if we've been
set free, Pastor, if you're telling us this is true, then why does
it say in verse four, read this with me, why does he ask, turn
again our captivity, O Lord? Why is the psalmist asking, if
captivity is ended, If our captivity is done, then why does the psalmist
here pray that the Lord turn or end his captivity? Didn't
he say he already ended it? Yes. Yes he did. Well why is
he asking again? Turn again. Well, all who are made free by
the Son of God, I tell you, you're free indeed. You are completely
free of all sin, even because Christ has removed it from us
as far as the East is from the West. You're free because the
Word of God says you're free. Our sins are so far removed from
us that even God can't find them. In Jeremiah chapter 15 verse
20, In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. And
the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found. For, because I
will pardon, I will pardon them whom I reserve. God cannot find our sins, even
because Christ has removed them with His blood. We who believe in Christ see
this by faith. Faith is very vital. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Faith in Christ, we rest the
weight of our souls completely on Jesus Christ. And I say faith is vital because
we cannot in this mortal frame experience the fullness of God's
salvation. We are fully saved but I tell
you by our own experience we do not feel that. We do not see that by our actions. Do you see the righteousness
of God by your actions? Can you find righteousness in
anything you've done? I can't see it. All I see in
my experience is my sin. I see that. We cannot see this by experience
because we still have sin in this body. This confession, there's
a confession of David. at his deathbed. When David was
dying, he confessed this to be true. He said, I know that God
has spoken by me. I know that I was a prophet of
God and my lips have uttered God's Word. He knew God. He knew that he was free in Christ
his Savior. He rested in Him. But he confessed
this. He said, although my house be
not so with God. I know I've been saved. I know
I've been used of God. I know these things to be true.
I believe them by faith. He's looking to God by faith.
Although in his experience, he sees that his house is a mess. His house is a mess. David's
house was a mess. It was. His youngest, his most
precious son was the one that rebelled against him, took all
of his concubines and his wives to be in the light of day, exposed
them and committed adultery with them and now his son is dead
and the other children right now on his deathbed are fighting
for the crown. They are struggling with each
other, wanting to be king. His house is a mess. He was feeling the effects of
his sin. And even though his sin was put
away, that's what the prophet Nathan told him. He said, the
Lord hath put away your sin. The Lord hath put away your sin,
but the Lord did not relieve him of the consequences of his
sin. He chastened him very sorely. And he was free from the guilt
of sin, the power of sin, but I tell you, in our experience
and his, we are not yet free from the presence of sin. This
is our plight. This is our struggle as believers
in Christ, as that we are not yet free from this old man. We are not yet free from this
body of death. In Romans, Paul asked, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? And what he had reference
to was the Roman punishment of sowing a corpse to the back of
a criminal. and having to drag the corpse
around on it. Who shall deliver me from this
corpse on my back? And that's exactly the experience
of every believer. We have a new nature, a perfect
nature that is created after God, but yet we still have this
burden of sin, this burden of guilt on us. And so we must cry
over and over again, Lord, I know You've delivered me from my captivity. Oh, Lord, deliver me again. Oh,
Lord, forgive me again. We must ask this constantly. So the psalmist is asking again,
Lord, I know you've turned our captivity. Oh, Lord, turn our
captivity. Haste the day when faith shall
be sight. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. This old man, this old nature,
we are in need of constant deliverance from him. Therefore, because we still have
this old nature, this old man dwelling in us, we are daily
saying, turn again, oh God, our captivity. Forgive us of our
sins. I will ask you a question I know
the answer to. Do you have trouble with your
sin? I know you do. I know you do
because I do. I know I do because Paul did.
I know Paul did because David did. I can see it all through
the scriptures. We cry out to the captain of
our salvation to cleanse our conscience of dead works that
we might serve the living God. Do you love him as much as you
want to? Do you serve him as much as you
desire to? Oh, Lord, turn again our captivity
so that we may love you and serve you as we should. Oh Lord, forgive
us of our sins that we might feel your presence and know the
freedom that you've given us again. Because I need to see
it again. I don't need to see it just once. I need to see it
again. And I tell you, I need to see
it every single day of my life. I need to be reminded again and
again that He's already turned my captivity, that He's promised
to deliver me, and He does deliver me daily from my sins. daily forgives me although my
house be not so with God he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure
David wasn't trusting in his house was he he was trusting
in a covenant that God made with him ordered in all things and
sure sure For this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although He make it not to grow. Although
Christ has accomplished and completed our freedom, He has not made
it to grow. In other words, we've not fully
experienced what Christ has purchased for us. We hope, we have hope
in Christ. In other words, as Peter tells
us, he says that we have a salvation that's ready to be revealed. I only know just a little bit
of this. I can only tell you a small portion
of what we see through a glass darkly. But then, face to face, then I'll know Him as much as
He knows me. Can you imagine that? Can you? Oh, I haven't begun to understand
this matter of salvation, of what it is to be free yet. I
know I'm free, but I don't really understand it yet. I'm going
to. It's ready, ready for me. When
I breathe my last, I'll enter into it, and I'll know it. ready to be revealed. You all get excited when you
got a present? I get excited. Even now, I see
something. Tia had sent something to the
door. And I was just excited, whatever
it was. I didn't care what it was. It
was exciting. There's a package there at the door. And I open
it just like I Man, how much better is this present that God
has prepared for us? We don't know the full. We just know a small portion
of this matter of freedom. He purchased it, He planned it,
it's ordered even though in this life He doesn't make it to grow.
We don't see the fullness of it here. We will see the fullness
of it when we go to be with Him. Let us therefore to continue
then to look to Christ for all our liberty and he shall turn
our captivity, look at that in your text, Lord turn again our
captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. Pray that God will
deliver us from all our troubles that we cannot deliver ourselves
from. Seek his help I know that when you seek another
person's help or you're constantly asking someone else to help you,
you feel like you're a burden to them. We do. We may not be,
but I'll tell you sometimes when I'm asking something of somebody,
I feel like I've asked them a hundred million times for help. And I
feel that they're going to get weary of me asking. But I'll
tell you, God is not weary of your cries. He's not weary of
you. We may be weary of Him. God save us from that. But I'll
tell you, He's never weary of hearing your voice cry to Him.
Never. We should constantly and faithfully
cry to Him, and He will constantly and faithfully refresh our soul. During this East, talking about
the streams of the South, the South would get dry and it would
be a desert. But there's a season of floods
that come in and refresh those desert wastelands. Isn't that
what He does to us? Isn't He come in like a flood
and stream that refreshes our soul with daily mercies? Daily
mercies. I'll tell you, I need daily mercies. If we try to hang on to mercies
of yesterday, we can remember them, and that's good to remember
them, but don't hang on to them. They'll rot like the manna stored
up. We need fresh mercies today. I tell you, I had a good steak
a week ago, but I can't live on that. I've got to have something
now. I had a banana yesterday. That's not going to do me today.
I'm going to have to eat again. I've got to have it today. I've
got to have mercy now. I don't need to wait. I've got
to have it now. Guess what? I have it now. His mercy endureth
how long? Forever. His mercies are new
every morning. They're fresh. Just as the manna fell on the
grass, they said, man, I'm hungry. Well,
if they were real hungry, they'd bend down and pick it up. I'll tell you, If you need mercy,
you'll bend down and pick it up. I was reading this, a man said
that Jesus said, come unto me and
you shall find rest for your souls. and fall down at the feet
of Jesus. He said, I can understand if
you say I'm too weary to climb, or I'm too weary to run, or I'm
too weary to chase after something. But who's too weary to sit down?
Who's too weary to fall down? You imagine those Israelites,
if they were really hungry and faint, that that wouldn't be
anything for them to just fall down and grab the man off the
ground. Eat it right there on the ground. Fall down and find
mercy. Find mercy. You'll have it. Now look at this. I'm already
running out of time. Oh man, so much here. Look at
verse 5. It says, They that sow in tears
shall reap in joy. This analogy is that of a farmer,
someone who is a laborer in the field. Now I'll tell you some
of you know a little bit about farming and I know a lot less.
But I know this. Farming is tough business. Farming
is tough business. Growing a garden is not something
that's easily done. It requires labor. Constant labor. A man leaves his couch and he
goes out into the hot sun, plows up the ground, plants his crops,
his sweat pours off his face, he's pulling the rocks and the
weeds and all the things out of that land that would hinder
the growth of his crops. He plants that seed in hopes
of a good crop for his family. Now, we got grocery stores, but
this speaks of a person having to plant for his family. And
I'll tell you, if his crop didn't grow, his family didn't eat.
That's how serious this was. This matter of planting and sowing. This man had no promise that
his crop would grow. If you put out some seed for
tomatoes, you hope for a good crop, but you've got no guarantee
you'll have one. Have you found that out, you,
the plant? Have you found out you got no guarantee that's going
to come out? All right. Well, I did some work. Oh, I
worked really hard. I just know it's... Drought comes
along. Your seed is bad. Or you got a disease. Insects
swarm and you can't get rid of them. You have no control over
these things. Believer in Christ, we are not
physical farmers, we are spiritual farmers. And I tell you, it's
hard work. This is not easy. We are sowers of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, and we labor in spiritual things. The only difference
between the labor of the physical and the labor of the spiritual
is that we have a promise. We have a promise. They that
sow in tears shall reap in joy. That is a promise of God. We sow the Word of God with great
assurance that God's Word will produce fruit. Go to Isaiah chapter
55. Isaiah 55 verse 10, For as the rain cometh
down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither. Isn't
that right? I mean the rain, you see the
rain, you feel the rain, you feel the snow, it comes down
from heaven, you see it go back up? Of course not. We don't see
it go back up. Why? It waters the earth. and
maketh it to bring forth in bud that it may give seed to the
sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. In other words, everywhere
this gospel is preached, everywhere, I don't care how in capable the
man is of preaching the gospel. If God sent him and his word
goes forth out of that man's mouth, it will accomplish whatever
he sends it to do. Some of you rejoice at this word. Some of you don't care. That's
exactly what God sent it to do. He sent it to make one indifferent
and he sent it one to bless. Same message, isn't it? Are y'all
all hearing the same one? Or is there something different?
No, you're hearing the same voice, same word. To you, it's benefit. To others, it's not. You see, this gospel is successful. It's done. It's successful. It
will accomplish what God sends it to do. To bless or to curse. And as we preach this gospel,
we cast the seed at the venture, but truly the falling out of
the seed is the Lord's business. I'll let you in on something.
I get discouraged. I do. I get discouraged. Where do I find any strength
to continue? Because God's Word will prosper
where He sends it. It will do what He sends it to
do. It has done what He sent it to do. Is that not right?
When He came to our hearts, did He not conquer our souls and
save us? He did! We weren't looking for it, we
didn't desire it, we didn't want it, but it came anyway in spite
of us. That's what it'll do to other
sinners. It'll go forth that way. Don't be discouraged. God says don't be discouraged.
When you sow in tears, you'll reap in joy. His word will go
forth and it will accomplish. Now as we sow, we sow in tears. Believers, we sow this gospel
among many persecutions, afflictions, sicknesses, pains, and sorrow.
We weep and plead for the lost to come to Christ. I know you have a burden for
your family. I tell you I have a burden for your family too.
I do. When I think of you, I think
of your loved ones who don't know Christ. I pray for them.
I pray that God would touch their
hearts, that they might see and believe, that they might come
and rejoice with us. And I tell you, I know your pain. I know your pain. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. I call for every one of you to
believe on Christ now. Don't wait. Why would you wait? Do you know
there's nothing between a sinner and Christ? If the sinner is
a complete holy sinner, and I tell you, he seeks a holy Savior,
he comes to Christ, there's nothing between. Come with your sins. Because that's all you've got
to give. and everyone who comes will find
mercy, forgiveness, pardon, peace. We persuade men but truly we
know this that the result lies in the hands
of God. Now we can plead, beg, get out
on our knees, bribe people to come but ultimately the We cast
the seed, and where it lands is God's business. That's God's
business. He prepares the soil, and He
plants the seed, and He causes it to live and grow and flourish. Therefore, when we sow in tears,
you may reap in joy, knowing this, that God will save His
people from their sins. every time you witness. Don't
think that word is void because you're incapable or because you
have no ability. Don't think that word is God's
Word. It goes out and it accomplishes what He says it will. When I give a message to somebody,
I have no idea. I have hope. I have hope because God's Word
will go forth. It will accomplish what He says
it will. And so as we do that, The Scripture in Ecclesiastes
says that, or Proverbs, I can't remember which one it was, it
says, the casting of the lot in the lap, but the dispensing
of it is the Lord. Whatever, you know, you can throw
the dice down, but whatever it comes out, what number it comes
out, that's in the Lord's hands. It's not in ours. And so it is
with the Gospel. Believer in Christ, seeing that
we have such a promise of joy, be faithful to witness of Christ.
Be faithful. Don't be discouraged. I know
many of you have witnessed for a long time. Don't stop. You have a sure promise. And
we have a sure promise because of this. Look at the next verse.
Verse 6. Notice in verse 5 it says they. Right? Plural. But notice in
verse 6 it says he. Singular. How do we know that
when we sow in tears that we'll reap in joy? Because He that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless
come again with rejoicing, bringing His sheaves with Him. That's
Christ. Did He not come forth weeping?
Did He not come forth lamenting over our sins and bearing our
sins? I tell you, He doubtless, without
a doubt, will come again. He will. And I'll tell you, He'll come
rejoicing. What a wonderful Savior we have.
He's not going to be sad when He comes back. His weeping is
over. He's going to come back and He's
going to show everyone how successful His salvation was. And He's going
to be bringing us, who are His sheaths, bringing us on His shoulder
into glory. He's not going to fail you. He's
not going to fail you. And I pray that God would bless
this to us. I know we need this. I need encouragement. I know
you do. God's delivered you. One day
He'll deliver you from the very presence of sin. Until then,
just cry out to Him for help to deliver you. He will. Be faithful
in His service. Look to Christ. And the seed
that we sow, the gospel, will be profitable. It will be. It is. It is. I pray that God
give us courage and strength.